Beaten by Lithuania for the last match of the second phase of the 2023 World Cup, the United States took revenge on the poor Italians in the quarter-finals. A very large victory (100-63) against a team much less equipped to exploit the weaknesses (rebound…) of Team USA.
But for Steve Kerr, this spectacular rebound is mainly linked to movement and sharing the ball.
“We lost the last game and we always want to respond to a defeat with more competitiveness, joy and competitiveness go hand in hand”, thus explained the coach. “When you’re competitive, playing with that strength and that energy and moving the ball, like Tyrese did, like Anthony Edwards early in the game, it’s contagious and it becomes fun. It doesn’t matter who scores and who does the stats, it’s the team that counts and that’s where the game is at its peak and where we have the most fun. »
We have seen American players dance and jump a lot, on the bench, or celebrate their actions on the field a lot. Which obviously a little annoyed Gianmarco Pozzecco, the opposing coach.
“I call him Ty ‘The Showman’. He loves passes so much in the air, blind, when he can make faces when he passes the ball.
But Tyrese Haliburton, the other big man of the game, behind Mikal Bridges, with his 18 points at 6/8 behind the 3-point line, his 5 assists and his 3 interceptions, was above all proud of the overall defensive intensity.
“I just wanted to increase our intensity. The teams are not going to miss their shots on their own. Once they see the first shots coming in, they play with a lot of confidence and we saw that with Lithuania. We just wanted to set the tone from the start and have them play at our pace, because no one plays at our pace better than us” he explained after qualifying for the semi-finals.
Difficult indeed to compete with Team USA when you throw so much ammunition at them, and the tempo of the match.
Symbol of this “fun” match for the United States: Tyrese Haliburton’s alley-oop for Paolo Banchero, the leader of the Pacers passing the ball between his legs to put his partner in orbit!
“I call him Ty ‘The Showman’. He loves passes in the air so much, blindfolded, when he can make faces when he passes the ball… I thought he was going to throw the ball to the backboard and I was preparing to do a fancy dunk s he threw it on the board. I was getting ready. Then I saw him put the ball under his leg and I lost my timing so I just wanted to finish it after that.” concluded the Orlando player.
