Team USA is just fine.
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Prior to Wednesday, the best word to describe Olympic exhibition play for the U.S. men’s basketball team would probably have been uneven.
Though the team was unbeaten through two games, there was certainly room for improvement, and the slim six-point win over Australia Saturday after leading by more than 20 hammered home that point.
If this team was trying to etch its name in history alongside the 1992 “Dream Team,” they had more prep work to do.
Well, fret not.
For their third tune-up game Wednesday against Serbia and Nikola Jokic, Team USA absolutely put the hammer down and quelled any doubts about how dominant they can be. Almost as if they knew the finish of that Australia game was unacceptable and they needed to make a statement.
Jrue's got eyes in the back of his head
#USABMNT x
FS1 pic.twitter.com/yfHv1obHvA
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) July 17, 2024
Make a statement they did. With the fourth-best odds to win gold at the Paris Olympics, Serbia (+1400) is no slouch. And all USA did was beat them by 26 points, forcing the team to pull Jokic in a blowout after holding him to just 6-of-19 from the field.
Stephen Curry went off for 24 points on 6-of-9 from deep for the U.S., and Bam Adebayo chipped in 17 points with three 3-pointers himself. Yes, Bam Adebayo hit THREE threes.
Related: FIBA refs hilariously ignored Joel Embiid’s attempt at drawing a foul on Nikola Jokic
Because the U.S. doesn’t have a cohesive national team of players who consistently play with one another, it was always going to take a few games for them to gel. So this blowout was more on time than overdue. And because gelling isn’t necessarily linear, future games may not necessarily be as dominant as this one was.
There actually isn’t a whole lot that should be gleaned from this game considering it was just an exhibition and Serbia didn’t likely show the U.S. everything it has.
However, with so much talk about how much the world is catching up, this type of performance sent a clear message of “but not yet” to everyone at home and abroad. Sportsbooks heard it loud and clear, with Team USA’s odds at BetMGM having shortened from -400 before the first exhibition to -650 after the latest.
Up next for the USA is South Sudan on Saturday.
Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Jontay Porter had his request to play professional basketball in Greece denied by a federal judge Tuesday, according to multiple reports citing a court posting.
The denial comes a week after Porter pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges related to his role in the betting scandal that rocked the NBA last season and earned him a lifetime ban.
Apparently, Porter was trying to play ball this upcoming season for Promitheas B.C. in the Greek Basketball League and Champions League. But modifying his pre-sentence release to return Porter’s passport and allow him to reside in Greece and travel across Europe was apparently too much of an ask for Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall.
So the answer was no.
As a reminder, Porter was suspended by the NBA after an investigation found he bet on NBA games while a member of the Toronto Raptors and manipulated his performances to help co-conspirators bet and win.
In case anyone was wondering how serious those infractions are considered, everything happening now should tell you. It’s sad to see. Porter faces more than three years in prison, with a sentencing scheduled for Dec. 18.
— NBA fans paid tribute to Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, the father of Kobe, who died at 69
— Nikola Jokic looked so bewildered that someone forgot his jersey before Serbia’s exhibition
— Jayson Tatum shared a hilarious story about the time LeBron James made him cry
— Lip readers think Jaylen Brown and Kysre Gondrezick criticized Bronny James
