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Posts tagged as “Steve Kerr”

Team USA defeats Germany, sweeping the USA Basketball Showcase (92 – 88)

July 23, 2024

Team USA defeats Germany to remain undefeated in all of their 5 exhibition games. It was a close game down the stretch where the Germans were able to cut the 7-point USA lead to just a 3-point deficit (87-84) via Daniel Theis’ alley-oop.

But that’s when LeBron James went to work and scored the next 5 points for Team USA, giving them an 8-point cushion heading into the final 45 seconds of the game.

Like in the previous games, 39-year-old LeBron James carried Team USA with 20 points playing just 18 minutes. He also added 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Joel Embiid added 15 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists, but more than his offensive contribution, he was a monster on the defensive end. His block on Issac Bonga led to a monster slam by Anthony Edwards.

Orlando Magic’s Franz Wagner led Germany with 17 points and 8 rebounds, while Andreas Obst added 17, including five 3-pointers.

“I think we can get a lot better,” U.S. Coach Steve Kerr said. “We’re getting to a place now where we are comfortable with rotations and I think guys are getting familiar with each other. But we can do a lot of things better. I thought our passing was not great tonight. They put a lot of defensive pressure on us and we turned it over a few times. I think we can tighten up our game and get better.”

Game Highlights

Olympics Men’s Basketball Schedule

Team USA is part of Group C of the 2024 Paris Olympics Men’s Basketball Tournament Groupings and they will open the tournament against Serbia on Sunday (28th July), then have a rematch with South Sudan on July 31st, and their last game to wrap up group play will be against Puerto Rico on August 3rd.

Team USA Suffers First Loss of FIBA World Cup 2023 to Lithuania

September 4, 2023

Team USA’s unbeaten run at the FIBA World Cup 2023, winning their first five games of the tournament, came to an end on Sunday 3rd of September, when they lost to Lithuania in a thrilling encounter. The final score was 110-104 in favor of Lithuania and in front of 11,349 fans.

The game was played at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines, and saw Lithuania, who played a physical and aggressive game, take control early on. The Lithuanias built a 19 pts lead (12 – 31) in the first qtr and ended the first half with a comfortable 17 pts lead (37 – 54). The Americans led by Anthony Edwards tried to staged a come back but could not get closer than 4 pts (85 -89) with 4:45 mins remaining in the game. Anthony Edwards scored 34 pts and 2 assists, Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges both scored 14 pts but where in effective in the closing period of the game. The trio are the only American player to score in double figures.

Compared to the Team USA, Lithuania played a more balanced game with 7 players in double figures. The team is lead by Vaidas Kariniauskas with 15 pts, followed by Mindaugas Kuzminskas and Jonas Valanciunas, who scored 14 pts and 12 pts, respectively. Valanciunas also grabbed 7 rebs with his 2 blocks.

Lithuania killed the Americans in the second chance points category, making 17 pts against 2 pts from Team USA, 61 – 38 point off the bench. They also shot 52.8% from the field and 56% from three-point range, compare to 37.9% in the 3-pts by the Americans.

The loss is a wake-up call for Team USA, which is still considered the favorite to win the tournament. However, they will need to play better if they want to avoid further upsets.
Despite the loss, Team USA still advanced to the quarterfinals of the FIBA World Cup and are qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics. They will face Italy on Tuesday, while the Lithuania will face Serbia, who are 4 – 1 in the tournament.

Game Highlights