Team USA women’s basketball slow start to Olympic 3x3 play deserves panic from American hoops fans

The Team USA women’s basketball 3×3 team might be in trouble.

To be fair, I’m not sure the expectation was that this roster could win gold. That’s no slight to anyone on the team, but given Cameron Brink’s injury (Plus Rhyne Howard’s ankle troubles ahead of the Paris Games) and the lack of time spent playing together as a unit, it was kind of expected. But, what wasn’t expected is how rough Team USA has looked defensively.

It started in their opening game of pool play against Germany, and then Las Vegas Aces guard Tiffany Hayes and Azerbaijan’s length and quickness seemingly took them by surprise during Game 2. The U.S. let Hayes practically waltz to an open game-sealing basket and then had to foul for any hope of getting the ball back. But by then, it was too late.

I’m going to say the quiet parts out loud: Team USA may not make it out of pool play. Things are unwell.

Given the circumstances, the panicked tweets from hoops fans that are starting to flood social media are actually quite level-headed.