Steve Kerr and Team USA need a big win over Puerto Rico.
The coach explained after Friday's practice how he's educating his team on the importance of routing their opponent in Saturday's Group C finale, because of Olympics tournament tiebreakers.
“Yeah, we talked with [the players] about it this morning, showed them the standings, showed them the point differential,” Kerr said, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. “We want the No. 1 seed. It gives you the best matchup in the quarterfinals. So, if we drop down to two or three -- which I think is unlikely, but we've got to take care of our business -- we possibly have a much tougher opponent.”
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Point differential is the knockout-stage seeding tiebreaker, and 3-0 Germany leads all Olympic teams at plus-47 after it played its final pool-play game. Team USA has a plus-43 differential, so a win by five or more over Puerto Rico -- which has lost its two games by 52 total points -- would make the Americans the No. 1 seed.
Point differential is used in the NBA's in-season tournament tiebreakers, so Team USA's players understand the significance of keeping on the pressure, especially in a game they’re heavily favored to win.
“Obviously [in] FIBA the point differential is a big thing, and so even the first two games we were focusing on not taking our foot off like you do in the NBA sometimes,” guard Derrick White said, per Windhorst. “So, it's a little different than what we're used to, but that's all part of the tournament.”
So far, America has had little trouble in the Olympics, easily dispatching Serbia and South Sudan in the first two games of pool play. While Kerr has received criticism for his lineup choices and some players such as Steph Curry and Jayson Tatum have struggled at times, Team USA appears to be in good shape.
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Between Curry, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Anthony Davis and Anthony Edwards, Team USA seemingly can score at will, with any player capable of taking over the game.