Those were the words of Kevin Durant addressing the Associated Press. It’s a statement that may or may not needed to have been said, because the fact remains that while the US team can be beaten, they likely won’t…not if they keep their noses to the grindstone.

That statement will be tested first tonight against Australia. Can the Aussies give the US a run?

I doubt it, but they did beat the Russians (4-1), one of the stronger teams in pool play. It was Russia’s lone loss, so the US should definitely be cautious against this Aussie team. In that game, Joe Ingles led the way for AUS, putting up 20 points on an outstanding 8 of 11 shooting performance. They managed the victory without even receiving an outstanding performance from NBA guard Patty Mills, who managed only 13 points on 5 of 16 shooting. Mills has consistently been AUS’ best player, and he put up 39 points in the blowout victory over Luol Deng and Great Britain. Between Mills, Ingles, former Houston Rocket David Andersen, and former second round pick Joel Freeland, the Australian team has some weapons…

But can any of those weapons do much damage against the undefeated Americans?

Doubtful.

Tony Parker already showed that even the best of the best at point guard can’t counter the three headed monster of Chris Paul, Deron Williams, and Russell Westbrook. If Parker couldn’t do it, what would make us think Mills could?

Moreover, AUS’ talented big men are only talented against mediocre competition. Can one really expect backup caliber NBA centers like Andersen and Freeland to give Kevin Love and Tyson Chandler problems? Love is the best rebounder in the NBA and Chandler won the Defensive Player of the Year award.

Those Australian strengths are entirely negated by the US’ dominant roster. The Vegas spread is set at 33 points, but I don’t really even see it being that close. The Americans are going to use this as a statement game and it will be a chance to prove to the rest of the teams that this gold medal definitively belongs to the US. Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and Kobe Bryant have saved their best for the medal rounds, and that dominance should be showcased tonight.

Prediction: US by 41.

Brazil (4-1) vs. Argentina (3-1)

Here’s what I said about each squad in the previews I wrote for Maddux Sports prior to the games beginning:

And you can never count out the Brazilians. Brazil lost by only 5 to the U.S. team in an exhibition and they have a collection of valuable role players from the NBA to form their roster (Nene Hilario, Leandro Barbosa, Tiago Splitter, and Anderson Varejao). Don’t discount these guys. While they may not be marquee names in the NBA, this isn’t the NBA, and they’ve played together for a while now and become a strong team. They haven’t finished higher than 5th place, however, since 1968, so that is why they are a long shot at 40/1.

Argentina has four NBA players on their roster, and all four come together perfectly in International play. Manu Ginobili is the star of this squad and will be looking forward to rejoining them after sitting out the 2010 World Championships with an injury. He’s joined by Carlos Delfino, Andres Nocioni, and Luis Scola. Scola was absolutely dominant in the 2010 Championships and has carved out a nice career for himself in the NBA. At 28/1 odds, I do like Argentina as another long shot to win the gold.

Argentina has been one of the more enigmatic squads so far. They blew out a very good Lithuanian team by 23 in their first game, but since then have lost by 7 to France, and they only beat a very poor Nigerian team by 14. They took care of business against Tunisia, but the Tunisians went 0-5 in pool play and had no business being in this tournament.

So how do Manu Ginobili and company step up to the challenge when they haven’t had a single challenge yet, save Tony Parker and the French squad?

Argentina arguably has the most offensive talent of any non-US team in this tournament, but their defense can be suspect, and their execution is dubious. They need good play at the point from Pablo Prigioni to remain a top tier contender, and the quartet of Carlos Delfino/Andres Nocioni/Luis Scola/Manu Ginobili must continue to pour in the points for the Argentines to have any shot against strong teams like the one they are facing here in Brazil.

Brazil just beat Spain in an “Oh, by the way,” game since both teams had already qualified for medal play, but in that game the Brazilians received 23 from high volume scorer NBA guard Leandro Barbosa, and also got 13 points from the 6’10″ Marcus Vinicius. Barbosa’s fellow NBA players Anderson Varejao and Tiago Splittler combiend for an additional 18 points. Brazil has the weapons to be sure, and Argentina might not have the tools to slow them down.

