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2024 USA Basketball Showcase – USA v Serbia
If this proves to be a dress rehearsal for the Olympics opener in 11 days, Steve Kerr and Team USA look golden.
Facing its opening game opponent from the Paris Olympics — a dangerous Serbian team with three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic — the USA’s defense clamped down in the second half and shut down the Serbs, allowing the Americans to use their superior athleticism and get out and run. Which meant it was showtime for the fans in Abu Dhabi.
This game was close for the first 15 minutes but the USA went on a 16-2 run late in the second quarter, another 15-0 early in the third and it turned into a 105-79 blowout American win.
That’s three straight exhibition wins for this “Avengers” American squad, all against teams with legitimate medal aspirations. The USA has dominated these matchups (except for late against Australia) but has yet to fully click together as a team — although the second half was close to that.
This game highlighted more things going right for coach Steve Kerr and Team USA.
• The pairing of Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo on the second unit has proved unstoppable and America’s best weapon.
In the second half, Adebayo was making Heat coach Erik Spoelstra smile on the bench by draining three 3-pointers on his way to 17 points, while Davis absolutely owned the paint defensively and finished the game with six blocks. This duo off the bench could be the USA’s golden ticket, nobody can match up with them.
• Things also look better when Stephen Curry is doing Stephen Curry things — he led the USA with 24 points and was 6-of-9 from 3. The crowd in Abu Dhabi ate it up.
• Anthony Edwards finished with 16 points and continues to be the athletic change-of-pace on a veteran team that is much needed.
• After a bit of a sloppy start, the USA limited the turnovers that had been a problem the first two games. More importantly, they are getting better at recognizing the defenses against them and how to exploit it. European teams in FIBA tend to have their bigs hedge out to slow the ball handler on pick-and-rolls, but the USA has too much talent to play that…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/currys-offense-davis-defense-sparks-191140088.html
Author : NBC Sports
Publish date : 2024-07-17 19:11:40
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