A look at some Team USA takeaways after the Americans dropped their second straight exhibition game 91-83 to Australia on Monday night in Las Vegas.
Gregg Popovich was not happy with a reporter’s line of questioning after the defeat
It’s only exhibition season but the Team USA head coach Gregg Popovich was not a fan of one reporter’s line of questioning on Monday night. He asked Damian Lillard about watching past USA Olympic teams dominate most other countries in past years, a far cry from the current team’s showing in the opening two exhibitions.
“It’s not the first time that I’ve seen Team USA be tested,” Lillard said. “Maybe not beat two times in a row, but I’ve seen it before. These other teams and these other countries just continue to improve. These players, they get better, they get more confident and they also want to beat us badly. It’s definitely noticeable when you’re on the court.”
However, Popovich decided he wasn’t going to let the question stand unchallenged. After Lillard finished his response, he decided to make a statement.
“Let me also answer that question,” Popovich declared. “You asked the same sort of question last time, you assume things that aren’t true.”
The reporter interrupted Popovich at this point, leading to a testy exchange between the pair.
“Are you gonna let me finish my statement or not?” Popovich repeated numerous times in the back and forth before the reporter relented. “So you’ll be quiet now while I talk. And then I’ll listen to you,”
“When you make statements about in the past, just blowing out these other teams … No. 1 you give no respect to the other teams. I talked to you last time about the same thing. We’ve had very close games against four or five countries in all these tournaments. So, the good teams do not get blown out. There are certain games it might happen in one of the tournaments, world championships and Olympics when somebody gets blown out but in general, nobody is blowing anybody out for the good teams. So, when you make a statement like that it’s like you assume that’s what’s going on and that’s incorrect.”
It’s clear Popovich did not want the blowout narrative to take hold by trying to take the reporter to task following a second straight defeat for USA Basketball. It’s rare to see such a heated exchange after an exhibition contest but it was a sign that Popovich wanted to defend his players from not living up to early expectations.
Jayson Tatum tries out a bench role
Jayson Tatum is one of the best players on Team USA Basketball. However, Gregg Popovich was searching for a bit of a different defensive look on Monday night on the heels of an ugly effort against Nigeria on Saturday.
He elected to send top talents Jayson Tatum and Bam Adebayo to the bench with Draymond Green and Jerami Grant inserted into the starting five, likely in an attempt to bring more of a versatile defensive edge to the starting five. Tatum’s offensive opportunities would also be more numerous with the second unit in theory with Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant all in the starting five.
Popovich’s plan worked well early as USA jumped out to a nine-point halftime lead but that momentum was unable to be sustained over 40 minutes.
“I thought we got better tonight,” said Popovich. “After a short time together, there’s a lot of things that have to be covered, but the first half and the second half were two different beasts.
“In the first half, we defended the way we wanted to defend. … We rebounded better. We moved the ball better at the offensive end and had more pace. In the second half, we tired out.”
Tatum was one of several players who struggled in the defeat, going just 4-of-12 from the field to score eight points. He added four assists and three rebounds over his 25 minutes in the reserve role. Whether Popovich sticks with Tatum coming off the bench will be an intriguing storyline to watch as the Olympics inch closer.
Patty Mills deserves a look from Boston this summer
With some of the best talents in the NBA suiting up for Team USA, it was an Australian point guard that ended up being the best player on the floor in crunch time on Monday night. Spurs guard Patty Mills finished with a game-high 22 points and a team-high four assists over his 30 minutes, helping Australia pull away with an 11-1 run over the final four minutes of the contest to seal the surprise win for the 16-point underdogs.
The 6-foot point guard is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer after spending his entire career with the Spurs. His mix of speed and passing vision led to easy buckets against Americans with the game on the line as he took advantage of USA’s lack of cohesion.
That type of versatility should make Mills an attractive target to Boston and several other contenders around the league this summer. The Spurs may be going in a younger direction with their roster, which could force Mills to find a new home. He has played several seasons under new Celtics head coach Ime Udoka and that could work well for the Celtics if they make a run at him with their mid-level exception.
It’s clear Brad Stevens is in need of some added point guard depth this summer after dealing away Kemba Walker and Mills’ effort on Monday night was a reminder that he can make an impact against some of the best talent in the world.