OK, Team USA just beat Finland 114-55 (box). Someone hasn’t taken such a beating since I destroyed Sam in one-on-one at the RR tournament.
DeRozan went 1-6 for 5 points and went 3-4 from the stripe with 4 assists and three steals. He missed an open corner three to start, and then did some ball-handling where he facilitated PnRs and got a couple assists. Got a bit of run in the fourth quarter with the game well in hand, and executed one of those step-in twos which he clanked. He also tried a lob pass which went south.
On one instance, he got killed by a screen (no communication on it) and had a late contest which led to FTs. He tried another lob to Drummond, which despite being of sub-par quality, was finished off by Drummond. I thought he made some pretty sweet runs in transition but was looked off, with teammates opting to shoot threes, since this became an exhibition game quite fast. To cap his night he missed an open corner jumper.
All in all, he wasn’t really needed and his dribbles looked better, and he appeared to be a willing passer in two-man situations. He’s still looking to drive and get to the line, but is measuring up his move more carefully then before, and using his dribble to set up his attack a bit better.
That’s all I got.
