Staff USA happening the defensive
Staff USA is battering opponents with its depth and it’s nonetheless searching for that picturesque efficiency reflective of 11 NBA All-Stars.
“That is the quickest group within the event we had been going to play and we needed to match up,” Kerr mentioned concerning the lineup adjustments. “That’s how we’re going to view this, no matter we have to do to win every sport, that’s what we’re going to do. The protection was incredible tonight. The defensive effort was the important thing to the entire thing.”
Bam Adebayo led Staff USA with 18 factors, together with a pair of three-pointers and he was a plus-22. Kevin Durant added 14 factors and was a plus 26. The message was clear to the People after they heard for 10 days about how fortunate they had been to carry off upstart South Sudan.
“We’re not nervous about expectations,” Durant mentioned. “We’re attempting to win and play a great model of basketball and we did that in spurts. The primary unit bought us began. We set the tone to start out the sport. I believe we’re enjoying effectively off of one another. Folks could also be anticipating huge numbers, excessive numbers of wins, 30, 40 factors, however we nonetheless received the final two video games by a mean of 20 factors in opposition to good expertise. Simply hold constructing.”
Kerr prompted an argument by benching Tatum on Sunday, and Tatum mentioned he was not going to complain about that call. He got here again in opposition to South Sudan with 4 factors, 5 rebounds, two assists and a steal in 17 minutes.
“It’s a singular scenario and it’s not about one particular person participant,” Tatum mentioned. “The competitor in you desires to play, clearly. However I’m not right here to make a narrative, making it about myself. We received. I used to be simply glad to get again on the market and play once more right now. There was plenty of chatter over the previous couple of days however I used to be in good spirits, I had a great perspective about it. I’m not holding any grudges or something.”