Despite its pristine exhibition record, Team USA knows it needs to work hard on the boards to be successful in tournament.
ByMANILA, Philippines — Statistically speaking, if you want to call this a “vulnerability” for Team USA, you’d be doing so tongue-in-cheek.
Over the Americans’ five exhibition games, they outrebounded their opponents by a substantial 234-185 margin. And yet, as the FIBA World Cup is finally upon us and Team USA plays New Zealand at 8:40 a.m. ET Saturday, the team’s underbelly is the rebounding and, more broadly, a relative lack of size, numbers be damned.It’s the thing the Americans say they must guard against — being so badly beaten on the boards that it costs them a game., the man chiefly responsible for getting those rebounds for Team USA.
“We talk about it all the time,” USA coach Steve Kerr said. “Even tomorrow against New Zealand, they’re going to crash five guys at a time. They’re not as big and physical as Germany, but they’re going to have a similar mentality. So it’s a point of emphasis every practice, boxing out, making sure we recognize what we’re facing.”
New Zealand’s tallest player is Yannick Wetzell, a 6-foot-10 power forward who plays professionally in Germany, but he is hardly the point. The point is the two times the Americans were challenged at all in their otherwise perfect exhibition season, they were outrebounded — by two against Spain and by 13 against Germany.bigs on their teams, and New Zealand does not — there are no NBA players on its roster.
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