PHILADELPHIA– The United States learned a valuable lesson Wednesday during this FIBA World Cup in China.It’s hard to win a gold medal, even in a watered- down FIBA major international tournament, when you don’t send enough NBA stars and rely too heavily on rotation players from non-championship contenders.
U.S. national coach Gregg Popovich may be a Hall of Fame coach, but they can only do so much for a team that has only one All NBA guard Kemba Walker of the Celtics, just two All Stars—Walker and forward Khris Middleton of the Milwaukee Bucks—unreliable long range shooters, an injured starting forward Jayson Tatum, an undependable front court rotation and no real effective backup center on the roster if Kyle Turner got into foul trouble.
In one respect, Team USA accomplished its goal, qualifying for the 2020 Olympics in Japan. But France (5-1) unmasked Team USA (5-1) as just another competitive, but hardly invincible team, defeating the Americans, 89-79, in the quarterfinals at Dongguan, China in a highly contested game that featured 12 ties and 12 lead changes. The USA might have been listed as the favorite in this tournament, but this was the worst team they have sent to a World Cup since 2002 and it showed as they lost for the first time in a global tournament in 13 years.
The Americans had won 58 straight games with NBA players among the Olympics, World Cup and FIBA Americas since their last defeat in the 2006 World Cup semi-finals to Greece.
“Any loss hurts, and this situation hurts more, but life goes on,’’ Popovich said. “This is very important. We would have loved to have won. I think coach (Vincent) Poulet (of France) has done an outstanding job. This is the best French team I’ve seen, because they play both ends of the court. It’s not just an offensive team or a couple guys on their own. They play on the defensive end, they are physical, individually they play well defensively as a group, switching, weakside, rebounding.
They fit together well. All the parts fit. They are deep, and they were wonderful tonight.’’
USA basketball were never going to get LeBron James, NBA playoff MVP Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, James Harden or Step Curry for this pre-Olympic tournament, but USA basketball contacted 50 candidates from their national team and rising star team pool for this roster. But only one of the marquee players, Walker, had any interest in being away from home for 40 days playing in a pre-Olympic tournament half-way around the world with NBA trying camp just two weeks away. The patriotism that seemed so obvious during 2008 Redeem Team appears to have faded. Twenty players showed up for mini- camp in Vegas, but the young Americans were plagued by defections and injuries to players like star guard Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors and useful guard D’Aaron Fox of the Sacramento Kings and forward Kyle Kuzma of the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Americans had won 58 straight games with NBA players among the Olympics, World Cup and FIBA Americas since their last defeat in the 2006 World Cup semi-finals to Greece.
The U.S. was playing with fire ever since they lost to Australia in an exhibition game in Melbourne. They were lucky to defeat 17th ranked Turkey, 93-92, in a Group game that Turkey looked like it had won before missing four straight free throws in the final nine seconds of overtime.
The Americans, who got 29 points from guard Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz, battled back from a 10-point third-quarter deficit to take a 74-67 lead early in the fourth quarter. But France, with powerhouse center Rudy Gobert from the Jazz powering his way to 21 points and 16 rebounds and dominating the paint, went on an 11-point surge to retake the lead and outscored the Americans 22-5, in the final moments of the fourth quarter when Mitchell did not score.
“I’m looking at the times there were guys open that I missed,’’ Mitchell said. “There were possessions on defense where I threw the ball in the backcourt when we were down six. I could care less about the 29. To me what sticks is the things I did wrong. That’s what’s on everybody’s mind. Anybody could have a good game. Whether it’s 29, nine or zero, we lost.’’
The French, which have five NBA players on their roster, including Gobert, guard Evan Fournier or Orlando and forward Nicolas Batum and have a nucleus that has played together for four years, have become a problem for the Americans recently. They challenged the Americans at the Rio Olympics, losing 100-97, in group play.
The U.S. shot 44.6 percent from the field against France and were only 7 for 20 from the three. They did not attempt a three in the first half. The Americans were outrebounded, 44-28, by the French. Walker, the American’s best player, battled foul trouble all game and finished with 10 points, but shot just 2 for 9 and was 0 for 4 from the three and had no assists with four turnovers. He did not score his first field goal until 8 to play. Forward Harrison Barnes, the 12th man on the 2016 Rio Olympic team, shot just 1 for 3 and finished with just 4 points and 2 rebounds in 32 minutes.
The World Cup medal round continues in Beijing with France playing Argentina and Australia playing Spain Friday in Beijing. The U.S. will not medal and must play dangerous Serbia in a fifth-eight game Thursday in Dongguan
The U.S. must reassess when they return home. This tournament brought back the same bad memories at the Olympic bronze medal team when Larry Brown lost all 10 players that breezed through the 2003 pre-Olympic tournament, then finished with three losses and a bronze medal. They need better players. There is already unsubstantiated speculation LeBron James, who participated in the 2004, 2008 and 2012, might return for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game,’’ US forward Jaylen Brown of the Celtics said. “We just didn’t do what needed to be done. At the end of the day, we came up short. France was just better than us.’
