Not this time.
As soon as the U.S. men’s basketball team finished drubbing Angola 97-76 on Tuesday night, the Americans were relishing a shot at the last team to defeat them in a major international competition.
“We want to get them back,” U.S. forward Chris Bosh said. “That’s the great thing about competition. You beat us and we’ll come back around. The team that loses never forgets.”
Greece stunned the U.S. in the semifinals of the 2006 world championships in Japan, sending ripples through the international basketball community. The rematch comes today, when the U.S. (2-0) meets Greece (1-1) in Olympic pool play.
Many of the U.S. players remember the deflated feeling when they walked off the court after the 101-95 loss in Japan.
“It’s going to be a very emotional game,” guard Chris Paul said. “We also understand this is pool play. But at the same time, this team right here, we’ve lost one game in two years, and Greece is the only one to beat us so far. So we definitely feel like we owe them.”
This will be by far the sternest test the Americans have faced since they defeated Argentina in the bronze medal game of the 2006 world championships. Since then, they have rolled through Olympic qualifying and the first two games here.
Against Angola, Dwyane Wade led the U.S. with 19 points, followed by Dwight Howard with 14 and LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony with 12 apiece.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski gave the U.S. team Monday off, which wasn’t a problem since they essentially practiced Tuesday night against Angola.
But unlike Angola and China - whom the U.S. beat by a combined 52 points - Greece is considered a medal contender. The Greeks fizzled in an opening loss to Spain but bounced back nicely with an 87-64 rout of Germany and Dirk Nowitzki on Tuesday.
Greece shot 57 percent from the floor against Germany, a figure that has to worry Krzyzewski and his staff. Two years ago in Japan, the Greeks shot 63 percent against the U.S. Most of their points seemed to come off the pick-and-roll, a staple of the international game that the Americans have worked on defending.
“From that game, ever since then we’ve been working on the pick-and-roll defense,” Anthony said. “I think that game opened our eyes up.”
The U.S. has played solid defense in its first two games, limiting China to 34 percent shooting and Angola to 39 percent. It’s the offense - specifically the long-range shooting - that is raising some eyebrows. One brick at a time, American shooters are building their own Great Wall. Against China, they hit 29 percent (7-for-24) from 3-point range. Unbelievably, they shot even worse against Angola - 24 percent (5-for-21).
Kobe Bryant was 0-for-8 beyond the arc against Angola and is 1-for-15 in the tournament.
The same problem haunted the 2006 world championship team at times. The U.S. hit only 32 percent of its 3s in the loss to Greece.
Krzyzewski seems unconcerned by the shooting slump.
“All these guys can hit shots,” Krzyzewski said. “It’s like a real good hitter in baseball; sometimes you don’t get hits and then all of a sudden you break out.”
The poor shooting hasn’t mattered because the Americans have turned their first two games into dunkathons. It could be a different story against Greece, which runs a disciplined offense and isn’t likely to cave under the Americans’ withering defensive pressure.
Greece knows it will get the Americans’ best effort. The Greeks say they are ready for the onslaught.
“We know that they have motivation against us,” Greek coach Panagiotis Giannakis said. “USA in 2006, 2008 is a great team. We know that. And we know it’s good for us to play in this high level.”
The Greeks will have to play at a high level to beat the U.S. again. They did that two years ago, and the Americans haven’t forgotten.
“This is one of the games that’s been in my mind,” Anthony said. “I’ve been looking forward to playing this game the last two years.”
