Well, this was about how I expected this to be. The USA is shooting very poorly (4/11 from 2-point range and 3/10 from 3-point range, and they are in big, big trouble.
You have to remember that in international basketball, the USA cannot really stop a high-powered European attack. Those teams know how to pass and move without the ball, and the sort of "lock-down" man-to-man defense preferred in the NBA just doesn't work against that type of team -- as the Spurs proved over and over during the last decade.
So once they run into an opponent who can handle the ball without making a lot of turnovers, the only hope for the Americans is to outscore their opponents. In the 2006 FIBA tournament, they couldn't do this: they lost to Greece in the semi-finals by a score of 101-95. In the 2008 Olympics, they did: in the final they beat Spain 118-105.
I don't know how this one will turn out. I suspect that Kevin Durant will have to score an enormous number of points for the USA to keep pace with Russia, but he may be able to do that. He has always been the X factor in this tournament -- the one guy who could take us all the way.
So far, he has 15 of our 30 points -- which is the only reason we are still in the game. Hopefully, he can keep it up.
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