Portland Trail Blazers fans should be thrilled that Damian Lillard is emerging as a clear leader for USA Basketball. Surrounded by some of the top talent in the world, Dame’s star power shined brightest as the USA national team got back on track, drubbing Iran to the tune of 120-66.
Lillard finished with 21 points on 7-15 shooting, all of his makes coming from distance on a scorching 54 percent marksmanship. Dame led the way but the squad as a whole showed off their range, finishing with 19 made threes on 39 attempts.
Jrue Holiday, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, Zach LaVine, and Khris Middleton each chipped in two makes from distance. Devin Booker was the second leading scorer for USA with 16 points.
USA Basketball and Coach Gregg Popovich with a redemption game
With this victory, USA Basketball takes second place in Group A with a 61 point lead in point differential over third place Czech Republic. This is an important stat as the differential determines the tiebreaker for the next round of play.
The Iranian roster is a far cry from the NBA-level talent USA faced against France in their first official game of the 2020 Olympics.
Coach Gregg Popovich was hit with some unfair criticism following their upset defeat to the hands of the French National Team, but that didn’t stop him from making some tweaks. In their second game against Iran, Zach LaVine and Draymond Green were moved to the bench to make room for Jrue Holiday and Devin Booker, giving the starting lineup a little more offensive juice and shot creation.
We’ll see if this is the rotation that Coach Popovich will roll with through the remainder of the Olympic games.
USA Basketball now controls their own destiny
With this victory over Iran, USA Basketball has secured the opportunity to control their own destiny moving forward. With another win in their final game of group play, USA will move on to the quarterfinals.
Damian Lillard and Team USA suit up next against the Czech Republic on Saturday, July 31st at 5 AM Portland time.