2021 Olympics – Team USA’s men’s basketball must be ready for a serious challenge from Australia



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TOKYO – These Olympics for the US men’s basketball team have been bizarre and uncomfortable – and absurd.

Over the past few days, USA team head coach Gregg Popovich has prepared his squad for what is expected to be a very competitive game on Thursday against Australia, who have perhaps their best team ever and plays with the pressure of her home to present her first medal. basketball.

While working on a game plan to stop them, Popovich has negotiated free agent contracts with two of the Aussie players. Patty Mills, who played for Popovich’s San Antonio Spurs for the past 10 years, ended up moving on and signing with the Brooklyn Nets.

But 25-year-old striker Jock Landale, whom Popovich has seen play a key role in two Australian wins against Team USA since coaching the national team, is now a Spur after securing a deal the day before the quarterfinal. Olympic final.

So now he’s going to play the biggest game of his international career trying to beat his new boss.

“I didn’t sleep too much and I didn’t eat too much,” said Popovich, whose infamous team building dinners were suspended in Tokyo. “But I’ve talked a lot on the phone.”

Meanwhile, his team, reunited for little more than a cup of coffee, face off against an Aussie team who have been preparing for Thursday’s semi-final for a decade.

The Australians finished fourth four times at the Olympics, including in 2016, when they lost in the last 10 seconds to Spain in the bronze medal game. At the 2019 World Cup they looked like the best team in the race before a collapse cost them a medal.

But it won’t come easily for the Australians, and the Saitama Super Arena bathroom floor could share some of the blame. Last week, in the second half of a game against Italy, Australia center Aron Baynes went to the bathroom, slipped and fell, worsening a neck injury and sidelined him for the rest of the Games. Baynes, a 6-foot-10, played for the Toronto Raptors last season and is part of a high-profile rotation that has caused problems for the Americans in the past.

The weight of this game for the opponent is relevant for Team USA to understand. The Americans have won three straight wins after their first loss to France, but have been slow to start games. After a shaky first half in the last group game against the Czech Republic, the Spaniards lost 10 points in the second quarter of the quarter-finals.

“I think when we lost 10 it got a little bit frantic,” said Draymond Green. “We started to panic a bit.”

There is no room for panic against the baby boomers. Mills, who won a championship with Spurs in 2014, will be relentless. This is his fourth Olympics and he’s been an international force for years, averaging 21 points per game in 2012, 2016 and again in those Games. He scored 21 in Australia’s victory over Team USA in Vegas.

Much like Spaniard Ricky Rubio, who faced Kevin Durant from the opening point in the quarter-finals on Tuesday, Mills won’t be soft. Joe Ingles either, who shoots 40% on 3 points. Nor Landale, who averages 13 points per game.

While there is no effective defensive strategy against Durant, Philadelphia 76ers winger Matisse Thybulle, who is playing for the Boomers for the first time, led an impressive defensive effort throughout the tournament and will likely be called to the task.

The Australians have a lot of confidence against the United States with the recent victories – they also won an exhibition match in Melbourne in 2019 ahead of the World Cup. And with several key players, like Mills and Ingles, possibly playing in their last Olympics – Andrew Bogut failed; he retired due to injuries after the Games were pushed back from 2020 – there is an undeniable sense of time and place for Australians.

This is something Americans need to be prepared for.

“There are only five on the pitch at a time and we can play defense and only one of them can have the ball at a time,” said Australian goalkeeper Dante Exum. “It’s just them against us.”

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