Team USA Handles Giannis And Greece With Ease To Remain Undefeated

For the first time so far in this FIBA tournament, Team USA did not have the best player on the floor when this game started. It’s not shame to admit that some guy named Giannis who just so happened to win the league MVP is a decent player. After destroying Japan by 53, while that was nice it wasn’t exactly the type of challenge you can put any real stock into. Seeing how Team USA would handle Giannis was a much different situation and frankly, they were awesome. If you look at Giannis’ line it was still impressive, there’s not a lot to hate about 15/13 and the way Giannis started the game it sure felt like the US was in for a long night. But finally, we saw this team defend. Their gameplan to basically make anyone but Giannis beat them worked, as Greece couldn’t really make a three to save their lives, the US did a great job of sending multiple guys into the paint every time Giannis tried his patented spin move and it was pretty damn effective. Often times it looked like what TOR was able to do in the ECF that was so effective and I imagine every single coach in the East is taking note.

Offensively, the US moved the ball well which was nice, there wasn’t so much reliance on isolation basketball, but they didn’t exactly shoot the ball well either, only 36/23% splits and only two guys in double figures. Kemba led the way with 15 points and had some big second half threes, but even he shot just 5/12. I thought the US did a great job of attacking Greece’s zone, and that’s something I’ll be interested to see if other countries try something like that because Team USA is filled with slashers and seem to be embracing this unselfish style. They’ll obviously have to shoot better to beat teams like Spain or Serbia, but I’ll take a game where they prove they can win with defense.

Speaking of defense, Marcus Smart gets my MVP for this game not because of his scoring or his passing, but for how he handled Giannis on the block. I mean, it’s virtually impossible for any human to stop Giannis. You don’t really stop him, you just hope you can slow him down. Well one of the best ways to do that is to have possessions like this, which is something Smart did basically every time they were on the floor together

That’s what 1st Team All Defense looks like folks and it’s why Marcus Smart made this team. It was a classic Smart performance where he basically missed every jumper he took, yet was one of the most important players on the roster and a huge reason why they won. Basically he’s back to normal. I was also again impressed with the aggressiveness of Jaylen Brown especially on the glass, he finished with a team high 9 rebounds including 4 offensive and if he could just make his fucking free throws we’d really be cooking with gas.

I’ll say, it also helps when the opposing coach is a moron and decides to not play Giannis for essentially the entire home stretch of this game. They got it down to something close like 13, and still, no Giannis. Idiot! Not sure why he decided to punt this game and sit Giannis but that’s not my problem. Maybe playing one of the most unstoppable forces on the planet might sound like a good idea to you and me, but what do we know. It didn’t help that none of his teammates gave him any help after the entire US team would swarm Giannis every time he touched the ball but still, you have to play Giannis with the game on the line, I feel like that’s a no brainer.

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There was even a little drama at the end when Harrison Barnes had this nice breakaway finish

and Giannis’ brother was that one guy you always goes way too hard in pick up and can’t just accept the game is over with a rough foul up high. That obviously didn’t sit will with Barnes’ teammates

But hey, undefeated is undefeated. Not bad for a team everyone says sucks and has no chance. With Brazil up next who is 3-1, the competition is starting to get tougher and tougher which I am thankful for. I want to see what this group looks like against good teams and hopefully Tatum is back by then. The shooting issue is a bit of a concern, but if they defend like this on a consistent basis they’ll be just fine.