Team USA just didn't have the size - Brian Windhorst on loss to Germany in FIBA World Cup Semifinals

I'm not going to lie, this fine Friday, though, it started out with a little bit of a bummer. Team USA not getting it done the way that we all expected. Taking on Germany in the semifinals with a chance to play for the gold medal on the line. We knew that Dennis Schroeder would be taking this seriously. I did not know, though, Roz, that it was Wagner that was going to come out with a bang. He got through the lane. He did it from inside and out, making his presence known. Absolutely. And then Anthony Edwards, he's been having a tear on the world stage here, really putting teams on notice. That did not change in this one. Austin Reeves, hot from deep. You bet, Ramona. I'm him, right? That's his line. And the Laker fans there, anything he does, they go nuts. Mellow in the building as well for this one. The turnovers, though, the execution, particularly late, really hurt Team USA. And that's on offense and defense, just the inability to get it done when it mattered. Franz Wagner getting hyped up there from Dennis Schroeder. But Schroeder says, don't worry, I can contribute, too. You see this range, my friends? I got that. Once again, Schroeder going to work, this time against Paulo Banqueiro. Elevates, gets it to go. Dagger. 10-point game, final seconds of the third quarter here. They didn't get a run, though. So we head to the fourth, where they did make things a little bit interesting. Anthony Edwards says, anything you guys can do, I still have something to say about. Goes all the way to the cup. For a second, I thought he was going to take over. It seemed like he was. Austin Reeves gets the 3 to go all of a sudden with 420 to go. This one gets interesting. Anthony Edwards, once again, this is when you're like, OK, OK, maybe this is worth getting up at 5 o'clock in the morning. There might be something to talk about here. But then, Germany, once again. Tyrese Halliburton slips. And it is a costly error for Team USA. Just didn't have enough defense. Look at this score. And this right here, this is when I spilled my coffee all over my white blanket, when Jaron Jackson Jr. just couldn't quite get this catch. Germany wins 113-111. Now, the US gave up 113 points on Friday against Germany. That is the most, my friends, they have ever allowed in any game at the FIBA World Cup. The previous record, well, it was this past Sunday when they lost to Lithuania while allowing 110 points. Our Brian Windhorst is there. And he caught up with Mikhail Bridges following the loss. OK, I'm here with Mikhail Bridges. Played a strong game, 17 points tonight. Obviously, a very difficult way to lose. What are your emotions right now? There's a better team tonight. We just didn't bring it how we wanted to. There was a better team for the whole 40 minutes. Yeah, we're expected to win, I guess, year in and year out. We're expected to win just because of the history that USA basketball has had. We obviously didn't come to play ready to play from the start. But that's the opinion from the outside. This team is very worthy of winning a championship. And we just didn't get it done. But these games are difficult. This is not 1992 anymore. And so players are better all over the world. Teams are better. And it's not easy to win a World Cup or an Olympic Games. Yeah, I mean, it kind of feels like the rest of the world is caught up a little bit with the Americans. And German Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki, he could not be more excited. He jumped on social media. He celebrated a little bit this historic win for the German national team. And Brian Windhorst, he has more on the semifinal between Germany and the USA as we go back to Manila. Hey, Malika, as you can imagine, there was a lot of disappointment here with Team USA after losing to Germany in the World Cup semifinals. They lost this really for one reason. They just didn't have enough size. There was some strategy issues. There was some logistical issues. There was some fouls early on in this game. Germany was hot at times shooting from the outside, but really it just came down to, they couldn't control possession. Right from the first possession of the game, Germany missed a three, they got a rebound, kicked it out, made a three-pointer. We saw that happen over and over. 25 second chance points for the Germans in a 40-minute game, just not survivable. I've covered three World Cups. The US has lost in all three of them, but I've never seen a team that's had this much togetherness, this much camaraderie, and this much, really, execution and effort. But they just weren't equipped to handle this size, and that's something that they're gonna have to deal with going forward. We don't have a lot of size from the American rosters right now. We don't have much at center. We don't have much of power forward. That is a reality that USA is grappling with. They grappled with it coming into this. They grappled with it throughout it, and now they're grappling with it as they go to play for the bronze. It's been the story of their entire tournament. The battle was lost on the glass. They gave up 12 offensive