Four Celtics takeaways from USA's upset loss to France in the World Cup quarterfinals

Four Celtics-focused takeaways after USA saw their 58-game international winning streak snapped to France in a 89-79 loss in the FIBA World Cup Semifinals.

Box Score 

Kemba Walker picked a tough night to have his worst game for Team USA: The point guard had been battling an illness over the past few days in China and looked nowhere close to full strength in this defeat. Things started ugly early for the All-Star as he committed three turnovers in the first quarter thanks to some full-court pressure by France’s backcourt. From there, Walker never really got into a rhythm on the offensive end, going just 2-of-9 from the field to score 10 points over his 25 minutes. He also dished out zero assists and battled foul trouble in the second half.

The Americans made a big third-quarter run with Walker resting to rally from a 10-point first half deficit, but USA promptly gave back the lead while Walker was on the floor during a 18-5 run by France over crunch time. Walker wasn’t the sole reason for the collapse by any means but an off-night shooting (2/6 FG in fourth quarter) helped stall a USA offense that was only able to muster 13 points in the deciding frame.

In effect, we saw some of the limitations a 6-foot-1 Walker has against an elite rim protector like Rudy Gobert during crunch time. Walker struggled to finish in traffic against the big man, especially with the FIBA officials swallowing their whistles in the closing minutes. The 29-year-old did manage to draw a 3-point foul against Gobert with USA trailing by six and less than a minute remaining, but Walker proceeded to miss two of his three free throws.

It was a tough performance during what was an otherwise great tournament for Walker. It’s fair to wonder how heavily involved he should have been down the stretch of this game given his struggles on both ends and France’s size advantage but Gregg Popovich wasn’t going to go away from his best player in the knockout stage with limited options on the bench apparently. A more versatile small ball lineup may have been a better fit (Smart/Mitchell/Brown/Middleton/Barnes?) with Walker struggling but Popovich showed loyalty to his star. The Americans needed someone to carry them down the stretch and Walker was not up to the task on this night. To be fair, none of his teammates were either in the fourth quarter.

Marcus Smart’s missed free throws overshadow a gritty performance: Despite facing off against one of the best big men in the tournament in Gobert, the Americans elected to play small for 25 minutes at center in the loss. The move was made possible due to the play of Smart in part, who was terrific from a hustle standpoint on defense, battling with everyone from Gobert in the post to Fournier on the perimeter. He snagged two steals and even chipped in with 11 points (3/5 FG, 4/8 FT) on the offensive end thanks to a few no-hesitation takes to the rim and knocking down an open 3. With a plus-7 in 10-point loss, it was quite clear that Smart was a positive influence for the Americans all night.

Still, this loss will probably sting for Smart for a little while after the point guard missed all four of his free throws in the fourth quarter. He got to the charity stripe a team-high eight times in the defeat but missed two crucial ones with USA trailing 80-76 with just 2:41 left. Team USA squandered a host of opportunities late in this contest but those crucial misfires hurt when the USA was struggling to get anything going in a 13-point fourth quarter.

All things considered, it was another encouraging stretch for the 24-year-old who played his way from a late training camp invite to a crunch-time player on Team USA in this tournament. He did his job as an elite versatile defender that also could chip in with some timely offense in spots. The missed freebies will give Smart some extra motivation perhaps but C’s fans should feel good about how he performed in this tournament compared to the rest of the talent on this roster.

Jaylen Brown does his job as a small-ball big : The Celtics haven’t asked the 22-year-old swingman to guard bigs much throughout his career in Boston. However, with Popovich opting to go small with a thin frontcourt time and time again in the World Cup, Brown spent the majority of his 22 minutes against France banging against size. While Gobert erupted for 21 points and 16 rebounds in the win, Brown performed admirably as a power forward in his 22 minutes, chipping in with eight points and four rebounds. He was on the floor with the Americans at their best (third quarter) and worst (fourth quarter crunch time), taking an ill-advised shot in the lane in traffic late in the fourth quarter. Almost every American scorer (Walker, Mitchell) resorted to hero ball down the stretch at some point, which helped contribute to the loss.

Like Smart, there was far more good than bad from Brown in this game and tournament though. Brown’s ability to hold his own against international bigs helped the USA create an elite defense prior to the size mismatch against France that was too much to overcome. The young forward played within himself and carried his weight on a team that saw more veteran talent (Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, Myles Turner, Harrison Barnes) flounder at times. The upset loss doesn’t look good for Team USA but no one should be pointing a finger at Brown for it.

Jayson Tatum will get to rest his ankle before training camp: The 21-year-old forward was rumored to make his return against France on Wednesday but was not cleared to suit up after going through a shootaround on Wednesday morning. With USA knocked out of medal contention, Tatum presumably won’t play again during the World Cup, giving him a full three weeks to rest the injury before the start of training camp in October.

There’s no doubt the Americans could have used the versatile forward as a scoring weapon and defender against France’s size in the quarterfinals. However, a clean slate of health is the bigger priority for Tatum and the Celtics now with the regular season approaching. He is now assured of that following Wednesday’s defeat.

What’s next?

The Americans will play two more games this week in a consolation bracket against Nikola Jokic and Serbia on Thursday and one more on Saturday.