Someone’s going to be the odd man out in the USA rotation and Sunday it was Tatum, which made coach Steve Kerr feel dumb given his talent.
The USA men’s basketball team’s quest for gold got underway on Sunday afternoon in Lille, France, where they faced medal threat Serbia in their Olympics opener and, after a rocky first few minutes, turned on the jets and absolutely dominated Serbia, 110-84. It was a statement performance, with LeBron James continuing to be the American’s best player this summer and Kevin Durant making a triumphant debut after missing the exhibition slate with a calf strain, scoring 21 points on a perfect 8-for-8 shooting in the first half.
Just about everyone that saw the court for Team USA looked good, as Jrue Holiday, Devin Booker, Stephen Curry, and Anthony Edwards all also reached double figures, while Anthony Davis, Derrick White, and Bam Adebayo were excellent on defense off the bench. The only question mark among those that played continues to be Joel Embiid at starting center, where he just has not found a comfort level with the preferred fast tempo of Team USA and being a secondary option on offense.
