''Angry'' USA made Italy pay for their loss against Lithuania

MANILA (Philippines) - Two crucial words were mentioned in the post game interviews by the players and the coaches. "Unlucky," which describes Italy's side, and "anger," which describes the USA's part of their Quarter-Finals battle in the Mall of Asia Arena.

"They didn't deserve to play against the United States, because my players were first in the group," coach Gianmarco Pozzecco addressed the unluckiness of Italy landing in the middle of a raging fire called the United States bounce back game.

"You need to be a little bit lucky. We did everything in our group, we arrived first," Nicolo Melli joined the same theme, as if both the players and the coaching staff of Italy knew what was going to happen.

History was their teacher. You don't want to see USA after they just suffered a defeat in a major event. Sure, there were cases like 2019, when they lost back-to-back games to Argentina in the Quarter-Finals and Serbia in the Classification Games 5-8, or like in 2002, when they lost to Argentina in the last game of the group stage, and then to FR Yugoslavia in the Quarter-Finals.

But usually, the response after a loss is intimidating. Take the last Olympic Games. USA lost the opening matchup v France, then defeated Iran by 54 points in the following game, gliding easily towards goal in Tokyo.

Even in 2004, in probably their worst Olympic experience, the United States suffered three defeats, and won the game after with ease each time, finishing on the third step of the podium. Numbers show it, you don't want to see the USA after they just lost a game.

"(We played) with a little more anger. Just obviously pissed off for losing, don't want to have that feeling again," Tyrese Haliburton said out loud what everybody in Manila was thinking.

USA did not want to beat Italy. They wanted to send the message to the rest of the world that the defeat to Lithuania was a bad day, and they don't want to let it happen again.

"That fear factor of playing the United States is not there anymore," Haliburton added.

Paolo Banchero also traced the reason for a big win over Italy to the painful loss to Lithuania.

"We let them get way too many easy looks. We weren't physical enough. We didn't pressure enough. And they scored 110 points, which is unacceptable for us. So, we just wanted to come out and change around our effort," the 20-year-old said.

Both Mikal Bridges and Jalen Brunson used the term "set the tone" to describe a much stronger start to this game, compared to anything we've seen so far from the United States in Manila.

They've changed their rituals a bit, not just by putting Josh Hart into the starting lineup, and moving Brandon Ingram to the bench, but also by arriving to the warm up about 24 minutes before tip-off, compared to the usual T-18 minutes entrance from the first two games.

"Our main focus was our energy and how we start the game and how we set the tone. We did that throughout the course of the game and I'm proud of how we've responded and we got to be ready for the next game," Brunson said.

"We just had to come out with force. I think that's the biggest thing: just play off one another. If we don't start the games with physicality and that juice, usually we wait until the bench come in or later in the game. So just for the starters, I think it was on us to get there, set the tone because we know what our bench does every day," Bridges added.

Coach Steve Kerr usually doesn't want his teams to play with negative emotions. But the anger Haliburton mentioned turned into competitiveness, which then turned into a positive emotion again.

"The joy and the competitiveness go hand in hand. When you compete and play with that kind of force and energy, it's just infectious, and then it becomes fun. It doesn't matter who scores, who gets the stats, it just becomes about the team and that's when the game is at its peak and when it's fun," coach Kerr told the media at the press conference.

Italy were definitely unlucky. They paid the price of Lithuania's win, the USA monster is now wide awake and looking to finish the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 with a new trophy added to their collection.

If it happens, Kerr won't mind the feelings behind it. Sometimes, anger really is a gift.

FIBA