The USA noticed each the lads’s and ladies’s 3×3 basketball groups lose their opening video games of the 2024 Paris Olympics on Tuesday. This doesn’t suggest the journey to the rostrum is over, however you will need to level out that U.S. followers ought to maybe handle their expectations otherwise in the case of 3×3 groups in comparison with the 5×5 squads — no less than for now.
The ladies’s 3×3 group misplaced 17-13 to Germany, whereas the lads fell 22-14 to Serbia.
Sure, the U.S. is taken into account to be essentially the most dominant nation on the planet in the case of expertise within the NBA and WNBA. However the Olympics are completely completely different. The 3×3 sport could be very quick paced, makes use of solely half the courtroom, lasts a most of 10 minutes and solely contains baskets that depend for one or two factors (no 3-pointers).
Here’s a nearer take a look at what’s going on with every Group USA 3×3 roster:
Girls’s 3×3 group
After their loss to Germany, Cierra Burdick admitted she “did not assume it was going to be that ugly.”
The Individuals had an early 5-0 lead, however the sport shortly received away from them. Group chemistry could possibly be an element, which ought to be anticipated as they’ve solely performed collectively for about two weeks.
Issues are a lot completely different for the ladies’s 5×5 group, which has not misplaced a single sport within the Olympics since 1992 and is at present chasing its eighth consecutive gold medal with a star-studded roster full of expertise. That group contains A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart and Group USA veteran Diana Taurasi, who’s competing in her sixth Olympic Video games.
In the meantime, the 3×3 group solely has two gamers at present within the WNBA: Dearica Hamby from the Los Angeles Sparks and Rhyne Howard from the Atlanta Dream. Hamby changed Sparks rookie Cameron Brink, who’s out for the remainder of the WNBA season attributable to a torn ACL.
Hailey Van Lith continues to be in school and Burdick, who hasn’t been on a WNBA roster since 2021, performs in Spain for Valencia. Each had been a part of the group that received gold on the 2023 FIBA 3×3 World Cup, and Burdick was additionally on the 2014 group. That have is effective, however it’s not corresponding to the quantity of expertise the 5×5 roster boasts.
The USA did win the ladies’s 3×3 gold medal on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, however that roster was fully completely different than the one in Paris. That group had Stefanie Dolson, Alisha Grey, Kelsea Plum and Jackie Younger. They solely misplaced one sport in pool play on their solution to gold.
This present group was chosen from a gaggle of gamers who attended the Springfield coaching camp. The total checklist of gamers there included Brink, Burdick, Hamby, Van Lith, Howard, Azana Bains, Christina Dalce, Blake Dietrick, Allisha Grey, Linnae Harper, Lexie Hull, Kelsey Mitchell, Lucy Olsen, Katie Lou Samuelson, Madison Scott, Hailey Van Lith, Mikaylah Williams and Camille Zimmerman.
Males’s 3×3 group
On the lads’s facet, the frustration was related after the primary day of competitors. USA sits on the backside of the 3×3 standings together with Lithuania, which additionally scored simply 14 factors towards France. Nevertheless, this won’t be the time to panic but, as Serbia is presumably the strongest group within the discipline.
The Serbians received bronze on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and are at present ranked because the world’s No. 1 group. They’ve Dejan Majstorovic coming back from that Olympic group and added Strahinja Stojacic, the world’s top-ranked participant.
The U.S. males’s 3×3 roster consists of Jimmer Fredette, Dylan Travis, Canyon Barry and Kareem Maddox. So, no, they don’t have a ton of NBA expertise. Fredette performed six seasons within the NBA, however his final stint within the league was six video games with the Phoenix Suns in 2019.
The boys’s 3×3 coaching camp was held in February, and the checklist of attendees included Travis, Fredette, Barry, Maddox, Trey Bardsley, Henry Caruso, Glen Dandridge Jr., Mitch Hahn, Justin Hamilton, Khalil Iverson, Jalen Lecque, Jeremy Lieberman, Trey McGowens, James Parrott, Klaye Rowe and Bryce Wills.
By comparability, the 5×5 has a roster full of veteran NBA stars, together with LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and Anthony Davis. Their group is in search of a fifth consecutive gold medal, whereas that is the primary time the lads’s 3×3 group has competed within the Olympics.
The present 3×3 group mechanically certified for the Paris Olympics as a result of they completed second within the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Who did they end second to? Serbia, the identical group the Individuals misplaced to on Tuesday regardless of main for a lot of the primary half. That 2023 remaining was nearer, as Serbia received 21-19.
Though Tuesday’s loss was not how they needed to make their Olympic debut, Fredette saved a constructive angle and was not feeling too frightened about it.
“It is a lengthy match for us, and we’re excited to get again at it tomorrow,” he stated to NBC after the sport.
