BILBAO, Spain– Team USA’s games in this FIBA World Cup of basketball are all starting to look the same.
The unbeaten American senior men’s team (40) clinched first place in Group C here Wednesday night when it cruised to a 106-71 victory over a Dominican Republic team that was missing its best player– Francisco Garcia of the Houston Rockets.
Gracia was one of the tournament’s top 5 scorers, but was injured, leaving the Dominicans scrambling to stay competitive against a superior team that overwhelmed them physically, scoring 66 points in the paint.
Team USA, which is averaging clsoe to 104 points, finishes pool play Thursday night against the Ukraine before moving on to Barcelona where it will play the Round of 16, quarterfinals and semi-finals.
This was a game that was tailor made for a player like 6-11, 280 pound center Boogie Cousins, who came off the bench to score 13 points– includng seven in a two minute stretch– and grab 5 rebounds in just 11 minutes.
Cousins figures to be a more important piece of Mike Krzyzewski’s game plan going forward as the Americans prepare for what looks like an eventual gold medal game against Spain in Madrid. Krzyzewski can get away with playing a traditiional lineup, with 6-10 Anthony Davis in the middle, against the weaker teams in this competition. But he needs to start experimenting with two bigs like Davis and Cousins on the floor at the same time if it hopes to eventually neutralize Spain’s big three of 7-1 Pau Gasol, 7-0 brother Marc and 6-10 Serge Ibaka.
Spain is on a roll, blowing away France 88-64, in Granada to run their record to 4-0 and clinch Group A as their dominating front line did most of the damage. Marc Gasol led all scorers with 17 points while Pau chipped in with 15. Ibaka finished with 10 points, 8 rebounds and two blocks off the bench. Crowd favorites Juan Carlos Navarro and Sergio Llull provided some excitement, draining back-to-back threes in the fourth quarter to push the lead out of reach for France. Navarro finished with 14 points on 40 percent shooting from beyond the arc for Spain, which will play its knock out around in Madrid and will have home court advantage playign in the same venue if it plays the USA the gold medal game Sept. 14.
France hung around early but ultimately lacked the offensive firepower to compete with Spain’s veteran roster. Nic Batum and Antoine Diot led the team with 11 points apiece. Boris Diaw finished with a disappointing three points on just 1-for-6 shooting. He often looked passive at times, choosing to pass the ball rather than attack Spain’s bigs. Spain shot 51 percent from the floor as a team, compared to just 39 percent for France.
Spain is the one team in this tournament to bring its best players. Team USA is basically a team composed of young stars, like the 21 year old Davis and has an average age of 24.5. Not that it matters. Krzyzewski has this team playing well together all things considered. If point guard Derrick Rose, the 2011 N/BA MVP who is still shaking off the rust after missing two years with a pair of severe knee injuries, can become a factor by next weekend, Team USA could still have another gear we haven’t seen.
Onjce again, forward Kenneth Faried led Team USA with 16 points on 8 of 11 shooting and 6 rebounds in 17 minutes. DeMar DeRozan (11), James Harden (10_) and Davis (10) had double figures and everyone on the roster– including center Andre Drummond– who scored on two alley oop dunks– scored, illustrated the useable depth Krzyzewski has at his command.
Right now, it is hard to tell how good the Americans are because they have only been tested once– by Turkey– and still wound up winning that game, 98-77, in the second game of this five game pool. “For me, I look for togetherness– how we share the ball,” Krzyzewski said. “Tonight, we must have had 30 assists.” had 28 assists.”We knew we were gong to win, then how to you play. I thiknk everyone came off the court feeling good about each other.”
Team USA is approaching these blowouts with the right frame of mind. “It’s more about us,” Davis said. It’s more about what we do, what we have to get better at. It’s not even about the other team. Once we start getting a big lead, we start focusing on what do we need to work on – what do we have to get better to win this gold medal. I think that’s our biggest thing. Right now, we make sure we’re playing defense, make sure to stop turning the ball over a lot. That comes from everybody on the floor and even out to the bigs, taking better shots, making sure we rebound the ball. That’s the only way you can score the ball, when you have the ball, so we have to make sure that limit our turnovers and rebound.”
The World Cup has done a good job with his organization in this beautiful city. The crowds have been excellent and enthusiastic, especially when the Fins, the Turks and the United States play. But there is still something missing when some of the countries involved don’t have their best players available for one reason or another in what is supposed to be the best international event in a non-Olympic year.
