After two weeks of dominant basketball, Team USA found themselves in a place where they are destined to be right from the onset of the FIBA World Cup of Basketball. On Sunday, the Americans will gun for their second straight gold against a Serbian team also rich with winning tradition. (Live Stream on ESPN Watch and Sports Stream / Box Score and Play-by-Play on FIBA Basketball)
Despite the absence of superstars (LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant) and an uncharacterized event (Paul George's gruesome let injury) that put international hoops into question, the Americans are one win away to bagging the gold for the second consecutive tournament, and they have done more impressive than anybody expected.
From the preliminary up to their latest conquest against Lithuania in the semifinal round, coach K's guys showed how USA basketball has grown over the years since their shocking early exit at the Indianapolis World Championship in 2012.
Innovations, hard work and great commitment to playing defense have made wonders to an 'undersized' but energetic team USA in this tournament. And perhaps, there's no man better player that suits these characteristics than Denver Nuggets power forward Kenneth Faried, whose unlimited bundle of energy was just too much for bigger international guys to contain.
Then there's the coming out party of New Orleans Pelicans big man Anthony Davis and the craftiness of USA's guard Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, Derrick Rose and James Harden who are too quick and strong for their foes.
All of these sums up to a great experience in Spain, leaving a championship nothing more than an icing on the cake.
For conventional hoops fans, an upset win for Serbia is just a tall order. However, it's not much of a stretch for them to pull it off after stunning Brazil and Spain's conqueror France in the semis. After all, they have some weapons in their roster that could make some real damage.
Bogdan Bogdanovic, who was drafted by the Phoenix Suns in last June's Draft, has been superb for his team, while veteran center Nenad Kristic and guard Milos Teodosic make Serbia even more potent.
While the Americans will be the overwhelming favorite in the gold medal game, a slow start along with a torrid shooting from the Serbians could really make this a really intriguing matchup. In short, the gold is not yet in the bag until the fat lady sings.
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