Going into the 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, things were looking good the the US. The stability brought by the changes to Team USA after the 2004 debacle resulted in two World Championships and two Olympic gold medals.
However, there were some areas of concern for Team USA. Complacency once again set in and players were once again not interested in giving up their summers for Team USA.
Two players from the 2012 London team did join the 2016 team, and they were two of the better players for Team USA in Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony. Dwight Howard, Kevin Love, and Andre Iguodala had also shown interest but were ultimately not included on the team.
While top stars like Lebron James declined to play, the roster was loaded with top-tier talent. Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, Harrison Barnes, DeMar DeRozan, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, and Paul George joined Durant and Melo on at the wing positions, and big-men DeAndre Jordan, DeMarcus Cousins, and Draymond Green were the bigs. Once again Mike Krzyzewski was the head coach with Jim Boeheim his lead assistant. Knicks coaches Tom Thibodeau and Monty Williams were also on the squad.
Team USA met for training camp in Las Vegas in late July, and only on July 22, 2016, they played an exhibition game against Argentina. Argentina had been the last team to beat the US in the Olympics, but by 2016 had an aging roster and their golden moment had passed. The US had minimal difficulty in winning the game as they crushed the Argentines 111-74
Two days later the US took on China in Los Angeles, and once again the US faced almost no resistance. The US won 106-57
Two days later the series vs China moved to San Francisco and the US won by almost the exact same score, just this time the US scored 107 in a 107-57 victory.
The next exhibition game was held in Chicago vs Venezuela. The US looked really uninterested in the game, and focused mainly on their defense and trying to shut down the Venezuelans offense. The US won a fairly uncontested game 80-45.
The last exhibition game was played in Houston against Nigeria - the same team the US had beaten by 83 in the Olympics 4 years prior. This game was a bit closer, the US only won 110-66 in a game that was never close.
Like in past years the bid process was that the host nation (Brazil) got a bid, the World Champions (United States) got a bid, and the winner of the continental tournaments got a bid (Australia, Nigeria, Venezuela, Spain, and China). The runners up for Europe (Lithuania) and the Americans (Argentina) also got bids. New this time around was 3 different qualifying tournaments were other nations had a chance to make the games, those 3 bids went to Serbia, France, and Croatia.
Another new feature was that teams were broken down into six pots of two teams each, these two teams would be similar (Pot 6 being different) and those two teams would not face each other in Group stage. Each pot was based on the teams FIBA ranking, so in Pot 1 the US and Spain were put.
The US was placed in Group A with Australia, China, France, Serbia and Venezuela.
The United States began Olympic play on August 6 against China. The Chinese were not problem fro the US as the game turned into a blowout by the middle of the first quarter. The US won 119-62.
Next the US took on Venezuela, and this game was nothing like the exhibition game. First, the Venezuelans came out playing very well and the score was tied at 18 after the frist quarter. Than the US held the to 8 points in the 2nd quarter as part of a 50-12 run spanning the middle part of the game. The US won easily 113-69.
Australia looked to be the toughest team the US would face in Group play and they turned out to be true. Patty Mills torched the US all night long and the Aussies had the lead at the half. A strong 2nd half by Anthony allowed the US to escape with a 98-88 victory.
Serbia was another team many thought the US would struggle with, and they did. The US got out to a strong start leading by 12 after the first quarter, but the Serbs whittled away the US lead and made it close down the stretch. The US was able to make their free throws and won 94-91 in a game where the score is closer than the game actually was.
The final game of Group play was against France, and once again the US struggled - especially in the 2nd half. The US had a nice lead going into the half, but that got nicked away and soon the game was tied. The US was however, able to win 100-97 and complete a 5-0 group stage.
The US finished a top Group A followed by Australia, France and Serbia. Group B was a bloodbath as everyone lost multiple games and only Spain (+75), Argentina (+13) and Brazil (+4) had positive point differentials. Croatia finished a top Group B followed by Spain, Lithuania, and Argentina. All four finished 3-2.
The US would once again face Argentina in the quarterfinals and it was clear than the Argentines days of Olympic glory were over. The US crushed them 105-78 and it was not even close.
In the semifinals the US would face Spain, a team they had faced twice before in the gold medal games. Spain wanted and needed this win vs the United States, a loss here and there is a chance their greatest team ever never wins a gold medal. The US had a strong first quarter, but like in many other games struggled the longer the game got. The US however, was able to always keep Spain at bay and maintain a 7-10 point lead. The US weathered ever run by Spain and was victorious 82-76.
The US would face Serbia in the gold medal game. The game was the last event of the 2016 Olympics. The game was close early but a strong 2nd quarter put the US up 20 and a strong 3rd quarter put the game out of reach. The US won 96-66 in the largest gold medal game blowout since 1992.
The US won its 15th gold medal, Serbia got the silver and Spain won at the buzzer vs Australia for the bronze medal. Spain's greatest players would never win Olympic gold.
The games cemented Carmelo Anthony's legacy as one of the greatest Olympian basketball players ever.
This was the last major international competition the US would take part in for 3 years. The 2016 Rio games also ended the tenure of head coach Mike Krzyzewksi as he passed the tourch on to Gregg Popovich for future international events. Krzyzewksi would leave Team USA as the most decorated head coach ever having won 3 Olympic gold medals, 2 World Championships, and a bronze medal at the World Championships.
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