Against Angola, Team USA scored 121 points nearly doubling up their opponent.  There were a lot fast break opportunities and a lot of dunks, but that isn’t what impressed me about their performance.  What did was the ball movement and patient that Team USA showed in the half-court.  This is something that Team USA hasn’t been doing throughout the tournament, so it leads me to think that Team USA is finally starting to “get it” on the offensive end.  That’s a good thing, considering the road to the World Championship gets much tougher from here on out.  A perfect example of Team USA’s newfound offensive efficiency is this possession late in the 2nd quarter.

Derrick Rose 3

Watch this possession and you will see all the things that work against the zone combined into one play.  You have a screen against the top of the zone, a nice drive and kick, quick passes around the perimeter (forcing the zone to rotate), and an open three point shot.  12 seconds come off the clock as Derrick Rose knocks down the three.  So how is this play different than some of the stuff Team USA did earlier (and struggled)?  The passing.  In  previous games, you would see one pass and a shot (and the offense staying on one side of the court).  On this possession, you see five passes going from side to side, using the whole court.  This forces the defense to rotate and opens up a ton of lanes and shooting opportunities.

Here is another solid possession from Team USA, this one coming against man to man defense:

Chauncey Billups 3

Previous problems Team USA had was a lack of movement, with everyone waiting for the man with the basketball to make a move and do it all on their own.  On the above possession, you see a lot of off the ball movement, a pick and roll, and a pump fake that sucks the defense in.  The result is a wide open three pointer.  Those are the kind of shots Billups can knock down.

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Team Argentina won their two FIBA World games this weekend by a total of six points.  Normally when a team takes two close games back to back it is due to solid execution on both ends of the court.  However, this isn’t what happened with Team Argentina, as they ended up winning despite poor execution on the offensive end.  In both games Argentina suffered a key turnover late when they were looking to put the game away, forcing the defense to step up.

Poor Execution On Offense

Game 1 vs. Germany

Up by one with 47 seconds left, Argentina wants to run some clock and get a good look at the basket.  Argentina’s point guard dribbles the clock out for 12 seconds before they get into their offense.  When they do, they decide to run a pick and roll with Luis Scola as the screener/roll man:

As the PG comes off the screen with Scola rolling the German defense switches.  Mismatch for Argentina right?  Well, no, because Germany just doesn’t switch once, they essentially switch twice.  The German PG, passes Scola off to a bigger help defender, then picks up the open man.

However, good German rotation isn’t the only reason for the turnover.  Argentina shoots themselves in the foot pretty bad here.  Even with the good double switch, Scola still gets the ball in very good position.  However, he isn’t able to complete a move because Hernan Jasen inexplicably cuts into the lane right as Scola starts his move.

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