Surprise in the in-between of the meeting between the United States and Jordan, since Brandon Ingram took place on the bench, replaced by Josh Hart among the holders. The day before, Steve Kerr had praised the merits of the Swiss army knife of the Knicks, and Hart gained so many points that he therefore inherited the starting place.
Result, it is Ingram, very average until then, who is sacrificed, and the person concerned understands this since it is… for his own good. “The coaches felt it was better for me to play with Tyrese and with guys who need the ball less than Jalen and Anthony,” reacted Ingram. “They just talked about better complementarity, and I agreed with them. »
For Steve Kerr, it was indeed a question of complementarity, and he considers that his team is still in the preparation phase, and that adjustments are logical.
“The difficulty with FIBA is that you only have a few weeks to put together your team, unlike an NBA season where you have six, seven, eight months”Kerr recalls. “We thought it was important to see Josh with the starting squad and Brandon with the substitutes, and see if the combinations worked.”
A natural complicity
Complementarity therefore, but also complicity since his starting five includes three players who passed through Villanova: Hart therefore, but also Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges.
“We haven’t lost our touch…”likes Bridges. “Playing with JB all these years and Josh too, it’s second nature. With all the training and matches we had at ‘Nova’, it’s so natural”.
A winning formula since the Americans started the game with a 20-4 with an omnipresent Hart in defense and rebound, alongside an even more liberated Edwards in attack. “Until then, the opponents were swinging the first shot, but I found that today it was us” points out Bridges.
As for Ingram, he played 6th man for the first time since his rookie year at the Lakers! “I had prepared for it. It was just a different five, and I was excited to have that opportunity.” he concludes after having compiled 7 points and 5 assists in 15 minutes.
