- The USA men's
basketball team has lost two ugly exhibition games. - The losses raised concerns about defense and rebounding, while the team has blamed conditioning.
- Team USA doesn't have much time to get their act together before the Olympics.
With the Tokyo Olympics less than two weeks away, the USA Men's Basketball squad has a lot of work to do.
On Monday, the men's squad - including an MVP in Kevin Durant and notable All-Stars like Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal, and Jayson Tatum - lost to Australia, 91-83, in an exhibition game in Las Vegas.
It was Team USA's second straight loss, following a 90-87 loss to Nigeria in an exhibition on Saturday.
Dating back to the 2019 World Championships, where they finished a wildly disappointing 7th, the U.S. has lost four of its last five games.
The Americans did have their opportunities on Monday, but Durant, Lillard, and Tatum all missed three-pointers in the final 2:30 of the game to cut into the lead.
The losses have raised concerns about the team's defense - Nigeria hit 20 three-pointers, while Australia scored 44 points in the paint - and rebounding on a squad that doesn't boast any 7-foot centers. And a team with an overwhelming amount of offensive talent, built to spread the floor, has failed to crack 90 points.
After decades of U.S. Basketball exceptionalism, it's been eye-opening to see a squad of some of the best
Head coach Gregg Popovich and Lillard on Monday both partially blamed conditioning.
"Get smarter, get in better condition, and then we have an opportunity to do something very good," Popovich told reporters.
"We are still working at becoming a team, getting our legs under us and getting in shape," said Lillard.
Such arguments sound flimsy when considering that five squad members were playing in playoff games from late May to mid-June. The rest of the roster played as recently as mid-May when the regular season concluded.
Lillard also noted that this team hasn't been together long and is still working on its chemistry.
The U.S. doesn't have much time to figure things out, however. They play another exhibition on Tuesday against Argentina. No, the game doesn't technically count, but another loss will sound true alarms on when, exactly, the U.S. will figure things out.Once the Olympics begin, the Americans will be tested right away with a group stage game against France, one of the best teams in the competition.
Team USA is missing Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday, and Khris Middleton, who are still playing in the Finals. Holiday and Middleton would help their perimeter defense while Booker is yet another scorer who can spread the floor and create his own shot. Those three will presumably be in game shape when they join the team.
Of course, adding three new rotation players may not help the team's chemistry struggles.
International competition has indeed caught up to USA Basketball - many countries have a handful of NBA players on their rosters, and those teams often develop great chemistry from years of playing together. But the U.S. is still expected to win gold, and thus far, they don't look anything like a squad ready to win Olympic gold by 30 points, like we last saw in Rio in 2016.