By CNN
—
Situated in North London, England sits an ordinary college sports center. Usually, this gym would be full of students getting a workout in, but on this sweltering Friday afternoon there’s a slightly different feel to the place.
Fans are eagerly stood outside waiting with bated breath, security sits on the entrance and a long line of press queues up to enter the center.
Eventually the reason for this additional excitement reveals itself. The hum around the place gets louder as the USA Men’s Basketball team emerges from the changing rooms and takes to the court to get some reps in before playing in the Olympic Games.
That star-studded team on Sunday begins its quest in earnest for a fifth-straight gold medal with its match against Nikola Jokić and Serbia. Tip off for the game is scheduled for 11:15 am ET in Lille, France, about two-and-half hour’s drive north of Paris.
Star power
Shift your eyes to one side of the court and you can see reigning NBA champs Jayson Tatum and Derrick White getting shots up from three-point distance. Sandwiched between the Celtics pair is former NBA MVP Joel Embiid practicing from the mid-range. The NBA’s all-time leading three-point scorer Steph Curry then comes into frame, weaving in and out of his teammates with the ball.
The idea of this level of talent playing together seems stranger than fiction – a fiction that delves straight into the realm of fantasy upon seeing the rest of the roster.
Look left and stretching in the middle of the court is Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, Devin Booker and Bam Adebayo. Rising stars Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton soon enter the fray, while two-time NBA champion, two-time Finals MVP and former regular season MVP Kevin Durant watches on from the sidelines.
Then there’s the small matter of four-time NBA champion, four-time regular season MVP and four-time Finals MVP LeBron James, who finishes up media work before heading onto the court.
Team USA has had plenty of star power in the past, but it would be hard to argue against this being the strongest roster the USA has ever sent to an Olympic Games.
Basketball fans have long dreamt of seeing the likes of James and Curry on the same team, and when a powerful James block led to a Curry three in a warmup game against Germany, it was evident that these dreams have become reality.
Practice makes perfect
While having star power on the roster is an advantage, the team’s prowess needs to translate from paper to the court. In order to facilitate this, Team USA held a basketball showcase to get the team up to speed.
A game in Las Vegas, before a trip to Abu Dhabi for two games and then finally to London for a pair of games, saw Team USA tested before the Olympics.
Five games, five wins for the star-studded roster. However, it wasn’t as straightforward as the results suggest – particularly in London.
The US scraped past South Sudan 101-100 before surviving a scare against Germany with a 92-88 win.
“Don’t take nothing away from South Sudan,” James said after the close win. “They played extremely good basketball and that’s why the game is won in between the lines and not all on paper.”
The NBA’s all-time leading scorer had a similar view after beating Germany.
“We got better tonight and that’s most important,” the Lakers star told reporters postgame. “We were tested by a great Germany team, they were world champions last year, so it was a good test for us.
“I’m glad we were able to, once again, keep our composure, persevere like we did the other day versus South Sudan. It was a good win for us.”
On both occasions Team USA looked to its leader, and it was “King James” who got his team over the line.
The 20-time NBA All-Star led the US in scoring against South Sudan with 25 points before adding a game-high 20 points against Germany – including 11 in the fourth quarter.
When watching James in action it is almost impossible to believe he will be celebrating his 40th birthday later this year, and teams are still unable to stop the Los Angeles Lakers star.
“Somebody named LeBron James made some pretty good plays at the end,” Germany head coach Gordon Herbert told reporters postgame when summing up his team’s game against the US.
Team chemistry must come together – and fast
But heading to France, Team USA will know it can’t always rely on James and, with the five games of practice under their belts, other stars will be looking to step up at the Olympics.
Golden State Warriors star Curry said he has confidence in everyone in the team being able to do so.
“The chemistry is pretty natural,” Curry told reporters in Paris on Thursday. “You have confidence whoever has the ball, you make a play, be yourself and hopefully something good comes out of it. The chemistry has been there so far, hopefully it continues.”
The two-time MVP also spoke on the importance of having the right attitude in order to bring success when playing in a team of such quality.
“You got to be able to adapt quickly,” Curry said. “You got to be able to bring your egos of who we are as individual players, but also let them go, knowing it doesn’t matter who’s the man scoring that particular night. When you’re on the floor, you’re asked to do a certain thing and do it to the best of your ability, to play with energy, and as Team USA, if we do that, usually good things happen.”
Stars from around the world now have an eye on ending the USA’s golden run, and the amount of stars on the team is, oddly, one thing they’re trying to exploit.
“If you look on paper, obviously they’re the most talented team, it’s not a secret to anybody,” Australian star Josh Giddey told reporters last week. “The difference is these guys (on the USA team), they’ve never played together, whereas a lot of these other countries have a core and have been together for years. I think those type of things really do (have) an effect.”
The global game
Miami Heat star Adebayo reminded reporters that you can’t win games on paper and, while Team USA is overflowing with All-NBA players, opposition countries are also packed with NBA quality – unlike at Olympic Games of yesteryear.
France boasts talent such as rookie of the year phenom Victor Wembanyama and four-time NBA defensive player of the year Rudy Gobert, Canada has 10 NBA players including two-time All-NBA first team star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Australia has a core of NBA vets.
But Team USA’s all-time Olympic Games top scorer Durant namechecks two NBA MVPs as the players to watch outside of Team USA.
“Giannis [Antetokounmpo] maybe, [Nikola] Jokić,” Durant said on who the biggest international stars could be. “Our game is global now; all of these guys are huge stars in their own ways … We are playing against like 65 or 64 NBA players now, there are all the best of the best in the world.”
But despite the added competition, Team USA’s self-belief has not waivered.
When asked on who he’s looking forward to playing in the Olympics, Curry answered confidently.
“Whoever is in the gold medal game,” the sharpshooter told reporters. But with his team’s pedigree, the confidence is far from misplaced.
Team USA could make it five gold medals in a row with a win in this year’s Olympic Games. With victory, this team will surely write its name in basketball history.
