“We came out lazy,” Dwyane Wade said.
“We just broke down. We gambled a couple of times and allowed them to make the extra pass,” LeBron James said.
That’s not what you want to hear from Team USA, the heavily favored band of American NBA stars who struggled before pulling out a victory against Australia in their final Olympic tune-up.
Seriously, what happened to the “Doberman?”
Kobe Bryant likened himself to the attack dog after his defensive performance against Lithuania but didn’t back that up – and either did the rest of the team – until the second half.
The Americans led by only four points nearly midway through the third quarter and was ahead by just seven in the fourth. And the Australians were resting their best player, Andrew Bogut.
Team USA needs all of its big dogs to play hard for 40 minutes if they want to avoid a repeat of ’04.
