Benjamin Ashford|'Ugly': USA women's basketball 3x3 must find chemistry after losing opener

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PARIS – Cierra Burdick knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. 

“I didn’t think it was going to be that ugly,” she said following the United States women’s 3x3 team’s 17-13 loss to Germany in the opening game of pool play Tuesday at the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

Aside from building a 5-0 lead in the early minutes, the Germans significantly outplayed their opponent in every facet of the game. 

“I think we got a little bit hectic,” Rhyne Howard, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 WNBA draft, said afterward. “Chemistry definitely came into play.” 

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In basketball, especially 3x3, cohesiveness is everything. And the U.S. team – looking to repeat as gold-medal winners with a completely different squad from the Tokyo Games – simply has not had a ton of time playing together. That Howard and Dearica Hamby don’t have as much 3x3 experience as Hailey Van Lith or Burdick doesn’t make the fact they’ve had about two weeks of preparation together any easier. 

“We’re the most inexperienced team here.” Burdick said. “We got a lot of skill, a lot of talent, but that doesn’t win 3x3 games. That’s a prime time example right there.” 

The teams battled back and forth from the point Germany finally put a tally on the board with 6:48 remaining in the 10-minute contest. An and-one from Hambry – one point for the bucket, one for the free throw – tied the proceedings at 11. Germany’s Sonja Greinacher nailed a two to make it 13-11 with 1:52 left and the Germans hung on from there. The dagger came on a Marie Reichert two that gave Germany its biggest lead at 16-12. 

“At the end of the game, honestly, we were winded,” said Van Lith, who led the U.S. with six points and created offense in the pick-and-roll game. “We started playing soft. And they played much harder than us.”

Another difference – and something the Americans will have to improve going forward – was the shooting beyond the arc. Germany went 4-for-10 while the U.S. was 1-for-8. 

The lack of chemistry showed up on both sides of the ball. Multiple defensive miscues – two players either going to the ball or sticking with a screener on a roll – became death sentences. 

For Van Lith, the expectation of defensive help in traditional basketball to the reality is 3x3 defense is a difficult transition. 

“Actions that our bigs and our guards expect help, I feel like that’s when I see it the most,” she said. 

Offensively, the U.S. became stagnant, Burdick said. Too often, they played one-on-one basketball. 

“That’s not going to win 3x3 games,” Burdick said. “Well-oiled machines are 3x3 teams. That wasn’t a well-oiled machine.” 

Howard said the foursome doesn’t want to use the lack of time playing together as an excuse. “We’ve been doing nothing but practicing,” she said. 

When they’re not practicing, they are spending time with one another – a lot of it spent watching film. They will scout and watch their opponents. Coach Jen Rizzotti will throw on the tape of past U.S. tournaments, such as the 2023 World Cup, which the USA won. Howard said they are working on something new every day to expand the repertoire, while Van Lith said they’ve been spending time together nonstop and “getting closer by the day.” 

Van Lith and Burdick, the most experienced on the team, have played together over the past three summers. But Van Lith pointed out that Hambry and Howard are still learning the format; Hamby replaced the injured Cameron Brink five weeks ago. Van Lith said she has been battling an illness since arriving in France and downed five liquid IVs before the game.  

In pool play, all teams play each other once for a total of six games. The squads are seeded No. 1 to No. 6 with the top two receiving byes, with the semifinals and finals following the first elimination round. 

With at least five more games to go, the Americans don’t have to enter panic mode yet. They can treat pool play like practice and focus on growing, Burdick said.

The loss reminded van Lith of a similar situation at last year’s World Cup. The U.S. led Canada 7-1 in its first game and went on to lose 16-13. The group didn’t lose for the remainder of the tournament on its way to standing atop the podium. 

“I’m not scared of this 0-1 start,” van Lith said. “I’ve been here before.”

Now the Americans are banking on history repeating itself.