Ahead of the opening ceremony on Friday, which officially marks the beginning of the Games, head coach Steve Kerr stated that it was time for his side to 'lock in.'<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"(It\u2019s) just effort and energy, play after play after play. This is different. This is not an 82-game season (like the NBA). They\u2019re not going to play 125 games total with preseason and playoffs and all that. It\u2019s literally six games. And watching the tape, we\u2019re jogging through some possessions, not hitting bodies on box-outs. And so it\u2019s time. It\u2019s time to lock in on that. And as I said, that\u2019s for all of us \u2014 coaches and players \u2014 to get to that point,\u201d said head coach Kerr in a press conference.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The USA team is coming off a tremendous round of exhibition games going 6-0 in games that were played in London, Dubai and Las Vegas in which they faced two of the three members of their Group C in Serbia and South Sudan.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
South Sudan were the team that almost got the better of the giants but a late winner by LeBron James saw them lose by just a point.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Former teammates for the Golden State Warriors, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant, claimed that the level of competition on the international stage has risen and that the opponents they will face are much more challenging than what the Dream Team had to face in the 1992 Olympics.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"You see that thing where they said the Dream Team played against nine NBA players, and...\" Curry trailed off before Kevin Durant completed his sentence by saying, \"We\u2019re playing against 65, or 64 NBA players now. They\u2019re all the best of the best in the world now.\"<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Former teammates for the Golden State Warriors, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant, claimed that the level of competition on the international stage has risen and that the opponents they will face are much more challenging than what the Dream Team had to face in the 1992 Olympics.<\/p>\r\n\r\n