It Was Boring, It Was Ugly, It was a Win - Team USA Shuts Down Venezuela
It was a boring ass game. There’s no other way to put it. A lot of walks were called, Venezuela kept fouling so the US couldn’t have a highlight play and Team USA went about 4 minutes without a made shot in the second quarter. That said – it’s a win. Oh, and this touch alley-oop by Kyle Lowry was nice:
I repeat, it’s a win, in convincing fashion yet again for Team USA. This time they beat Venezuela 80-45 in Chicago, showing their defensive ability off a lot more than anything on the offensive side of the ball. So, what’s the point of talking about this?
It showed a couple things. First, the US can play in any type of game. If you want to ugly it up, go ahead. The US can afford guys in foul trouble and is deeper than any country in the Olympics. Defensively? Not a problem, the US can switch almost any screen while having a guy like DeAndre Jordan to protect the rim. In fact there was a play where Venezuela ran a designed play, had a guy open on the baseline and Jordan just stood there ready to jump. Needless to say they passed the ball back out to the wing and did nothing.
On the offensive side of the ball it was ugly, but the US just missed a ton of open looks. Venezuela showed some 2-3 zone, which you can’t run against the US. That’s the biggest misconception about this team is that you can run zone and force the US to beat you. This US team has plenty of shooters and if you run a 2-3 zone, the US has Melo to put in the middle of the zone and shoot wide open jumpers from 15 feet. The other reason why is the shortened 3-point line. Guys like Kyrie, Klay, Melo and Durant all are more than good shooters from the normal 3-point line, shortening it just means easier shots. That’s why on offensive rebounds you see Team USA tipping it out to an open teammate instead of grabbing it and trying to make a move.
Yes, I know it’s Venezuela, who is probably the worst team heading to Rio, but for the US to play in an ugly game like this and still win by 35 shows a lot about this team. We just need to do something about these jerseys though. Not sure about you guys, but not a fan, especially after some of the other gems the US had.
Next up is Nigeria on Monday night, where we’ll see if K uses his actual starting lineup, which is looking like Kyrie, Klay, Durant, Melo and Cousins.