US Olympic basketball team ready to excel in Paris

With a roster that boasts the NBA's all-time leading scorer, multiple title winners and the best shooter to lace up a pair of high tops, the points are sure to come for Team USA at the Paris Olympics, head coach Steve Kerr said on Friday. The question is whether the U.S. can play the kind of suffocating defense on the other end of the floor that will prevent them from getting into shootouts with their opponents, he said.

"Defense, defense, defense," Kerr told reporters at practice in London ahead of the team's showcase against South Sudan on Saturday. "We're going to score, we have all these guys who can score. It has to be about defense." Kerr's 12-man roster is arguably the greatest collection of basketball talent ever assembled with LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant leading a quest to bring home the team's fifth straight gold medal. The problem for Kerr is finding the right lineup, which he said comes down to who can put the clamps on the other team.

"Whatever gives us the best chance to defend our opponents, that's what we'll do," he said. "If we can keep defending teams like we have - at times - then I like our chances to win," he said.