The 2021 Tokyo Olympics men's basketball warm-up match continues, the US men's basketball team VS Australia. In this game, the US men's basketball team was upset again. In the end, it lost to its opponent 83:91, ushering in its second consecutive defeat in the warm-up match.
I have to say that the US men’s basketball team is really shameless. As the former hegemon of the basketball world, this time the All-Star lineup has not won a game. It is simply a shame for itself. It is simply unbelievable. They have paid a heavy price for their arrogance. cost. And their leader, Kevin Durant, has been questioned by everyone. As the No. 1 player in the NBA today and the No. 1 basketball player on earth, when his teammates are all All-Stars, he cannot even lead the national team to win in the warm-up match. It is really unjustifiable, and it has brought a great impact on his historical status. A big impact. If the national team cannot even lead the national team to win the championship in this dimensionality reduction competition, there is no need to be called the best person in the NBA or the world.
This game once again exposed the problems of the US men's basketball team. The players did not have enough tacit understanding and did not adapt to the rules of the international arena. When the FIBA arena did not defend for 3 seconds, some players who focused on breakthroughs became extremely passive and frequently made layups. Being interfered with, resulting in a very low shooting percentage at the basket. Durant's performance was also very difficult. Faced with Thybulle's close defense in this game, Durant did not perform as the world's best man should. On the other hand, he was blocked by the Australian youngster Thybulle and his performance was very outstanding. After losing the treatment of NBA superstar, Durant did not come to death in the international arena, and did not perform better than Anthony, the international basketball killer. Durant, as a scorer and as an end point, is a very strong player, but as the absolute core of the team and the absolute starting point of the offense, he still has not reached the height of James and Kobe. When the defensive intensity came up, Durant and even Thybulle couldn't play hard without the referee's care. Just like when they played the Bucks in the second round of this year's playoffs, they basically couldn't beat Tucker's tough defense. He scored some tough goals, mostly looking for opportunities to steal points, so whether Durant is Pop's most trusted player in this Olympics remains to be discussed. (Durant made 6 of 13 shots and scored 17 points)
Durant was blood-hatted by Thybulle
In addition to Durant, Celtics star Tatum was also extremely uncomfortable playing. Tatum himself suddenly His breaking ability is not strong. In the international arena, without the treatment of NBA superstars, the efficiency of attacking the basket has plummeted. And when the opponent focuses on defending his three-pointers, Tatum has almost no offensive ability. In this game, As the team's sixth man, Tatum played 26 minutes and made 4 of 12 shots, including 0 of 6 three-pointers. He only scored 8 points, with a plus-minus value of -6. His performance was extremely poor and he was not a big killer for the Celtics in the NBA. No wonder the Nets led by Durant were able to defeat the Celtics in the playoffs because his opponent was Tatum. This is a very unstable player. His unstable performance has caused great harm to the Celtics. The young people still have a long way to go.
In fact, from the players sent by the US team and the current situation of the NBA, it is not difficult to find that world basketball is narrowing the gap with American basketball, and most of the young stars in the league that have appeared in recent years are international players, such as those from Snowiny Luka Doncic from Asia and Jokic from Serbia. Not only are they killing everyone in NBA games, but they are still invincible even on courts like the International Arena where superstars are not treated as such. Giannis Antetokounmpo from Greece, Embiid from Cameroon, etc. , looking at American players, James is 36 years old, Du Lent and Curry are also 33 years old. Among the younger generation, Tatum and Mitchell have not made the best team this year. Zion was said to be the next James, but in the end he did not even make the playoffs in 2 years. Enter, Trae Young barely made it to the Eastern Conference Finals by relying on the whistle, but facing Antetokounmpo's crazy crushing, he still seemed lack of confidence.
Finally, a lot of people are talking about Popovich. They feel that Popovich is not suitable to coach a makeshift team like the national team. Everyone plays superstar ball, all in singles, and Popovich is good at it. The long passing ball is good at coordination and is not very compatible with this kind of improvised and timely lineup. Maybe Old K is more suitable for them. In addition, the team lacks a field control player like Paul, and the US team played poorly. It is even more unstructured, relying entirely on Durant's singles to support it, and when Durant pulls the ball, the team will be very passive.
