The debate over whether Derrick Rose should be playing for Team USA is behind us. Clearly he is not yet himself, and clearly he is using the FIBA World Cup to get himself back into playing shape so he has a running start when the Chicago Bulls’ NBA season begins.
A big test is coming Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday as Team USA plays on three consecutive nights. We will have a much bigger body of work to judge him on when those three days have passed.
Until then, it is best to wait and see … and appreciate the strides he is making (while also calling attention to his statistics, which are quite underwhelming).
On Tuesday against New Zealand in a 98-71 victory, coach Mike Krzyzewski used Rose as the starter at the outset of the second half and ceased playing Rose and Kyrie Irving together.
“Well I put him (Rose) out there because he is one of the best players in the league,” said Krzyzewski. “Also, he has to get minutes with the guys that are playing more minutes, because he is a guy who should play a lot of minutes. It’s something that I thought about doing before the game, and it worked out that way. I thought Kyrie (Irving) played really well, and I thought Derrick played really well. But I didn’t use them that much together tonight; I wanted to see them separate.”
New Zealand actually outscored the USA 19-18 in the third quarter, but the USA maintained a comfortable lead of 75-54 at the end of the period. The gap reached its widest margin – 34 points – when Rudy Gay scored at 3:10 of the fourth quarter.
The USA’s balanced attack was led by Anthony Davis with 21 points and nine rebounds. Kenneth Faried finished with double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds (seven offensive boards); James Harden added 13 points and four assists; Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson scored 12 points apiece; and Irving tallied 10 points and four steals.
Prior to the game, New Zealand’s players performed their traditional Haka dance.
Apparently, judging from the expressions on their faces, Rose, Harden and Faried had not been warned.
Rose shot only 1-for-6 and scored three points, but he was not the lowest-scoring member of the team. Andre Drummond and Mason Plumlee had a point apiece and Gay scored just two.
Over Team USA’s three games, Rose is 4-for-18 from the field, shooting a team-low 22 percent.
On the positive side, Faried is 21-for-26 for an astounding 81 percent, which leads the tournament. Goran Dragic of Slovenia is second at 71 percent. Davis is at 65.6 percent.
Wednesday will be a big day at the tournament, with several teams fighting to stay alive, and Slovenia and Lithuania playing in a match of two of the strongest teams on the U.S. side of the bracket. With a win, Lithuania can avoid Team USA until the semifinals. The loser will likely see the Americans in the quarterfinals.
Before we get into Tuesday’s results, some stats:
_ Pau Gasol is leading all scorers with an average of 23.7 points. Luis Scola of Argentina is right behind him at 23.0 and Gorgui Dieng of surprising Senegal is at 22.0 ppg. Also averaging at least 20 points are Andray Blatche (Philippines) at 21.0, Francisco Garcia (DR) at 21.0, Dragic at 20.2 and J.J. Barea (Puerto Rico) at 20.0. Davis (19.0 ppg) is tied for eighth in scoring with Croatia’s Bojan Bogdanovic, who will be replacing Paul Pierce at small forward for the Brooklyn Nets next season.
_ Blatche is leading all rebounders with 13.7 per game. Dieng is second at 11.7.
_ Harden and Curry are Nos. 1 and 2 in steals with 3.0 and 2.7 per game, and Hamed Haddadi of Iran, who once played for the Memphis Grizzlies, leads the tournament in turnovers with 5.7 per game.
Let’s take a look at things group by group:
Group A: Iran and Egypt remain winless, while Spain is 3-0 heading into Wednesday’s game against France, one of three 2-1 teams in the group. The other two are Serbia and Brazil, who play each other at noon EDT.
Group B: Puerto Rico and the Philippines are winless, while Argentina, Croatia and Senegal are all 2-1 and Greece is a surprising 3-0. There is a good chance that Timberwolves fans will get to see Dieng go up against the Gasol brothers in the Round of 16.
Group C: The Dominican Republic and Ukraine are both 2-1, tied for second place. Each must still play Team USA. Despite the Haka dance, New Zealand is winless. Turkey has a big game against Finland today with both teams sitting 1-2.
Group D: Australia, a 4 1/2-point underdog, defeated Lithuania 82-75 after opening a 19-point halftime lead. Jonas Valanciunas had more turnovers (5) than points (4). Mexico defeated Angola to boost its hopes of advancing.
Chris Sheridan is publisher and editor-in-chief of sheridanHoops.com. He has covered every senior U.S. national team since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Follow him on Twitter.
Sounds like you are uneducated about American culture moron!
its not New Zealand’s fault American’s are ignorant to any other culture that isn’t fast food and celebrity sex tapes. i wouldn’t say unimpressed, i would say uneducated.