On Sunday, Team USA registered a comprehensive 110-84 win over Serbia in their opening game of the 2024 Paris Olympics. The U.S. got off to a slow start, but their offense got on a roll as the game went on and Joe Viray explained how they dismantled the “Next” pick-and-roll coverage, which is commonly used in Europe.
How Team USA punished a popular European PnR coverage.
The "Next" PnR coverage is something you occasionally see in the NBA, but it's much more common in Europe.
The Americans expected Serbia to employ it and made use of 45 cuts and wing spacing to get easy looks. pic.twitter.com/91Pm8pNoeG
— Joe Viray (@JoeVirayNBA) July 30, 2024
That was an interesting observation from Viray. Team USA did generate plenty of open looks against that coverage and ended up shooting 67.6% from the field and 56.3% from beyond the arc against Serbia.
Head coach Steve Kerr and his staff came under fire during the exhibition games, but they certainly did their homework for the opener. The Serbians seemed almost clueless at times on defense as the Americans kept making the right plays against the coverage. When that happens from time to time, the end result is a 26-point blowout.
There were concerns regarding Team USA heading into the Olympics after they struggled in the last two exhibition games against South Sudan and Germany. A lot of them were dismissed with this statement win against Serbia and while I don’t expect blowouts the rest of the way, I have a hard time seeing how this team loses a single game at this tournament. A fifth consecutive gold medal is very much on the cards.
LeBron James Believes Team USA Will Play Even Better Against South Sudan
Team USA will play South Sudan next on Wednesday and LeBron James is confident they’ll play even better in that game. James expects the team to keep improving after the 26-point win against Serbia.
“We gotta get better with our turnovers. Obviously, we’re trying to make the right play, so you can never exclude that. But some of the careless turnovers that we had, we could give ourselves even more possessions offensively, and we’ll be even better coming up on Wednesday.”
Team USA had 17 turnovers against Serbia and their opponents got 25 points thanks to them. They do need to take better care of the ball moving forward and I think as this group spends more and more time together on the court, the turnovers will go down.
James was one of the stars of that win over Serbia. The 39-year-old recorded 21 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists, and 2 steals in the contest. James was excellent in those exhibition games and is shining when it matters most as well.
Of all those showcase games, LeBron was probably at his best against their next Olympic opponent South Sudan. The 20-time All-Star led the U.S. to a narrow 101-100 win as he hit the game-winning layup, to finish with 23 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists.
LeBron just took over in the fourth quarter and will hope the team doesn’t need him to don the Superman cape in the rematch. I think Team USA will comfortably win this second matchup, but if the game is tight in the closing moments, you won’t bet against James dragging the Americans across the finish line once again.
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