Team USA’s biggest advantage at the Paris Olympics is their amazing depth. Not many nations have as strong a starting 5, with the experience, talent and accolades, that the American’s do and that’s not even talking about guys 6-12, most of which would start or star on any other team. This depth was key in their 103-84 win over South Sudan.

Steve Kerr made a couple of changes to the starting lineup going with LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Devin Booker, Anthony Davis and Jayson Tatum. It felt like Kerr felt bad about Tatum’s DNP last game, so much so that he started him. The team also felt bad and ran a play to get him an early touch and bucket with their opening possession; it ended in a turnover. He only scored 4 points on 2-4 FG’s (0-1 3-pt), but contributed with his rebounding and defense. AD was also inserted into the starting lineup, for the embattled Joel Embiid, and chipped in another solid all-around performance. He scored 8 points on 4-7 FG’s, adding 7 rebounds, 3 assists, a couple of blocks and a steal, while patrolling the paint skillfully. Worryingly, he did fall hard 3 or 4 of times and looked like he twisted his ankle at one point. The trainers had a look at him, but he came back and played in the 2nd half. LeBron stuffed the stat sheet once again with 12 points on 5-9 FG’s (0-3 3-pt), 7 rebounds, 5 assists and a steal. He also led the team in turnovers with 6, something he’ll need to clean up. Devin Booker led the team in minutes (22) and assists (6), while scoring 10 points and providing space for the other players to drive. Olympic rookie, Steph Curry, is in a massive shooting slump. He only scored 3 points on 1-9 FG’s (0-6 3-pt) with 4 assists and a rebound. He was repeatedly targeted by South Sudan in the pick-and-roll, kept getting forced into bad cross-matches and scored on. It’s getting to the point where Steve Kerr is going to need to talk with him and maybe take the pressure off by having him come off the bench. South Sudan played well against this lineup and jumped out to an early, albeit short-lived, lead, forcing Steve Kerr into an early line change.

The 2nd unit, consisting of Kevin Durant, Anthony Edwards, Jrue Holiday, Bam Adebayo and Derrick White, was exceptional and propelled the US to victory. From the moment these 5 stepped onto the court it felt like the energy and enthusiasm ramped up considerably. The ball was zipping from player-to-player-to-player, hardly touching the floor, on offense and the attention level, and swarming mentality, on defense picked up.

Bam Adebayo was simply spectacular. He’s known for his intimidating, physical defense, which he displayed many times, but it was his offense that sparked the US. He paced Team USA with 18 points on 8-10 FG’s (2-3 3-pt), demoralizing the defense with a handful of rim-rocking dunks and unexpected corner 3’s. An underrated part of Bam’s game during the Olympics has been his ball-handling. On numerous occasions, South Sudan used their size and length to bother the US’s smaller guards, which disrupted how quickly they got into a set play. This led to Bam rebounding the ball, rapidly bringing it up court and finding a primary ball-handler to start the action. Derrick White was another top performer. Kicking in 10 points on 3-3 FG’s (3-3 3-pt), in addition to forcing multiple turnovers and, generally, causing chaos. After his unbelievable scoring game against Puerto Rico, Kevin Durant cooled down going for 14 points on 2-5 FG’s (2-2 3-pt). Anthony Edwards had another solid showing with 13 points on 4-9 FG’s (2-4 3-pt). Jrue Holiday was moved to the bench and played OK. The two lowest players on my Team USA power rankings didn’t fare well at all.

Joel Embiid was summarily dropped from the starting lineup and proceeded to stay on the bench for the entire game, not logging a single minute. Either he’s still recovering from injury and not fully healthy or Steve Kerr finally realized Embiid doesn’t fit with the philosophy and style of the team. Tyrese Haliburton finally made his Olympic debut and hit a pair of 3’s in limited minutes.

Overall, Team USA got out to a hefty halftime lead, let South Sudan back into the game during a sluggish 3rd quarter, and had to rely on the 2nd unit to finish them off. With the win the US booked their place in the quarterfinals, prior to their final group stage match against Puerto Rico on August 3rd at 8:15am. It’ll be interesting to see if Steve Kerr sticks with the new starting lineup or makes another change and how he manages the roster since they know they’ll be involved in the knockout stage and may want to rest some of the older guys. Whatever strategy he chooses the real game is on the horizon and must know in a do-or-die game not everyone will play, feelings might be stepped on. He should be asking the team, “do you want to play or do you want to be immortalized by winning a gold medal?”