While Steve Kerr‘s decision to not play Jayson Tatum in Team USA’s Olympic opener grabbed the headlines, the head coach has a bigger task heading into Wednesday’s matchup with South Sudan — he needs to get his Warriors’ superstar going, according to The Athletic’s Sam Amick.
Stephen Curry was underwhelming on Sunday against Serbia, scoring eight of his 11 points when the game was well in hand. He added three assists, three rebounds and one turnover in 21 minutes.
“A slow start for Steph (against Serbia),” Kerr admitted. “But you see the impact he makes. He comes flying off a double (team), and LeBron (James) throws it into Jrue Holiday for a layup because they’re terrified of Steph. So the beauty of Steph is that whether he makes shots or not, he impacts the game because he scares the other team. Just the threat of Steph impacts the game.”
We have more on the Olympic tournament:
- Greece is 0-2 in the tournament after losing to Spain and Giannis Antetokounmpo left the arena without speaking to the media, Amick writes. Antetokounmpo missed a potential tying 3-pointer in the final minute. He finished with 27 points on 12-of-17 shooting, 11 rebounds and three assists. Greece needs to beat Australia on Friday to even have a chance to reach the knockout round.
- The Boomers are 1-1 in pool play after falling to Team Canada, 93-83. Following the loss, Australia’s coach, Brian Goorjian, compared the NBA-laden Canadian squad to the tourney favorite. “To me, [Canada] are a version of Team USA,” Goorjian said, per BasketNews. “They play differently than the Europeans and than what we played against Spain. There’s a lot more one-on-one, there’s a lot more spread game, a lot more going at the weak defender and bringing them to the on-ball and spread. Then the physicality defensively was a level that we haven’t played against so far on all of these teams that we’ve played to date. Multiple guys are coming in that can put heat and pressure on the ball. And I thought that was the difference in the game tonight.”
- Luguentz Dort and RJ Barrett lifted Team Canada to Tuesday’s win, according to The Athletic’s Eric Koreen. Dort, a surprise starter on the team, was a defensive pest while posting 11 points and three steals. Another mild surprise has been Barrett’s offensive output — he has led the team in scoring in both of its wins.
- The host nation barely survived against Japan, capturing an overtime win. Team France is now 2-0 in the tournament. “It’s the Olympics. It’s the 12 best teams in the world, so it’s no easy game. You can see that from the beginning; there’s no blowout, except for the USA team. But pretty much every game is close. That’s why you love the Olympics, why you love basketball—to play those games. It was fun tonight,” Nicolas Batum said, per Aris Barkis of Eurohoops.net.
- France’s next opponent is Germany, which is also 2-0. Germany topped Brazil, 86-73, led by Dennis Schröder, who had 20 points and six assists, and Franz Wagner, who supplied 17 points.
These narratives surrounding Team USA are so silly. Kerr doesn’t need to get anyone specific going. What he needs to do is coach to win the game; that’s all. Of course managing the egos and maximizing the superstar talent on the roster comes along with that—including Steph—but anything beyond that is writers who have nothing better to write about, apparently.
Boston media making a big deal about Tatum not playing is going to put pressure on Tatum to do well. If he plays terrible they will say no wonder Kerr didn’t play him.
The USA and Canada appear to be only teams that can win here. Yes on 1 night almost any team can beat any other. But that doesn’t mean they can advance through the group and single elimination phase without being stopped. France is getting close but when every team sends their best 2 stand above the rest. It won’t always be that way. Africa, Europe and Asia will get better. Sadly we probably won’t. We had a 100 year head start on most of the world and a 50 year head start on the rest of the developed world in it. When Africa catches up watch out.
Germany is on the same level. The main difference between North American teams and the rest is how much more one on one they play. Almost a different sport. They start a play with the idea of spreading it around, then someone goes on his own.
Schroeder the only one with a similar mentality, not necessarily a good thing for his team.
Entertaining tournament so far
Germany has a great team but not quite on the same level as either Canada or USA. And when you have superior individual talent it just makes the most sense to exploit that advantage by isolating guys 1v1. USA (& Canada to some extent) don’t just start possessions with the idea of moving the ball around & then forget to continue. Their possessions are based around getting their premier guys in favorable matchups & then exploiting those matchups. Usually after they get a mismatch the opposing team is forced to bring help which gets guys open shots/lanes to drive. Completely agree about this being a very entertaining tourney so far tho, especially that Japan/France thriller from yesterday
Australia beat Spain on their opener, they are not 0-2.
Yes, that’s been fixed.
RJ is showing out ….
USA is just loaded. More important they are playing team ball. This looks like a determined team.
Tatum will get his due. No big deal here.