Josh Giddey is one of the leaders of the Australia men’s national team, with his rapidly maturing leadership on full display during their 92-98 loss to Team USA in Abu Dhabi. Australia made a huge comeback in the second half to overturn a 20-point lead into a one-possession game, primarily due to their aggressive play in the transition. Giddey commented on the same, praising it as their biggest strength.
“Yeah, it is. We got bigs who can run the floor, which is a big advantage for us. We’re trying to use that as much as we can. We got guards moving up and down, we got mobile guards and bigs who can move.”
“That’s how we want to play and I think we did a good job doing that tonight. It’s going to be key for us, we’re getting bodies on the floor and getting different lineups, things like that. I think we looked great when we go down that way.”
Giddey put up 17 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists in the loss. He was the best Australian player, with his impact being felt on offense. They had very little offensive creativity beyond Giddey, relying on movement sets to find openings which the uber-talented Team USA did a good job at denying.
Australia will be a serious medal contender at Paris 2024 because of their pretty impressive perimeter talent. Defensively, they can rely on some of the NBA’s best perimeter defenders such as Matisse Thybulle, Josh Green, and Dyson Daniels, along with other defensive stalwarts like Dante Exum, Joe Ingles, and Matthew Delladova.
If Team USA hadn’t had a strong shooting night, this could have gotten ugly for them. However, the talent that they have brought to Paris 2024 is because they’re trying to increase their margin of error and not fall victim to a crucial loss due to shooting variance or matchups.
Giddey averaged 12.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 4.8 assists last season for the OKC Thunder, being unceremoniously benched during the Playoffs before being traded to the Bulls in the offseason. He looks comfortable running Australia’s offense as their No. 1 option and having success against a team like USA, so Chicago fans should look forward to what Giddey could achieve on the franchise.
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