RIO DE JANEIRO -- Team USA women's star Diana Taurasi was in the stands Wednesday night for the U.S. men's scare against Australia, and she is convinced the near-loss will benefit her male counterparts in their quest for gold.
"You know what?" Taurasi said as both U.S. teams prepared to return to group play Friday. "Those are the games that make you better in the long run."
The men face Milos Teodosic-led Serbia on Friday night in a rematch of the 2014 FIBA World Cup final. The Mike Krzyzewski-coached Americans have won 71 games in a row internationally, including 48 in FIBA competition, but they trailed Australia by five points at halftime and didn't gain any meaningful separation until the final 30 seconds of an eventual 98-88 win.
The U.S. women were watching in the crowd, just a few hours after a record-setting performance from Taurasi against Serbia stretched the ladies' win streak to 35 games in official FIBA play.
It's safe to say no team understands the pressure shouldered by the Team USA men better than Taurasi and her teammates, since both teams are not only expected to win every time they step onto the court, but win handily.
"We all have 'em in stretches," Taurasi said of the Australia scare. "It's good that they had it early. You know they played a really good team. Australia has five [NBA] pros. They play hard. And it was all the European things that you're not used to. The calls. The flopping. The calls that in the NBA you get [but] you don't get in international play.
"It's just experience and you put it in the bank. And down the line they're going to benefit from that."
Taurasi added: "We lost a game like that in Brazil 10 years ago where we didn't overcome that stuff and Russia beat us, and we got third place in the World Championship. We've been in that place. Theirs happened in pool play. And they still got the win, so I think that'll help 'em down the line."
The Americans needed a massive game from Carmelo Anthony to escape the stubborn Aussies. Anthony finished with 31 points -- including nine 3-pointers -- and combined with Kyrie Irving to score 26 of Team USA's 28 points in the fourth quarter. The U.S. defense also improved dramatically after surrendering an uncharacteristic 54 points in the first half.
"I think the best thing about it was, there was no panic meter," swingman Paul George said. "There was no one in the locker room nipping at each other. There was no thought of defeat."
Said forward Draymond Green: "I don't think there was any point that anyone felt we were gonna lose the game. But in saying that, we're not saying, 'Oh, we're invincible.' ... I think it also gave us kind of a feel of what a medal-round game would be like."
Friday marks the first Olympic meeting between the U.S. men and Serbia, which features only one NBA player: Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic. But Serbian center Miroslav Raduljica has played in the league, and guard Bogdan Bogdanovic's rights were recently acquired by the Sacramento Kings in a draft-day trade with Phoenix.
The Serbians (1-2) are coming off a one-point loss to France on a late Tony Parker basket, and they lost by 15 points to Australia after opening the Olympics with a 24-point rout of Venezuela. Team USA (3-0) won the teams' last meeting in the World Cup by 37 points after falling into an early five-point deficit.
As for the sky-high expectations of both USA Basketball teams, Taurasi said: "I'd rather be on this team than the other [team]. That's a pressure that we relish."