USA Basketball

BingBang,

You're right about Pops emphasizing team D. Looking at Czech game, MS was second in minutes played only to Donovan Mitchell. MS didn't exactly light it up but Pop likes him for defense for sure.

db

Wtf. Tatum hurt

Below is the box score from today's USA game.
This is the 2nd straight game that Jaylen has done little on offense.

http://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2019/game/0209/USA-Turkey#tab=boxscore

tjmakz wrote:Below is the box score from today's USA game.
This is the 2nd straight game that Jaylen has done little on offense.

http://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2019/game/0209/USA-Turkey#tab=boxscore

If you  did not see the game you would not know how well he played.  Screw the box score.  Tatum sent the game into overtime and made a play in OT on a fast break feeding Middleton who went to the line, winning it for USA

dboss wrote:

tjmakz wrote:Below is the box score from today's USA game.
This is the 2nd straight game that Jaylen has done little on offense.

http://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2019/game/0209/USA-Turkey#tab=boxscore

If you  did not see the game you would not know how well he played.  Screw the box score.  Tatum sent the game into overtime and made a play in OT on a fast break feeding Middleton who went to the line, winning it for USA

I said Jaylen, not Jayson.

Their interchangeable, lol

TJ

Not sure what happened with Tatum it was on a fast break with around 9 seconds left in overtime he is pushing the ball hard up the middle and when he gets around the foul line he passes it to Middleton who is cutting to the hoop left side.  Middleton got foul.  I did not see where Tatum got hurt but the next thing is he is being helped off the court as he cannot walk under his own power.  It looked really bad.

I'm so upset I must be losing my mind.

Okay replay show Harrison Barnes ran into him clipping his right foot/leg and Tatum went down

Here's the play that Tatum sprained his ankle.

https://twitter.com/ChrisForsberg_/status/1168899883371307011

TJ

Yes when I played it back in slow motion frame by frame he definitely turns his left ankle.  He likely misses Thursday's game against Japan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGazC14XnKI

Obviously why a lot of stars passed on this event....

dboss wrote:TJ

Yes when I played it back in slow motion frame by frame he definitely turns his left ankle.  He likely misses Thursday's game against Japan.

We have no idea how long he will be out.
I would not be surprised if they (meaning Team USA doctors and the Celtics) shut him down for the tournament.
What if he plays again and he hurts it significantly?
I think after what happened to Durant, teams are going to be very cautious about letting players get back out their until they are truly 100% healthy.

USA vs Japan ad then it is on to the second round.

They will have to play 2 games in round 2.  They definitely play Brazil and the winner of the Greece/New Zealand game.

http://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2019/competition-system

After the scare against Turkey it seems very possible that there are several teams in the tournament that could beat Team USA.

Every team is playing a zone defense and playing offense against a zone requires discipline.  Team USA almost lost their last game because they were trying to win the game playing an NBA style of basketball.  This has worked in the past but prior USA teams were stocked with super elite talent. This team has B level talent.

The glaring weakness is in the middle and at the PF spot.  The team lacks depth in those areas.  

Team USA can still win this thing but they are going to have to play really fast and shoot the ball with more accuracy.  They also need to play more zone defense to take advantage of their perimeter speed advantage.  Also they need to trust in the system and move the ball.  There are far too many empty one one one ISO possessions.