Paris Olympics takeaways: What did Team USA’s crunch-time lineup say about NBA’s hierarchy?

Did Olympic rotation say something about hierarchy of U.S. players?

It was fascinating to see who Steve Kerr trusted with everything on the line as the Americans trailed Serbia by 14 points in the semifinals entering the fourth quarter. The lineup he went with– Steph Curry, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Joel Embiid– is hard to argue with, even as Embiid ambled around on defense and allowed Serbia to get off open looks and to grab some key offensive rebounds.

Embiid did validate his inclusion in the crunch-time lineup, by scoring seven straight crucial points down the stretch to bring the U.S. from 82-75 down to within two at 84-82. He hit a turnaround over his rival Jokic, cashed in a three-point play after a clever LeBron feed and knocked down another jumper to keep his heater going. Embiid has taken a bevy of criticism since the 76ers were knocked out in the first round of the playoffs. He was ripped for choosing to play for Team USA instead of France, even though he’s lived in the U.S. since he was 16 and has never lived in France.

He was criticized for being out of shape heading into the Olympics, and there was some thought that the 2023 NBA MVP might hold Team USA back. But instead of playing defensive-minded Anthony Davis, who would have helped the U.S. more on the boards and under the rim, Kerr went with Embiid, and the big fella repaid him. The U.S. may not have come home with gold if not for Joel’s contributions. Embiid finished that game 8-for-11 with 19 points as the U.S. eeked out a 95-91 win.

Of course, Kerr took plenty of criticism of his own for sitting Jayson Tatum, and there’s quite a strong argument that the best player on the NBA champs should have at least had a rotation spot. He should have probably played more than Anthony Edwards, and he could have spelled Durant and James for some minutes against Serbia, particularly as things were getting hairy in the first half. Tatum isn’t the best defender on the team, but his length and athleticism could have posed some problems for Serbia, which couldn’t miss from 3 (they made 15 of their first 29 attempts before missing 10 straight in the fourth).

Although Tatum probably should have seen some minutes, Devin Booker’s inclusion in the crunch-time lineup made sense, especially paired alongside Steph Curry. That’s a dream backcourt duo from deep, and Booker showed relentless energy in picking up Bogdan Bogdanovic and the Serbian players full-court every time down. You also can’t leave Booker alone at the three-point line– which adds even more stress for a defense. He’s a better shooter than Tatum, no matter what the 3-point percentages say.

Then there’s LeBron, at 39, who is still the guy the U.S. decided to give the car keys to, and he drove the comeback– taking over when things looked dire. No Serbian could stop him as he powered his way down the lane for a pair of transition buckets late in Team USA’s comeback, and he made all the right plays down the stretch, assisting on Embiid and Curry buckets, defending Nikola Jokic and grabbing must-have defensive rebounds.

As great as LeBron was, Curry was even better. Imagine if the U.S. didn’t have him?

Steph scored 36 points on 12-of-19 shooting and 9-of-14 from 3-point range, and the Americans needed every single one of them against Serbia. He followed that up with another 24 on 8-for-14 shooting, all but one of them three-point attempts, in the gold medal win over France. He even single-handedly made sure the gold was going around the Americans’ necks with three straight threes late in the game, one over two defenders and from ridiculously deep, in quintessential Steph Curry fashion.

In a career that’s had too many defining moments to even mention, this will go down as one of his best. He was as clutch as Team USA needed him to be, the go-to player on the best basketball team in the world.

Curry led Team USA at 14.8 points per game for the Olympics, followed by LeBron (14.2, to go along with 8.5 assists and 6.8 rebounds), KD (13.8), Anthony Edwards (12.8), Devin Booker (11.7) and Joel Embiid (11.2).

This team was incredibly balanced, unselfish, and willing to do whatever it took to come home with gold.

And this might sound hyperbolic but– the five guys Kerr trusted to bring the U.S. back when the sky was falling against Serbia delivered one of the most incredible stretches of basketball that has ever been played, at any level.

That comeback run was unreal, and that the world’s best players executed it with everything on the line says everything you need to know about their heart and character.

Here’s another Olympic observation:

Get Canada out of my face.

For weeks heading into the Olympics, people who don’t know anything about international basketball kept trumpeting Canada as the U.S.’ biggest competition for gold. It felt like it was either going to be the U.S. taking home the prize, or Canada. As if there were no other options.

As we saw in this tournament, the Canadians are very good– but they’re not on the level of France, Serbia or, of course, the United States.

They’ve got a lot of talent in MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and NBA champ Jamal Murray, as well as R.J. Barrett, Dillon Brooks and Luguentz Dort. But this team isn’t built for the ball-sharing, spacing, three-point shooting style that FIBA basketball favors. It’s still young and relatively inexperienced on the international stage. This was the first time Canada had even qualified for the Olympics since Steve Nash was running the point back in 2000.

The idea that Canada’s loss to France in Paris was somehow an upset is laughable. The French are now back-to-back silver medalists, and they have a loaded roster filled with NBA talent and EuroLeague talent– guys like Guerschon Yabusele and Isaia Cordinier showed they’re capable of playing with any level of competition. Frank Ntilikina didn’t quite make it with the Knicks but he’s been solid for the national team, Evan Fournier and Nicolas Batum are established NBA players, and Rudy Gobert is now coming off the bench. Hell, the Nos. 1 and 2 picks in this year’s NBA Draft, Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr, didn’t even make the squad.

This team has supplanted Spain as the second-best in the world for a reason, and it deserves some respect on its name. With Victor Wembanyama and that core group returning in four years in L.A., there’s no reason to think they won’t challenge the U.S. yet again.

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