Luka’s Corner

In their second game of the Olympic tournament, the US team cruised past an obviously weaker Angola side. The final score was 97-76 and the game was never in doubt. The Americans got off to a much better start in the first quarter (29-18) than against China and continued the onslaught in the second and third periods, outscoring the Angolans in both. In the fourth, after the game was already decided, Angola went on a run to cut into the 30-point deficit, but that should not worry the United States.

It is safe to say that Angola is perhaps the worst team in this tournament and the United States simply took care of business. To put things in perspective, Craig Sager of NBC reported that Angola’s coach told his team not to lose by more than 40. Here are three things that I noticed in today’s game:

Flash

Dwyane Wade is on a tear offensively and he is even coming around defensively, contesting threes and picking up steals in the backcourt. Against China, he was 5-5 from the field and 7-7 from the line. Against Angola, he was 6-8 from the field (2-3 from three-point range) and 5-7 from the line. In the exhibition games in Macao and Shanghai to the Olympics in Beijing, “Flash” has been the most consistent player on the team. Some have questioned his defense in the past and, while he is still late on some rotations, he pressures opposing guards in the backcourt and even grabs rebounds when he needs to (5 rebounds vs. Angola).

Staying with Wade, the US team seems to play best when he is on the floor. The most successful rotation so far has been Deron Williams and Chris Paul at the guard positions, Wade at small forward, LeBron James at power forward, and Chris Bosh at center. This lineup is the most mobile on offense and it creates the most deflections in the backcourt on defense. Look for Coach Krzyzewski to utilize this lineup more often, now that it has proven in the past few games that it is a cohesive unit.

Inconsistent Defense

The United States is well-known for pressuring guards in the backcourt and creating deflections and steals. They are also known to rotate well and defend the paint. This was not the case against Angola, at least not for a full 40 minutes. At times, the United States gambled when it should not have and left Angola’s shooters wide open for uncontested threes. Kobe Bryant was caught committing unnecessary backcourt fouls and even fouled a three-point shooter while in rotation.

The defensive lapses did not only apply to Kobe, as Wade and Paul were often caught doubling down on Angola’s bigs (if you can even call them big) and leaving three-point shooters wide open. Think about this: Angola has nobody on their roster who is over 6-8 and does not have any notable big men. So, why do the United States need to double down on them and leave their shooters open? That is a valid question that needs to be answered by Coach K and his team. These lapses did not show in the stat sheet against Angola, but it will show if we do it against Spain, who has Pau Gasol on the block and several shooters on the perimeter. They will eat the US alive with their inside-outside game if we are confused on our rotations.

Can USA Shoot?

In their second game, the US team struggled once again with its shot, shooting only 23% (5-21) from downtown. KB24 was an awful 0-8 from behind the line and Michael Redd, the team’s designated shooter, was 0-2. Especially from guys who shoot so many threes, they have to start knocking down open shots if the US is to be successful. Only Dwyane Wade made more than one three-pointer (2-3) in the whole game and it seems like the United States just cannot find any rhythm shooting the ball. Tayshaun Prince told the whole story when he entered the game in the first quarter and made a three from the corner, but then followed it up with a miss from the other corner. What happened to being hot? The US just has not found that heat these past two games.