Welll….they appear to be mostly bored. Whatever that offense is for the first three quarters is All Star Game stuff, and they don’t do the extra stuff for rebounds, and they only play occasional D. But when they get serious, it’s curtains. That last quarter was wacko. Interesting too that you see who the true bosses are. Curry, Lebron, Embiid, KD played pretty much all of Get Real time.
I hope not. I'd like to see the US come out in their 4th quarter form and silence that crowd quickly.
Fantastic finish for Team USA. When they decide to lock in and play defense nobody can beat them. Embiid showed why they recruited him to play, his presence neutralized Jokic and he got buckets on offense. Salute to Curry, Lebron and KD. This is likely their last hurrah, it’s gonna be interesting to see who carries the torch in the future.
And I realize most national teams are actual teams and not just a collection of temporary players, and that makes a difference. USA commits all sorts of bad-chemistry mistakes like extra passes or blown D.
Smart play at the end that went unmentioned. With about 6 second difference on the shot clock, he juked a guy and looked like he was pulling up for a wide open 3, but pulled it back and just dribbled it around until he got fouled. Then made both for a 2-possession game. If he took and missed that 3, Serbia rebounds, they would have had about 10-15 seconds for a tie or winning 3 pointer.
Interesting. Do you think it's complacency/effort, lack of having played together much, or something else? Very happy for the win either way.
All of the above. Good rebounding teams are def a collective. But also I just don’t think Bam or AD or Embiid want to bang like it’s the NBA finals until it’s absolutely necessary. You basically have Lebron playing balls out at all times and the occasional bursts from others. Curry played a full game today. Embiid and KD had huge stretches. And they needed it all. Not sure this team would get any medal without LBJ.
Yeah players on those national teams have been playing together since they were teens, they know and play off of each other very well. At the end of the day tho basketball usually comes down to who has the better players, which the U.S. almost always does.
Except for how until today the “not trying” method resulted in easy wins, all but one 20+ points, including annihilating this same team earlier. I think “not trying” and not going Full NBA Finals are two different things. I can’t blame say Embiid for not going max intensity for a gold medal and bringing in the possibility of ending his livelihood. He is perpetually hurt in the NBA because it is brutal. So long as they win, whatever works. I suspect the intensity in the GM game will be a little different.
Not to mention this is the 3rd straight time they’ve beaten this Serbia team in the past 2 weeks. Anyone who knows anything about sports, especially basketball, knows how difficult it is to beat the same team twice in a row, much less three times in a row.
