Paul George thought Team USA wins would come 'easy'

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After obliterating its initial two opponents by an average of 50 points, Team USA has faced several close calls, winning its three subsequent contests by just 16 combined.

Many didn't expect the final scores to be that close, including Paul George.

"I think to start out, personally, I thought we were going to dominate and these games were going to be easy," he told Michael Lee of The Vertical following Sunday's 100-97 victory over a Tony Parker-less French squad. "We started playing better competition, I think you see, across the board, these teams are pretty good."

The Indiana Pacers swingman believes continuity is key to the success of his foes.

"The luxury they have is they've been together for so long," he said. "You really can't stress that enough. You see it. They just read each other so well. I think that's the biggest thing that really separates us from them."

Unlike the last three opponents in Australia, Serbia, and France - which all trot out roughly the same group of players in international tournaments - the current USA roster includes 10 first-time Olympians - six of whom are representing the red, white, and blue on the world stage for the first time.

One of the two American players with experience in the Summer Games, Carmelo Anthony is preaching preparedness and not letting up in the knockout stages.

"We got to be prepared for whatever," he said. "We come into these games with the same mindset: to dominate. However the game comes out, that's what we live with and adjust to that."