France-Australia
Saturday featured three blowouts, including Australia’s surprising savaging of France. Matthew Dellavedova’s artsy alley-oops attempts were on target all afternoon and Andrew Bogut’s bounce was back. Judging from that game alone, Bogut still has quite a bit to offer Dallas, and I’ll officially be surprised if the Mavs miss the playoffs.
Despite a comeback run that cut the lead to two points at the end the first half, the Aussies refocused at halftime and then ran France out of the arena in the second half. Rudy Gobert and Nicolas Batum were both non-factors, and it goes without saying that they’ll need to play better if they want to bring home a medal. Australia might actually be the most serious threat to USA’s world dominance. Speaking of which, the U.S. women’s team is equally amazing. What a clinic they put on against Senegal on Sunday.
You never want to make too big a deal out of one game, but the evidence here has been mounting for months: Spurs’ coach Greg Popovich may need to promote Patty Mills to a starter’s role in favor of an aging Tony Parker. Parker isn’t getting it done on defense anymore, and his lack of perimeter shooting shrinks the court on offense. Mills at least checks one of those two boxes.
China-USA
Zhou Qi, the 20-year-old Chinese center prospect selected by the Houston Rockets at No. 43 overall, fought hard inside against DeMarcus Cousins and the other United States big men. The contest wasn’t one to say the least, but Qi didn’t stand down against the Boogieman, instead absorbing contact and banging right back. Columns were written about the U.S.’s defensive prowess, but Zhao Jiwei made a move (albeit in the backcourt) that he can tell his grandchildren about 50 years from now.
Brazil-Lithuania
Sunday’s opener seemed to be heading in the same direction as Saturday’s. Brazil was getting beaten by 30 points in the third quarter, but stormed back with frenetic fury, reaching striking range late in the fourth quarter. Leandro Barbosa, Nene, and Raul Neto nearly completed what felt like an impossible comeback charge. However, Lithuania’s Domantas Sabonis sealed the deal with an and-one that gave his team a seven-point lead. It was a colossal bucket for the soon-to-be Thunder rookie. Not to sound overly dramatic, but Brazil (most likely) completes its unthinkable table-turning win if not for Sabonis’ run-breaking basket.
Spain-Croatia
The real excitement over the weekend was undoubtedly Spain-Croatia. Spain led for much of the bout, but allowed Croatia to chip away and eventually conquer a double-digit deficit. Spain relegated Ricky Rubio to the bench and corner on offense (12 minutes) while the Sergio’s (Rodriguez and Llull) operated out of the pick-and-roll early and often.
Thunder rookie Alex Abrines did not play and neither did Jose Calderon. Meanwhile, Knicks’ rookie Willy Hernangomez saw just three minutes of action and missed all three of his field-goal attempts, turned the ball over once, and was whistled for two fouls.
Both squads were gladly allowing one another to take outside shots, and Croatia won despite going six-for-24 from beyond the arc. Spain made 11-of-32 from three-point land, with Nikola Mirotic sinking four-of-eight and Pau Gasol going three-for-four. Sergio Rodriguez showed a little bit of everything, good and bad. He made two three-pointers and handed out seven dimes, but shot three-for-11 from the field (two-for-seven from three) and committed four turnovers, including a crucial one that allowed Croatia to take the lead in the closing moments.
Gasol scored 26 points on 11-of-17 from the field to go with nine rebounds. But Dario Saric seemingly came out of nowhere to keep the game from going to overtime. Saric didn’t shoot the ball well (one-for-seven from the field) and bricked two free-throws down the stretch (three-for-six on the day), yet he stole the show on the last play. Let’s not get carried away here: Gasol ate well on offense all day, forcing Saric and his teammates into vulnerable spots and scoring with relative ease. He was forced to flip up a desperation shot with just one second remaining, and Saric’s buzzer-beating block should be taken with a grain of salt. Saric won’t be matching up against NBA centers though, so the fact that he was able to rise and reject the future Hall-of-Famer in the biggest game of his life to date should certainly be celebrated. Saric understands that defense starts with positioning, and he did a decent job snatching seven boards in his 34 minutes.
Nobody on Spain’s roster really boasts the bursts of speed and quickness that Saric will face on a nightly basis in the NBA, but the early returns on his defense were encouraging. With that being said, he wasn’t forced out to the perimeter much on that end, and this is precisely where he will be put to the test as a rookie. He’s also not really bulky enough to bang with bigs, so the Draymond Green comparisons need to be put to bed for a while.
Offensively, Saric is like fellow Sixers newbies Ben Simmons and Sergio Rodriguez in that he is clearly a pass-first player. At this point, the 22-year-old Saric seems much more confident in his shot than the 20-year-old Simmons. Saric’s lone make was a nice baseline jumper, and he didn’t shy away from an open three-point attempt in the final minutes that just missed long off back-iron. That Saric is at least willing to take these shots bodes well for the immediate fit and potential for progress, as Simmons seemed almost allergic to firing from outside the paint at LSU and Summer League.
Philadelphia is going to be fun in 2016-17: that’s enough at this point. A year or two from now, a hopefully healthy Joel Embiid might be ready to carry the offense in terms of scoring. For now, it will probably still be a struggle for the 76ers to score. Nevertheless, one positive aspect is that these incoming rookies are bringing a team-first attitude. The biggest fear for me if I’m running the Sixers (besides Embiid’s foot) is if only a couple of these guys can co-exist. Sam Hinkie’s mountain of acquired assets isn’t set to dry up anytime soon thanks in part to the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings, but how many of the current core players can share the floor? Coach Brett Brown is in charge of this lab experiment, and there’s nothing more intriguing than considering what types of lineups we might witness in Philly.
We have plenty of evidence that Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor don’t mix, so we may not be subjected to much of that again. Embiid-Okafor sounds like an equally tragic pairing, but Embiid-Noel could be a twin-tower delight. If those two are on the floor together though, I have serious doubts that the Sixers can get away with Simmons and Saric joining them. The four-man lineup I’m most intrigued to see is Embiid-Saric-Simmons and Robert Covington. I’d love to throw Noel in that mix to create the largest lineup in basketball history, but isn’t that the part where spacing goes awry and points are hard to come by?
There’s only one word that can be used to describe Philly’s situation entering 2016-17: fascinating. Over the last three seasons, Brett Brown was repeatedly (and purposely) given a puzzle with missing pieces galore. The results were expectedly uninspiring. Now a whole new handful of pieces are being added into the equation, and watching Brown try to put them all together will be can’t-miss, must-watch material.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
