The Rio Olympics of 2016 has started this summer. The United States of America Basketball team is used to winning the gold medal in their sport. As of right now they do not look like the powerhouse we are used to watching. With the Zika virus being prominent in RIo some players declared to not play this summer for Team USA. As well as that big name superstars like Stephen Curry and Lebron James wanted to rest their bodies this summer.

The team has a lot of new faces on the roster that we are not used to seeing. They are going to have to get used to playing with each other soon. During the exhibition games they have been blowing teams out by over 30 points. Now during the qualifying round of the Olympics it has not been that easy for them. On the date of August 10, 2016 Team USA played against the Australians. On the roster of Australia they have five NBA starters on their team. The game was no walk in the park but instead it was gritty game that went down to the wire. The final score of the game was 98-88.

With the help of Kyrie Irving and Carmelo Anthony they was able to come out on top and win by double digits. August 12th is another close game that they had played as well. The team that they played was Serbia. They were beating them 27-15 in the first quarter so it looked like team USA was going to run away with the game. But it was not that easy for them. The game went to the buzzer with Serbia being down 91-94 and with them scoring to go to overtime. Serbia had a wide open three-point with 1.2 seconds on the clock but failed to seize the opportunity. The shot was missed at the buzzer so USA was able to come on top yet again. Close games like these two games can be a positive and negative for USA.

The positive nature of this comes from them knowing how to close out. Close games are the hardest to win in the game of basketball. It takes a certain mentality to close out and win a game like that. The fact that USA is winning is even better since they are coming out on top with the win. On the other hand it can be negative because it gives other countries the mentality that USA is beatable. It shows that they are not a powerhouse that will be blowing out teams.