Things Get Even More Embarrassing For Team USA After They Also Lose To Canada And Don't Even Medal At The FIBA World Cup
Anadolu Agency. Getty Images.
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If you thought things couldn't get more embarrassing after Team USA lost to Germany by 2 points in the Semifinals to blow their chance at Gold
Well, how about losing again to Canada in OT to not even medal at all?
Woof.
And while it should be stated that Team USA was without Brandon Ingram, Jaren Jackson Jr, and Paolo Banchero due to illness, let's not sugarcoat things. After losing 3 of their final 4 games of this tournament, Team USA most certainly did not live up to their expectations. When you head into the tournament the favorites to win the whole thing and you actually don't even end up winning any type of medal, that's…..not great. Embarrassing like you read about.
To add more fuel to that fire, Team USA was dominated by mainly two players from Canada. There was SGA who should be no surprise given he's a solidified beast
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but then there was also Dillon Brooks. You know, the same Dillon Brooks that everyone shits on due to what he does in NBA games. Well, he's the one laughing now
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Between the two they had 70 of Canada's 127! While previous losses revolved mostly around Team USA getting killed on the glass, this loss was more due to an inability to defend the three point line. Canada finished 17-37 (47%) as a team and even when it looked like Team USA was going to pull this game out of their ass with multiple prayers from Mikal Bridges
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the second of which was basically a FIBA reincarnation of Ray Allen's famous 3PM
it still didn't matter. How many times do you see that miss on purpose FTA idea actually work? You can probably count it on one hand. Sadly, Canada didn't panic and just decided to punch back in OT
Despite being this basketball power, Team USA has not medaled in the FIBA World Cup since 2014 (won Gold). In 2019 they finished 7th, and now in 2023 they finished 4th. As I said the other day after the Germany loss, it doesn't really matter to me that this is the Team USA's B or C level team. I get that not a single All NBA player from this past year is on this version of Team USA but come on. Nobody wants to hear that excuse. I sure as shit know we wouldn't be talking about how it's no big deal that Team USA sent the B or C team if they won the whole thing, so it is absolutely not an excuse for coming in fucking fourth. It's still a roster full of NBA players correct?
You should at the VERY least be finding a way to medal at this tournament and honestly, that's pushing it. You really should be winning gold and yet here we are getting taken to the woodshed by Dillon Brooks who had the FIBA record for the most points scored in a medal game. I feel like that shouldn't happen but then again random NBA role players do turn into supernovas whenever we have these international competitions so maybe we should have expected something like this was about to happen.
While this was one of the more exciting FIBA games we've ever had, none of that matters if you can't seal the deal. It wasn't like all of Team USA no showed or anything, they had their fair share of strong performances behind guys like Austin Reaves (23 points), Edwards (24 points), and Bridges (19 points) but at the end of the day, this proved to be one of the worst defensive teams I can remember with Team USA. Giving up 127 points in just 45 minutes while allowing your opponent to shoot 51/45% is nowhere near good enough, especially coming off a Germany loss when you couldn't get a stop to save your life either. That shit has to be figured out by Steve Kerr/Grant Hill as they think about this roster. Even the big boy club at the Olympics had some defensive issues despite winning gold in 2020.
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So while it is cool for Canada that they got to experience their first ever medal, all I really care about is how embarrassing this is for Team USA. Winning Bronze would still have been fairly embarrassing given their expectations and talent level, so to actually be walking away empty-handed for the second straight FIBA World Cup is even worse. What do we call that, super embarrassing? Super duper embarrassing? A disaster? Pick whatever you want, it fits.