The United States men's national basketball team are set to start their Olympic play in Paris on Sunday, where they will go up against Serbia.
Team USA was able to build some chemistry through the USA Basketball Showcase where they competed in five games.
Canada was the first team they played against in the showcase. The Canadian national team features star players such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jamal Murray. Though it was a competitive first half, Team USA was able to pull away in the second half and defeat Canada with a final score of 86-72.
In the second game, Team USA faced a chippy Australia team. USA had a 16-point lead at halftime, and were even up by 24 points in the 3rd quarter. Australia managed to spark a comeback and made the game more competitive, which was partly due to the turnovers made by Team USA. However, they still managed to beat Australia 98-92.
The third game against Nikola Jokic and Serbia was by far their most dominant performance. USA completely ran away with the game in the second half, and blew out Serbia with a 105-79 final. Stephen Curry led the red, white, and blue with 24 points and made 6 3-pointers. They also contained Jokic, as the reigning league MVP made six out of his 19 attempted shots.
The fourth game against South Sudan had spectators worldwide in a frenzy. South Sudan dominated Team USA throughout the game and made their presence felt from the opening tip. South Sudan had a 14-point lead at halftime.
They simply would not go away, even when Team USA managed to lead by seven points with less than two minutes remaining. JT Thor would end up making a game-leading 3-point shot to put South Sudan up one with 20 seconds remaining.
It would take a clutch game-winning drive by LeBron James for Team USA to be victorious and narrowly defeat Sudan with a 101-100 final. Regardless of the win, this game showed USA isn't going to simply breeze past each opponent for the Olympics. Major props to South Sudan for making that game a thriller.
In the fifth and final game of the showcase, Team USA went up against a formidable Germany team, that won the FIBA World Cup last year.
The entire game was competitive, and the United States ended up winning the game by four with a final score of 92-88. It took another heroic performance late in the 4th quarter from LeBron James to seal the victory, making Team USA undefeated in their five showcase games.
When analyzing the showcase games, there's mainly positives, especially since USA didn't lose a game, but there's also some negatives around the team, that will be important to clean up leading up to the Olympic opener on Sunday.
Positive Takeaways
A main positive is LeBron James looks amazing, especially for a player that will be turning 40 this year.
James led Team USA in scoring with 73 total points in the five games, along with being the leader in assists with 18.
He is the elder statesman on this team and has the most experience in USAB, so he will be an essential piece for bringing home the gold. His Laker teammate, Anthony Davis, had an impressive showing as well, leading in total rebounds at 49, and an impressive 15 blocks in the five games. Davis by far has been the best overall defender.
Another positive is with this team, anybody can get hot and takeover a game, whether that be one of the starters or a bench player. Anthony Edwards has taken the charge of being the bucket-getter off the bench, which is a huge advantage since Edwards is dynamic on offense.
A key note is Team USA was able to get some separation and comfortable leads in some of the games. They just couldn't keep a consistent lead and let their opponent's get back in some games. As mentioned before, The U.S. team was up by seven against South Sudan with less than two minutes, but only won the game by a point.
If Team USA can keep a lead, and not let their foot off the gas pedal during these Olympic games, they will be difficult to face.
Negative Takeaways
There were two negatives when evaluating the showcase games, and that's the turnovers and the opponent 3-point makes and attempts.
With the turnovers, Team USA had more turnovers in three out of the five games against Canada, Australia, and Germany with 15, 18, and 14 respectively. They were tied with Serbia, having 12 turnovers each.
The only game where they had the least turnovers was against South Sudan. South Sudan had 15 turnovers, whereas the U.S. team had 12.
Protecting the basketball will be important, especially when the games count. The turnover can lead to other team scoring and even impacting runs. The decision-making and knowing when to slow down during the games will be important.
In their last two games against South Sudan and Germany, Team USA made and attempted less 3-pointers. Against South Sudan, they were 7/28 from 3-point range. South Sudan made double the amount of 3's, going 14/33 from distance.
The matchup against Germany was more intriguing when looking at the stats. Team USA shot 6/17 from 3-point range. Germany made 13 and attempted 45!
It's only a sample size of two games, but its something that will be noted. Defensively, the team will need to guard the perimeter better, and try to run players off the 3-point line. Highly doubt this will be a consistent issue, but Team USA has to limit the attempts against their matchup.
One hot shooting game from distance can potentially lead to a major upset.
Conclusion
Team USA is still the clear favorite to win gold in Paris. They are sitting at -500, according to odds from DraftKings. France is the second favorite at +1200.
There's clearly separation for obvious reasons. The USA Basketball team have been the juggernaut in the Olympics, winning the gold medal in the last four competitions.
This is a great team that features players that are well-seasoned and have gold medals on their resume. The game has also changed drastically, and is more international than ever before, which is great for the sport. It will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.
Let the games begin.
