RIO DE JANEIRO -- When the U.S. Olympic teams charter bus pulled up outside Flamengo Club before practice, police officers closed off the street and one of the motorcycle escorts jumped off his bike and immediately started blowing his whistle.Thats been a familiar noise to the Americans in Rio.Unbeaten but no longer unchallenged following a very physical, 98-88 win over Australia, the two-time defending gold medalists are still adjusting to FIBAs rules and officials, who call a different game than the one U.S. players have grown accustomed to at home and in the NBA.Its weird, actually, U.S. forward Kevin Durant said when asked to describe the differences. I cant even explain it.With 10 first-time Olympians, Americas star-studded squad, 3-0 heading into Fridays matchup against Serbia, is learning on the fly whats a foul, whats not, what they can get away with and what they cant.Right now, starting center Demarcus Cousins doesnt have a clue.The Sacramento star might as well have bought a ticket and sat in the stands at Carioca Arena 1 for the past two games. Cousins played only eight minutes before fouling out of a 44-point win over Venezuela and he was limited to just 10 minutes against the Aussies after picking up three quick fouls in the first half and No. 4 in the third quarter.The 6-foot-10 Cousins managed to score 6 points and grabbed eight rebounds during his brief outing against the Aussies, who didnt back down against the worlds top-ranked team and may have bent the rules as far as possible with their aggressiveness. Cousins didnt hide his displeasure about a couple calls that went against him, and angrily stormed to the bench where some of his teammates tried to calm him down and encourage him.Its nothing new to U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski, who has seen Olympic rookies struggle to adjust to the nuances of international basketball. Every player has to deal with it, but sometimes big men are an easy target.First of all, you get frustrated, Krzyzewski said. You cant get into a rhythm of playing. A couple of the times, theyre not fouls. Theyre just not fouls. But early on in the game, people like to set a tone in how the game is administered. So sometimes, they set it in the post. And so something is called a little bit closer than it would be five minutes later. And I just told him, `Youre a human being. You should be frustrated. Lets just move on to the next thing and see if we can handle that going forward, because we need you.In the amount of minutes hes been in there, hes performed very well. We need him to play more.The Americans will need him against the Serbs, one of the tournaments most physically imposing teams.Despite the loss, Australia, which has never won an Olympic medal but has its sights on one in Brazil, showed it might be effective to push the Americans. The U.S. team was slow to push back and didnt seal one of its closest wins in recent Olympics until the fourth quarter, when Carmelo Anthony and Kyrie Irving carried the Americans in the final minutes.It wasnt as much a wake-up call to the U.S. players as a reminder that everyone in the field is aiming at them.It was a good test for us, we definitely needed that, Durant said. They challenged us. I know we were expected to win the game and expected to be perfect. But every time I have played for Team USA weve had those types of games. We went into overtime in Turkey against Brazil in 2010 and then were tied up with Lithuania with a minute to go in 2012. So you go through those games no matter what. We got the biggest spotlight and the biggest bulls-eye on our back.Everybody wants to beat us so there are going to be games like that.U.S. forward Paul George said he and his teammates may have gotten a little lax after blowouts over China and Venezuela. As he said after the Australia game, It got real.I think the biggest lesson was not being content with where were at, he said. Weve been so great defensively and put up such huge margins of victory that the second they raised the level we kind of relaxed. We just got to stay consistent throughout the tournament.Krzyzewski is teaching his internationally inexperienced team -- only Anthony and Durant are returnees from the London team -- to watch their behavior when calls arent going their way. He has implored his players to show restraint so as not to make things worse.Theyre not cheating us is what I tell the guys, he said. Dont ever get into that. Theyre not cheating us. We just have to react to it differently. Over 10 years ago, we all were saying, `Were getting cheated. Weve not bought into that for a decade and were not going to do it now. Kyle Anderson Grizzlies Jersey . The incident occurred at 19:56 of the second period of the Kings 4-2 road win over Edmonton on Sunday. Nolan punched Oilers forward Jesse Joensuu in the jaw in front of the Kings goal during a scrum. Jaren Jackson Jr. Jersey . Andrew Luck lost his favourite target and the Indianapolis locker room lost one of its most revered leaders when Reggie Wayne was diagnosed Monday with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that will cost him the rest of the season. http://www.grizzliesbasketballpro.info/Zach-Randolph-Grizzlies-Jersey/ . For the Wild it was their first win of the season and they