Team USA was shocked to lose to Germany in the semi-finals of the FIBA World Cup. Before the event, they were seen as the clear favourites. Even their seven warm-up games went well, and everyone was looking forward to a dominating run as usual. The team had big stars like Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr., All-Star Anthony Edwards, and many more. The coaches were also very good. Steve Kerr was the head coach, and Erik Spoelstra and Ty Lue were assistant coaches.
The USA was supposed to be the best team in the tournament, and they lived up to that expectation by winning all of their group stage games except for one against Lithuania. The NBA, which is made up of the best basketball players in the world, is based in the USA, so you would expect their homegrown ability to be out of this world when compared to other countries. Edwards and Austin Reaves had big years leading up to the World Cup, and they kept it up, helping their team win game after game. In their practise game against Germany, Edwards scored a huge 34 points, which is a lot.
In the quarterfinals, they easily beat Italy, and in the semis, they played Germany. Edwards scored the most points for his team with 23. Reaves got 21. The defence wasn’t very good, which led to an unexpected loss. Andreas Obst helped Germany win by getting 24 points, which was the most in the game. Franz Wagner, who was also on his team, scored 22 points to help win the game. Germany won 113-111 in a close game. Germany is the only team left in the event that hasn’t lost yet. They will play Serbia for a chance to win the gold medal. In the bronze medal game, Team USA will now play Canada.
Many fans said that the loss was because the “C team” played in the event instead of US-born superstars like Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard. Some experts say that the rest of the world has caught up to the US when it comes to making stars with strong fundamentals in basketball, but the sport is now much more popular than it used to be. Kerr said, in response to their loss, “These games are hard. We are no longer in 1992. Everyone in the world has better players and better teams, and it’s not easy to win a world cup or an Olympic game.