Team USA go harder, better, faster, stronger against South Sudan

Team USA going on the defensive

Team USA is battering opponents with its depth and it’s still seeking that picturesque performance reflective of 11 NBA All-Stars.

“This is the fastest team in the tournament we were going to play and we wanted to match up,” Kerr said about the lineup changes. “That’s how we’re going to view this, whatever we need to do to win each game, that’s what we’re going to do. The defense was fantastic tonight. The defensive effort was the key to the whole thing.”

Bam Adebayo led Team USA with 18 points, including a pair of three-pointers and he was a plus-22. Kevin Durant added 14 points and was a plus 26. The message was clear to the Americans after they heard for 10 days about how lucky they were to hold off upstart South Sudan.

“We’re not worried about expectations,” Durant said. “We’re trying to win and play a good brand of basketball and we did that in spurts. The first unit got us started. We set the tone to start the game. I think we’re playing well off of each other. People may be expecting big numbers, high numbers of wins, 30, 40 points, but we still won the last two games by an average of 20 points against good talent. Just keep building.”

Kerr caused a controversy by benching Tatum on Sunday, and Tatum said he was not going to complain about that decision. He came back against South Sudan with four points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal in 17 minutes.

“It’s a unique situation and it’s not about one individual player,” Tatum said. “The competitor in you wants to play, obviously. But I’m not here to make a story, making it about myself. We won. I was just glad to get back out there and play again today. There was a lot of chatter over the last few days but I was in good spirits, I had a good attitude about it. I’m not holding any grudges or anything.”