THIS Could Be A PROBLEM For Team USA
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Published 2024-07-25
In a staggering turn of events, instead of looking dominant, Team USA was fighting to save its life after trailing in the clutch in the last two exhibition games, each time needing LeBron James to bail them out and prevent an embarrassment with his throwback performances. Against Germany, he scored USA’s last 11 points to regain control in the fourth. When Germany crept within one with less than 2 minutes left, LeBron said enough is enough.
Each Olympics, there’s a player that elevated above everyone else: Charles Barkley on the Dream Team, Kobe Bryant on the Redeem Team, Kevin Durant in 2021, and now it’s the freshly announced flag bearer for the US - LeBron James.
Tense games against Australia, Germany and especially South Sudan could be also excused by lineup experiments, or maybe other countries are simply improving.
But who would’ve thought that the country which everyone predicted to be dead last in the Olympics would push the Americans to the edge? As a matter of fact, South Sudan should’ve won this game. Take a close look at their last possession.
Oh my goodness, that’s a huge missed call by the refs there, ANT definitely fouled Gabriel on his putback attempt. So it took a heroic effort by LeBron James in the previous play, and an enormous mistake by the referees just to beat South Sudan by 1 point. Wow. Wenyen couldn’t do anything but laugh afterwards, and he told the world exactly what this game meant to him and his country.
Lebron tried to turn all of this into a positive by saying that it’s actually good that they played a lot of close games.
But this could cast some doubt for this team, despite the overwhelming talent.
Thing is, everybody compares every USA team to the original 92 Dream team, but one thing that nobody realizes is that the Dream Team faced just 9 NBA players throughout their run, and today’s US roster will go against 38 players playing for their respective countries. The rest of the world did pick up, and things are getting a bit more difficult.
Regardless, these are 12 superstars. But it’s interesting how, when push comes to shove, you can clearly see the hierarchy, and who is the real top dog on this team. Either Lebron is taking matters into his own hands, or they run plays for Steph to come out of screens for the 3 point shot. These two, alongside Anthony Edwards, should be the 3 main offensive weapons, at least till KD steps back on the floor. His teammate, Devin Booker started in 3 games, and played over 20 min per game, but hasn't made some meaningful contribution, putting up 7 points per contest on 44% from the field. And, talking about players who haven't made any contributions to the team, we got Tyrese Halliburton and the reigning champ Jayson Tatum. Indiana’s star remained on the bench against Germany and saw the fewest minutes out of all players during this 5 game span. As for Tatum, it felt like Fiba courts and rules don't really suit him well. He looked disoriented at times, and pretty stagnant on offense, committing 2.2 turnovers per 17 minutes of action.
However, on the defensive end, the US have real anchors in Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo who really stepped up from the bench, making the life of opposing players miserable.
With so much offensive firepower, these two alongside Jrue Holiday and Derrick White could focus solely on defending, in the best way they possibly can, and I’m looking at it as the deciding factor for a lot of games at the Olympics.
Still, a big uncertainty for this team remains the first naturalized USA player - Joel Embiid.
After the training camp in Vegas and a few exhibition games played, Joel made a bit of a clumsy comment in a press conference: “On this team, I don’t have to do nothing, just chill.”
There’s some truth to that, given the talent and the depth of the roster, but he wasn’t put on the squad to be a bystander for sure. They need Embiid in the battle against French big men Gobert and Wemby, and especially vs Serbia as he looked pretty passive last week in the match-up against Jokic. Considering his injury that caused him problems during the playoffs, If he can get in game shape till 28th when they open up the tournament, then I expect for him to dominate game spans and be the difference maker.
The truth will be revealed soon in Paris against some quality international teams that played together for years, while Team USA, despite an obvious richness in talent, is a startup process.
The plan is to flex that talent to overwhelm other countries no matter how long they’ve been together as a unit. But these Olympics are stacked and I expect it to be a bloodbath, similar to the one that’s going to take place in the West. In an unprecedented situation, we got 13 teams fighting for a playoff spot, and I broke everything down right here in this video so you gotta check it out.
Talk to you in the next one. Peace out.
All Comments (21)
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Insane South Sudan has no indoor basketball courts and still remained competitive. Would’ve been a crazy upset if they pulled it off.
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That LéBron guy looks like the next great French Prospect
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Ant Edwards poor defense and lack of skills outside of scoring is showing in the worst way
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Only guys I trust on this roster are Steph, Jrue, LeBron, Bam, AD. The rest have been really disappointing
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USA probably will pull this out, but next time..... No Bron, Steph, KD and Jrue? The future doesn't look bright for us boys
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Ant? Bruh have you seen his turnovers? Lack of defense, passing, tunnel vision, low IQ plays... He really just scores and that's it. I'd say Jrue is the 2nd best player in this team till now, easily! Book is better than Ant and that's why he's starting. He sets screens, doesn't waste any possessions by ball hogging, passes quick, defends pretty well and applies pressure full court.
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It will be a shame if they lose at least once. Even LeBron knows that. Heavy chip on team's shoulder.
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So now Embiid's going to be an embarassment for our country? 🙈
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There are so much talent around the world now, Even in NBA you cannot blowout a team anymore, 5 years ago 20 point lead was safe in last 5 mins but it's not safe anymore. NBA has only 450 spots, see how many good players don't have a roster spot. Team USA is still dominant but in a do or die games they have to be very careful if opponent team gets hot from 3pt line at wrong time even the mightiest team like Team USA may get into trouble
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USA basketballs future is not looking good if the old era is still bailing them out
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Team usa is beatable if you have a clutch shotmaker
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Olajuwon was first naturalized USA player
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Hali doesn’t play because the only thing he has on anyone is passing ability, he can’t defend and he is a worse offensive player than many players on the team
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reminder that the dream team beat the croatians by 30 in the gold medal game despite having 3 NBA players + 2 hall of famers
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jayson tatum just seems like this is not his type of game and style of play, it also seems because he's not starting he can't really get into as much of a rhythm during the whole game
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I'm so tired of clickbait and thumbnails with random arrows. I'm not watching this video or others. The viewer deserves better
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Dwyane Wade was the true hero of the redeem team and nobody can tell me otherwise. I know what I watched
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Joel Embiid is NOT the first naturalized U.S. citizens to play on the men's basketball team. Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing played for Team USA......
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what i’ve noticed is that those playing in the olympics who are not in the NBA doesn’t really mean they’re bad, but them playing as a team and what seems to be easy for NBA players to beat, they have underrated traits which is their willpower, courage, perseverance and discipline. There are teams that should not come even close to beating the USA, but imo beat the USA is South Sudan bc of their traits. Sometimes talent is not enough when other teams are way more disciplined and hungry.
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The power of the underdog. Team USA is playing as a superstar roster seemingly relying entirely on sheer power whereas all the other teams are playing as cohesive units who play FOR each other and are actively competing to de-throne the US. Team USA is that incredibly gifted kid who succeeds with no work ethic and everyone else are the ppl that have to work for it… long term, the hard work pays off. All other teams dedicate countless hours working on moving as one unit - relocating, passing, cutting, screens - all trying to get the best shot possible / rotating and covering for each other on defense to prevent the ball from entering their hoop… meanwhile USA is only focusing on individual performances it feels like, just giving the ball to the best players and calling it a day. Opponents know exactly who they’re gonna target and will make life hell for them… oh also: “world champion? World champion of WHAT?” - that quote has never been truer than now 🤷♂️
