Picture Credit: Twitter
Although Team USA did not have the best of outings in the men's basketball match against France on Sunday at the Olympics, it was the half-time show by a robot that became the talking point. While in the match, USA had taken a 45-37 lead into the halftime, they looked a pale shadow of themselves in the second half and were outscored 25-11 in the third quarter.
However, despite, leading the lead back in the fourth quarter, France closed the game 16-2 to win 83-76, bringing an end to the 25-game winning streak for the Olympics. While the Americans dominated the first half and the France team did well in the second half, the star of the show was a basketball shooting robot that took the court and started drilling shots with ease and accuracy. The video of the robot going about its job has gone viral on the internet.
Check out the video here:
While the robot was not only good from the free-throw line but also showed his wide range, shooting from the three-point line as well as a half-court. While in their game against France, the USA shot 36% from the floor, the robot, by contrast, went three for three and showed off the range that would even make the top players in awe of the machine. However, there are quite a few drawbacks to the robot's gameplay. While it takes too much to shoot, it might not add the same kind of value in the defense, which remains a vital part of the game.
"I think that’s a little bit of hubris if you think the Americans are supposed to just roll out the balls and win," US coach Gregg Popovich said after the match.
"We’ve got to work for it just like everybody else. And for those 40 minutes, they played better than we did," he added.
To put things into perspective, the Americans lost only for the sixth time in 144 matches at the Olympics. The 2004 team at the Athens Summer Games had lost the other three and ended up winning the bronze medal.