now have a record of 1-1-2 while the Jets fall to 2-2. Jets start a six game home stand Friday with another divisional game, home to the Dallas Stars. Zach Randolph Grizzlies Jersey . Here are his mid-season NBA awards. MVP: (KEVIN DURANT-Thunder) - Has been sensational this season and more importantly, the most consistent player in the league. Considering that his team has been without star guard Russell Westbrook and with the free agent departure of sharpshooter Kevin Martin, hes had to carry the majority of the load to not only keep his team afloat but more importantly, at an elite level. Shareef Abdur-Rahim Jersey . Miller reached right to deflect Mikhail Grabovskis attempt with just over 2 minutes remaining in regulation, and then made two more saves in the shootout Sunday to give the Sabres a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals. LONDON -- Serena Williams insisted she was not focused on No. 22.Said she wouldnt discuss it.Kept coming close without quite getting it.Now she finally has it. And so she can flaunt it.Williams lifted both arms overhead and raised two fingers on each hand right there on Centre Court to show off the magic number after winning her record-tying 22nd Grand Slam title by beating Angelique Kerber 7-5, 6-3 in the Wimbledon final on Saturday.Definitely had some sleepless nights, if Im just honest, with a lot of stuff, Williams said. My goal is to win always at least a Slam a year. It was getting down to the pressure.She pulled even with Steffi Graf for the most major championships in the Open era, which began in 1968. Now Williams stands behind only Margaret Courts all-time mark of 24.This was Williams seventh singles trophy at the All England Club -- only Martina Navratilova, with nine, has more in the Open era -- and second in a row. The victory at Wimbledon a year ago raised her Grand Slam count to 21, where it remained until Saturday.Its been incredibly difficult not to think about it. I had a couple of tries this year, said Williams, who went back on court a few hours later to win the doubles title with older sister Venus. But it makes the victory even sweeter to know how hard I worked for it.There was a stunning loss to Roberta Vinci in the U.S. Open semifinals in September, ending Williams bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam. Then losses in finals to Kerber at the Australian Open, and to Garbine Muguruza at the French Open.Time heals, said Williams coach, Patrick Mouratoglou. By losing, you realize things.In the rematch against the fourth-seeded Kerber -- the first time in a decade two women met to decide multiple major titles in a single season -- the No. 1-ranked Williams came through. This goes alongside six championships at the U.S. Open, six at the Australian Open and three at the French Open.The 34-year-old American did it, as she often does, with nearly impeccable serving. She slammed 13 aces. She won 38 of 43 first-serve points. She faced just one break point -- at 3-all in the second set, representing Kerbers only real opening -- and shut the door emphatically with aces at 117 mph and 124 mph.There was more that Williams did welll, though.dddddddddddd. Much more. Facing the left-handed Kerbers reactive, counter-punching style, Williams dictated exchanges and compiled a 39-12 edge in winners.Williams hammered second serves that floated in at 75 mph, breaking once in each set. She volleyed well, too, winning the point on 16 of 22 trips to the net, including a tap-in on match point. Soon, she was wrapping Kerber in a warm embrace, then holding up those fingers to symbolize 22.I was trying everything, but she deserved it today. She really played an unbelievable match, said Kerber, who hadnt appeared in a major final until beating Williams in Melbourne. I think we both (played) on a really high level.Kerber, a German who knows Graf well, defeated Venus in the semifinals and hadnt dropped a set until Saturday. But she could not keep up with the trophy on the line, although it was a high-quality final that was tighter than the scoreline might indicate.Played a good match, Kerber said. That makes it a little easier for me.Later Saturday, Williams earned a second piece of hardware when she and Venus defeated Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 6-4 for their sixth doubles trophy at Wimbledon and 14th from all majors.In singles, Williams got better as the tournament went along, taking the last 12 sets she played after dropping a tiebreaker to open her second-round match against Christina McHale. After that set, Williams smashed her racket and flung it away, drawing a $10,000 fine.There had been some thought that Williams was really stung by her loss to Vinci in New York, that it was too big a disappointment to push aside and lingered, somehow, when she followed with the setbacks against Kerber and Muguruza.If anything, I was able to show resilience that, no, thats not going to shake me, youre not going to break me, Williams said, its going to make me stronger.So, Williams was asked Saturday, is she already thinking about No. 25, to surpass Court?Oh, God, no, Williams said. One thing I learned about last year is to enjoy the moment. Im definitely going to enjoy this.---Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich ' ' '