In some ways, the U.S. men's basketball team's quest for an Olympic gold medal is a race against time.
For the NBA stars who play international basketball in the red, white and blue, the FIBA rules are so different that they have to make some serious adjustments to how they play. Because they're unfamiliar with the rules (even the most experienced international players on the U.S. national team have far fewer practice sessions than their European counterparts), they're constantly practicing from the moment the summer begins.
In any tournament, the game within the game is whether the most talented teams can make enough adjustments to win against opponents who are far more familiar with the rules of play.
At the Tokyo Olympics, they lost warm-up matches to Nigeria and Australia, lost to France in the qualifying round, and barely managed to win by beating France by five points in the gold medal game. At the 2019 and 2023 World Cups… it wasn't quite the same. In 2019, they finished seventh after losing to Serbia and France, and in 2023, they finished fourth after losing to Lithuania, Germany, and Canada.
Some would say the US lost the World Cup because they didn't have competitive qualifying games to prepare for the knockout stage. The Olympics might be a good thing for the US, since only 12 teams are invited instead of 32. With a limited field, almost every game will be against solid to good teams without the excitement of a 110-62 win over Jordan to distract them.
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The U.S. will have played every gold medal contender except France by the time the finals begin on Aug. 6. Exhibition matches include Canada, Australia, Serbia and Germany, with a trip to Serbia again in pool play (plus some slightly lighter matchups against South Sudan and Puerto Rico).
The first two games, exhibition matches against Canada and Australia, were quite different from the USA's matches against Germany, Serbia and France, and maybe I feel this more keenly because I've watched each of the latter three teams' warm-up matches.
The U.S. still plays NBA basketball and will have to adapt to playing FIBA basketball, and their first two opponents, while talented, weren't particularly conducive to that cause.
It was unfortunate for Canada that their only exhibition games in North America before they crossed the ocean were against their friends up north. It was unfortunate for Canada as well. What both teams needed was to play against FIBA-style players as soon as possible.
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Instead, the two star-studded teams played a virtual NBA game in Las Vegas on Wednesday (I was there with fellow basketball fan Barry and a few others). The crowd went wild and the U.S. got what they wanted, but they only managed one point per possession against a less-than-stellar Canadian frontcourt and laughably only 23 three-pointers in a FIBA match featuring Stephen Curry, Devin Booker, Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum.
The U.S. still had too many turnovers (18) and fell victim to the isolation ball that was an issue in the World Cup, but they did well offensively against Australia. Australia probably took the fewest shots of any medal contender, making just four of 18 triples, but the fact they still finished with 92 points is concerning.
This gives us a glimpse into what's next and where the adjustments are. Let's take a look at the international box scores. France, Serbia and Germany are all playing different games. Despite having three All-Star centers on the court, France and Serbia combined to make 56 3-pointers and just 51 2-pointers in Friday's exhibition. A few days earlier, France and Germany had combined to make 112 3-pointers and 126 2-pointers in two exhibitions.
These teams played a slower, dirtier game, even as 3-point shooting played a bigger role. The losing teams failed to top 70 points in all three games, and offensive rebounding, a thorn in the sidelines of the U.S. 2023 World Cup team, played a crucial role (and was incredibly frequent) in both games.
There's no reason the U.S. can't do the same, and history shows that U.S. teams tend to improve as the tournament progresses. The return of Kevin Durant (a cheat code for the U.S. on international play) and getting more value out of the 3-point line in a short international game will help. Unlike last summer, with Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo on the roster, size won't be an issue.
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Embiid, perhaps more than anyone, has underscored the U.S. challenge. He's never played international basketball at this level, and his discomfort was palpable while navigating the FIBA adjustments. He was brutal against Canada and started slowly against Australia, then looked better in the second half, but Davis has been the better option so far.
But there are small things that stand out in his playing time that make you wonder how the U.S. will respond offensively.
Here's a kickout pass from Adebayo and Davis when they were on the court together on Monday. It was one of many in two exhibition games where the U.S. struggled to find space for a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer. Instead, it felt like the Americans just shrugged and said, “We'll just have to take a 20-foot 2-pointer.”
But that part is relatively minor. For the bigger picture, another clip details how FIBA's attacking style needs to be different.
Here's LeBron James posting up on the right block. See what's different from an NBA post-up? A big guy is standing right under the basket, just hanging out. James beats his man, but doesn't get a clean shot at the rim. To make matters worse, opponents know this and will pressure him and try to prevent him from even trying to make a turnaround jump shot.
In the NBA, the defensive three-second rule means there can't be an extra defender at the rim, but that makes all the difference. (Defensively, the U.S. doesn't always know when it can have a defender waiting.) So many of those ominous stand-up possessions with Anthony Edwards taking pull-up jump shots on 1-on-5 are the result of that guy under the rim preventing a one-on-one blow-by.
The help defender's secret in the charging circle problem is quick cutting and ball movement, a five-man type of orchestration that takes time to master as a team. Compare possession to Team USA's attack in Friday's France-Serbia game. Look at France's first play of the second half: France flicks the ball from left to right and back to left, with all five players touching the ball in quick succession, and the sixth pass results in a wide-open corner three.
The US currently does not have such territorial claims, and even if it did get there, no one would be able to lay a hand on them.
The European teams and players the U.S. will face have years of experience playing in summer FIBA tournaments, dating back to their teenage years. Of course, some of them are NBA players, but they never lose their FIBA proficiency because it's so ingrained.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has three weeks to catch up. They have a lot of talent, and that can often be the difference between winning and losing, especially in the Olympics. But don't get me wrong, the U.S. is racing against time to become FIBA literate, and their first two games have drained the hourglass without making much progress in their education. Serbia is up next, and this will be key to their victory. Genuine Adjustments will begin.
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(Top photo of USA vs. Australia: Christopher Pike/Getty Images)
