Does the 2024 redeem team need to be assembled already?
That may be an overreaction, but Team USA was unable to benefit off of a late second half run and ultimately lost to an Evan Fournier led France team in their first game of Olympic play. Fournier torched the United States with 28 points on 50% shooting, with help from Rudy Gobert who scored 14 points. France has now defeated the U.S. in their last two matchups, as it was France who eliminated the U.S. from the FIBA World Cup in 2019.
This was only the first game in the group stage, but the offensive chemistry, and defensive lapses that we saw during the Las Vegas scrimmages, appear to have made its way to Tokyo. France finished on a 16-2 run in the fourth, and even with the large surge that the U.S. had, France never wavered.
Kevin Durant did not preform as well as this team needed him to, and found himself in early foul trouble and eventually fouled out. Durant was unable to get his shot to fall, shooting 4-12 from the field and 1-6 from three for just 10 points. As a team the U.S. shot 31% from three and 36% from the field.
The only bright spot of the game was Jrue Holiday, who is fresh off of winning an NBA championship with the Milwaukee Bucks. Holiday was the teams leading scorer off the bench with 18 points, led the team in assists with 4, and was second in rebounds with 5.
Greg Popovich’s strategy of playing small the whole game was an interesting move, as the U.S. were out rebounded all game, yet their lone seven-footer JaVale McGee did not touch the floor the whole game.
Popovich is seemingly looking less and less like the right coach for the U.S. This team still looks like they are learning to play together, which makes sense considering they have only been playing together for about a week or so, and adding new players makes that chemistry build much more difficult.
The U.S. will take on Iran next, in a battle of teams looking for their first win in Tokyo.