Paris 2024 men's basketball: Team USA go harder, better, faster ...

South Sudan coach Royal Ivey knew Wednesday would be different when Team USA changed its starting lineup for the rematch, going with a faster, more athletic lineup that could better deal with the Sudanese speed.

That lineup scored the game’s first three buckets and made a statement, and Team USA took its assignment more seriously this time than in the 20 June friendly in London. This game was for real and Team USA felt slightly embarrassed after it needed LeBron James’ late-game heroics to secure a win.

This time, there would be no suspense. Team USA led for the final 36 minutes, six seconds and got double-figure scoring from five players in a 103-86 win at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium. USA leads Group C with a 2-0 record and assured itself a trip to Paris for the knockout round and, equally as important, the club exemplified how truly deep it is with Steve Kerr’s various lineups.

This time, Jayson Tatum started after not playing Sunday against Serbia. Joel Embiid, a former NBA MVP, was benched. Tyrese Haliburton, out of the rotation for most of the exhibition, made a surprising early appearance and canned two three-pointers.

LeBron James and Anthony Davis of Team USA high five on their way to an important win over South Sudan

Team USA is battering opponents with its depth and it’s still seeking that picturesque performance reflective of 11 NBA All-Stars.

“This is the fastest team in the tournament we were going to play and we wanted to match up,” Kerr said about the lineup changes. “That’s how we’re going to view this, whatever we need to do to win each game, that’s what we’re going to do. The defense was fantastic tonight. The defensive effort was the key to the whole thing.”

Bam Adebayo led Team USA with 18 points, including a pair of three-pointers and he was a plus-22. Kevin Durant added 14 points and was a plus 26. The message was clear to the Americans after they heard for 10 days about how lucky they were to hold off upstart South Sudan.

“We’re not worried about expectations,” Durant said. “We’re trying to win and play a good brand of basketball and we did that in spurts. The first unit got us started. We set the tone to start the game. I think we’re playing well off of each other. People may be expecting big numbers, high numbers of wins, 30, 40 points, but we still won the last two games by an average of 20 points against good talent. Just keep building.”

Kerr caused a controversy by benching Tatum on Sunday, and Tatum said he was not going to complain about that decision. He came back against South Sudan with four points, five rebounds, two assists and a steal in 17 minutes.

“It’s a unique situation and it’s not about one individual player,” Tatum said. “The competitor in you wants to play, obviously. But I’m not here to make a story, making it about myself. We won. I was just glad to get back out there and play again today. There was a lot of chatter over the last few days but I was in good spirits, I had a good attitude about it. I’m not holding any grudges or anything.”

Just like he had to explain Tatum’s situation Sunday, Kerr discussed sitting a former MVP and one of the best centers in the world Wednesday.

“The beauty of USA Basketball is we have more great players than the other countries,” he said. “Other countries have some of the best players in the world now. That’s how the game has grown but we have more great players. That’s our strength. Our strength is we can lean on all those great players, depending on matchups, how we want to play, who we’re playing. Every single guy is capable of going out there and taking over a game.

“I think we need to give these guys more credit, they’re here to win a gold medal. They’re pros, committed to each other and every game is going to be a little different. We’ve got options for everything and we’re going to use those options how we see fit.”

South Sudan fought hard but were ultimately outclassed by LeBron James and Team USA

As for South Sudan, it competed the entire game, cutting the USA lead to 12 with seven minutes, 40 seconds left, before the Americans responded with a 14-4 run. And there remains much to play for. South Sudan will face off against Serbia on Saturday night, with the winner guaranteed a spot in the knockout round, which would be a first for the Olympic neophyte. Ivey said he knew Team USA was serious when it benched Embiid and inserted the more versatile Anthony Davis for defense.

“They came out and they were physical,” he said. “I told my guys, USA is going to have their antennas up and those guys were physical and we got off to a bad start. My guys never laid down. My guys are competitors. They never flinched. They kept competing but we couldn’t close that gap.

“They decided not to play Embiid. That was the game plan. They got Kevin Durant and a lot of different guys you can go to, so it worked for them. We held Steph Curry to three points. We held Jayson Tatum to four points. Those are the best players in the NBA, and it still wasn’t good enough.”

Gary Washburn is an Olympic Channel correspondent and National NBA Writer for the Boston Globe.

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