even touchdowns.I think theyre using his strengths as good as anybody Ive witnessed this year on film, Bielema said. Hes a very talented player and be

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Everyone in American basketball circles understands that there will never, ever be another Dream Team. Nike Basketball Shoes Sale .Thats easy to accept.Far less pleasant for the latest assemblage of Team USA hoopsters to stomach is the growing realization that even their dream scenario here at the Summer Olympics, which was presumed to be pretty attainable, continues to dribble out of reach.Winning in style is no longer the target.Winning, period, is the sole aim now.USA Basketballs Rio roster is unquestionably stronger than the one stocked with fill-ins that dominated the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain, but opposition continuity is proving to be a stubborn and dangerous equalizer a mere two years later down here in South America. Although a clutch of perennial powers have all creakily descended from their respective peaks -- namely Spain, Argentina and the hosts Brazil -- no longer is Team USA expected to roll like so many know-it-alls worldwide presumed when we got here.Not after three successive struggles for Mike Krzyzewskis squad.Not after three very jittery fourth quarters in a row against teams from Australia, Serbia and France that really look like t-e-a-m-s.Obviously everybody wants us to win by a lot of points, but its not how its gonna go this time, Team USA star forward Kevin Durant conceded Sunday after Tony Parker-less France refused to cave and fell just shy of a momentous upset in a 100-97 escape for the Yanks in these teams Group A finale.Weve gotta be prepared for a grind-out game, Durant continued. I think we showed the last three games we can grind it out.Give the Americans that much. They are finding ways to prevail even though defensive struggles continue to plague a group that legitimately believed as recently as five days ago that this was a shutdown outfit that would snuff out anyone and everyone.Theyve still got a team full of All-Stars, France center Rudy Gobert said. Today they didnt play very good and still won. So theyre still the favorite.Added French veteran Boris Diaw, Goberts new teammate with the Utah Jazz: They havent been dominating, but they havent lost either. Theyre still unbeaten, so we cant say that theyre struggling.Except that we most certainly can.The French entered Sundays play as the second-rated defensive team in the tournament. They certainly havent been flowing at the other end like Australia or Serbia, yet managed to make a run at triple digits despite the fact that Parker was forced to watch the whole game from the bench in a white team hoody, held out as a precaution after a toe bruise he suffered Friday night against Venezuela.Kyrie Irving (12 assists, zero turnovers) was clearly more intent on getting teammates involved Sunday -- especially after Durant mustered just four field-goal attempts Friday night against Serbia -- while Klay Thompson busted out of his hard-to-believe shooting slump in a vintage Klay way. But weve seen precious little progress from the Americans over these past three games, starting with the Australia scare.Thats the worry.Its probably unreasonable to expect them function like a true team after essentially a month together. Comparing these Yanks to this generation of French players -- whove largely been a unit for six years, as wily coach Vincent Collet pointed out -- is harsher still.Yet it seems more than fair to have expected Team USA in one of these last two games, against either Serbia or France sans Parker, to look more like a unit than it has.Or to expect the Americans to register more than the whopping two blocked shots theyve managed in the past two games.This isnt a tournament that were going to just dominate, Team USA swingman Paul George said. Theres talent around this world and theyre showcasing it. For us, its just figuring out how were going to win. Were having spurts of dominating, but were just not finding ways to put a full 40 minutes together.Krzyzewski lamented what he described as a fourth-quarter letdown when the Americans felt like we had the game won. George spoke of squandering that moment when we looked like we were gonna steamroll em.Down 16 late in the third quarter, playing loose and free to use Krzyzewskis words and undoubtedly inspired by the troubles Australia and Serbia caused the heavy favorites, France uncorked a rally that clinched yet another uncomfortable postgame round of whats-wrong probing from the assembled media before the medal round.Team USA wont know who it faces in Wednesdays quarterfinals until after Mondays final round of games in Group B, but France looms a potential semifinal opponent.With Parker surely back at the controls.And lets not even start with the stuff about all the various studs back home who, for whatever reason, either couldnt be here or chose not to. There certainly are several top American stars who arent here, but it should be an official IOC rule: No one who plays, coaches or roots for Team USA is ever allowed to complain about what the roster might be missing.At the end of the day, no one will ask you anything else except if you won [gold], Krzyzewski