Does the United States have a rebound problem? It’s hard to believe when you see the first action with three offensive rebounds for Team USA, which opens the scoring with a “circus shot” from Jalen Brunson. Another recurring concern? The faults of Jaren Jackson Jr, and indeed, he receives two faults after two minutes! The opportunity for Paolo Banchero to come into play as Italy went ahead (6-4).
It’s a tough fight, with awkwardness, faults, and a very high defense of the United States. A real round of observation, and the rotations of Steve Kerr allow the Americans to pass timidly in front and as often, it is Tyrese Haliburton who does good with an award-winning first shot (14-8). He is imitated by Brandon Ingram and Austin Reaves, and that gives the Americans a 9-point lead (20-11). Haliburton took the match on his own with his passing and his mastery of the tempo, and the United States are at +10 after ten minutes (24-14).
An end-to-end demonstration
Italy fails to close the baseline, and Mikal Bridges takes advantage (28-16). The clumsiness of the Transalpins (7 out of 30 on shots, including 2 out of 15 from 3-pointers) is terrible, and Team USA knocks them out with 3-pointers with the opportunistic Bridges and the inevitable Haliburton (41-18). Once is not custom, Anthony Edwards is in withdrawal, but he is there to send Banchero to dunk. A catastrophic first half for the Italians and Reaves puts their heads under water with a tap from elsewhere. At the break, the Americans lead by 22 points (46-24)!
The bad news for the Italians is that Edwards scored the first basket of the second half (49-24), and Bridges remained on his cloud to reach 20 points. On the scoreboard, we are close to 30 points apart (60-31) and we have only been playing for two minutes… As the United States are very serious and the Italians are out of it, the gap is growing badly (73-36)! And ironically, it was Banchero who ended the quarter with an alley-oop to bring the gap to +39 (83-44).
The last quarter encourages Kerr to spin and the “garbage time” allows Haliburton to drive the point home (92-51) and Kessler to show himself at counter and dunk (94-55). At the finish, the gap will be 37 points: 100-63. The United States reacted perfectly after the loss against Lithuania, and they will face the winner of Germany-Latvia in the semi-finals.
Video summary and stats to come
