Team USA Group Stage Catch-Up

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

We’re now more than halfway through the group stage of the FIBA World Cup, with the US squad having 3 wins under its belt and contests against the Dominican Republic this afternoon and Ukraine tomorrow still to come. Thus far, we’ve seen the truly dominant:

29-2 Team USA over Finland in the 2nd quarter. No field goals. You read that right. We’re done here.

— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) August 30, 2014

the potentially worrisome:

Team USA hasn’t lost since 2006, but trails Turkey 40-35 at halftime on ESPN/WatchESPN. pic.twitter.com/r6g1pEiHXa

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) August 31, 2014

and the downright bizarre: New Zealand performs Haka Dance. I love James Harden’s face; it looks like he’s wondering whether that dance could be used as a new way to play defense.

Despite remaining undefeated, two troubling trends have emerged for Team USA over the past week. First, ignoring his performance in the 59-point victory against Finland that was basically a 40-minute lay-up line, Derrick Rose has not looked ready to play this type of competitive basketball. Whether he still has lingering injuries or is just shaking off huge amounts of rust, Rose certainly doesn’t appear to be back in top form. His play was especially poor in the the second day of a back-to-back against Turkey, scoring only 2 points on 0-4 shooting, with 2 turnovers against no assists. Rose then followed it up with a 1 for 6 outing from the field against New Zealand. Once the United States comes across some better competition in the elimination stage, they may regret keeping a recovering Rose in lieu of Damian Lillard or John Wall.

The other concern is James Harden’s work on the end of the floor that doesn’t involve him having the ball. It was no secret that Harden’s defense is terrible; after all, their are entire YouTube compilation laughing at that part of his game. However, there was some thought that surrounded by elite teammates and coaching on the international stage, Harden would at least try to play defense. Nope. Check out this clip from the Turkey game. It’s a three-point game and fans watching at home across the Atlantic are putting as much effort into tracking his man as Harden. Then, when the corner three goes in, Harden flaps his arms down like it was some sort of terrible luck and not due to his acting like a Buckingham Palace guard. Teams are going to consistently attack Harden in the pick-and-roll for easy points.

Still, the bright spot for Team USA has been the play of its front court. To nobody’s surprise, Anthony Davis has been a force of nature, almost scoring a point per minute with 57 points in 62 minutes through three games. Plus, look at how ridiculously long Anthony Davis’ arms are on this alley-oop dunk against New Zealand. People were comparing Davis to Michael Jordan in Space Jam, and luckily for the national squad, the Brow has had that sort of impact through the first few contests.

His running mate on the back line has shined nearly as brightly, with well-deserved kudos for the USA Basketball powers-that-be for identifying Kenneth Faried as perfectly suited to the international game. Faried’s combination of tenacity finishing around the rim and ferocious rebounding has been a key factor in the team’s success against the more perimeter-oriented international squads. During the last two contests, Faried went for 22 points and 8 rebounds against Turkey and 15 and 11 against New Zealand. With a thin US front court having potentially been a problem down the road against the Gasol brothers and Spain, Faried has proven he can be trusted with big minutes. We’ll see if any other storylines emerge over the next couple days before we enter the win-or-go-home portion of this FIBA World Cup.