{"id":602573,"date":"2021-07-26T11:21:01","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T15:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=602573"},"modified":"2021-07-26T11:21:03","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T15:21:03","slug":"woke-u-s-mens-olympic-basketball-team-embarrassed-by-france-in-tokyo-games-opener-first-loss-since-2004","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/woke-u-s-mens-olympic-basketball-team-embarrassed-by-france-in-tokyo-games-opener-first-loss-since-2004\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Woke\u2019 U.S. Men\u2019s Olympic Basketball Team Embarrassed By France In Tokyo Games Opener, First Loss Since 2004"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwoke-u-s-mens-olympic-basketball-team-embarrassed-by-france-in-tokyo-games-opener-first-loss-since-2004%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=602573&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1327535997.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>The U.S. men\u2019s Olympic basketball team led by \u201cwoke\u201d coach Gregg Popovich fell to France in the team\u2019s opening game in Tokyo, losing at the Games for the first time since 2004.<\/p>\n<p>The stunning loss has Popovich, who has been leading the woke movement in the NBA, on the ropes, according to sports media.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTeam USA men\u2019s basketball was fried by the French in a stunning opening loss at the Tokyo Olympics,\u201d the New York Post reported Sunday. \u201cThe Americans led Team France by seven with under four minutes remaining, but the French scored the next 14 points for a shocking 83-76 victory Sunday at Saitama Super Arena.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The French team left the Americans stunned and handed them their first loss since 2004, when the United States lost its Olympic opener to Puerto Rico by 19 points. At the time, that was Team USA\u2019s first loss since 1992, when the International Olympic Committee opened up participation to professional athletes. Team USA went on to win the bronze medal in 1992, and it seems the 2021 team may be aiming lower than previous squads.<\/p>\n<p>Evan Fournier, a breakout star for Team France, excused the American team, rationalizing that a number of Team USA players were fresh off the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey had a good run, but we just stuck with our game plan,\u201d Fournier said. \u201cSecond, you have to be honest and look at their roster, they have guys who are pretty tired from playing in the NBA Finals. We know they aren\u2019t at full strength yet, but it was a good win regardless for us. It\u2019s a hell of a win, and our country is going to be extremely proud.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Coach Gregg Popovich, however, was less conciliatory, blaming expectations \u2014 not the team \u2014 for Sunday\u2019s shocker.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that\u2019s a little bit of hubris if you think the Americans are supposed to just roll out the balls and win,\u201d Popovich said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to work for it just like everybody else. And for those 40 minutes, they played better than we did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sports commentators in the United States, though, laid the blame squarely on Popovich.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you want to call Gregg Popovich the greatest coach in NBA history, go right ahead,\u201d USA Today\u2019s sports reporter noted. \u201cBut let\u2019s be as direct and to the point as Popovich usually is: He stinks at Olympic basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you want to know where to put the blame for Team USA\u2019s 83-76 loss to France \u2013 America\u2019s first Olympic men\u2019s basketball loss in 6,176 days \u2013 look no further than the guy with five NBA titles who has been clueless from the very moment he was given the reins to USA Basketball,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/columnist\/dan-wolken\/2021\/07\/25\/olympics-mens-basketball-popovich-blame-usa-loses-france\/8086604002\/\">USA Today continued in its brutal takedown<\/a>. \u201cClueless in what he values with this roster. Clueless with an offense that unlocks very little of what his players do well. Clueless with the expectations he took on by following Mike Krzyzewski in this admittedly thankless job.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nba\/news\/france-gregg-popovich-olympics-team-usa-coach\/1f2irjrbk2cut18ucp3ankn3v8\">Sporting News added<\/a> that Popovich was \u201crunning out of time,\u201d and that the Olympic coach \u201cappeared, at times, like he&nbsp;hadn\u2019t watched his own team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It may be that Popovich, who typically coaches the San Antonio Spurs, simply isn\u2019t enthusiastic about international competition. He\u2019s a strange choice to lead an Olympic Team USA, given that he\u2019s regularly bashed the United States in commentary, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/nbas-popovich-the-flag-is-irrelevant-its-just-a-symbol-that-people-glom-onto-for-political-reasons\">calling the American flag \u201d&nbsp;irrelevant<\/a>\u201d and \u201ca symbol that people glom onto for political reasons.\u201d He called former President Donald Trump a \u201csoulless coward,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/spurs-coach-popovich-blasts-trump-over-nfl-ben-shapiro\">and the U.S<\/a>. \u201can embarrassment to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The United States will likely win their next matchup against Iran, which lost its own opener to the Czech Republic, 84-78.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\">member<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. men\u2019s Olympic basketball team led by \u201cwoke\u201d coach Gregg Popovich fell to France in the team\u2019s opening game in Tokyo, losing at the Games for the first time &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-602573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}