VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France (AP) — And now, the real work begins for the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team.
The four-time defending Olympic gold medalists arrived in France on Wednesday to begin their final preparations for the Paris Games. Their train from London arrived in their early afternoon, about three hours before the team was slated to hold an acclimation practice at the arena where they’ll play their three group-stage games.
The U.S. opens its Olympic slate against Serbia on Sunday, followed by games with South Sudan on July 31 and Puerto Rico on Aug. 3. The tournament then shifts from Lille to Paris for the knockout stage: quarterfinals in Paris are on Aug. 6, semifinals are on Aug. 8 and the medal games are Aug. 10.
“I think we can get a lot better,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said. “We’re getting to a place where we are comfortable with our rotations and I think guys are getting familiar with each other. But we can do a lot of things better.”
The team is scheduled to practice in Paris starting Thursday and then — led by U.S. Olympic flag bearer LeBron James, who will serve in that role alongside tennis star Coco Gauff — will take part in the opening ceremony down the River Seine on Friday night.
The Americans went 5-0 in a slate of pre-Olympic exhibitions, beating Canada in Las Vegas, Australia and Serbia at Abu Dhabi, then upstart Olympic newcomer South Sudan and World Cup champion Germany in London. But the last two wins came by a total of five points, not the sort of margin many might have expected considering the Americans were 43.5-point favorites over South Sudan and 15.5-point favorites over Germany.
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