As much as I like Argentina, I don’t think they can handle Brazil’s offensive assualt and Brazil is one of the few teams with the interior defense to match up against the Gasol brothers. I like Brazil to win this game, and not just because they just beat Spain. They have a stronger team overall and Ginobili is going to have to go nuts to keep Argentina alive, with Varejao likely checking Scola and keeping him from a monster game. Brazil by 5.

Tony Parker may be the best point guard in the Olympics this go around.

France (4-1) vs. Spain (3-2)

Here’s what I wrote about each squad prior to the games beginning in my previews with Maddux Sports:

Spain (5/1) is the favorite for the silver. With the Gasol brothers, Marc and Pau, and a talented host of perimeter players that includes point guards Jose Calderon and Rudy Fernandez, Spain should be able to play a versatile inside outside game that will give all the squads, the US included, a lot of troubles defensively. They have the shot blocking with the Gasol brothers and league leading shot blocker Serge Ibaka, so the US’s perimeter players will be thinking twice before taking it right to the hole.

France (25/1) must also be taken seriously, due to the fact that they have some real weapons that NBA fans will recognize. Tony Parker of the Spurs leads the way, and is joined by the versatile forward Nicolas Batum. They also have a few role players from NBA teams to round out the squad in Ronny Turiaf, Boris Diaw, and Kevin Seraphin. France could be a danger to any team if they get hot from behind the arc, but they lack the size necessary to match up with the U.S. and many other teams, accounting for their long-shot odds status.

Spain tanked their final game on purpose to draw France instead of the US in medal play. It was sneaky, but unsurprising. Getting hammered by France would be a good payback for playing a game half-assed in an event that deserves only one’s best effort.

Still, it is hard to blame the Spaniards for it, and their 3-2 record should be easily viewed as 3-1. They did lose by 6 to Brazil to close out pool play today, and again, it’s hard to know whether they really should have. Their other loss came to the strong Russian team.

In the loss to Russia, Pau Gasol had a big game with 20 points on 8 of 13 shooting, but no other Russians made huge contributions, with only Marc Gasol and Rudy Fernandez reaching double figures with 10 a piece. Jose Calderon and Juan Carlos Navarro have both been pretty solid throughout the tournament, but the Spaniards clearly could use rookie standout Ricky Rubio, who is still rehabbing in the hopes of returning to the NBA soon.

Spain has yet to face the US, of course, and they obviously don’t want to. Their three wins all came against teams they should beat. They dispatched of Australia by 12, England by 1, and China by 16 in their opener. None of those games are particularly impressive victories, and the one point victory over Luol Deng and the Brits should be downright troubling. Not only did Spain give up 26 points to Deng, but they also allowed 6’10″ former NBA draft pick Joel Freeland to score 25 in his own right. Spain has some obvious weaknesses to rectify before they can be taken seriously as medal contenders.

France, meanwhile, was the favorite for the bronze leading into ths event. They’ve shown why, but have also failed to show that they could be anything more than a bronze or silver medal winner. The US team punished France and made it clear to the Frenchmen that Tony Parker will be their only advantage at any position, and a very slight one at that. The French have 5 NBA players, but other than Parker, and possibly Batum (according to your opinion), are NBA standouts.

Batum has the defensive skills to slow either Kevin Durant or LeBron James, but he can’t cover both at once, and Batum’s defense is going to be needed against Spain to slow down Rudy Fernandez and maybe even Serge Ibaka. It certainly doesn’t help that two of Spain’s top three players play center. That just means a more vicious headache for Ronny Turiaf.

As good as France is, I feel Spain was favored for a reason, and they still should be favorites despite a 3-2 record vs a 4-1 record. I also realize France only lost to the US, but they’ll face a real test playing a team with as many weapons as Spain has. I’m not predicting a total blowout, but Spain should win this by 7 to 10 points.