Before I get on out of here, um, [clears throat] I had to talk about a story that’s very, very important and albeit indirectly, it involves Caitlyn. You know, I’m trying not to be too harsh on the ladies here. Me personally, I don’t like exhibitions. I don’t take them too seriously. But, Uncle Casey, this is the World Cup. This tournament is huge. Team USA nearly watched a 32game winning streak disappear against Italy. And the reason has fans replaying one decision over and over again. Caitlyn Clark had already lit up China with 14 points and 11 assists. So why was she watching from the bench when everything started falling apart? Then Steven A. Smith entered the conversation and poured gasoline on the fire. Was it simply coaching madness or did team USA accidentally expose something much bigger? A lone shot just 30 free throws.
Uh it was an ugly win. You know, shots just weren’t really falling and and you know, everyone’s not going to have the prettiest game ever. Uh but you have a team where Jackie Young led the way. Still only necessarily had 10 points. There wasn’t anybody that was really separating themselves in this game. They were shooting really poorly from three just from the field as well. What do you kind of make of this this interesting game? Let’s say interesting is a great adjective to use because I don’t think we’ve seen USA look this discombobulate. There is a strange kind of irony in professional sports where the more dominant a team looks on one night, the more suspicious everyone becomes about what happens on the next.
Team USA’s women’s basketball program spent an entire summer proving it belonged in a class by itself and then delivered a performance so unconvincing against Italy that it turned a routine group stage game into one of the more debated coaching decisions of the tournament. No one cares. I didn’t even know there was a women’s world cup in basketball until Caitlyn Clark entered the world of jealousy in the WNBA. Hell, the men’s world cup in basketball isn’t really that big of a deal. The only World Cup that generates mainstream interest is the real World Cup in soccer. So, I’m trying not to be too harsh on the flaming ass that we saw yesterday. I’m sure the media will claim it was just a bad game. Did you see those ladies from Raw? The strange part is that nobody was arguing about talent.
Nobody was questioning depth or roster construction. The entire conversation centered on one word that coaches hate hearing in postgame interviews, and that word is rotation. But my biggest thing, man, my biggest thing with this team is how they’re treating my favorite player, man. I got to say it. I’m glad we got the win. I’m happy. That’s what we’re there for. Yes, win gold. Do your thing. I love it. But man, we are making things more difficult than they need to be. Caitlyn Clark having the keys to this team, man. She will drop she will have 40 assists playing with these stars though. She will have 40 s 40 assists a game playing with these. To understand why the Italy game caused such a stir, you have to go back just a few days earlier to a performance against China that set expectations skyhigh.
Caitlyn Clark ran the point for team USA and finished with 14 points and 11 assists. numbers that stood out not because they were flashy, but because of what they represented for a player making her senior national team debut on this stage. Well, it looked like Team USA looked like themselves today, 24 hours after that 5552 game against Italy thinking, “What in the world is going on here?” We felt so much better, didn’t we? The Americans came out today and they absolutely steamrolled Czecha 10564. And talk about a response. Brianna Stewart, did you see her? You know, against Italy, she was one for nine, but she was on fire from the jump today. She set the tone. Stewie 11 points in the first quarter, 19 points, seven boards, six assists in 17. 11 assists is an extraordinary number for any point guard in international play.
And it reflected exactly the kind of offense Team USA wants to run. Fast, unselfish, and constantly putting pressure on the defense before it can set its feet. Clark pushed tempo relentlessly, found shooters in rhythm, and did it all without turning the ball over carelessly, which is the hardest trick in basketball to pull off at high speed. It was the kind of showing that made broadcasters start talking about tournament MVP watch lists a little too early, and it left fans reasonably convinced that the Italy game would be another showcase. Instead, Team USA walked away with a 55 to 52 win that felt far closer to a survival than a statement. Team USA shot a rough 29% from the field for the game and connected on just one of 12 three-point attempts. The type of shooting slump that turns confident offense into standing around and hoping.
Late in the fourth quarter, Italian forward Cecilia Xanderini had a look at a shot that could have tied the game and forced overtime against a Team USA squad that appeared gassed and out of answers by that point. It did not fall and team USA escaped with the win. But the margin was thin enough to make everyone rewind the tape and ask what actually happened in between the China blowout and this near collapse. USA, you guys were horrible to me. That was an abysmal performance. It’s either of two things. It’s either Italy played amazing defense or USA simply played like trash. And I did not see where Italy played elite defense. So USA just did not turn up today. Nobody turned up. Jackie Young was the only person in double figure. She had 10 points and she barely made 10.
