Team USA Closed Out Pool Play With An Absolute Ass Kicking Of Jordan To Stay Perfect In The FIBA World Cup

Brian Choi. Getty Images.

Make it a perfect 7-0 for Team USA. A perfect 4-0 in the tune up games and a now perfect 3-0 in the opening pool play, none of which were anywhere close to what I would call a "challenge"

vs New Zealand: 27 point win

vs Greece: 28 point win

vs Jordan: 48 points win

It's exactly what you expect to see from a Team USA roster that is the favorite to win this whole thing. At the start of the tournament there was chatter that maybe they were benefitting from the reputation of Team USA compared to the actual roster, but so far all they've done is dominate so it's hard to complain. I mean this thing wasn't even close from the jump with Team USA getting out to a 31-12 lead after the first quarter and that was pretty much it. They then never won a quarter by fewer than 9 points the rest of the way. 

Team USA led for 39:43 of this game, they crushed in fastbreak points 32-10 and points off TOs 34-15. Points in the paint? 56-22. Points from the bench? 55-18. So when I say this was an ass kicking, I really mean it. This was a bloodbath from the opening tip in basically every way imaginable on a basketball court. Again, this is to be expected when Team USA plays Jordan who's only NBA player is a former player in Rondae Hollis Jefferson, and even though the world is going crazy because he suddenly looks like Kobe while playing, as you can see that wasn't anywhere close to good enough (he finished with 20 points).

What we did get was the first breakout game from Anthony Edwards in this tournament. Up until today's game the damage had really come from the second unit guys like Hailburton, Reaves, and Banchero. It seems like forever ago it was Anthony Edwards that was dominating the tune up games, and today was a nice reminder of who that guy is

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Watching Ant get whatever he wanted was like watching a varsity player go up against the JV team in practice. Finishing with 22/8/4 and only playing 18 minutes seems pretty decent, and Edwards certainly wasn't alone when it comes to guys getting whatever they wanted.

It was the same for guys like Paolo (8 points)

and Reaves (8 points)

and Bobby Portis (13 points)

I will say, something to keep an eye on is the adjustment Steve Kerr made for this game. He finally took Brandon Ingram out of the starting lineup in favor of Josh Hart, and the team had their biggest win of the tournament so far. Sure some of that may be because of the opponent, but at the same time Ingram hasn't done shit this entire tournament so I'm not exactly sure why his starting spot was set in stone. I say keep an eye on it because remember, this was a guy who was already pretty upset over his current role

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Now whether it's always going to be Josh Hart or if we could maybe see Austin Reaves slide into that role eventually is still to be determined, but I wouldn't rule out the quit factor when it comes to Ingram. Chances are there's going to be a game further down the road where they could probably use his skillset, but as long as he plays like he's in a coma then Kerr has to roll with the guys who are playing well and are effective. Ingram did have 7 points in his 15 minutes in this game as well as 5 assists and 0 TOs, so maybe it was the wake up call he needed.

With this win, Team USA joins 4 other teams at 3-0. The Dominican Republic, Serbia, Lithuania, and Germany all stand at 3-0. We know Team USA is heading out of the group and will join a 2nd round that consists of Lithuania and Montenegro, what we don't know yet is who is going to join them. It's either going to be Greece or New Zealand who currently play each other today as well. 

In terms of how Team USA has been stacking up against the field, they trail only Team Canada in points per game (108 vs 106) and total points (324 vs 318), their 54% from the floor is 3rd (Canada and Serbia ahead), their 39% from deep isn't terrible but it is the lowest of the top 3 teams, and they're taking the most FTA (29.7) while shooting a legit 82% from the line as a team. 

Add that all up and you have about as dominant an opening run to start this tournament as you'll find. Obviously, nobody cares about the pool play games, that's not really where the challenge will be. Now that this team is riding some momentum, the true test is on the horizon when the teams get a whole lot better.