US routed by Netherlands in men’s 3×3 basketball to end Olympic hopes

The United States men’s team was eliminated from the 3×3 competition at the Paris Olympics on Sunday after finishing 2-5 in the pool stage and playing their last five games without star player Jimmer Fredette.

“We fought hard, I guess we just ran out of fuel when we were down to three,” Canyon Barry said. “It’s so tough… my heart still breaks for Jimmer. It’s just not fair that someone with such high character has to go through this.”

Fredette was brought in to strengthen the team after it failed to qualify for the Tokyo Games, and his play helped the U.S. enter those Olympics as the runner-up. But he suffered a lower leg injury in the team’s second game and did not play again.

The U.S. opened pool play with four losses. Big games from Barry, the son of Basketball Hall of Famer Rick Barry, propelled the team to victories over France and China before the Americans were shut out 21-6 by the Netherlands on Sunday.

The US is wondering what would have happened if Fredette had not been injured.

“Most of our team is focused on him offensively,” Barry said. “We run a lot of things through him. So when he goes out, we have to change the whole way we play.”

The US had the same number of group stage wins as Poland, but lost the tiebreaker as Poland defeated the US in the second match of the tournament.

“It’s tough because whether we’re down a man or whatever, we expect to come out and do our best, put it all on the line, and I think we did that, so we can be proud of that,” Kareem Maddox said. “But it’s just not what the U.S. expects when it comes to basketball. So we’re not disappointed in our effort, we’re disappointed in the results.”

Despite the early elimination, US coach Joe Lewandowski is proud of the progress the team has made after missing the previous Olympics.

“Now we have to keep building,” Lewandowski said. “Every time you come to events like this, you set the tone for the future. You can take this and say ‘how can we be better’ and that’s how you improve as a country and that’s what we’re doing with USA Basketball.”

China were also eliminated after they recorded a 1-6 score in the group stage.

Defending champions Latvia and the Netherlands advance to Monday’s semi-finals after finishing first and second in their group matches. Latvia won all seven of their group matches, while the Netherlands went down 5-2.

On Sunday evening, Lithuania and Poland will play in play-in matches, with Serbia and France facing off to determine the other semi-finalists.