It’s hard to recall a team that has faced more adversity while going undefeated than Team USA basketball.

They’re a victim of their own success, creating scenarios where wins aren’t simply wins, but demonstrations of dominance.

A 3 point win isn’t exactly dominance, but it registers the same as a 30 point win in terms of advancement.

Team USA plays Team Argentina today, and there’s a sense that a lack of authoritative performances over the past few games have left Team USA vulnerable to an upset.

If one believes in a certain poetic symbolism, Team Argentina is probably the least welcome opponent Team USA could have drawn.

They were the squad way back in 2004 that destroyed Team USA’s chance at a gold medal for the first time since pros were allowed to compete in the Olympics.

Team USA settled for a bronze that year, and deep reflection and personnel alterations sent them on the run of dominance they’re currently on.

History has a cyclical nature to it, and many of the rumblings about what’s ailing Team USA this tournament sound eerily similar to criticisms in 2004.

Too much isolation play, an over-reliance on hero ball, and a lack of offensive fluidity through noncohesive pieces might as well be describing the squad in Athens, yet is now bizarrely indicative of the Rio team.

What makes this situation even harder to get a read on is that despite all of these problems, just as much evidence to the contrary exists.

Team USA continues to win, and they haven’t lost in such a long time that it sounds ridiculous to anticipate a team loaded with so much talent all of a sudden losing at an inopportune moment like this.

They’ve won 73 straight games, which is just 2 games short of the national team record. They’re in the midst of quite possibly their most dominant run ever, which is really saying something, considering this is USA basketball we’re talking about.

Conveniently, they’ll set their all-time mark for consecutive wins if they achieve the gold medal in this Olympics.

Regarding Team Argentina, they’re 8-0 against them since their 2004 loss, and recently beat them by 37 points in their exhibition matchup in July.

However this turns out, there’ll be a lot of “I told you sos” on either side, and each will sound pretty convincing.

“Of course Team USA won the gold medal. They’re the most talented team and always found ways to win. Why did anybody question that?”

“Their offense was stagnant through multiple games. Their loss was easy to see coming, especially against a team like Argentina who know what it takes to win a gold medal.”

Of course Team USA could end up beating Team Argentina and then lose later on in this tournament, but those bridges will be crossed later.

For now, Team USA has to get over this formidable impediment. A third of Team Argentina was on the 2004 gold medal winning team that vanquished Team USA’s aura of invincibility.

That’s just one more reason to be nervous about this game, although I’m anticipating the strong possibility of Team USA snapping out of their funk and winning this game by 30 points.

If I’m asking myself “what was I worried about?” after this game, it’ll be a refreshing reminder not to question this team’s status as the premier basketball squad in the world.