Don’t look now, but a member of Los Angeles’ other team is quickly making a name for himself on the world’s biggest stage.
When the participants of the 2008 U.S. Team balked at the prospect of playing anywhere other than at the Olympics, the country’s basketball team was forced to call in a new batch of players. While these players were stars and young talents in their own right, they didn’t possess the name value that the ’08 group had. As a result, expectations were lowered and the 2010 team was dismissed as “average.”
It appears as though Eric Gordon of the Los Angeles Clippers didn’t get the memo. Disregarded as a “fill-in” right off the bat, many expected Gordon to be cut before the real games even started. Then, once players were cut and he was left off the list, his detractors said that he wouldn’t make a significant impact on the team.
So much for that theory.
Gordon’s latest shining effort came in a 92-57 blowout against the winless Tunisia to carry Team USA to a perfect 5-0 record in preliminary round play. The Clippers’ star had a strong shooting performance that ended up giving his group a much-needed boost in the final 14 minutes of play. It was argued by some analysts that he played so well that he may have earned a place in the team’s starting line-up.
“Yeah, we’ll take a look at it. We’re always open for everything,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said after being asked about Gordon’s play.
“I do think we’re going to make quicker subs,” Krzyzewski continued. “We’re going to get back to more of how we started and how we played the first two games of this pool. I didn’t think the confidence level of our bench was where it needed to be during the first part of the pool play, but I think it is now. And for us to win we’re going to need all 12 of those guys playing well, not just the starting unit.”
Gordon finished the game with a team-high 21 points including eight points in the final 41 seconds of the fourth quarter. He also ended up playing a total of 25 minutes in the game, a team high. Considering how badly this small group needs quality three-point threats, it makes sense to plug the speedy and talented star into the team’s first unit.
“I just had a lot of open shots and I had to knock ‘em down,” said Gordon.
Thus far in the tournament, Gordon is leading the U.S. Team in 3-pointers made and is second to Kevin Durant in 3-point percentage. Currently, he is sitting on 11 threes made and 47 percent shooting, particularly impressive totals when you remember that he gets less playing time than the starters on the team. Contrast those figures with Chauncey Billups’ 4-for-19 shooting for a 21.1 percent total, and Derrick Rose’s 2-for-7 shooting and you’ll see why Gordon is getting so much buzz.
“Eric tonight played like he’s been playing most of the time with us, except for the last two games. For some reason, he was hesitant to shoot. I talked to him before the game and said, ‘Just shoot, and if you do make a move to the basket don’t look to pass.’ He’s a scorer, and his teammates know that,” Krzyzewski said. “Actually I’m watching tape this morning, we gave ‘em some feedback, and there was a play from yesterday and Eric was wide open. So I stopped it and I said, ‘How many of you guys don’t want him to shoot?’ And nobody raised their hand.
“I said, ‘Eric, see? Everybody wants you to shoot.’”
So far in the tournament, the U.S. Team has made 38.5 percent of their 3-pointers. While the numbers are solid, most of the damage has been done against a mixture of man-to-man and zone defenses, as well as some fairly weak teams. The Americans expect that the next round will hold far more zone defenses for them, which in turn makes it a seller’s market for high-quality shooters like Gordon.
Not that you’ll ever hear the Clippers star boasting or talking about how badly he’s proving his detractors wrong. In fact, as long as he gets to contribute, he doesn’t even care if makes it out of the starting line-up.
“I’m not really worried about that. I wasn’t expecting to start any games here,” Gordon said when asked about him potentially moving up to a starting role. “My role is to just come in the game and be effective shooting the ball. That’s what I came here to do.”
