Steve Kerr Gets Honest About Team USA's Defense

No one expected Team USA basketball to lose to Lithuania in the FIBA Basketball World Cup, but it happened. Now, Team USA has to move forward and learn from the blunder, so that they can ultimately take home the gold. Head coach Steve Kerr believes defensive tuning is a very important piece to improve.

Kerr spoke with the media this week where he discussed Team USA's defense and how it needs to be better from the jump, but also gave credit to Lithuania.

"It's just the details within," Kerr said about the team's existing coverages. "Sometimes, you also just have to give the opposing team credit. They made some impossible threes in the second half. Our coverage was good, they made shots, they're a great team. It's the details within that you try to take care of. If you're more on point early in the game and not blowing coverages, those threes become a lot tougher to hit."

If there's one person who knows the art of shooting, it's Steve Kerr. The thing he stressed that was pivotal defensively for Team USA was to not let any shooters get a hot start. After that, containing a team just becomes much harder.

"I know as a former shooter, if I get a couple of easy ones early, that just makes the whole game for me," Kerr said. "Now, I'm in rhythm. But if I have someone smothering me from the beginning and my first two shots are difficult, all the rest are tough. It's gotta be a mindset shift from the beginning, regardless of the scheme."

Team USA isn't out of the woods yet for a chance to win gold, but they will have to face Italy next. Hopefully, the loss to Lithuania was the wake-up call America needed.

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