It’s a luxury that coach Steve Kerr could close out a tight game with a lineup of five NBA All-Stars: Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, Jrue Holiday, Devin Booker and Bam Adebayo.
That leaves LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Anthony Davis watching from the bench.
The USA’s high-end, iconic star power draws the headlines, but it has the depth on the American roster has proven too much for opponents through two Paris Olympic tune-up games. Kerr’s closing lineup worked. The USA hung on to beat Australia 98-92 in front of a packed house of 12,217 in Abu Dhabi on Monday. The USA is now 2-0 in its series of exhibition games preparing them for the Olympics, which start on July 26. Those wins have come against Canadian and Australian teams with medal aspirations (the Boomers won bronze in Tokyo, Canada did the same at the FIBA World Cup a year ago).
Both wins have highlighted the USA’s depth — in both games it was the USA’s bench that broke things open. It’s not just the talent, it’s that the USA is bringing defenders like Holiday, Adebayo and Davis in with that second unit — and that bench defense was sharp for most of the game against Australia and was a big part of the USA win.
Davis proved to be the best American on the court in this one, scoring a team-high 17 points with 14 rebounds and two blocked shots — he was a defensive force in the paint. Devin Booker added 16 points for the Americans and Edwards started the game hot with 11 points in the first quarter, finishing with 14.
As he said he would, Kerr changed his starting five from the Canada game. LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid remained in the first five but Jayson Tatum and Anthony Edwards joined them (Booker and Holiday slid back to the second unit).
That starting five opened the night moving the ball well, and because everyone is a threat things happened like LeBron getting ignored and left wide-open for a corner 3.
👑 The King cashes in from the corner
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) July 15, 2024
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Edwards’ dynamic athleticism had him taking over early and scoring 11 of USA’s first 19 on 4-of-4 shooting, including a crossover step-back 3 that left Will Magnay spinning.
ANT JUST DID THAT. 😮💨
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) July 15, 2024
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Australia is gritty and hung around, with the Bulls’ Josh Giddey getting into the lane and showing a real connection with Rockets big man Jock Landale, who had seven early points. However, the USA’s depth of attack started to show and it was up 11 (32-21) after one quarter. The USA shot 56.3% in the first quarter (6-of-10 from 3) to 36% for the Boomers.
Australia made runs. There was one in the first quarter to tie it when Kerr first went to his bench, but the USA pushed it back to 11 before the end of the quarter. The Boomers went on a 7-0 run in the second, but a Curry 3 took the wind out of the sails and put the USA back up by double digits.
JT assist ➡️ Steph Curry triple!
— NBA (@NBA) July 15, 2024
🇺🇸 vs. 🇦🇺 live on FS1 pic.twitter.com/nhVIOlxDsa
The Americans stretched that lead to 25 and kept it around 20 for much of the second and third quarters. The USA seemed in total control.
Then the USA took its foot off the gas, got sloppy with the ball, Australia got out and ran, and suddenly the lead was down to 12 — and that carried over to the fourth as the USA’s errors saw the lead fall all the way to four at one point. A motivated Australia increased its defensive pressure. Kerr went with that unexpected closing lineup partly because that group was moving the ball and getting open looks.
BALL MOVEMENT » CORNER 3
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) July 15, 2024
🇺🇸 #USABMNT x 📺 @FS1 pic.twitter.com/fr0F8SSvKR
The USA finished with 18 turnovers, giving Kerr something to focus on in the film sessions over the next 24 hours. Also, the USA was slow defensively at points helping on mismatches down low after a switch — something Landale was able to exploit and some other teams, such as Nikola Jokic and Serbia, could do more with.
Still, there were far more positives than negatives for the USA.
Embiid had a better game than his first one in a USA jersey and finished with 10 points and five rebounds. LeBron and Adebayo each finished with 10 points as well. One note of concern, Kevin Durant did not suit up for this game and has yet to practice or play for the team due to calf soreness. His return is expected soon, but this has dragged on for more than a week.
Landale led Australia with 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting with seven boards. Giddey finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. The Hawks Dyson Daniels finished with 14 points.
Next up for the Americans is another serious medal contender — Serbia with Jokic. That game is Wednesday in Abu Dhabi (noon ET time tip-off).
