When Team USA takes the court Thursday night (Friday morning in the U.S.) in the semifinals of the FIBA World Championship, they’ll face their toughest opponent to date. Greece is 7-0 in WC play and is the reigning European champion. Considering they don’t have an NBA player on their roster, that’s saying something. Greece does a terrific job of slowing the game down, playing offensive possessions late into the shot clock and getting to the foul line. In short, they’re good at making the game ugly, and when that happens, favorites often lose.
Offensively, Greece will pound the ball inside to their big men, Lazaros Papadopoulos and Sofoklis Schortsianitis. On defense, they’ll matchup man-to-man, but they won’t be flying around in the passing lanes getting out of position. This will limit Team USA’s opportunities and force them to make outside shots to win the game. Germany had a similar intent with its 2-3 zone, but the Americans were able to get on the offensive glass to create second and third opportunities. It won’t be so easy against Greece, who has the size to match up with Team USA’s frontline.
But there two things about the Greeks that present even bigger problems for Team USA: heart and cohesiveness. This is a real team that has played together (on and off) for years, not just a collection of the country’s talent cobbled together at the last minute. Each player has a role to play so there won’t be any players trying to do things that they – physically or skill-wise – aren’t able to do. They have a reputation for always playing like a champion, so the U.S. should expect maximum effort regardless of the score. Moreover, they should expect Greece to play with a chip on their shoulder. Greece represents Europe’s best, and for a long time the continent has taken a back seat basketball-wise to the United States, so there is much to play for in the eyes of the Europeans.
That said, the U.S. team has a physical advantage over Greece. If Team USA limits turnovers and takes good shots, they’ll have a chance to win the game. The most important priority should be to play solid, man-to-man defense. The U.S. has a tendency to gamble defensively, going for steals when they should stay home on their defender. Thus far, other than the game against Italy, it hasn’t hurt them, but that could easily change in the next two contests.
Team USA is no doubt playing in the passing lanes because head coach Mike Krzyzewski told them to do so. His Duke teams always play like that, with great results. But here’s the difference – at Duke, a guy can get out of position and maybe two or three guys on the opposing team can make them pay. In international ball, four or five opposing players can hit a mid-range jumper, take it to the rack with success or find the open man. Team USA still needs to play aggressively, as much of their success can be attributed to turning the other team over and pushing the ball up court, but they need to avoid gambling needlessly. Because it will cost them.
Team USA always gets its opponent’s best shot. Coach K is used to this – year after year, his Duke teams walk around with giant bull’s-eyes on their chests. The question is – how will his players react? Will they come together under tough circumstances and pull out a win? Or will they fold under the pressure?
I guess we’ll find out Friday morning @ 3:30 AM ET on ESPN2.
In the other semifinal, Spain (Pau Gasol) and Argentina (Manu Ginobili) square off at 6:30 AM, also on ESPN2.
