The problems continue for Team USA as they open up the Olympics with an 83-76 loss to France. The French were led by Evan Fournier, who scored 28 points, including a backbreaking 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter.
Here are five thoughts from the game.
Jayson Tatum was not good
The Celtics star was off in this one, shooting just 3-9 from the field and 1-5 on 3’s. He was off the floor down the stretch partly because he was cold, but also partly because he was making poor defensive decisions. He went so far under a screen on one Nando De Colo attempt that De Colo had five feet of space to launch a warm up-level 3.
We can call it a rough night for Tatum, but he’s had a lot of them this summer. He’s clearly struggling to find out where he fits on this team, which is a problem for Team USA because they could have used good-Tatum down the stretch on a night where Kevin Durant was in foul trouble and Damian Lillard was also clearly not himself.
Evan Fournier was
Fournier killed the U.S., leading to a spate of Twitter jokes about how much the Celtics should pay him.
He shot 50% from the field and hit the biggest shot of the game, a 3-pointer with just under a minute to go that gave France the lead.
We have a tendency to be prisoners of the moment, with every good or bad game increasing or decreasing his value. This is certainly nice for him and a sign that he’s gotten past all of his COVID issues, but this isn't going to move the needle much in his contract negotiations.
FIBA rules are different and so are the teammates he has in France. Just like you can’t plug a French toaster into an American outlet without an adapter, you can’t just plug FIBA versions of players into the NBA without some level of finagling. Yes, it’s good to see him play well from a Celtics perspective, but he’s not going from a $15 million a year player to a $20 million a year player just because he helped beat Team USA.
Celtics connections were involved all over the place
Guerschon Yabusele made an incredible diving play to save the ball and get the ball over to Fournier for the go-ahead 3-pointer. In fact, Yabu was on the floor making high-energy plays throughout the fourth quarter.
Yabu, by the way, is still on the Celtics books. They waived and stretched him and this is the final season of his dead money (about $1 million) on the books. It’s an illustration of how long waive-and-stretch guys can be a burden on the team. If Boston is in the tax, then that million could actually cost the team a lot more.
Vincent Poirier was also on the floor for about 10 minutes, grabbing four rebounds and dishing two assists.
The Finals guys made things better and worse
Khris Middleton barely played but Jrue Holiday basically stepped off the plane and resumed his role of defensive disruptor and big shot maker from the NBA Finals, scoring 12 of his team-high 18 points in the fourth quarter. He also played strong, tough defense as Team USA built what should have been a comfortable lead.
However, Holiday and Finals adversary-turned-teammate Devin Booker got confused on one play, leaving Yabusele alone under the basket for a layup that was part of a 16-2 French run to close the game.
"I think defensively, we had a couple of mishaps there where we have to be better," Holiday said. "We went through a lull where our defense wasn't helping us out ... I feel like our defense has to be on point the whole time because again, these teams these national teams have played with each other for years now, and we're kind of new to this."
Draymond Green echoed those sentiments
USA's Draymond Green after Tokyo Olympic opening loss to France: "We haven't been together that long, but we've been together long enough to have that consistency. We have to defend better down the stretch."
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) July 25, 2021
Part of the issue for Team USA is that their defensive strategy is to switch everything, and while that can work in many ways, doing any one thing against an opponent for too long means it can get exploited. The French team used its size to create mismatches throughout the game and punish the U.S. That brings us to ...
USA is their own worst enemy
After the game, Fournier said Team USA is "better individually but they can be beaten as a team."
To go back to Green’s point, Team USA should have some consistency by this point, but they don’t have the same level of chemistry and trust in one another. They’re trying like hell to find it, but they don’t have as deep a bag as other teams do simply because they don’t have the same kind of history to dip into.
Offensively, it’s leading to two extremes: too much iso, or too much passing. There’s no middle ground right now for the Americans. This is where Tatum made his mark against Spain in the final exhibition, facilitating and finding the right guys to close out a good team.
If Tatum isn’t going to be on the floor to do this for Team USA, someone else is going to have to. They need to find the right balance. Draymond Green should be able to do that, having a scoring threat like Tatum in that role is more effective in the Olympics.