Team USA Just Lost For The First Time In 13 Years In An Embarrassing Upset Down Under
Yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikes. Not exactly what you want to see from the best team on the planet. Pretty embarrassing actually even if Australia is pretty good and play tough as hell. Still need to be able to beat em. Instead, we witnessed the first loss in 13 years from Team USA, they were 53-1 heading into this game in exhibition play, and they pooped their pants with the world watching. I’m sure tomorrow once people are awake we’ll hear the takes that this is the worst Team USA of all time, a disgrace to the country, the whole nine. The fact of the matter is for the most part they played like shit. A game that didn’t really include any resemblance of an offense, and their defense down the stretch was how do I say it, less than ideal. I mean they let Patty Mills score the final 10 points, completely take over the final moments and shove it right down their throat. Then in response it was nothing but panic inefficient threes. Just gross all around.
It was very clear both Kemba and Donovan Mitchell had all sorts of defensive issues at critical moments of that fourth quarter. Absolutely could not stop the bleeding no matter what they tried. This was a Team USA that got manhandled basically all night, especially towards the end of the third to really give the Aussies momentum. They were sloppy and allowed 16 points off turnovers to go along with rough nights from almost all their main scorers. Khris Middleton a nice 2-6, Tatum a brutal 2-8, Mitchell 4-10, those are the type of performances that are going to get your ass beat.
In my opinion maybe playing Marcus Smart at any point of the second half or in the fourth quarter probably would have prevented Patty Mills from looking like an All NBA player, but I get Pop being cautious as it was his first game back. Now he’s learned his lesson.
The US is going to have wear this on the chin and just deal with the backlash of this disaster. Under no circumstances should you be losing any contest against any opponent, but at least this game didn’t count. We’re essentially talking about practice. Not a game that counts. Practice.