RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil– Too much drama.

Team USA insists on providing more fourth quarter suspense in this Olympic men’s basketball tournament than is absolutely necessary.

The United States defeated France, 100-97, here Sunday at Carioca Arena finish pool play with a 5-0 record and advance to the quarterfinals in the knockout round, which begins Wednesday, as a No. 1 seed in its bracket. But Team USA lost something along the way– it’s invisible cloak of invincibility.

Right now, this team lacks a killer instinct. The rest of the world is no longer cowering in the corner or asking for autographs. France is the latest country to face down the giant, rallying from an 16-point deficit to make the final moments interesting, much like Serbia and Australia did earlier. All this without NBA All Star guard Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs, who injured his toe against Venezuela the previous game and was rested for the knockout round by French coach Vincent Colett.

“This isn’t a tournament that we’re going to just dominate,” Team USA 6-8 swing guard Paul George said. “There’s talent around this world and they’re showcasing it. For us, it’s just figuring out how we’re going to win. We’re having spurts of dominating, but we’re just not finding ways to put a full 40 minutes together.”

The United States still has the potential to outscore any team in this tournament as long as it gets moments of brilliance from key players like 6-6 All Star guard Klay Thompson from the Golden State Warriors. Thompson, who was in the depths of a prolonged shooting slump, finally lived up to his Splash Brothers reputation, scoring 30 points and making seven of 13 three point shots in 26 minutes. He also scored 15 of his points in a decisive third quarter when Team USA built a healthy 81-65 lead.

After Thompson, who shot 4-for-26 and scored a mere 11 points in the team’s first four games, U.S. national team coach Mike Krzyzewski sat him in favor of George, who is a better defender. Krzyzewski reinserted Thompson into the starting lineup against France and Thompson exploded, reassuring the coaching staff his shooting and unselfish ball movement made him a better fit with the starters.

“It felt good to see the ball go in, I’m not going to lie, but it felt better to get the win,” Thompson said. “I don’t care if I shoot 10 percent the rest of the tournament if we win the gold medal, that’s all that really matters. It’s something I can build off and it definitely helps.”

Team USA may need Thompson to be a game changer if All Star forward Kevin Durant, who leads the Americans in scoring in this tournament with 16.8 points a game is is shooting 60 percent, continues to hold back. Durant scored 17 points against France, but only four in the second half. He attempted just four shots against Serbia and six against France.

Team USA continues to play with fire, allowing France to move the ball in the half court and create easy shots off pick and rolls and back door cuts. The United States suffered from a disturbing lack of communication on defense among the starters, especially point guard Kyrie Irving, who had 12 assists but allowed French backup point guard Thomas Heurtel, who had a near triple double 18 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists, to score several easy baskets at the start of the game. The Americans couldn’t control the French offense– which shot 67 percent from the two and scored 28 points in the fourth quarter– down the stretch.

“Like coach said, I think we just let up a little bit,” Thompson said. “You can’t let up in this kind of tournament. We gave them too many good looks around the basket. We just got complacent on defense. With teams like this that move a lot off the ball, you can’t get complacent. We can outscore teams, but that’s not going to win us the gold. We got to lock up and we will.

The international game is different than the NBA and Team USA– which only had two players Durant and Carmelo Anthony-back from the 2012 London games, still has a tendency to resort to isolation plays when its offense stagnates and lacks the international experience of the U.S. women’s team to stay home on a second and third pass. This U.S. men’s team, which only started practice late last month, hasn’t had enough time to develop a defensive identity, making them vulerrable.

“We stressed ball movement as a team, getting a good shot,” French forward Nicolas Batum of the Charlotte Hornets said. “We didn’t panic, either. Down 16 and you come back. That’s big game experience. We made so many mistakes– turnovers, offensive rebounds, we let them run fast breaks– and we lost by three. So we’re mad. We felt we could have won this game. This tournament is very open. Best tournament in a while. The United States is still the favorite for sure, but other countries got better over the last 20 years. A lot of teams see this as a chance to make history. This would be the one of the biggest upset in the basketball world, so why not?”

“It’s basketball. It can happen,” center Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz added. “We play against all those guys all year in the NBA.” ‘

The United States is still the favorite, after three consecutive closer than expected games, they are no longer a total lock to take home the gold medal the way they were when they arrived.

“We had another chance like last game where we came out and punched France in the mouth early but we allowed them to come with the same force as Serbia,” George admitted. “We gave them confidence. And anytime you give these guys confidence, they’re professionals at some level and they make plays.”

France has some of the best talent in Europe. Parker, a four-time NBA champion perennial All Star with the San Antonio Spurs; and 6-8, 250-pound forward Boris Diaw of the Utah Jazz are icons to the younger players. Gobert, Batum and 6-10 forward Jeffrey Lauvergne of the Denver Nuggets are future impact players in the league and the core group, which includes Heurtel from in Andolu Efes in Turkey and guard Nano de Colo of CSKA Moscow, has been together for six years.

There is a possibility the U.S. and France could meet again in the semi-finals. And Parker, who had been limited to 20-25 minutes here as he gets back into game shape after missing time during their training when his wife gave birth to their second son last year, could be a huge x factor if he is healthy. Parker sat on the bench with his teammates in the first half but then didn’t return when they came back from the locker room at halftime, finally emerging with a little under three minutes left in the third quarter.

“He’s fine. He’s resting,” said Collet, who also sat de Colo in the final minutes after he hurt his leg.

Parker was hardly missed because de Colo and Heurtel kept surgically carving up a U.S. defense that was expected to be the team’s strength but has been exploited by fundamentally sound international offenses.

The Americans were lucky in this case Thompson rediscovered his shooting stroke just in time to bail them out of another unexpected crisis.