Team Israel!
They definitely got some advantageous switches early when we were switching and we did a poor job of scram switching off. There was a notable one in the first half where we ended up with Lebron and Durant on Jokic bc Lebron was calling to scram switch it and KD was slow to recognize and get to Lebronâs guy.
Theyâve been OK at that this tourney but seemed to struggle yesterday.
Thatâs why chemistry is important. This is where foreign teams have an advantage because they have played together for years whereas USA just throw the team together at the last minute.
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Yeah agreed I really donât like unpracticed switching vs. teams that practice a lot together bc communicating switches isnât easy and the ghost/slip stuff for teams that play a ton together can be second nature. Think itâs easier to just be athletic and get thru screens and play drop in a lot of situations.
In fairness to Kerrâwho has been driving me crazy this tourneyâI think heâs mixed up his coverages and tried to give his squad flexibility. And theyâre all really high IQ players with (even tho a lot of them have slipped bc ageâŚ) some really serious athleticism.
E.g. I really enjoyed watching KD get in a stance and absolutely hound the heck out of the ball in that 4th.
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Iâm rewatching the USA-France gold medal game in Tokyo and that team definitely was more dialed in defensively than this one. Obviously helps to have someone like Draymond on the team, and a much younger team in general.
But they were basically doing what Colin is talking about, just flying around screens. Even Zach Lavine is hustling through a bunch of off ball screens. They were undersized so got got a couple times downlow but like⌠who cares? We forced 19 TOs! That more than makes up for some putbacks.
Iâm hoping Spo gets the next cycle
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The age of these guys + Kerr I think is a big explanation for the quirks of this team so far. Lebron spent that 4th locked in on D and he finally had a great game. But so many of those guys have gotten used to being able to get by playing at half speedâand, to their credit, theyâre so good they often still can. That plus Kerr just not having good feel for building lineups and weâre within reach of the best teams in this tourney.
That said, I think youâre right and France just doesnât have it. Even if Wemby wipes us out at the rim, we should be able to put way too much shooting on the floor to matter. And they just have nada on O. Need Kerr to build lineups accordingly.
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The Womenâs team is dominating Australia. Just no answer for the Aussie against USA.
Expecting a USA vs Belgium rematch this weekend for the gold medal game.
Just think that this man turns 40 this year! Insane.
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Khayat looked solid. Wonder if he figures it out.
No Duke players!
Durant starting, Jrue coming off the bench today
No medal for Wagner bros. The last 3 summers theyâve got 3rd in Euros, 1st in WC, 4th in Olympics. Which is highly impressive for Germany. I believe thatâs their best showing in all of those events in decades, possibly ever.
Could we see Christian Anderson in LA28? Schroeder is gonna be pretty old in 4 years
Eurobasket is next summer so for some guys itâs gonna be their 4th summer in a row with the national team. If you played in the Olympics in 21 it could be 5 summers in a row
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I think this makes sense. Guessing Tatum slots in at KDâs old spot and Jrue bumps down and takes Whiteâs minutes. And hey if they wanted to bump bump Bam out and keep White I wouldnât complain! Spacing against Wemby will be crucial
Franz should be in his prime and I think Moe will still be useful. CA will need to portal to Michigan at some point, to assure his destiny.
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Yeah the crucial thing here is generating open 3s and both Tatum and White are great at defending and shooting so losing both so you can play 2 bigs seems unwise. But hey weâve said this all tourney.
Worried that the bully ball that France has been playing w Yabusele and Lessort will tempt Kerr into playing 2 bigs. Tatum and Lebron should be able to deal with that 1v1.
Embiid as a spacer could be big today too. He shouldnât be super necessary on D and he might be able to roam on Wemby unless Victor suddenly finds his shot. And pulling Wemby away from the basket would be a nice win. Hesitate to put too much on Joel tho bc heâs clearly just still not moving well. Gave upâŚ5? OREBs to Serbia purely bc he couldnât move.
Hartenstein should be pushing Mo for time. Theis should be close to being done, same with Voightmann and Theimann
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Theis will be done. Hartenstein would take his spot
Tristin Da Silva wouldnât shock me
Embiid getting cooked by Wemby