Olympic Basketball 2016: TV Schedule, Live Stream and Odds for Day 3
The men's and women's basketball teams will be in action for Team USA on Day 3 at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Both squads leveled the competition in their opening games.
The men topped China on Saturday 119-62, while the women dispatched Senegal by an even more ridiculous 121-56 margin.
It doesn't look like anyone will be able to put a scare into the Americans in group play, but that doesn't mean these early days of Olympic basketball will be devoid of intrigue.
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There's plenty of talent in both groups, and it will be on display throughout Monday's action in Rio.
| Men | ||||
| A | 1:15 p.m. ET | Serbia | Australia | |
| A | 6 p.m. ET | USA | Venezuela | NBCSN |
| A | 9:30 p.m. ET | France | China | |
| Women | ||||
| B | 11 a.m. ET | Spain | USA | NBCSN |
| B | 1:15 p.m. ET | Canada | Serbia | |
| A | 4:30 p.m. ET | Japan | Brazil | |
| B | 6:45 p.m. ET | Senegal | China |
| USA | 1-16 |
| Spain | 10-1 |
| France | 14-1 |
| Serbia | 22-1 |
| Brazil | 28-1 |
| Lithuania | 28-1 |
| Argentina | 28-1 |
| Croatia | 50-1 |
| Australia | 150-1 |
| China | 500-1 |
| Venezuela | 500-1 |
| Nigeria | 500-1 |
Full group listings and standings can be found at NBCOlympics.com.
Another Day, Another Chance to Roll for USA
It's safe to say the men of Team USA have China figured out. The two teams played three times in the last three weeks, with USA posting an average margin of victory of 52 points.
Coach K and Co. will now face a team that played them much tougher during their pre-Olympic exhibition tour. Then again, the definition of tough is all relative in this competition.
Venezuela, which faces USA on Monday, managed to muck the game up July 29, holding USA to 80 points. Of course, it still lost by 35.
Slowing the game down and hoping USA misses jumpers again is the key to Venezuela securing the feather in its cap as the only team to hold the Americans under 100.
On the women's side, USA is coming off a record-setting performance. The team's previous record for points in a game was 114, set in 1992 and tied in 2012. Dropping 121 on Senegal gives the ladies something to shoot for over the next two weeks. That may wind up being their best competition.
Will Australia Make Another Statement?
With four of its five starters in the NBA, France came into this tournament as a serious medal contender. But on Day 1, it ran into a kangaroo-sized kick from an Australian squad that looks poised to play spoiler.
In hindsight, the 21-point win shouldn't have been much of a surprise. Australia's starting lineup of Matthew Dellavedova, Patty Mills, Joe Ingles, Aron Baynes and Andrew Bogut features five NBA rotation players. Four of them are NBA champions, as pointed out by USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt.
And the fact they're all role players in their day jobs is part of why they're so unselfish. The team-first, motion-heavy offense Australia deploys is tough to defend, especially with the deft passing of Ingles, Bogut and Dellavedova.
Another strong showing, this time against Serbia, would put the rest of the group on notice.
A Chance to Get Back on Track for France
France is loaded with talent. Starters Tony Parker, Nicolas Batum and Rudy Gobert all start for their respective NBA teams. Boris Diaw and Joffrey Lauvergne are both rotation big men in the league.
As is often the case in basketball, though, talent alone isn't enough. France's chemistry looked like an experiment gone wrong on Day 1, particularly on the defensive end.
Australia deserves credit for the way its players were back-cutting all over the floor, but France did little to get in the way.
On the other end, better ball movement is the key.
"It's not our game to play one-on-one," Diaw said, per Kurt Kragthorpe of the Salt Lake Tribune. "... We've got to move the ball."
In China, the French have an opponent against whom they should be able to sort out some of those issues. Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin are the only NBA players on China's roster, and as 2016 draftees, they have yet to play a minute in the league.
France should use this game as an opportunity to sort out its rotations on defense and share the ball more on offense. Better effort on both ends certainly wouldn't hurt, either.
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