US first among equals
Naturally, all eyes are on Team USA as it prepares to defend its title at the Paris Olympics late this month. The roster is a veritable Who’s Who of National Basketball Association All-Stars, certainly even more stacked than that which claimed the Gold in Tokyo three years ago. Back from the pandemic-hit squad are Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bam Adebayo, Jrue Holiday, and Jayson Tatum. Backstopping them are LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Edwards, and Tyrese Haliburton.
Considering the pedigree of the players, the US has rightly been tabbed the overwhelming favorite to emerge first among equals. It isn’t projected to suffer a defeat — not in tuneups, not in group matches, and not in knockout affairs. Which, to be sure, doesn’t mean the competitors will be sharing the court with it already primed for defeat. To the contrary, they’re likely to exert even more effort to take the measure of the supposed juggernaut. After all, it’s one thing to be the fashionable pick of oddsmakers, and quite another to prove worthy of the prognosis.
For would-be contenders, the onus is on the US to definitively demonstrate its ascendancy. After all, it prepped for the 2021 Games with the same expectations, only to lose twice in four exhibition set-tos and again in group play. And when all the marbles were at stake, it had to overcome a scare from France to prevail by an underwhelming two possessions. Bottom line, the pressure is on it to fend off challengers confident of their capacity to exceed themselves.
Indeed, the path to success will not be easy for the US. That said, it’s bent on showing that while the gap between it and the rest of the world is no longer yawning, there remains one. And because it’s keen on making a statement, it has been going full bore even in scrimmages. The City of Light beckons, and it’s determined to shine brightly.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.