When Team USA assembled its roster and decided on its game plan for this World Cup cycle, it made a bet. It was a sensible bet, and the Americans stacked the deck as much as they could to try to win it, but the reality was they entered knowing they left themselves exposed.
That wager — that size differential could be overcome with other attributes — has failed. Germany, another European team that towered over the Americans, used the given advantage and beat Team USA 113-111 in the world semifinals Friday.
It will deny the Americans gold in the event for a second consecutive time. They will settle for playing for bronze Sunday against Canada, which lost to Serbia in the day’s other semifinal.
The U.S. played a spirited and aggressive game. The team was just too small, and it showed up repeatedly, just as it did against Lithuania last weekend in the previous loss.
“They’ve got a lot of big strong guys,” Team USA coach Steve Kerr said. “They put a lot of stress on your defense and just give them credit, they outplayed us.”
Germany was simply able to get more chances to score because it often was able to get the ball back when it missed. The Germans pulled down 12 offensive rebounds, leading to 25 second-chance points (Team USA had eight).
But they didn’t miss that often. Point guard Dennis Schroder, when he’s in a passing mood, was a weapon against the U.S. because he’s skilled enough to handle its ball pressure. Combined with the German height advantage, it led to a flow of high-percentage looks.
And that was not survivable.
“We got outrebounded all night,” said guard Anthony Edwards, who had 23 points and tried to lead a late comeback. “They were more physical than us.”
The U.S. cut the lead to one in the final two minutes after Germany got up by as much as 12. But a 3-pointer by Andreas Obst, that last of his 24 points and four 3-pointers, held off the American charge.