Team USA is struggling to beat Australia, Spain’s rival

The Australia of former Barça players Joe Ingles and Dante Exum raised initial doubts of Team USA on their route to Paris. And seriously. The Aussies, Olympic bronze in Tokyo and rivals of Spain in the first period, fell (98-92), but a magnificent recovery in the last quarter allowed them to challenge an American team that seemed untouchable at times. Steve Kerr’s team led by 24 points in the middle of the third quarter and seemed to be under control at the beginning of the last quarter (76-61), but the Oceanic team, with determination and choral basketball, overwhelmed the Americans in suffering by putting the thing is 96-92 with 5 seconds left.

Anthony Davis and Devin Booker led the United States this time with 17 and 16 points, with Jock Landale recording 20 points and a PIR of 29 and Josh Giddey leading Australia with 17 points and 7 assists .

What seemed to be a peaceful afternoon in Abu Dhabi, a strong statement from the United States to reassert itself after a solvent victory over Jordi Fernández’s Canada, turned into an act of salvation for the favorite on the throne of Paris, reeling from Australia’s ball movement and paralyzed in the final stretch after a steady attack for most of the match.

The positive thing for Team USA is that it can stand up and learn from the morale boosted by such an eventful encounter, almost two weeks before the Games. In search of his quintet, Kerr came out with the Cameroonian, LeBron James (10 points), Stephen Curry (only 3 and 1/6 of the triples), Jayson Tatum (7) and the self-proclaimed number 1, Anthony Edwards, with 14 points and 11 of them in the first quarter. Edwards and Tatum came in for Jrue Holiday and Devin Booker on an American team again without Kevin Durant.

Joel Embiid improved after his brief ejection in his debut with the American team after 12 minutes, registering 10 points with 3/6 on field goals, 5 rebounds and a PIR of 14 in 16 minutes.

However, the United States’ defense lost to Embiid, lost before the ball movement of an Australian who ended up finding inspiration with pass after pass in the second half. The Sixers center, also favored by the non-existence of the 3-second rule, tends to stay in the paint or close, opening the way for Australia, finding spaces where Landale distributes from the header and looking to tickle the MVP of 2023 with a pick and roll with an empty corner.

Spain’s rivals came out with a starting quintet consisting of Dyson Daniels, Nick Kay, Jock Landale, Patty Mills and Josh Giddey.

Through Anthony Davis, Team USA’s defense overwhelmed the rival with a quintet that could change everything in the blocks, but Australia accumulated points when it read this type of defense, with cuts in paint when Davis got out on the perimeter and took advantage of the mismatch that was created. In that context, Landale piled up points and Giddey gave a lesson in how to read those gains every time the United States changed the pick and roll. The team coached by Brian Goorjian was mischievous, involving players like Booker and Curry in their actions, who more cluelessly followed their man.

Team USA suffered from Giddey and Landale what it is used to and will have to face in Paris: devalued or undervalued NBA players whose blood boils to prove themselves against the United States’ constellation of stars.

This is largely the case of a Giddey who ended up on the bench in the playoffs and was just traded by the Thunder to a team not unlike the Chicago Bulls. For his part, Landale is overshadowed in the Rockets by a current and future ‘5’ like Alperen Sengun. Patty Mills, inconsequential for the Heat last year, was not much on display and Exum and Ingles only contributed 6 points and 2 assists each.

The United States showed improvement on offense, especially with Embiid’s post actions. Instead of crashing the defense, Philly’s interior quickly released the ball whenever help came and that helped Team USA shoot successfully from the perimeter, going 12/29 on triples compared to a scant 4/18 from in Australia. The Americans even played a double ‘5’ and dominated the rebound in the first half, although the Aussies also ended up balancing the contest in this section, with 45 catches to 40 for the reigning Olympic champions.

Kerr’s team offered other interesting details such as using Stephen Curry as a blocker to facilitate a corner triple for LeBron or Tatum penetrating movements without the ball taking advantage of his size and athletic power. Showing the spirit of Kerr’s Warriors, Team USA left good moments with the ball movement, but Australia’s reaction paralyzed them in the final set, abusing individual actions.

The Aussies, who conceded a lot in the first half in the pick and roll with Landale trying to deny the turnover, settled the turnovers at the end and Goorjian’s board caught the United States in the last minute with some action on the wings play. Along with the warning to Spain, Australia raised the first questions for Team USA, which will be tested by Serbia’s best player in the world, Nikola Jokic, and a scrappy old dog like Svetislav Pesic on Wednesday.