2024 Olympics: Team USA men's 3x3 eliminated after 21-6 loss to the Netherlands
Team USA's 3x3 men's team is done after a tough loss
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PARIS — Facing elimination and down a man due to injury, Team USA's 3x3 men's team faced off against the Netherlands in the final game of the Olympics' pool round, and was run off the court, losing 21-6.
With NBA commissioner Adam Silver in attendance, the teams took the court at 7 p.m. Paris time, and the setting sun directly behind the backboard cast long shadows over the Place de la Concorde blacktop. Team USA was introduced first, and the injured Jimmer Fredette was the first player out of the tunnel. Canyon Barry, Kareem Maddox and Dylan Travis would be playing every minute of the game against the Netherlands.
Travis picked up Team USA's first points with a two-pointer from the left side, but the U.S. appeared ragged in the opening minutes, allowing easy backdoor baskets and an alley-oop, air-balling multiple shots and committing traveling and shot-clock violation turnovers. Still, the defense kept Team USA in the game in the opening minutes.
The Netherlands took a 5-4 lead just under three minutes into the game, and quickly extended it to 12-5 with a flurry of two-point shots just prior to the halfway point. The Netherlands' defense and shotmaking were just too much for the United States to handle, and once the score hit 15-6, frustration was evident on Team USA. Maddox fouled Worthy de Jong hard enough to send him crashing to the ground, drawing a technical foul and allowing the Netherlands to extend the lead to 17-6.
De Jong kept firing and kept hitting, and when a timeout mercifully stopped the action, the Netherlands led 19-6. Fredette tried to rally his teammates, but by then it was far too late. With one final shot, de Jong nailed a two-pointer to end the game and Team USA's Olympic run, 21-6.
In the minutes after the game, the players stood behind the Place de la Concorde arena, catching their breath and looking up at the Paris sky. Maddox spoke about the challenges of fielding a 3x3 team where the funding and opportunities just don't exist in the United States the way they do in other countries.
“It’s not visible except for every four years in the United States,” he said. “There’s no professional-level tournaments there. The closest we get is probably Edmonton, Canada … The team we just played has been building and refining that very team for this very moment for seven years now, and we’re just in a little bit of a different situation. Those are all full-time 3x3 guys.”
“We have ‘USA’ across the chest, we’re expected to win,” said Travis. “People that don’t know 3x3 will see this and think,What the heck are those guys doing? They’re terrible. But if you know the game, it’s almost impossible to win at this stage. It’s so much intensity, and it takes so much out of you. To win two games, and two came down to the wire, it was a hell of a feat for us.”
