Team USA took down the Serbian Men’s National Basketball Team in a USAB showcase. USA came out on top quite comfortably with a 105-79 win, defeating the Nikola Jokic-led team by a 26-point margin. As impressive as the win was, other national teams could still give Team USA a run for their money in the Olympics. But Paul Pierce is convinced that this USA squad will run through every single team easily and bring home the Gold in the Olympics.
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The Boston Celtics legend recently made the bold claim on FS1’s Undisputed. Excited over the commanding win by Team USA over Serbia, Pierce handed out prop gold medals to co-hosts Skip Bayless and Keyshawn Johnson. He guaranteed the Gold medal win and declared that the competition was already over.
Pierce even labeled this USA squad as one of the greatest Olympic teams ever assembled.
“It’s over. The USA team got it, baby. They got it. C’mon now. If this wasn’t as convincing to show you…That looks easy, that looked easy out there…It’s over. We looking at one of the greatest teams ever assembled. The way they dismantled the Joker.”
Pierce and Johnson then discussed the first two quarters of the game between the USA and Serbia. Nikola Jokic and the rest came in strong initially, but by the third quarter, Team USA had a sizeable lead with most of their second unit subbed into the game.
“We saw Joker get dominated yesterday. We saw him get dominated yesterday. C’mon now, this thing is over…They don’t even got Kevin Durant yet…This is about as guarantee as a Floyd Mayweather boxing match that they gonna win gold…Ain’t nobody beating the US.”
The 2008 NBA Champion touted the depth of Team USA’s bench with how the second unit maintained the point differential. Pierce even asked fans to bet money on USA’s Gold medal win because it’s already a wrap for him.
But does everyone share Pierce’s excitement?
Not everyone is busy singing Team USA’s praises
This year’s roster for Team USA headlines three of the biggest superstars from the NBA playing together for the first time in history. LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry would all go on to share the court as they represent the USA.
While the ‘Big Three’ was enough to get fans hyped, Rachel Nichols wasn’t too convinced that this roster would be as dominant as the USA Olympic teams formed before them.
“You have to remember that not only the rest of the world caught up in general with international basketball, but the rise of the three-pointer means there is a guy on every one of the top four or five teams, who could get hot and start hitting a bunch of threes and we know, that can sometimes be the ball game.”
And it isn’t just Nichols who feels that way. Regardless of his takes regarding the league and NBA stars, Skip Bayless too was unsure about whether this year’s roster would be able to assert the same level of dominance as the former Team USA rosters.
“These other squads have literally grown up together… They love each other, they play hard for their countries, they ain’t quitting… They ain’t afraid of no Americans.”
Team USA may have some people doubting their ability to go out and dominate but their recent win over Serbia seems to indicate that the stars have finally found their groove playing with one another. And their next game against South Sudan looks to be another blowout on the way.
But we still have to remember that the real competition begins in Paris.
