Warriors superstar roasted for rough performance despite Team USA victory

Having only just emerged with a thrilling 101-100 victory over South Sudan in an exhibition game in London 11 days ago, Team USA knew they would need to play a much better and more complete game on Wednesday if they wanted to improve to 2-0 at the Paris Olympics.

Golden State Warriors and Team USA head coach Steve Kerr pivoted to a new starting lineup with a surprise benching of Joel Embiid. The 2023 MVP failed to see any minutes in the rotation in what seemed to be the right call as Bam Adebayo stepped in and led the way in the first half, scoring 14 points on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting from the field. Team USA would take a 19-point lead into the half, playing some excellent defense and holding South Sudan to 36 points.

They would coast in the second half, maintaining a double-digit lead throughout despite South Sudan's best efforts to produce a comeback. USA can thank the bench unit for their impressive performance in the 103-86 win, having accounted for 66 of the team's 103 points. There's certaintly room to improve, but a 2-0 start is all you can ask for.

Social media didn't miss Stephen Curry after a rough outing for the Golden State Warriors superstar against South Sudan on Wednesday

After an 11-point, three-rebound, three-assist performance against Serbia in his Olympic debut on Sunday, Warriors star Stephen Curry had a day to forget against South Sudan. Kerr mentioned the need to do a better job of getting the 36-year-old going early on, but this was far from what he envisioned as Curry struggled mightily throughout the contest.

The 2x MVP would shoot just 1-of-9 from the floor and 0-of-6 from three-point range, scoring just three points in 21 minutes in what can only be described as an awful performance by his lofty standards.

Curry looked out of rhythm from the start, and it showed both offensively and defensively. An off-shooting night happens to every great player now and again, but this impacted him on the defensive side as he finished with four fouls and was taken to the hoop by South Sudan guard Carlik Jones on quite a few occasions in the second half.

The 10x All-Star didn't score his first and only field goal until the final period, with the performance summed up in one sequence during the fourth-quarter where he saw his three-point jump-shot blocked before committing another foul down the other end in transition.

Team USA have now advanced through to the quarter-finals, but Curry will look to respond when they meet Puerto Rico in their final group game starting at 8:15 AM PT on Saturday.