NBA legend Oscar Robertson recently voiced his frustrations over Team USA’s performance against Nikola Jokic during the 2024 Paris Olympics, specifically targeting the defensive strategy employed by coach Steve Kerr and the team’s overall approach. During an appearance on the All The Smoke podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, Robertson didn’t mince words in his critique:
“What bothers me more than anything is how does a guy just come up to you and drive around you so easy. They don’t slide. Jokic made a fool out of USA all because that guard didn’t fight through to get to his man. I would never have screens switched onto my man.”
“Why am I gonna go inside to play through the 7-foot-4 guy and USA kept doing that and Jokic kept scoring bad. What was the coach doing, Kerr? You can’t say you want Steph Curry to switch off on Jokic inside. Well, Curry wouldn’t switch anyways so it wouldn’t really matter.”
He pointed out that Team USA’s inability to contain the Denver Nuggets star was a glaring flaw in their strategy. According to Robertson, the American players struggled to keep Jokic in check due to poor defensive discipline and mismatches, which allowed the Serbian big man to dominate in crucial moments.
Robertson referenced Jokic’s ability to break through the defense with little resistance. He specifically took issue with the lack of defensive footwork and effort from Team USA’s players. Robertson was critical of the tendency to switch on screens, leading to mismatches where smaller players like Stephen Curry were tasked with guarding the towering Jokic inside. Robertson’s point was clear: allowing Curry to switch onto Jokic was a tactical error that played into the Serbian star’s strengths.
In a nearly disastrous semifinal matchup, the United States was on the verge of being upset by Jokic-led Serbia, trailing by double digits in the fourth quarter before a late comeback helped them secure a narrow 95-91 win.
Despite Nikola Jokic’s strong performance in the semifinals, finishing the game with 17 points, 11 assists, and five rebounds, Team USA managed to survive the scare, thanks largely to late-game heroics from LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Curry, who scored 36 points. However, Robertson’s comments suggest that, in his view, the victory could have been much more comfortable had Team USA adopted a better defensive approach from the start.
Robertson’s critique is a reminder of the difficulty in containing a versatile big man like Jokic, whose combination of size, skill, and basketball IQ makes him one of the toughest players to defend in today’s game. Jokic’s performance at the Paris Olympics, where he averaged 18.8 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 8.7 assists, reinforced his standing as one of the world’s premier players.
While Serbia ultimately fell short of gold, Jokic’s efforts earned his team a bronze medal, and his ability to challenge even the best teams in the world, like the United States, remains undeniable.
For Robertson, a Hall of Fame point guard and one of the game’s all-time greats, the key takeaway from this game was simple: the United States cannot afford to make defensive lapses against players of Jokic’s caliber. Despite the win, his pointed criticism suggests that Team USA’s defensive strategy needs to be sharper if they want to continue dominating international competition.
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