NBA blows Iran back on track and how Celtics’ Jason Tatum played off the bench

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It’s only one data point among others at the Olympics, but Team USA dispelled many of its concerns after a dominant performance against Iran. The US men’s team outperformed Iran 120-66 early Wednesday morning, improving to 1-1 in the first set.

It was a great bounce match for the Americans, who opened the Olympics with an 83-76 loss to France. While the US was expected to win the gold after the loss, dropping three of the first five games (including the exhibition portion) showed cracks in the team’s issues.

There were defensive errors while the isolation ball was still overwhelming. The players didn’t get enough shots against France, and they couldn’t close the door as Celtic set off Yvan Fournier to lead all scorers.

While Iran was the lowest-ranked team in the USA group (#23 according to FIBA), it was still a confidence-building day. The Americans exited the transition more often while burying Iran by hitting 19 out of 39 3-pointers. They took off in front and Iran was not able to hang around.

Damien Lillard hit nearly all of his early three-pointers on his way to 21 points. It started as a quiet night for Jason Tatum, but he stacked points in the fourth quarter as he climbed to 14 in a 5-for-11 shot. He didn’t get much playing time early on, but he saw plenty of running in the fourth inning as he finished with 17 minutes. Tatum seemed to be starting offensively after the slow start, also adding four rebounds and two assists.

Team USA finished their pool play at 8 a.m. Saturday against the 12th-seeded Czech Republic. The Americans are likely to take the knockout rounds at this point, although a win would give them an easier path into the upcoming eight-team tournament.

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