• 3 months ago
Transcript
00:00On the Olympic side of the hardwood today, USA takes on Serbia in just about 45 minutes
00:10to warm up, but these teams will match up in the Olympics.
00:13They're in the same group that is the opening round game.
00:16The opening game for both teams will be against one another.
00:19So I don't know how much you'll see from these teams today, but that's sort of, as I've been
00:25watching these games, trying to figure out what rotations will look like.
00:29I'm sure Steve Kerr is trying to figure it out like the rest of us.
00:32Absolutely.
00:33I don't expect either of these teams to show too much of their hands, considering they'll
00:36be playing against each other again in about 11 days.
00:39But one of the big things that's important for these warm-up exhibition games is figuring
00:43out the rotations.
00:45Team USA tweaked the starting lineup ahead of the exhibition against Australia on Monday,
00:49and I think they liked what they saw.
00:51I know Joel Embiid is still struggling to find his way.
00:54There's a little bit of a subplot there between Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic in this game.
00:58So it'll be interesting to see if Steve Kerr goes with him again.
01:01We saw Anthony Edwards kind of come into his own, and I'm expecting Steph Curry to figure
01:05it out.
01:06You know, he demands so much defensive attention, but he hasn't really gone off like we're used
01:10to him going off.
01:11So I think that's something I'll keep my eye on in this one.
01:13Maybe we'll see some other tweaks in the starting lineup as they try to perfect things as they
01:17head to Paris.
01:18Yeah, it was clear at the end of the game against Australia the other day.
01:22I know some people, it raised eyebrows that the game was tight late, but it was clear
01:27that the five that were on the floor at the end of the game would likely not be the five
01:32on the floor in a tight game during the Olympics.
01:35Is that fair to say?
01:38I think that is fair to say, Mike, and it's interesting because Tyrese Allenburton ended
01:41up making big shots for Team USA to kind of allow them to hold Australia off in that one.
01:47But I think the biggest thing that they want to clean up, regardless of who's on the floor,
01:50their turnovers are what allowed the Boomers back into the game.
01:53They were up by about 24 points, Team USA was in the beginning of the second half, and
01:58they just really played sloppy basketball, and that's why the game was closer than it
02:01probably should have been.
02:02So I would look to them to maybe try and clean up the turnovers and be a little more focused
02:08as they continue to kind of get back and ready for the Olympics.
02:11But also getting Kevin Durant back from injury is going to be an important part for Team
02:15USA as well.

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