Jayson Tatum moved from not playing to starting, while Joel Embiid went from starting to not playing at all.
In the U.S. Olympic basketball team’s 103-86 win over South Sudan on Wednesday night, Tatum, who did not play in the first game of the Paris Games, was added to the starting lineup with Anthony Davis.
Jrue Holiday and Embiid, who started in the opener against Serbia, were moved to reserve roles for the South Sudan game. Embiid, a former NBA MVP, did not play during the game and stayed in his warmup gear the entire time.
“Last game we had a champion, All-NBA player not get any minutes, and tonight an MVP didn’t play at all,” U.S. forward Kevin Durant said. “They didn’t complain. We had others step up and do their jobs well.”
This fits with coach Steve Kerr’s approach, which is to adjust the lineup based on matchups and combinations for each game. He had mentioned this strategy during the training camp about a month ago.
“That’s how we’re going to do this,” Kerr said after the win over South Sudan secured a spot in the quarterfinals. “We’ll do whatever it takes to win each game.”
It was expected that Tatum would play more in the second game. Kerr had stated earlier in the week that Tatum, who was the top scorer for the Boston Celtics last season, would be in the lineup against South Sudan. Kerr had decided against using him in the opener against Serbia based on team combinations.
“Jayson is the ultimate pro, a champion, and he handled it well and he’s going to be ready for the next one,” Kerr said after the Serbia game. He also mentioned that the starting lineup might revert to include Holiday and Embiid.
