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RIO DE JANEIRO -- Rival is the wrong word.Giving the United States one almighty scare, as they most certainly just did, should not and does not put Australias Boomers on the same level as Carmelo Anthony & Co.When youre sporting a 71-game winning streak as we speak, like Team USA, you have no real rivals.However ...You can safely draw the following conclusion after the scrappy, stubborn display witnessed in Olympic Park on Wednesday night from the green-and-gold-clad squad led Patty Mills, Matthew Dellavedova and Andrew Bogut:Australia is suddenly closer to the R-word than anyone else in world basketball.Closer than France. Closer than Argentina. Closer, even, than Mike Krzyzewskis old friends from Spain.That sentiment was slammed home in the mixed zone after the game, not by journalists or pundits but by the likes of Kevin Durant, Paul George, Klay Thompson and Krzyzewski himself. The Aussies led by as many as eight points in the first half, stayed within a possession or two until the final minute of Team USAs wholly uncomfortable 98-88 victory and, as you listened to the big names tell it, left the distinct impression that theyll be an obstacle for the Yanks one more time down here.They can go pretty far, Durant said. Im pretty sure well probably run into them again.Said George: Were probably going to see them again. Were going to have to do a better job matching them.And Thompson: Theyre a tough team. Well probably see them again, so that was a lot of fun.And lastly Coach K: You beat one of the best teams in the tournament. You beat a team that could ... they are going to vie for a gold medal.Not even halfway through an event that requires the victorious nation to play eight games, Australia has already been that impressive, earning raves from some of the most esteemed hoops luminaries that have gathered in South America for its toughness, cohesion, chemistry, physicality and, most of all, fearlessness.Once-mighty Spain has shown signs of age and stumbled to an 0-2 start. France was on the brink of falling to 1-2 in Group A before Tony Parkers game-turning bucket earlier Wednesday pulled out a one-point win over Serbia. Getting-up-there Argentina has looked reasonably frisky in the face of lowered expectations, but no one out there comes close to matching what Australia is doing now that Bogut -- who was forced to miss the London Olympics in 2012 thanks to a serious ankle injury -- has joined London holdovers Mills, Dellavedova, Joe Ingles, Aron Baynes and David Andersen.Australia, Krzyzewski said, has probably played the best of anybody in the Olympics.Its true. The Aussies spanked France by 21 points on the tournaments opening day, followed it up with a 15-point victory over Serbia and looked as credible as they ever have against Team USA ... while also making you wonder how dangerous they might have been had they been able to throw a youngster named Ben Simmons at the scalding-hot Anthony as opposed to the clunkier big men at Australias disposal who dont have the foot speed or agility to keep up with Melo.If they had Simmons in this game, one NBA general manager said over the phone after watching the United States finally carve out a 98-88 victory, Australia wins.Yet even without the Philadelphia 76ers dynamic rookie, who wowed summer-league-goers with his passing eye and athleticism, Australia needs just two more wins over lowly Venezuela and China to secure second place in Group A.And that would ensure that Australia, after quarterfinal losses to the United States in Beijing and London by 31 points and 33 points, cant face the Americans again until the gold-medal game on Aug. 21.Andersen, Australias elder statesman, reflected on those prior meetings by saying that the current squad brought a bit more sense of belief onto the floor for this shot at Team USA.Were building something special here, Andersen said.Bogut then explained that the players on the 12-man Olympic roster, in a further departure from the old mentality, made a conscious decision as a collective to aim for the absolute summit of the sport.The Australian media is saying, This is the best thing ever, you battled, were proud of you -- but were disappointed, Bogut said after Wednesdays near-miss. And thats the mindset we have to have. This groups a little different to ones Ive been on in the past, whereas we would have celebrated this loss. And thats just not right. So well work on things and hopefully see them again and battle them the same way.No disrespect to the U.S., but we dont want to get into an Olympics aiming for second or fourth or ninth. You should go in with the mindset of trying to be first. And if they beat you, they beat you. ... Guys [used to be] kind of afraid to say gold medal, and [preferred] saying, Lets get a medal. But we said as a group: No. Lets go for gold. And then well live with whatever we get after that if we dont get it.Australia has never medaled in mens basketball and had never even opened the tournament at 2-0 before its wins over France and Serbia. Yet its all changed with the way Dellavedova and Mills mesh in the backcourt, how Delly and Bogut move the ball with their passing and, of course, how they scrapped and made the Yanks work so hard to dig out of a 54-49 halftime deficit, Team USAs first deficit at intermission in the Olympics since the ill-fated semifinal loss to Argentina at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.It got real, Team USAs George conceded. It definitely got real.For this group, thats the first real international game weve had, Krzyzewski said, referring to his 10 first-time Olympians and their maiden taste of navigating a true scare without warning in the wake of blowout after blowout.This, Coach K went on to say, was a very, very good night for us.Handy to know this early, in other words, just how high the bar is. Acheter Air Force 1 Pas Cher .Y. -- Bills receiver Stevie Johnson has a bone to pick with the NFL schedule maker. Vente Air Max 97 . The Olympic champion curler and TSN curling analyst immediately went online to look at the Halls long list of honoured members. Thats when the enormity of the honour sunk in. http://www.airmaxpaschervente.fr/destockage-air-force-1-france.html . LOUIS -- St. Vente Air Max Pas Cher .J. -- Seven games into a disappointing season, New York Giants defensive catalyst Jason Pierre-Paul is getting the feeling hes back. Air Jordan 1 Pas Cher France . Pedro scored from a pass by Lionel Messi in the 33rd minute and added two more goals in the 47th and 72nd after Valdes saved his second penalty in four days following his stop in Wednesdays 4-0 over Ajax in the Champions League. Multiple teams have reached out to the Cleveland Browns to inquire about the availability of wide receiver Josh Gordon, league sources told ESPNs Adam Schefter.However, a Browns team source told Schefter that the team is not looking to trade Gordon.Gordon said Tuesday that he doesnt want to be traded.I havent heard too much about it, Gordon said. Cleveland is my team. Thats where I want to be, everything like that. Thats not even in the ballpark for me. Im not sure how that works.Cleveland has tried to establish an environment in which Gordon could thrive, and many around the league believe first-year head coach Hue Jackson is the right coach for him.I think it works out perfectly then for me, he said. Mr. [Jimmy] Haslam, the organization, Coach Jackson, I think the world of those guys, this city, this organization. Theyre showing me the love and respect back to me by allowing me to stay here up to this point.I expect to move forward with tthat.dddddddddddd Im excited about it. This is where I want to be and Im happy to be with Cleveland.Gordon took part in three series with the Browns starters in Sundays practice.Gordon, 25, is?suspended for the first four games?to start the regular season, but the NFL is allowing him to participate in team activities during the ban.Jackson said he wants to be sure that Gordon will be ready to face the?New England Patriots in Week 5 on Oct. 9, the same game Tom Brady?returns from a four-game suspension.Gordon led the NFL with 1,646 receiving yards in the 2013 season but was suspended for 27 of the next 32 games for violating the NFLs substance abuse policy. He has 161 receptions for 2,754 yards and 14 touchdowns in 35 career games, all with the Browns.ESPN Browns reporter Pat McManamon contributed to this report. ' ' '