Tyrese Haliburton celebrates with Austin Reaves during Team USA’s win over Greece in the Fiba World Cup at Mall of Asia Arena. -FIBA PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Through two games, Team USA has made it look easy with an average winning margin of 27.5 points against New Zealand and Greece in Group C of the Fiba World Cup here.
Hard to imagine that despite their dominance, the Americans are still getting accustomed to the Fiba style of basketball.
“It’s a transition for sure. We got a lot of guys who never had real Fiba experience so you see there are a couple of travels that we’re not accustomed to and couple of touch fouls things like that we’re not getting,” said USA guard Tyrese Haliburton on Monday after a 109-81 win over Greece that secured the United States a spot in the second round.
“It’s not the NBA, it’s officiated differently you just gotta adjust to that,” the Indiana Pacers star added.
The adjustment hasn’t been seamless.
Team USA’s first possession of the game against New Zealand resulted in a traveling violation by Anthony Edwards.
It happened again on Monday this time, it was Brandon Ingram who was called for traveling in the American’s first possession against Greece.
Team USA’s Paolo Banchero dunks the ball against Greece in the Fiba World Cup. -FIBA PHOTO
The difference in how the game is played in Fiba has also contributed to Team USA’s high turnover rate. The Americans turned the ball over 19 times against the Kiwis and 18 against the Greeks.
“Some stuff we gotta clean up on such as the traveling. I think that’s the biggest thing when catching off the pivot and being able to rip through cleanly without being called for traveling but all the other rules I think we’ve been adjusting well,” said big man Paolo Banchero, who’s the leading scorer for the United States so far averaging 14.5 points a game.
Team USA looks to take better care of the ball when it wraps up its campaign in the group phase against Jordan on Wednesday.