FIBA World Cup

On the whole, the trip to China was a disappointment for everyone on Team USA. That’s not to say the chemistry was bad between certain guys or anything of the sort. Players made sure to squash that on social media. The fact of the matter is they lost. Team USA isn’t supposed to lose, as much as the...

Although Team USA was eliminated from medal contention following the loss to France on Wednesday , they still have a game on Thursday against Serbia. And it looks like they’ll have to play without Marcus Smart. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Smart wanted to play, but Team USA made the...

Missed free throws. They’ll always come back to bite you. Celtics fans know this all too well, and the problem permeated into Team USA’s 89-79 loss to France on Wednesday. Marcus Smart — for all of his heroics in the game — missed four free throws. Kemba Walker is typically a strong free-throw...

The one thing that’s been most consistent about the numbers Jaylen Brown has produced throughout the 2019 FIBA World Cup: they’ve been inconsistent. He did a bit of everything against Greece. He barely played against Turkey and Brown’s line against the Czech Republic might lead one to think he was...

Jayson Tatum has now missed three FIBA World Cup games since he sprained his ankle in Team USA’s overtime win over Turkey in pool play. But, it looks like the Celtics wing is close to making his return, and could do so as early as Wednesday’s quarterfinals matchup against France. Shams Charania of...

For the third consecutive game, Jayson Tatum will not be active for Team USA. The Celtics wing was ruled out before Monday morning’s second-round matchup against Brazil. Tatum sprained his ankle in the U.S.’s 93-92 overtime win over Turkey on Tuesday and has been sidelined since. Also, Kemba Walker...

Seven inches. Twenty-two pounds. That’s the size advantage Giannis Antetokounmpo is working with against Marcus Smart. Yet when the Celtics guard was tasked with covering the Greek Freak on Saturday, he bodied him up as well as anyone ever has. As much as Smart had to stay in Antetokounmpo’s hip...

Both Marcus Smart (quad) and Jayson Tatum (ankle) were unavailable in Team USA’s win over Japan on Thursday . Luckily for Team USA, they didn’t need either in the 98-45 win. Tatum remains unavailable for the second-round game against Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece, though it appears his Celtics...

In place of Team USA’s game against Japan on Thursday, there was a one-man dunk contest in Shanghai featuring Jaylen Brown. After barely playing in the win over Turkey, the Celtics wing finished with 20 points on 9 of 15 shooting in Team USA's 98-45 win. He also had seven rebounds and two steals in...

Prior to Team USA’s massacre of the Japanese national team at the 2019 FIBA World Cup, another Celtics player was ruled out due to injury. According to Brian Windhorst of ESPN , Marcus Smart will be day-to-day after having strained his left quad. Smart is the second Celtic to suffer an injury at...