Team USA Avoids Another Disaster By Holding On To Beat Turkey In A Wild Finish

Jesus Christ, that was wayyyyyy more stressful than it should have been considering the US were 21.5 point favorites entering this game. For many non Celtics fans this performance against Turkey might raise from red flags and be cause for concern. For the rest of us, we saw this exact formula play out 1,000 times during the Celtics season so it’s no surprise things continued here. I won’t try and sugarcoat it, Team USA played like shit and really didn’t deserve to win this game. They shot the ball like a bunch of assholes (35/35%), none worse than the Celtics foursome, but in the end it was Kemba Walker and Jayson Tatum that saved the US from another embarrassing loss in FIBA competition. I am all for exciting basketball, but I don’t think my heart was prepared for overtime where everything is coming down to pressure FTs. It’s only the beginning of September for crying out loud, I shouldn’t be this stressed.

The entire ending of this game was ridiculous though. We had Pop reliving his decision to take out Tim Duncan in that Finals only to watch a key offensive rebound kill his team. He took out Myles Turner who I dunno seems like a good rebounder, and then with around 12 seconds left Turkey got a huge offensive rebound put back to go up two. Not great! Then Khris Middleton wasn’t even close on a wide open three which honestly isn’t all that surprising given how he’s shot in international play, only to be bailed out by a HUGE Kemba Walker offensive rebound who then got it to Tatum who didn’t settle for a long two and instead got fouled taking a three. Game over right? Wrong! Of course he missed the second FT and we found ourselves heading to OT. This is why I always say FTs are important.

After some Kemba cooking early in the OT, the US found themselves in another tough spot when Myles Turner fucked up the inbounds play and Joe Harris was forced to foul. Well due to FIBA rules this now meant up 1, Turkey was going to have two shots and the ball. Everything coming down to FTs once again, and Turkey choked worse than Tatum. Missed them both. Marcus Smart immediately fouled to put Cedi Osman at the line who….choked. He went on to miss both and Jayson Tatum had the biggest rebound of the game over multiple players, went coast to coast and found Middleton for a beautiful transition play that led to two free throws. He made them, Team USA wins. Disaster avoided.

But shit man, they need to be a whole lot better than what we saw in this game. I’ll take the win, but you don’t exactly feel great given how this team looked overall. Defense had issues, offense was stagnant, turnovers, it was overall pretty gross. You give this type of performance against someone like Serbia or Spain and you are going to get your ass destroyed.

Now just like we do after every game let’s review how the Celts did.

Kemba Walker

A pretty terrible night shooting the ball for Kemba in his 30 minutes, just 5-14 from the field and 3-8 from deep. Not exactly what we’ve seen from him so far this tournament, but in the game’s biggest moments he was there. You had his late stepback three with was gigantic

then his stepback from the midrange

followed by perhaps his biggest play of the night, this ever important charge

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It was pretty clear Kemba was tired of the bullshit and took matters into his own hands when the team needed him most. That’s a positive. I even respect him going for the Fuck You Three with around 50 seconds left. I am ready to live and die by Kemba and high pressure moments are sure going to be a roller coaster with him.

While his shot wasn’t falling, he still was able to make an impact with 7 assists and 0 turnovers which I certainly like, but that efficiency has to get back to where it was prior if this team is going to make a deep run.

Jayson Tatum

We almost had a big time terrible situation on our hands when Tatum missed that second FT. Have to go to the line and make all three of those, you just have to. But like I said, in the end Tatum was there to save the day. Multiple HUGE offensive rebounds in OT, then that rebound and push off the missed Cedi FT to win it

He was another guy that couldn’t buy a bucket, just 3-11 but he did have 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks.  We’re also continuing to see him improve as a creator and facilitator which for me is the biggest takeaway of his play so far this tournament. Tatum growing as a playmaker is going to be a huge part of if he takes a leap or not. This is all fine and good, but ALL I care about right now is his ankle and his health. I don’t care what it means for Team USA, if there is any chance this could potentially be serious, it’s time to

Marcus Smart

A relatively quiet game for Smart who played just 11 minutes. It wasn’t a great day for him in terms of +/- either, finishing a -11 and he didn’t record a rebound, steal, or block. I will say though, he did show up on Turkey’s final possession with some pretty solid defense

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and maybe Pop moving forward will not rely so much on Donovan Mitchell on a night where he clearly doesn’t have it and gives more run for Smart. Above all else you know you’re getting some solid defense when you need it.

Jaylen Brown

Aside from Plumlee, nobody played fewer minutes than Jaylen’s 6:12. He missed every shot he took which wasn’t great, as well as a couple of FTs which is both on brand and very annoying. He’s looked pretty good this entire tournament so a weird decision by Pop, but that seemed to be the story of this game. Weird decisions everywhere you looked.

Under no circumstances should this be a puff your chest out performance for anyone. This was gross to watch and you could say Team USA got lucky and that’s why they pulled out this win. At the same time they’ve guaranteed their spot in the next stage and 2-0 is 2-0. Take this and build from it but please get your shit together so this can be a fun tournament and not something that takes years off my life.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to pray on the behalf of Jayson Tatum’s ankle.