USA coach Mike Krzyzewski believes his team is starting to gel at just the right time as they head into the business end of the men’s Olympic basketball competition.
Given the quality of the squad assembled by Krzyzewski, it was expected the United States would sweep all before them en route to the gold medal.
However, despite coming out on top in all their matches in Rio, the margin of victory in the majority of games has been much smaller than predicted.
The last three games against Australia, Serbia and France have seen the US win by a combined margin of 16 points, leading to questions about the slow nature with which the all-star team is coming together.
Krzyzewski, who will step down as coach after the Rio Games, has insisted he has no concerns over the chemistry between his players and feels the fans will start to see the best of his team come the knockout stages.
He told ESPN: “I do think they trust each other. They’re just not accustomed to playing with one another. When you’re together for one month, it’s not as instinctive.
“But don’t confuse it with not getting along, pulling for each other, things like that. It’s just not as instinctive as it would be for an international team that’s played together for years.
“That’s always something that we have to fight in putting a team together for these international competitions.
But we’re getting there.” Team USA will face Argentina in the quarter-finals of the 2016 Olympics with the South American nation hoping to spring another surprise after eliminating the States from the 2004 Games in Athens.
The two nations met in a warm-up game last month, the US winning by 37 points, and Krzyzewski’s team are 1.02 for victory, while Argentina are 10.00.
The winners of that match will face either Spain, silver medallists at the last two Olympics, or France in the semi-finals. Spain are 1.36 for the win, while a French victory is priced at 2.88.
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