rebounds to Germany, and then Germany made them pay. They got 25 second-chance points from that compared to the USA's eight. Let's take a look at some tape that shows where these breakdowns start to happen for Team USA. And unfortunately, this is the first defensive play for Team USA, so it sets the tone. And you look at Anthony Edwards here. Eyes on the basket. He's not thinking about physicality or boxing out. In general, the US missed opportunities to put contact on bodies, and therefore, Germany's able to get the offensive rebound. And now, from this point on in this possession, Team USA is on the reactive. They're out of position for baseline help defense here. And look at Germany's patience after the offensive rebound. Four passes just to get this shot, and they ended up with 30 assists in the game, which is absolutely significant. You know, Malika, as a reporter, coaches often say to me, we need to be more physical. We need to play with more force, and that sounds very cliche. Where does that show itself, actually? Putting contact on the line of action and movement for the other team. Tice is wide open. I mean, he could, like, do a cartwheel and grab this offensive rebound. There's no contact or bodies put on them. And again, Germany out here showing poise after the offensive rebound. Three passes to get this shot. Sometimes after an offensive rebound, teams are in a rush. They want to throw that thing up there. But Germany made all the right plays to burn the US. And it's just no surprise that in the games that Team USA is out-rebounded. Those are the ones that they lost, and that happened against Germany. That happened against Lithuania. And so in those two games combined, the Team USA has been out-rebounded by 18. Right, and it feels like the narrative that we've talked about even since before play started, Roz, was are they big enough? Do the Americans have that size? Is Jaron Jackson Jr. going to be able to stay on the floor? Is he going to get into foul trouble? And we know Steve Kerr, he talked also today about the lack of continuity that this group has and how when you look at other teams on the world stage where the talent has elevated, that just doesn't exist in the US. But it doesn't seem like it is going to. Is there anything else, Ramona, that you chalk this up to? I mean, look, they did have some size. His name is Walker Kessler, and he was on the bench. Didn't play in this game, and so there's a lot of reinforcements coming. This will not be the team for the US that plays in the Olympics in Paris in 2024. There's a lot of stars that are expected to join this team when they reconvene for Paris. But, you know, this is a stylistic choice. I mean, they had some size options if they wanted to go that way, but they chose to play small. Like, Bankero was the backup five there, and when they're playing small, then you have to play fast. You have to play with pace, which is why you see a score that's that high. But if you're not able to rebound, if you're giving up all these second-chance points, if you don't have a threat inside where they're afraid going to the rim, look at how easily they're scoring at the rim there, then you cannot play small. Jaron Jackson Jr. had everything on him because he's the one big out there that is a presence inside, and it just wasn't enough. I don't know. I'm thinking about Paris, and I know we get to see U.S. and Canada in the third-place game, but there's some interesting players for the U.S. Sure, right. That could be on that, I mean, Joel Embiid? Could he, or may he play for France? We're gonna get to that a little bit later. Anthony Davis? Before we even get to, like, Paris, I'm still looking at the bronze medal game coming up. Woo! Canada and U.S.A. It's not the matchup we necessarily wanted to see between those two teams, but we're gonna get it nonetheless. Yes, and I think, actually, it's interesting because, you know, we've had the storyline of Team U.S.A., and they're going up against these, like, grizzled veteran European teams that understand FIBA basketball and have been playing together forever. Canada-U.S.A. is a matchup of the young boys in the NBA. These are the young guys who just got their first All-Star nod, some of them getting their first big paycheck. This is, these are guys who are going to be competing this season for All-NBA team spots, for All-Star nods. I actually think this is a nice little bragging rights game of the young guys at the NBA. This is like a summer NBA run. Right. And so I think, you know, there's a lot for Team U.S.A. pride-wise to make sure they get this done. Oh, absolutely. And this is not a game that they can take for granted. They've learned that going through this FIBA tournament, that they can no longer overlook some of this talent on the international stage. And I know we talk so much about how Team U.S.A., maybe it's, I don't know, maybe it's the A-Team, maybe it's the B-Team, whatever it is that you want to term it. Well, Giannis isn't out there either. Well, Jokic isn't out there either. Well, Jamal Murray isn't out there either. So we're going to see that added talent on the world stage as well, likely, in Paris in 2024. So I agree with Roz.