Everybody else is Caitlyn Clark, the player who had just authored one of the more efficient point guard performances of the tournament, finished the Italy game with one point in roughly 18 minutes of floor time. That is not a typo and it is not meant as an insult to her effort. It is simply the number and it became the center of the entire conversation once people started digging into when exactly she was on the floor and when she was not. Early in the first quarter with the score tied at 8. In a short stretch that group turned an 8 to6 game into a 17 to8 lead. A 9-point cushion built by exactly the group everyone wanted to see more of after the previous performance.
Then Reeve went to her veteran group with Chelsea Gray taking over primary ball handling duties and the pace of the game slowed noticeably and um you know obviously we wanted to come out here and we were all excited that we kind of had a backto-back and could get out here and play again. Obviously after last night we didn’t play our best um wasn’t great at all. So uh thought we were much better on the offensive end. Played with a lot more pace tonight. Played in transition better. Um thought we were good on defense and uh you know excited to have the buy and get get ready for three more games. Your court vision is so elite. Can you explain to me what it’s like to have so many options out there?
And then are you also having to wait to see what elite pass is coming at you at all times for once? Yeah, I mean, you got to get to play with so many talented players. That’s what makes it fun. Sometimes it’s hard to decide who to pass to because everybody’s so talented and everybody’s able to create their own. Instead of quick decisions and early offense, possessions started to look more like one player walking the ball up and calling a set against a defense that had already packed the paint and set its feet. The lead stopped growing during that stretch and Italy started chipping away at it, eventually tying the game and for a brief moment taking the lead outright. That sequence repeated itself again in the fourth quarter when the offense stalled again during a stretch that was supposed to be about putting the game away.
And by the time the final horn sounded, Team USA needed a defensive stop in the closing seconds just to hang on. None of this proves on its own that the substitutions single-handedly caused every swing and scoring. This is where plus minus numbers entered the conversation. And it is worth explaining exactly what that statistic does and does not tell you. Plus minus simply measures the team’s scoring margin while a specific player is on the floor. It does not isolate individual contribution and it can be a noisy number over a small sample like a single game. Watching team USA versus Czecha. United States won 105 to 64 41 point win. Uh Bana Stewart stepped up and showed us why she stole in my opinion. She gave you 19 points, I think, uh, seven rebounds and six assists if I’m not mistaken. You know what I’m saying? Very aggressive.
It looked like if anybody felt that Italy game, it was her. And she wanted to make sure that did not happen again. To be fair, Chucky was not really a good team. Uh, there’s a lot of passing going on, a lot of assists. Not going to lie about that. There was definitely a lot of the With that context in mind, the numbers from the Italy game are still interesting enough to fuel debate. Clark finished at plus 6 for the game. Boston led the roster at plus 18. and Howard checked in at plus five, meaning Team USA’s scoring margin was solidly positive whenever that group shared the floor together. The veteran heavy lineup, by contrast, posted negative marks in the stretches it played, meaning Italy was outscoring Team USA during those minutes.
That does not prove Reeve made the wrong decision in some objective, provable sense, and it definitely does not prove intent behind the substitutions. What it does is give critics of the rotation a legitimate evidence-based argument rather than just a gut feeling. And in a game decided by three points, that argument carries real weight. Dot, leaning on veteran composure rather than simply outrunning opponents with tempo. That is a completely reasonable coaching philosophy in the abstract. Plenty of championship coaches want their teams to develop multiple ways to win because tournaments eventually present opponents who take away your first option and force you to adapt. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Like, can we allow her to just run it just a little bit? Just a little bit. I know Seniority, Chelsea Gray is your player. Y’all went to Duke. Y’all happy about each other.
I get it. I get it. But man, if the goal is to win gold, why not put the better performing point? The problem critics pointed to is not the philosophy itself, but the timing of the experiment. Since testing a slower, more deliberate approach against a team that Team USA was expected to beat comfortably turned a laugher into a nailbiter that needed a missed shot at the buzzer to secure. Growth is a fine goal for a program, but coming within one shot of overtime while trying to prove that point is the kind of growth that tends to make fans nervous rather than confident. That nervous energy is exactly what pulled Stephen A. Smith into the conversation. And it is worth being precise about what he actually said rather than what internet headlines turned it into.
