U.S. men's basketball team loses to Australia, snaps 78-game win streak
Source: NBC Sports
U.S. men's basketball team loses to Australia, snaps 78-game win streak
By OlympicTalk Aug 24, 2019, 6:17 AM EDT
The U.S. men's basketball team's 98-94 exhibition loss to Australia on Saturday snapped a 78-game win streak in major international tournaments and exhibitions, a first defeat for a roster of NBA players since the 2006 FIBA World Championship.
The U.S. led by as much as 10 in the third quarter before an Australian team sparked by San Antonio Spurs guard Patty Mills rallied in Melbourne for an eye-opening result one week before the FIBA World Cup starts.
A full box score is here. (1) After the game, the U.S. roster for the World Cup was announced. (2)
The U.S. is still favored to win the World Cup, where the top two teams from North and South America will qualify for the 2020 Olympics in the first of multiple chances to grab a Tokyo Games spot. But, with a roster missing NBA superstars like LeBron James and Stephen Curry, there is a much smaller margin of error for new coach Gregg Popovich.
"Nobody wins forever," Popovich said, according to USA Basketball. "The Aussies gave us a great lesson as far as where we have to be and how we have to play in this kind of competition."
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(1)https://www.usab.com/news-events/live-stats/2019/mnt/box-score-mnt-vs-aus-2.aspx
(2) https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2019/08/24/usa-basketball-roster-fiba-world-cup/
Read more: https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2019/08/24/usa-mens-basketball-loses-australia/
This never happened under Obama.
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Australia stuns Team USA, snaps 78-game streak
https://www.espn.com/olympics/basketball/story/_/id/27450965/australia-stuns-team-usa-snaps-78-game-streak
Associated Press 2:47 AM EST
{Yes, I am pushing that 12-hour time limit.}
MELBOURNE, Australia -- The World Cup is a week away, and the United States is no lock for gold.
Australia delivered that message to the world Saturday.
For the first time in nearly 13 years, a U.S. roster of NBA players played an international game -- and lost. Patty Mills scored 30 points, and Australia rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second half to stun the Americans 98-94 and snap a 78-game U.S. winning streak that started with the bronze-medal game at the 2006 world championships.
"They wanted it more than us tonight,'' U.S. guard Kemba Walker said. "Lesson learned for us.''
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= new reply since forum marked as read
not getting invited to the White House, oh wait, that's the booby prize. 
