The game was particularly intense from the beginning. Although the United States has 12 NBA players, it is not easy for the American men's basketball team to play in the face of Turkey's infinite joint defense and strong defense. At the beginning of the first quarter, the US team used Tatum's momentum to complete the inside charge, and then Walker hit a 3-pointer and directly hit a wave of 10-2 attack. If the plot had developed according to this situation, perhaps the American men's basketball team would have won a great victory. But then Ilyasova, the core of Turkey's inside line, scored 6 points, and Osman hit the basket continuously, so Turkey narrowed the score by only 2 points. Fortunately, Smart hit a three-pointer at 45 degrees, and the American men's basketball team was able to enter the second quarter with a 5-point advantage in the first quarter.
At the beginning of the second quarter, the American men's basketball team strengthened its defense and successfully restricted Turkey's shooting, which led to a continuous decline in Turkey's free throw percentage. On the other hand, the American men's basketball team played slowly and steadily, which directly diverted a wave. In the middle of the second quarter, the American men's basketball team led at most 15 points. However, the situation changed suddenly, and Turkey played a beautiful teamwork. Ilyasova and Wilberken scored one after another. Finally, under their leadership, Turkey directly defeated the American men's basketball team with a wave of counterattack of 12-0. At the end of the half, the United States did not open the score, but entered the second half with a slight advantage of 5 points.
In the third quarter, Turkey began to get better and better. They rely on strong defense and continue to use joint defense from the online, which has caused great pressure on the US team, but the US team is obviously a little uncomfortable. Fortunately, the personal ability of the stars of the American team is relatively strong. Mitchell's breakthrough and Walker's super-long 3 points directly helped the team stay ahead. However, in this game, Turkey blossomed both inside and outside, but they beat the United States with a score of 1.
When the two sides entered the final showdown, although the American men's basketball team dominated, it was obvious that there was a problem with the players' mentality. On the other hand, Turkey played a good offensive, and the home fans kept cheering for Turkey, which made Turkey's momentum start to rise. Although Mitchell hit a three-pointer and Walker hit a jumper, Turkey's attack at the basket helped the team overtake the score. At the last 12 second, the United States continued to project from the outside. Although Middleton failed to make a 3-pointer, Walker grabbed the key rebound, and then Tatum forced a 3-pointer. Osman was eager to block the ball, and the referee made a three-pointer foul. Fortunately, Tatum made two free throws in the regular season, and Turkey escaped.
In overtime, Turkey took the lead. They scored five points in a row, which opened the score in one fell swoop, but Walker started the individual scoring mode and scored five points in a row to successfully tie the score. Subsequently, the United States strengthened its defense and continued to exert its strength on the offensive end, playing a small attack wave to open the score again, but Osman forcibly broke through and scored 2+ 1 to help Turkey overtake again. In the end, under pressure, the United States fouled the Turkish men's basketball team in succession, but strangely, the Turkish players missed four free throws in a row, giving the United States a chance. Finally, with Middleton's foul success, he made two free throws, which helped the American men's basketball team beat Turkey with a score of 1 and locked the group qualifying quota in advance.
Throughout the whole game, the American men's basketball team's personal ability is really strong. Their lead in the first quarter was entirely due to three-pointers from outside. In the first quarter, the United States made 6 of 9 3-pointers, which brought enough external pressure to Turkey. However, after the second quarter, Turkey had Ilyasova as the core of the inside line and successfully built a joint defense. Because the NBA does not allow the strategy of joint defense, it is a bit difficult for American players to adapt to Turkey's crazy defense. In fact, as early as the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Popovich, then a teaching assistant, knew the threat of Argentina's joint defense, and he didn't defend himself for three seconds in international competitions. Therefore, the breakthrough of American players' survival sometimes fails because there are too many players gathered inside.
Turkey has just put a lot of pressure on the American team with defense, which makes it difficult for the players in the American men's basketball field to adapt. Moreover, the defense of American men's basketball team pays attention to individual defense ability, so their tacit understanding is not high, while Turkey uses the exquisite teamwork of European basketball to continue to exert its strength on the offensive end and feel warmer on the outside. As a result, by the end of the third quarter, the American men's basketball team had been suppressed by its opponents.
In addition, Popovich likes to seek changes in the game, so he sent a small lineup in the middle half, hoping to impact Turkey in speed and impact. The advantage of a small lineup is obvious, that is, it has a very strong offensive and defensive conversion speed, which can cause Turkish players' mistakes through infinite defensive changes. If you often watch NBA Warriors' games, you will find the offensive and defensive dominance of "five little deaths". However, the disadvantage of a small lineup is that it is not tall enough, especially the inside hole is huge.
Therefore, in view of Popovich's substitution, Turkey decided to replace Elden, and then used the commanding heights to contain the inside of the US team. Due to the lack of tacit understanding of these players in the United States, and the bad feeling, Popovich can only send Lopez again, which invisibly reduces the speed of the United States. On the other hand, the Turkish attack was quite smooth. They are two big men pressing inside, three small men cruising outside, and the combination of inside and outside makes it difficult for the US team to resist. Moreover, when Turkey kept scoring, the players' self-confidence also came. For example, Osman is not afraid of confrontation, killing the inside continuously, and Ilyasova rebounds continuously. These two men have given great help to Turkey.
If Turkey hadn't missed a series of free throws at the last minute, the victory of this game might have been Turkey's. Obviously, through the details of this game, the American team actually exposed two fatal problems. First of all, it is difficult for them to adapt to joint defense, which is actually related to the fact that NBA players themselves have not been exposed to this kind of defense. The second is that when the American men's basketball team pursues a small lineup, the height of the team will drop, and it is difficult to obtain an absolute advantage.
So it is still an old saying that once the United States meets teams like Serbia, Lithuania and Australia, they will still suffer in the inside. And once you can't open the perimeter and break through the defense, the American men's basketball team is actually very dangerous. According to the current situation, the strength of this civilian version of the Dream Team is not enough. In addition to defense, they rely more on personal ability to solve the battle on the offensive end, but the effect is not obvious. Therefore, if American men don't find a way, they are likely to be eliminated in the knockout stage, which is by no means alarmist!