Following practice on Friday, the coach gave his squad an explanation of how he is teaching them the significance of crushing their opponent in Saturday’s Group C final due to Olympic tournament tiebreakers.According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, Kerr stated, “Yeah, we talked with [the players] about it this morning, showed them the standings, showed them the point differential.”
“The top seed is what we desire. You get the finest quarterfinal matchup as a result. So, we might have a lot stiffer opponent if we down the field to two or three, which I believe is improbable but we need to take care of business.The knockout stage seeding tiebreaker is point differential, and 3-0 Germany finished its pool-play match with a plus-47 score, leading all Olympic teams. With a plus-43 differential, Team USA would be the top seed if they defeated Puerto Rico, which has dropped both of its games by a combined total of 52 points.The NBA uses point difference in its in-season tournament tiebreakers, so Team USA players know how important it is to maintain pressure, particularly when they are greatly favored to win.Guard Derrick White stated, according to Windhorst, “Obviously [in] FIBA the point differential is a big thing, so even the first two games we were focusing on not taking our foot off like you do in the NBA sometimes.” “Well, it’s a little different from our usual experience, but that’s all a part of the competition.”America has dominated pool play in the Olympics thus far, handily defeating South Sudan and Serbia in their opening two matches. Even while Kerr has drawn criticism for his roster decisions and certain players, like Steph Curry and Jayson Tatum, have occasionally underperformed, Team USA seems to be in good shape.
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