Team USA Setting Noble Challenge for Itself with Defensive Identity
Even before Team USA tipped off its Olympic debut against China on Saturday, the Americans already had the gold medal secured on paper.
That's despite a slew of superstars opting to say home, including Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis. Head coach Mike Krzyzewski's squad still smothers the entire field in name recognition and top-tier talent.
That's why no eyes blinked when Team USA delivered a 119-62 thrashing to start the tournament. It had, after all, throttled this same Chinese team by a total of 99 points during a pair of late-July exhibitions.
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The U.S. built a 59-30 halftime lead in this meeting, and Coach K opened the third stanza with an all-bench unit. The five substitutes included four NBA All-Stars and one All-NBA first-team selection. No one else can field a five-man group like that, much less a bench.
Team USA's roster is stacked, but that's not what makes this group so scary. Saturday's showing unearthed a truth that should energize Krzyzewski's staff and terrify the rest of the field: Team USA has set an astronomical defensive standard and won't accept anything less.
If these tournament teams can't challenge the Americans, they'll use their defensive goals to do it themselves.
As Bleacher Report's Michael Pina relayed, those aims are historically high:
"The one thing we should be able to do better than everyone is play defense," Krzyzewski said last month, per Sean Deveney of Sporting News. "Other teams can score. A lot of them have real good three-point shooters. And we do, too. But we should be a better defensive team than those other teams."
If the Americans have a threat in this event, it's complacency. Maybe that doesn't feel like it should be an issue with 10 first-time Olympians on the 12-man roster, but it's a potential hurdle nonetheless. This group dominates the sport's best league on the planet.
No other team in the tournament can come close to that.
Not with Spain missing the likes of Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka. Not with Argentina's core aging out of elite status. And not with France—perhaps the biggest thorn on paper—opening the Olympics with a 21-point loss to Australia.
Team USA could rest on its offensive laurels and probably be OK. The 69 points Kevin Durant, DeMarcus Cousins, Paul George and Kyrie Irving delivered were more than the entire Chinese team could muster. More impressive, the quartet produced those points on a wildly efficient 24-of-40 shooting (60 percent)—against a defense with four 7-footers.
But that was supposed to happen. Team USA is just too strong, too skilled, too explosive and too relentless. Offensive eruptions should be on rinse and repeat from here on out. No matter what the matchup dictates, Team USA has it in spades.
But it's the defense that could make this collection special. If this effort is maintained, then the tournament is already over. As ESPN's Marc Stein observed, most of China's productive offensive sets started with a miracle:
The formula doesn't need to change.
Team USA boasts an unfair amount of length, athleticism and versatility along the wings. It's small ball on steroids—a series of supremely talented interchangeable parts who can cycle through multiple defensive assignments without so much as a missed step.
The roster features four of last season's All-Defensive selections: Draymond Green and DeAndre Jordan from the first team, George and Jimmy Butler from the second. Cousins, Durant, Klay Thompson, Kyle Lowry and Harrison Barnes all received some level of support from the voters.
Don't forget, defensive guru Tom Thibodeau helps oversee this team. And, as The Vertical's Michael Lee noted, Thibs won't have wavering defensive focus, no matter the score:
It's hard to think of an Olympic offense capable of bothering this group. China's certainly didn't, shooting a woeful 35.7 percent from the field. Take Yi Jianlian's 25 points out of the picture and the team managed just 37 points on 37 shots.
"Team USA began to apply force on D like no one else in international hoops can, smothering the Chinese with the sort of all-over-the-floor pressure and resolve-sapping resistance at the rim that has numerous observers already anointing this the best defensive outfit that USA Basketball has ever fielded," Stein wrote.
Defense would be a fitting identity for this team.
It's the less glamorous side of basketball, and this roster isn't the most glamorous group by Team USA's ridiculous standards. It's still a superteam, sure, but it's no Dream Team, and not as strong as it could be had every eligible star answered the call.
Defense is also something that doesn't come easy, which is big, since so many things in this tournament likely will for the heavy favorites. It's a way to keep the entire team focused and engaged, even as the scoreboard spins out of control.
"We're here (on) business, we're focused on winning, and that's what we care about," Carmelo Anthony said before the opener, per USA Today's Sam Amick. "We don't want to let nothing come in between that."
Talent-wise, nothing likely will. More blowouts are almost certainly on the horizon.
That's what makes Team USA's internal challenge all the more compelling. They won't face a tougher test than realizing their own defensive ceiling and surpassing the best work of past Team USA stoppers.
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