LeBron James was happy with the progress made by the USA in their 105-79 friendly victory over Serbia in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, but insists there is still “so much room to improve” in the pursuit of Olympic gold.
Following a tight victory over Australia on Monday, in which the United States nearly blew a 20-point advantage near the conclusion of the game, the stars and stripes were in command against Nikola Jokic-led Serbia.
Stephen Curry, who had only three points in the USA’s 98-92 victory over the Boomers, caught fire on Wednesday, beginning the scoring with a trademark three on the first play and ended with a team-high 24 points, six of nine from beyond the arc.
“We drew it (the opening play) up for that particular reason, to get him going,” said James of Curry.
“He sees one go through the hoop, you see what it opens up for the rest of his game, for the rest of the game for all of us. He set the tone and we just tried to continue to keep finding him.”
Bam Adebayo also had a successful evening, coming off the bench to tally up 17 points, eight rebounds and a pair of assists.
The Miami Heat center combined seamlessly on defence with Anthony Davis, who had six blocks, six rebounds and seven points.
“Bam and AD together are really something,” US head coach Steve Kerr said.
“Just the switching, but they can also protect the rim and be in a drop if we go to that coverage.
“They’ll combine with the ball pressure that Book was putting on their point guard, I thought that really set a tone for us.”
Serbia, which lost to Australia on Tuesday, was once again missing Atlanta Hawks player Bogdan Bogdanovic, who was on the bench but did not play.
Jokic, the reigning NBA MVP, produced a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds, but it was insufficient to stop the formidable Americans, who will meet each other again in their Olympic debut on July 28 in Lille, France.
“We’ve still got so much room to improve but we want to continue to get better and not waste the opportunities. I felt like tonight we got better,” said James, who is gunning for his third Olympic gold medal this summer.
‘Strength is team depth’
Kerr made one adjustment to his starting lineup from two days earlier against Australia, keeping Jayson Tatum, James, Joel Embiid, and Curry but replacing Anthony Edwards with Jrue Holiday.
Curry scored nine points in the first two minutes before Serbia picked up the pace with back-to-back three-pointers from Aleksa Avramovic, giving them an early 12-9 advantage.
During these exhibition games, Kerr stuck to his hockey substitution strategy, pulling all five players midway through the quarter to come in Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, Davis, Adebayo, and Devin Booker.
Edwards restored the lead for the USA, going four for four from the line with 38 seconds remaining. Vanja Marinkovic had other plans, though, and his buzzer-beating layup ensured that both clubs finished the first quarter on even footing.
Curry, Edwards and Adebayo helped the USA pull ahead, and the Americans were never in trouble again beyond that first quarter.
Kerr is happy with the strategy he’s been applying so far, of subbing all five starters with an entirely new second unit and alternating those two groups every five minutes in the game.
“I think the identity of the team is our depth, the strength of the team is the depth,” said Kerr.
“And so, if we can play in four, five-minute bursts of just playing intense defence, hitting bodies, rebounding, being physical, then it makes sense to play that way.
“We’ll see if we keep doing it but for now, it’s allowed groups to get together, AD and Bam for example, Steph and LeBron, kind of learn how to play together, having a better feel for each other.
“The strength of our team is just the depth and so if we have to play that way, we’ll play that way.”
The USA head to London next, where they have two final exhibition games scheduled, against South Sudan on Saturday and reigning world champions Germany on Monday.