In their second exhibition game leading up to the 2024 Olympics, Team USA beat Australia by a final score of 98-92 on Monday. Anthony Davis led the United States with 17 points points on 6-for-12 shooting, 14 rebounds (seven offensive), two blocks and a steal in 18 minutes at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
The United States led by as many as 24 points, but the margin shrunk to just four points in the final minute. Tyrese Haliburton made back-to-back corner 3s late in the fourth quarter to counter an Aussie run.
The Boomers challenged Team USA. Big man Jock Landale finished with a game-high 20 points on 9-for-12 shooting, plus seven rebounds, six assists and two steals. Josh Giddey had 17 points on 7-for-18 shooting, eight rebounds and seven assists. Ultimately, though, Australia could not overcome its 4-for-18 (22.2%) shooting from 3-point range. Spacing is going to be an issue for the Aussies at the Olympics.
Takeaways:
Team USA’s starting lineup remains a work in progress
While the United States won this game, they did not do so easily or impressively. Joel Embiid was the only starter who had a positive plus-minus, and that was only because he wasn’t on the floor with his fellow starters — Stephen Curry, Anthony Edwards, LeBron James and Jayson Tatum — in the fourth quarter. Embiid played a team-low 16 minutes and, and Steve Kerr’s coaching staff gave Davis an extended look with the other starters in the second half.
Is it too early to wonder if Team USA might be better off bringing Embiid off the bench? Davis has arguably been the team’s best player through two exhibition games, and qualitatively, the offense has just seemed smoother with him on the court. Part of that, though, is that the guys Kerr brought off the bench on Monday have generally looked good together — Davis and Bam Adebayo are everywhere defensively, as is Jrue Holiday, and Haliburton draws two defenders pretty much whenever he runs a pick-and-roll.
Curry, of course, is also blitzed on every pick-and-roll, but Team USA hasn’t wanted him to run too many of them. I wonder if, when the games get real and they end up in a tight spot, they decide to simplify things.
A note on the rotation: It’s going to change. Kevin Durant missed both this exhibition game and the one against Canada last week. Derrick White, who just joined the team in Abu Dhabi, didn’t play against Australia, either. If they’re available on Wednesday against Serbia, I’m curious to see how they’re used. Even though Edwards scored 11 points on 4-for-4 shooting in the first five minutes against the Boomers, I’m not sure that he’s the best fit with the starters, particularly if Embiid is one of them. There are a lot of guys in that group who are clearly most comfortable handling the ball.
Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers
For years with the Golden State Warriors, turnovers have been Kerr’s pet peeve. The coach believes in ball movement and gives his players a ton of freedom, but when they get too loose with the ball, they get in trouble.
On Monday, Team USA’s turnover total (18) wasn’t all that far off from their assist total (22). Kerr will surely not be pleased with this, but perhaps it can serve as a learning experience. As much talent as they have defensively, they will give opponents the chance to score if they consistently cough the ball up and let them get out in transition.
James, Embiid, Adebayo and Davis had three turnovers apiece. Often, the United States was able to run an action and create an advantage, only to negate it immediately by throwing an errant pass. Some of this is to be expected for a team that A) features many of the best players on the planet in roles smaller than they’re used to, and B) has only been practicing together for a week and a bit. If this is still happening in France, though, Team USA could find themselves in games that are much closer than they need to be.
An encouraging note
If Tatum makes any headlines from this game, in which he scored seven points on 3-for-4 shooting in 21 minutes, it will probably be because of this two-hand dunk over Will Magnay:
Consistently, though, I was impressed by Tatum’s drive-and-kick game. Much like during the Boston Celtics‘ title run, Tatum got into the paint with ease and was content to make the right play whenever the defense collapsed. He finished with a team-high five assists, and, on one particularly memorable play in the second quarter, he created the initial advantage, then ended up finishing the play after Curry swung the ball and Edwards attacked a closeout:
Generally speaking, that is how Team USA wants to play. If they continue to work on their spacing and their reads, those pretty plays will be more and more frequent. Their decision-making wasn’t anywhere near perfect against Australia, but, for the most part, they had the right intentions on offense. This is encouraging, so let’s see if they can clean things up a bit against Serbia.
