Kevin Durant had a shot. Then another about 20 seconds later.

Jrue Holiday had one. So did Zach LaVine and Bam Adebayo.

The US had five attempts on the pivotal possession of their latest basketball failure and came up empty on all of them.

That not only doomed the Americans to an 83-76 loss to France on Sunday night but showed their problems might last well beyond their Games opener.

Because if a team can't shoot, they're not going to win.

"The ball goes in or it doesn't," US coach Gregg Popovich said, after his side relinquished a 10-point third-quarter lead.

It sure didn't fall much for the US as they finished the game shooting 36 per cent from the field and were 10 for 32 from 3-point range.

Durant, who holds a host of US scoring records and should break more in this tournament, was 1 for 6 on 3-pointers, Jayson Tatum 1 for 5 and Damian Lillard 3 for 9.

France, who knocked the Americans out of contention in the Basketball World Cup two years ago, showed no fear as Evan Fournier's three-pointer with just under a minute left put them ahead for good.

The US had won 25 consecutive Olympic games, last losing at the Athens Games 17 years ago and settling for a bronze medal there.

The Americans undoubtedly had a difficult preparation for these Olympics but nothing other than a gold medal is expected and they had their chances to snatch victory.

"We gave them five chances in a row," France centre Rudy Gobert said.

Fournier led all scorers with 28 points while Gobert added 14 and Nando de Colo chipped in with 13 for the French.

Jrue Holiday had 18 points for the US with Bam Adebayo 12, Damian Lillard 11 and Durant 10.

The Americans play Iran on Wednesday and then the Czech Republic on Saturday in their final two Group A games.

with Reuters

Australian Associated Press