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RIO DE JANEIRO — This incarnation of the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team won’t be remembered unless it loses – or fakes a robbery. Not to disparage or diminish Team USA, which is one win away from capturing this nation’s 15th gold medal after a ho-hum 82-76 victory over Spain that has come to define its shoulder-shrug performance in Brazil. The Americans did just enough to get by. Again. And that’s fine. Aesthetics matter only in gymnastics. A win is a win.

This isn’t a Dream Team or a Redeem Team. The Meme Team sounds more appropriate, given the pronounced social media presence of several of its members. But when it comes to the actual competition in these games, they’ve been more like the By-Any-Means Team.

After recovering from the initial shock that the tournament wasn’t going to come with the ease they expected, the Americans are just appreciative that the baseline of their job requirement has nearly been met. Escaping this country with gold medals around their necks is all that matters to Carmelo Anthony as he attempts to claim an unprecedented third without familiar running mates LeBron James and Chris Paul; to Kevin Durant as he goes for two; to Paul George to complete a journey interrupted by a broken leg; to Kyrie Irving as he tries to add more shiny things to the ring he captured in June; to members of the Golden State Warriors who whiffed in the NBA Finals; and to any others who sacrificed their summers and shunned concerns over Zika or crime to represent their country.

“Everybody here wants that,” Durant said. “That’s our main goal since we got together is to win the gold.”

View photos Kevin Durant scored 14 points in Team USA’s victory over Spain. (Getty) More

But during a Rio Olympics that has been overshadowed by the sustained excellence of supposedly past-their-prime greats Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, the sublime grace of spunky-but-funky Simone Biles and, unfortunately, the stupidity of when-keeping-it-bro-goes-wrong Ryan Lochte, Team USA hasn’t displayed the brilliance to hold some special distinction – like an expensive, overhyped blockbuster movie that overcomes some poor reviews to break even at the box office.

The Americans who hoop for a living haven’t taken Rio de Janeiro by storm, scared the other teams in town or blown away fans at Carioca Arena 1 with spectacular plays or mesmerizing individual performances. They have appeared vulnerable. They’ve been rattled. They have been able to survive, though, because the talent on the roster meant that at least one of the NBA All-Stars would get hot, at least one of the All-Defense team members would make a stand – and it never found an opponent capable of taking advantage of the mental lapses and rushed on-court chemistry.

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“It’s been a roller coaster but it’s been fun. We didn’t think it was going to be cake walk, we had some tough games but I think it’s prepared us,” said Kyle Lowry, adding that Team USA could still play better. “It’s kind of weird to say we haven’t played our best ball, but that just shows how scary good we can be. People are going to critique everything we do, at the end of the day.”

Saying that the rest of the world caught up is safe and hard to dismiss with the high volume of current and former NBA players filling out the rosters of 10 of the 12 teams. But it can’t be overlooked that many of the best players America has to offer stayed home, leaving a still solid collection of talent to either get it done or brace for the backlash. While remaining the heavy favorite – Australian center Andrew Bogut of the Dallas Mavericks joked that placing a $1 million bet on the Americans would yield only $1 – Team USA also fell back to the pack with a group of players who lacked the continuity, familiarity, leadership and playmaking of previous units.

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