Team USA Crushed Tunisia 110-63


The Americans were favored by 54 points against Tunisia, and though they fell short of that gambling milestone, Team USA is happy with the result and is now looking forward to a bit of R&R. Per NBA.com: “There is only so much of the buildup and competition that an Olympic team can take before a simple day completely off is warranted. That day is now for this team, as was evident from their lackluster start that preceded their monstrous finish in Tuesday night’s 110-63 blowout win over Tunisia. Don’t let the first seven minutes of the game fool you. The 47-point victory margin was indicative of exactly what went on in the game. But it’s what goes on between now and Thursday’s tilt against Nigeria that might be most important for this team. Carmelo Anthony bypassed the King’s English and kept it real when asked if it had to be now? ‘Hell yeah, yeah,’ he said and then smiled. ‘We’re still going to be around each other in the hotel or whatever sightseeing or other [Olympic] events we might get into. We’ve been going since Vegas non-stop and putting in a lot of work. I think [Wednesday], we definitely need that day.’ So don’t take the uneven start or U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski‘s decision to start his second unit after halftime or anything else you saw for anything other than what it was. Everything that went on Tuesday, including the announcement hours before the game against Tunisia that they’d have Wednesday off, was done with the bigger picture in mind. […] With all due respect to Tunisia, Krzyzewski had no intention of letting his team loose on them the way he would have against a different opponent, say one of the handful of teams that pose a legitimate threat to the mission. ‘This isn’t a sprint, it’s a longer race and there is a lot of things that have to be done before the medal round,’ Krzyzewski said. ‘We didn’t get anybody hurt tonight, even though with Kevin we were concerned. I think you have to always look at it … I know people critique, what is it, quarter by quarter and minute by minute. But that’s not the way you develop a team. What did we get accomplished tonight? We won by almost 50 points against a team that really wanted to play hard against us and wanted to play zone.'”