2023-09-04 17:49:00
Defeated yesterday by Lithuania in the last match of the group stages, the United States are no longer undefeated in this 2023 World Cup. If this defeat does not have unfortunate consequences for Team USA – already qualified for the quarter-finals – she reminds once again that the States are no longer this invincible armada that the competition fears. And that, Grant Hill is well aware.
Seeing Team USA lose a basketball game in a major international competition is no longer something that shocks or surprises.
It happened twice at the 2019 World Cup, where the Americans finished only seventh in the competition. It happened once at the Tokyo Olympics, without consequence because they brought back the gold. And it happened again yesterday during the second phase of the 2023 World Cup. Defeats that each time bring back bad memories for Team USA, whose supremacy had been widely questioned during the 2000s with chess at the Worlds (2002, 2006) and at the Olympics (2004).
Grant Hill, general manager of Team USA, obviously wants to avoid such a failure this year. But he knows that the noose is getting tighter and tighter, and that intimidation no longer works in 2023.
“The game is different. Our game in the NBA is looking more and more like their game. The talent and the shooting have progressed. Today, the NBA is made up of 30% international players. There is still respect, but there is no longer that fear or admiration that there was 27 years ago (at the 1996 Olympics, where Hill had played with Team USA, editor’s note.).”
– Grant Hill, via BasketNews
“There’s no longer the mystique of playing against the NBA players… There’s still respect, but there’s not the same sort of fear or the awe that there was 27 years ago.”
Grant Hill says that international players no longer fear Team USA ????
(via @BasketNews_com) pic.twitter.com/zgkeOxFDP5
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 3, 2023
In addition to the reasons mentioned by the boss of Team USA, the lack of consideration of the United States for international basketball also explains the difficulties that the States can sometimes encounter. A few weeks ago, Hill publicly regretted the large number of withdrawals from the 2023 World Cup, which is reminiscent of the scenario in 2019 where Team USA arrived with a bis bis team only to end up being beaten as soon as the quarter-finals against France.
Of course, we are not there today. Certainly, the United States have a solid World Cup despite their loss against Lithuania, with a talented team that plays quite well together despite the lack of FIBA experience in Steve Kerr’s group. But when you don’t bring your greatest talents and you have fewer automatisms than other nations, you inevitably expose yourself to missteps against unapologetic teams.
Vaidas Kariniauskas wearing a Team USA cap after serving them an L. ????????#FIBAWC x #WinForAll pic.twitter.com/esbKTv8NNG
— FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 ???? (@FIBAWC) September 3, 2023
Speaking of a team without complex, we can count on Gianmarco Pozzecco’s Italy to play the game thoroughly in the quarter-finals against Team USA tomorrow. Grant Hill will no doubt be in the stands, and hopes to see a scenario radically different from that of two days ago.
__________
Source texte : BasketNews
1693850436
#longer #fear #facing #NBA #players