Team USA’s one-point exhibition victory over South Sudan brought about a lot of concern about just how locked in the Americans were going into the Olympics. But head coach Steve Kerr made some changes, inserting Anthony Davis and Jayson Tatum into the starting lineup, and the game that counted went much different on Wednesday afternoon.
Bam Adebayo and Kevin Durant led a dominant bench performance and Team USA’s defense shut South Sudan down as they left with a 103-86 victory to improve to 2-0 and sit alone atop the Group C standings. After winning two games, USA is sure to advance to the knockout rounds.
Adebayo led Team USA with 18 points and seven rebounds while Durant added 14 points as the American reserves totaled 63 points. LeBron James led the starters with 12 points, six rebounds and five assists, but again struggled with turnovers as he coughed it up six times.
Davis continued to play his role to perfection in his first start, replacing Joel Embiid, as he finished with eight points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Embiid was the lone Team USA member to not see the floor. Davis did get called for an unsportsmanlike foul late in the contest as he caught a player with an elbow to the ribs on a post move.
With South Sudan being a smaller and more athletic team, Kerr made the decision to go with the more mobile Davis and Adebayo as their centers and it worked extremely well.
Team USA held South Sudan to just 41.9% shooting and forced 19 turnovers, allowing them to open up an early lead that they never relinquished, despite a spirited effort from the South Sudanese. Nuni Omot led all scorers with 24 points while Carlik Jones added 15 points and seven assists. Even with the result all but decided, South Sudan continued to fight and keep the game as close as possible, which could come into play in them possibly making the knockout round.
Devin Booker, Derrick White and Anthony Edwards all added 10 points apiece for Team USA with Booker also contributing a team-high six assists. Team USA finished with 29 assists as a team and every player who took the court had at least one. They also shot 41.4% from 3-point range as a team and every reserve knocked down at least one shot from deep.
If there was one concern for Team USA it was the struggles of Stephen Curry, who shot just 1-of-9 and missed all six of his 3-point attempts to finish with just three points.
Next up for Team USA
Team USA will take the court for their final group stage game against Puerto Rico on Saturday, Aug. 3. Puerto Rico is 0-2 so far in group play after falling to Serbia earlier on Wednesday.
A win would likely clinch the top overall seed going into the knockout rounds for USA. With them already being 2-0 though, they are in no danger of not advancing.
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