What many projected as a runaway FIBA World Cup victory early Friday morning turned into a nail-biter for an undersized Team USA squad facing a physical Montenegro national basketball team to open the second round.
Team USA narrowly escaped with a 85-73 victory — but it was a 64-62 game at the 7:50 mark of the fourth quarter, and Montenegro only spent a small portion of non fourth-quarter minutes trailing by more than five.
The Lithuanian national team is led by noted NBA bruiser Jonas Valanciunas and averaged 48 rebounds per game through its first three World Cup games.Steve Kerr knows size is his team’s biggest shortcoming: In fact, it’s a reason why the head coach made a starting lineup shuffle, moving the lanky scorer Brandon Ingram to the bench in favor of Knicks forward Josh Hart, who is shorter than Ingram but brings more of a presence crashing the glass and diving for 50-50 balls.
Haliburton has brought size where starter and Knicks guard Jalen Brunson has lacked: The Pacers’ star closed the game alongside Edwards, Bridges, Reaves and Jaren Jackson Jr. on Friday, and it’s become clear Haliburton will be inserted into a game if Brunson isn’t cooking — though Kerr has turned to lineups featuring both guards alongside either Reaves or Edwards at different junctures across the World Cup.
Edwards finished with 17 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the field, and his team pulled away for a double-digit victory.But the secret is out. The jig is up. The key to competing against this rendition of Team USA is to attack them in the paint, on the glass, and take advantage of their size.
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