U.S. men’s basketball punches ticket to knockout round with easy win over South Sudan

Bam and the bench mob roll again

The hallmark of this U.S. team is quickly becoming its bench, a luxury afforded to a team that has NBA All-Stars up and down its roster. That was true again on Wednesday: The game was tied at 10 when Anthony Edwards, Kevin Durant, Jrue Holiday and Bam Adebayo checked into the game with four minutes remaining in the first quarter; by the 8:42 mark of the second, the U.S. led 33-14, and the game was never in doubt again.

“Since the start of camp, we’ve been calling ourselves the bench mob for a long time now,” Adebayo said. “And it doesn’t matter who’s in the lineup, we always seem to figure it out.”

Whether in the half-court or in transition, the U.S. kept the ball flying around. Adebayo and Davis gave the U.S. the ability to switch everything and create easy fast-break opportunities. U.S. ballhandlers were constantly getting into the paint, either finishing themselves, throwing lobs to rim-runners or spraying the ball out to 3-point shooters. Team USA tallied assists on 29 of its 37 made baskets, an excellent sign given how stagnant the offense got at times during its pre-Paris tuneup games. 

Five different Americans finished in double-figures, including Durant (14), White and Booker (10 each), and the Americans shot 53% from the field and 43% from deep on a steady diet of clean looks.

“I just think our defensive intensity,” James said when asked what made the difference. “That’s what we started with to start the game and even though they got better into the game, they’re a pretty good team, we were able to get stops when needed.”

A slightly sloppy second half

The U.S. did let its foot off the gas just a little bit after halftime, as South Sudan started to warm up from the outside. Nuni Omot and Bul Kuol were excellent, combining for 40 points on 14-of-22 shooting, and an Omot 3 cut the lead to just 11 midway through the third. That was as close as the Bright Stars would get, though, as Edwards and Adebayo went on a mini-spurt to stretch the lead back to 16 by the end of the period. From there, the rest was academic.

What’s next for the U.S.?

Team USA has already secured a spot in the quarterfinals, but that obviously isn’t the standard here. There’s still one more game of group play left, and the U.S. needs a win against Puerto Rico to ensure that it finishes atop Group C. Tip is set for Saturday at 11:15 a.m. ET.