Team USA takeaways after their first game against Canada
On Wednesday night in Vegas the 2024 USA Olympics men’s basketball team faced off in their first exhibition game against the Canadian national team. Team USA heads into the Olympic games as the heavy favorite at -500 to win the whole thing but with a new mix of teammates and the world catching up to them in basketball there are still some question marks surrounding the team. So after their first exhibition last night I thought it was a good time to look at the biggest takeaways from the teams first performance together.
One of the first takeaways of the night was the teams starting lineup, I realize it’s just one game and the exhibitions are for figuring out team chemistry but I did find some things interesting from Steve Kerr’s first starting five. Kerr started Steph Curry, Jrue Holiday, Devin Booker, Lebron James and Joel Embiid against Canada, while I don’t really have any major issues with Kerr’s starting 5 I think going forward you’ll see less 3 guard lineups and possibly Anthony Edwards and Jayson Tatum making their way into the lineup.
Team USA struggled out of the gate finding it’s flow but once they did they looked unstoppable in the second quarter and went on to win comfortably but as the tournament ramps up I expect Kerr to make adjustments.
One of the other main takeaways that seemed to take over twitter during the game was while Steph and Lebron are nearing the end the ascension of Jayson Tatum and Anthony Edwards should have USA basketball fans feeling great about the teams future. Tatum and Edwards looked great on both ends for Team USA and are looking like the corner stone for the teams next few Olympic runs.
Looking at some of the negatives in Team USA’s first game was the play of Joel Embiid who struggled adjusting to the FIBA rules. With how fouls are called by FIBA and will be called throughout the Olympics Embiid is going to have to adjust, after fouling out in the third quarter of last night’s game and looking frustrated at times.
The last takeaway I want to focus on is the roster construction, one of the more criticized selections by Grant Hill heading into the Olympics was Tyrese Haliburton. However for those that were critical of the Haliburton selection they had to feel better after watching the team play Canada. Haliburton seemed to be the perfect set up man for the explosive USA offense dictating the pace of play and setting up his teammates with great looks all night.
While the other big story surrounding Team USA’s roster is not who’s on the team but who was left off of it. With Kawhi Leonard leaving the team and Derrick White being added many Celtics and NBA fans are left wondering why Jaylen Brown was left off the team. While I’m not going to dive into the reasons why Jaylen Brown could have been left off of Team USA in this article, many believe it could be for a myriad of reasons. I believe Jaylen should have been on the roster as he’s done more than enough to deserve it but there is a way to look at it from a pure basketball perspective and say Derrick White fills the teams needs more than Brown may have.
All in all after one game Team USA looks like the juggernaut we all expected and the more they play together the more they should click on both ends. The Olympic finals are a long ways away but it would be a shock to just about everyone if Team USA won’t be there looking to add another gold medal to the countries illustrious trophy case.