USA 3x3 World Cup Starts Tomorrow! Brink and Van Lith!!

The US was up 7-1 early on, but fell apart from there. Brink & VanLith were both lousy on offense, and only Brink played decent defense. Harper and Burdick really kept the US in this game. The US fouled too often and missed their defensive assignments on cutting Canadians, leading to layups? 

Up 7-1, primarily because the Canadians weren't hitting their shots, the US stumbled with back to back panic turnovers by Brink. She's a very good defender, with great length and agility; but struggled on offense this game. Van Lith took too many dumb shots and she shouldn't have? 

Stats:  fiba3x3.basketball/2023/worldcup/games/2a9b12f2-a310-45f6-b9e1-433c83c7bde2

Sorry, but I can't get the stats page to load? 

Games:  


Van Lith shot 2-12 and Brink 1-4, and they had 3 of the team's 4 turnovers. 


 

As Ken said, Brink and HVL weren't really playing a 3x3 game. Maybe they'll settle into it, but especially HVL was largely out of control. 

Van Lith stats for the Hungary game look a lot better.

Here's the article on USA Basketball and it has both box scores. 


www.usab.com/news/2023/05/usa-women-3x3-wc-day-1

The US won the rebound battle during both games, but fouled too frequently against Canada. They fouled less against Hungary, shot better and won the game. Much better effort for al of the 4 US players during the Hungary game.

Sounds like this is spin based on what I am reading in this thread.

Okay, I watched US and Canada.

I actually think the US were unlucky to lose this game. Led by as many as six. Led most of the way. The game was even with around 40 seconds to play. They definitely had their chances to win this game. So, what went wrong?

Foul trouble. Foul trouble hurt team USA. They gifted Canada several free points. I thought Cameron brink played pretty good defense. But she also committed a lot of fouls. Including a killer in the final minute.

Cameron Brink also missed some bunnies. She didn’t finish well through contact. Needs to be stronger in the remaining games.

Burdick had a really dumb lane violation on a free throw. It was the first of two. She is a 3x3 regular. That was inexcusable and just a lapse in concentration.

HVL had some defensive lapses in the last minute that led to back to back layups for Canada. Those baskets really put the game out of reach.

Neither team shot free throws all the well. Left points on the board.

No one on Canada stood out to me in this game. Harper was probably the best player on the court for either team.

I did find myself thinking that Cameron really should have come to UConn. We really could prepare her more for the pros. She had a couple of turnovers trying to reset the ball. This is the result of her handle not being as strong as it could be imo.

HVL missed some open 2’s. It is a different game if she makes those. And I think she will in the next couple of matches.

Game 1. Really not that bad. Creighton won the nationals and they lost a game too.

the commentary was okay. I didn’t have to mute it and that is rare for me.

Edit: oh yeah. And one of the Canadian players was bleeding from the head. I didn’t really see how it happened. She got tangled with Hailey Van Lith and went to the ground. That is all I know. 🤷‍♂️

I don’t envision Brink as someone that can take over a game on the offensive end. And I think that is a real shame because the potential is off the charts.

Maybe it is not too late, but that part of her game will have to be developed professionally. It won’t happen at Stanford. The same way Stanford could not help Haley Jones with her three point shooting.

yeah, I think so. Maybe we would have helped her develop more of an interior game too?

I am going to have to rethink my personal assessment of Brink. I might have had her too high on my wnba mock draft for 2024. 🤔

That was an issue in the 3x3 match with Canada. 3x3 typically allows more physicality than 5x5. Brink was bumped and missed at least two she should finish.

This will come off as mean, but it is just an observation.  At least at certain angles Cameron looks sorta goofy to me.

Players like Haley Jones are a dime a dozen in the WNBA. The fault for her not developing as a shooter and that she won't be a factor in the league lies with Jones not Stanford. She had plenty of time in 3-4 years to hook up with a quality shooting instructor during offseasons but didn't bother. There are players who develop their shooting after they go pro like Gabby Williams because their job depends on it but if Jones' priority is to continue to work on her hairstyle at the expense of her job, she'll be finding another job fairly soon.