Smith did not produce a leaked internal document or reveal a secret meeting inside the team USA coaching staff. Dot in question out loud why that production seemingly evaporated by coaching decision against a clearly inferior opponent. He framed it as a legitimate basketball criticism arguing that benching your most productive lineup during the tightest stretches of a game that nearly slipped away simply did not add up. and he said as much with the kind of blunt delivery that has made him a lightning rod for two decades. But Stewie was missing a lot of easy looks that she normally cashes. Aaliyah Boston had a couple looks drawn up for her as well where she was just laying stuff up at the rim and having it come right rolling off. It was just a very off game for the entire rhythm of the players on Team USA.
But I think you can still like their defensive effort in that regard at least. And so much credit to Italy because they were making tough shot after touch tough shot. I think Chichilia Zanzini was the one that really got them going and kind of drew a lot of the attack. The phrase anti-clark plan spread quickly across social media in the aftermath. But it is important to be clear that this was a fan and media interpretation of a pattern in the box score, not a confirmed internal strategy that anyone inside USA basketball has admitted to. Smith questioned the coaching logic. He did not claim to possess a secret playbook. Once that framing took hold online, fans began connecting other dots, some more credible than others.
Some pointed to the fact that Chelsea Gray continued getting heavy minutes in tight stretches despite the scoring margin favoring the younger group, and wondered aloud whether experience was being valued over what the tape was actually showing in real time. It is worth being careful here because there is no public evidence that Reeves decisions were motivated by anything other than a coaching philosophy she has been transparent about. Team USA’s next opponent in the group stage brings a defense built around discipline and positioning rather than raw athleticism. The kind of team that does not typically fall apart just because a shot goes cold for a few possessions. That matchup does not guarantee another nailbiter. And it would be unfair to claim that one rotation decision against Italy is destined to cost this team anything down the road.
At like one point, Ranho at two point, Paige Baker at seven point. They were just so horrible. The turnovers was just crazy in this game from USA. Some silly ass turnovers that just didn’t make any sense. There was no real ball movement. I’m leaving wondering who is the point guard because when Chelsea was on the floor, it didn’t seem like the point guard was on the floor. When Caitlyn was on the floor, it didn’t seem like Caitlyn was on the floor. It’s almost like everybody wanted to be the point guard in this game. It didn’t make sense to me. When the ball was being handed off in good spots for you to just go up and make the shot, you’re picking it out.
Like what is fair to say is that the Italy game exposed a stylistic tension that Reeve will need to manage carefully as the competition gets tougher, balancing her stated desire for positional versatility against the reality that her fastest, most efficient lineup kept building leads that her slower lineup kept giving back. So where does that leave the actual argument? Stripped of hyperbole and conspiracy language, team USA did not lose to Italy, and Clark did not have a bad game because of some hidden agenda working against her. She simply had a quiet, low usage night in a contest where her coach chose to lean on veteran ball handling during critical stretches. And the numbers from those stretches happened to support the idea that the alternative lineup was working better in that specific game.
A near loss to a group stage opponent built almost entirely around a rotation that repeatedly sat the team’s most productive combination of players during the moments that mattered most is exactly the kind of story that deserves scrutiny rather than dismissal. Even if the full truth turns out to be less dramatic than the phrase anti-Clark plan makes it sound. Subscriptions climbed 366%. app engagement rose 613% and her endorsements topped $11 million. She’s the economic engine driving the league forward. Mystics co-owner Sheila Johnson questioned Miss Clark’s 2024 time athlete of the year recognition. Miss Clark shattered. What makes this controversy worth remembering isn’t the final score or even the specific substitution pattern, but how it captured a broader tension that has been building in women’s basketball for years. A new wave of players has arrived with skill sets built for pace, spacing, and constant ball movement.
While a lot of coaching philosophy at the international level was shaped during eras when half-court execution and grinding out possessions defined winning basketball, neither approaches wrong in isolation, and plenty of championship teams have won using deliberate, methodical offense when the moment called for it. The friction shows up when both philosophies exist on the same roster, and a coach has to decide, often in real time, which version of her team gives her the best chance to win a specific possession against a specific opponent. Reev chose experience in the moments that mattered most against Italy. This entire debate quietly resolves itself. If the pattern repeats itself against tougher competition, the questions Steven A. Smith raised will only get louder, and rightfully so. Either way, the numbers from that Italy game will keep getting pulled up every time this conversation resurfaces.
Because in sports, nothing settles an argument quite like a scoreboard that refuses to lie.