said. While youre approaching that winning the whole thing, youre asked a whole bunch of other things.I think were getting getting better offensively and we have to get better defensively. Just a succinct comment in that regard.Translation: Coach K essentially just confirmed that this tournament has already been too tough to worry one whit about style points. Air Jordan 24 Sale .C. -- After a listless first half, the Washington Wizards used a big third quarter run to beat the Charlotte Bobcats Bradley Beal scored 21 points and the Wizards used a 17-0 run in the third quarter to take control of what had been a close game and beat the Bobcats 97-83 on Tuesday night. Air Jordan 11 Sale . LOUIS -- Heading into the final stretch of the season, the issues for the Chicago Bears banged-up defence only seem to be getting worse. https://www.wholesaleshoesforcheap.com/yeezy-750-sale/ . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. All offseason, this has been the four-game stretch circled for No. 1 Alabama as the treacherous portion of a road back to the College Football Playoff for the defending champion Crimson Tide.Saturday begins a five-week stretch in which undefeated Alabama plays at Arkansas, at Tennessee, hosts Texas A&M, and plays at LSU after the bye week.The Crimson Tide (5-0, 2-0) starts things off with a trip to Arkansas for a date with the 16th-ranked Razorbacks (4-1, 0-1) at 7 p.m. ET Saturday at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville (ESPN).Alabama has owned this rivalry during coach Nick Sabans tenure, but it hasnt always been easy in the games played in Fayetteville.Though the Tide coasted past the Razorbacks 52-0 in 2012, the 2010 game was decided by only four points, 24-20, and two years ago it came down to just one point with the Tide escaping 14-13.This year the Razorbacks look to be one of the few teams that can compete with Alabama physically.They got a big offensive line, Tide linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton said. Its going to be a good, hard-fought game, so we got to eat our Wheaties this weekend. Be ready to play some physical football.Saban is stressing the threat Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen poses for his defense. In his first year as a starter, Allen has completed 67.6 percent of his passes for over 246 yards a game with just two interceptions in 121 attempts against 12 touchdown tosses.Their quarterback is playing great for them Saban said. They are very well coached. They have some very good skill players, good wide receivers and good running backs.Rawleigh Williams (111.8 yards a game rushing) and Devwah Whaley (6.7 per carry) give the Hogs a one-two punch at running back, and veteran wide receiver Keon Hatcher is averaging over 20 yards a catch.Wide receiver Jared Cornelius has four touchdown catches, wide receiver Drew Morgan has 28 receptions, and tight end Jeremy Sprinkle has 15 catches and could become a key outlet against Alabama.One big key for Arkansas will be protecting Allen. Bama has 17 sacks in five games with defensive end Jonathan Allen leading with 4.0 and linebacker Ryan Anderson right behind with 3.5 for the season. Allen took a lot of hits in Arkansas loss to Texas A&M as the Aggies outscored the Hogs 28-7 in the second half of their 45-24 win. Air Jordan 28 Sale. efensively, the Razorbacks have to avoid giving up the big play, a problem season long. Texas A&M was able to score quickly in the second half two weeks ago, and though Alcorn State couldnt generate points the Braves did manage to pile up yardage in chunks.That will not be easy to do with the Tide going to a spread offense with freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts running the show. Hurts is actually second on the team in rushing with 276 yards to the 356 of running back Damien Harris and 250 of running back Joshua Jacobs.He can hurt you, Bielema somewhat sheepishly said of Hurts. Im sure thats not the first pun thrown out at you.But its not just his rushing ability that makes the Tide so explosive. Hurts has completed 62.2 percent of his passes with only one interception in 135 attempts against seven touchdowns.I think theyre using his strengths as good as anybody Ive witnessed this year on film, Bielema said. Hes a very talented player and being used in the right way. And hes got some good players around him.One of those is wide receiver Calvin Ridley, who has 35 receptions for 398 yards and three touchdowns. Tight end O.J. Howard (12 catches, 165 yards) is one of the nations best.All that said, one thing that Bielema doesnt want his players to do is to look at the Tide as a group of Supermen.Obviously, being Alabama and the team that they are theres going to be a certain focus on them, he said. But I did urge those guys -- I said it Saturday in the postgame locker room and said it to them again yesterday -- I think probably the thing Ive learned most from being in these games -- and it took me a while in my previous job, too -- when youre going up against a team of their caliber you really dont need an extra ordinary out-of-body experience. Just do your job.There is such a thing as being too hyped up.The more you press, Bielema said, the more you try making something more than it needs to be, the more you end up misfiring. ' ' '