Jayson Tatum’s benching in USA Basketball’s Paris Olympics opening blowout made the headlines. American head coach Steve Kerr promised that Tatum would get run in the second matchup against South Sudan, and he stood by his word by starting the Boston Celtics forward on Wednesday.
Tatum and center Anthony Davis started in a new lineup in place of guard Jrue Holiday and center Joel Embiid. LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Devin Booker remained as starters.
Tatum’s presence was a surprise considering Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant’s 2024 national team debut on Sunday against Serbia. Durant shot 8-for-9 for 23 points off the bench, his first game action since suffering a calf injury.
The USA won 103-86 behind 18 points off the bench from Bam Adebayo.
The victory qualified the Americans to make the quarterfinals of the men’s basketball tournament bracket.
Booker didn’t score in the first half but had five assists and a block. He scored all 10 of his points in the second half and led the team with six assists.
Durant was the United States’ second-leading scorer with 14 points. He added three steals off the bench as the Americans held South Sudan to 41.9% shooting overall.
Kerr caught criticism for benching Tatum and point guard Tyrese Haliburton entirely.
“It’s really hard in a 40-minute game to play more than 10 guys,” Kerr told reporters after the game. “With Kevin coming back, I just went to the combinations that I felt made the most sense. It seems crazy. I thought I was crazy when I looked at everything and determined these are the lineups I wanted to get to.”
Kerr tagging in Tatum to start the second game of group play also slotted Booker into a slightly different role with Holiday out of the starting lineup.
Where Booker was a true shooting guard, hitting four threes and scoring 12 points to go with five assists on Sunday, he became the primary on-ball defender against South Sudan.
Durant, Holiday, Anthony Edwards and Bam Adebayo were the first players off the bench for the Americans, who were attempting to go smaller to match up against a perimeter-oriented South Sudan team that had nearly beaten USA in an exhibition matchup leading into the Paris Olympics.
First appeared on arizonasports.com