Avengers’ Status: Checking in on Team USA
After one of the more memorable opening ceremonies in recent memory, the 2024 summer Olympics are underway in Paris, France. That also means that pool play is underway for both men’s and women’s basketball, where the representatives from the USA are heavily favored to repeat as gold medalists. That being said, the rest of the world has somewhat closed the gap between themselves and Team USA, especially on the men’s side. The “Avengers” that were put together have been more in the spotlight than ever before and have had their ups and downs so far. Here’s a look at Team USA so far, as well as what to expect from the team moving forward.
Image via Forbes
A Couple Bumps in the Road, but an Unblemished Record
After six games on the court, both in exhibition and pool play, the Team USA men are 6-0. They aren’t, however, free of concern moving forward. A couple of the exhibition games were too close for comfort, culminating in a one point win against South Sudan in which LeBron James, the 39 year old leader and oldest player on the team, had to take the game over and will the team to what should have been an easy win. Their tune-up games against Australia and Germany, two teams that project to be challengers to the US, followed a similar tune, being decided by less than ten points each. Steve Kerr has preached an increase in intensity and effort to the team as they struggle, as many renditions of Team USA have, to fully respect the talent of their international competition. Whether or not the team will take his message to heart remains to be seen.
Image via Celtics Blog
Too Many Players, Not Enough Minutes?
Kevin Durant, arguably the best Team USA player of all time on the men’s side, returned at just the right time, coming off the bench for the first time in his international career against Serbia. He played like he had never missed any time though, scoring 23 points, missing just one of his nine field goal attempts. His dominance was a joy to watch for fans of the US, but it wasn’t without a cost. Through the entire game against Nikola Jokić and Serbia, neither Jayson Tatum or Tyrese Haliburton received any playing time in the matchup. This tends to be the issue for Olympic basketball teams, but head coach Steve Kerr addressed the issue, saying that he would do his best to play the whole roster but also explaining that with the return of Durant, there were “lineups I wanted to get to.”
Image via NBC Sports Philadelphia
A More Matchup-Based Team
In many years past, Team USA could simply rely on their overwhelming talent to cruise to easy wins and gold medals. Now? The more equal spread of talent around the world, paired with the fact that most of the international teams have played together longer and have more chemistry built up than the Americans. To counter this, Kerr and the USA coaching staff have developed more matchup-based lineups to help the team navigate each opponent. For example, against Serbia the team leaned on their guards and wings throughout the game because that was the biggest advantage for the team on the offensive end of the floor. Against a team like Canada or Germany, though, the team has played more so through Joel Embiid and Anthony Davis, seeing as those two opponents don’t have the inside presence to deter the USA centers from dominating. It’s up to the coaching as well as the players to move forward and continue improving as they continue their hunt for another gold medal.
