Olympic basketball scores 2016: Team USA may be undefeated, but it needs to experiment with lineups

Team USA’s last three wins over Australia, Serbia, and France have been close calls. The U.S. has squeaked by on the strength of a few transcendent offensive moments and a little luck, but has looked about as discombobulated as an undefeated team can.

After winning its first two games by a combined 101 points, the U.S. scraped by in its last three by a less-than-encouraging 16. Each of the United States’ last three opponents are unique, but the one constant was the Americans’ abysmal defense.

There hasn’t been one issue for the United States. It’s instead been death by a thousand cuts. Teams now know if they keep moving the ball and stay patient, the U.S. is certain to make a mistake. The chemistry exhibited by Australia, Serbia and France is based out of a continuity the thrown together American squad can’t match, and it’s led to a host of issues.

The United States, especially their starting unit, has allowed a parade of cuts to the rim for layups. When they close off that option, or help on drivers, they’ve left shooters open on the perimeter (most memorably on the last play of their game against the Serbians, in which they got some of the aforementioned luck when Bogdan Bogdanovic missed a wide-open three that would’ve sent the game to overtime). When the U.S. closes out on those shooters, its over-aggressiveness often leads to more drives to the rim.

These may not be fixable issues if the team is (understandably) avoiding full-tilt practices and opting for walkthroughs instead. That means head coach Mike Krzyzewski may need to make some lineup changes to a) solidify the defense or b) ramp up the team’s scoring.

So far there has only been one notable change to speak of. Coach K started Paul George in place of Klay Thompson for Team USA’s games against Australia and Serbia in what was likely an effort to improve the starters’ defense. It didn’t work (and probably stilted the offense), which led to Thompson starting against France, where he scored 30 points and showed he deserves to remain with the first unit.

Perhaps instead of opting to improve the defense, Team USA would be better off trying to goose its offense even further. Draymond Green has only played 55 minutes in Rio so far, and just six against France. Most of his time has come at power forward, but it might be time to give the world a preview of what the Golden State Warriors’ vaunted “Death Lineup” looks like with Kevin Durant.

Stephen Curry and Andre Iguodala aren’t walking through that door, but Team USA might be able to put together a reasonable facsimile of what the Dubs are going to run out this year. If the U.S. is just going to get killed at the rim even when it is playing big with DeAndre Jordan or DeMarcus Cousins, put Green at center with the rest of the starters and see if they can open up the floor a bit.

A lineup of Kyrie Irving, Carmelo Anthony, Thompson, Durant, and Green doesn’t necessarily need to start, but it’s worth giving them a look for a couple of minutes to see if they can run other teams off the floor. Who knows, having four players out there who can switch everything may re-energize the Americans’ defense to the point where they can get some stops and get out in transition. If not, playing small at least will allow Team USA’s transcendent one-on-one scorers a little more room to operate.

Inserting Green at center might not be the change Team USA needs to make. All that’s clear after three consecutive games that could have gone either way is that the U.S. needs to make one as elimination play begins.

Despite the defensive issues, Team USA did manage to lock up the top spot in Group A after its time as the most complained about 5-0 team in Olympics history. The still-presumptive favorites to win gold in Rio have the most NBA talent of any competitor by a long shot and are certainly capable of winning a scoring battle with anyone. If they figure out a way to get a few more stops, everything above this paragraph will look foolish.

The Boomers are the Cinderella story in Rio to some extent. Australia was expected to be competitive. What it wasn’t expected to do was look like arguably the biggest threat to steal gold if the United States slips up or misses a few shots.

Matthew Dellavedova and Patty Mills have Australia’s offense humming. Mills (20.5 points per game) is scoring like a madman and Dellavedova is leading the field in assists with 8.6 per game.

The backcourt pairing is being boosted by Andrew Bogut, who has played like a jilted lover frantically getting in shape to show their ex what they’re missing. In addition to his characteristically excellent defense, Bogut has shot 82.8 percent from the field and dished out four assists per game to keep Australia’s offense humming.

Rounding things out are Joe Ingles and Aron Baynes, who have scored with reasonable efficiency and helped out on defense. Australia plays cohesively on both ends and looks like a real contender coming out of group play.

France kicked off group play with a loss to an Australian team that, while still disappointing, looks much less bad given how well the Boomers continue to play. In their next three games the French had a last-second victory over Serbia sandwiched between beatdowns of Venezuela and China. They finished things off by posing a real threat to Team USA without Tony Parker.

So does France have a few tricks up its sleeve? A roster featuring five current NBA players and two other former ones would seem to pose as real a threat as any if they can complement each other’s strengths. If Parker is healthy and France can step up on defense, it could easily medal. Their unpredictability also leaves them a possibility to bow out in the first round.

The last seed in any tournament setting is usually touted as the chum used to prepare the sharks. Serbia might very well lose, but it won’t be without a fight.

Serbia doesn’t boast much NBA talent, but its chemistry is obvious. Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (25 points, six rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block) had one of his best games ever against the United States and the team was a Bogdan Bogdanovic three from going to an overtime in which it would’ve had all of the momentum.

Bogdanovic has been shooting 41.2 percent from distance in the Olympics and his backcourtmate Milos Teodosic has been slinging five assists per game for the Serbians. And for all of Jokic’s promise, it’s been Miroslav Raduljica to do the bulk of the frontcourt scoring, averaging 19.2 points per game in group play to go with his borderline-dirty brand of physical defense.

Whatever Group B team ends up with Serbia to start knockout play may win, but they are going to have to earn it.

United States 100, France 97

Australia 81, Venezuela 56

Serbia 94, China 60

United States 105, China 62

Serbia 95, Senegal 88

Spain 73, Canada 60