The U.S. team raced to a dominating 88-51 victory over Iran in the world championships on Wednesday, but the Americans’ Achilles’ heel was evident even during the dubbing of the dregs of Group B: turnovers.
Against a team that qualified for the Olympics for the first time in 60 years in 2008, the United States had multiple mental blunders.
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A two-on-one fast break alley-oop was halted after a bad lob from Chauncey Billups. Stephen Curry had a behind-the-back pass dribble out of bounds and had the ball stolen from him in the backcourt. And Kevin Love was called for traveling after lifting his pivot foot before starting to dribble, a problem many Americans have had in international play. Yes, they actually do call traveling overseas.
The U.S. squad had 16 turnovers Wednesday and has averaged 15.8 a game — the sixth-highest rate in the 24-team tournament.
The Americans are more athletic and talented than any other nation, but possessions will be at a premium later in the tournament when the United States faces a team like Greece or Argentina — two fundamentally sound squads that average the fewest turnovers a game.
On Wednesday, the U.S. clinched first place in Group B. But they did it in a much sloppier way than the scoreboard showed.
