At FIBA World Cup, USA basketball flirts with vulnerability FIBAWC
Coach Gregg Popovich had his clipboard out in the final seconds to illustrate for Kemba Walker what he wanted on a potential game-tying possession for the U.S. national team. Australia’s Joe Ingles and Matthew Dellavedova sneaked up beside them to eavesdrop on the instructions.
“That mindset has changed,” said Andrew Bogut, Australia’s veteran center, in a telephone interview from China, where the 32-team World Cup begins Saturday. “They’re a relatively young and inexperienced FIBA team, which does make a difference, believe it or not,” Bogut said, referring in part to the increased physicality typically allowed by FIBA referees in a mere 40-minute game.
The best player in the tournament, for the first time in decades, will not be found on the U.S. roster: Greece or Serbia will hold that distinction. Mitchell has been one of the most upbeat and outwardly confident members of the U.S. team in the face of weeks of gloom-and-doom talk, but even he acknowledged before the Americans left the country Aug. 17: “I think a lot of teams think they see an opening.”
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