Team USA had a good start to their pre-Olympic run, securing an 86-72 win in their first exhibition game against Canada. The streak of good fortune continued to stay with them during their second game against Australia, too. With LeBron James and Stephen Curry leading during the early stages, the roster held on to the lead throughout the first 3 quarters. However, that was barely the case by the 4th. Despite a high number of turnovers and Australia significantly closing the gaps at the final stage, Team USA held on.

In the end, they emerged victorious, 98-92. Despite the win, Team USA’s head coach, Steve Kerr, showed that his pre-Olympics experimentation does not seem to be carving the desired results. Along with not including LeBron James and Stephen Curry at the latter stages of the game, his decision to put Anthony Edwards, Jrue Holiday, Tyrese Haliburton, Bam Adebayo, and Devin Booker may not have been ideal.

With no forwards like Bron and/or AD present, the 5th consecutive Olympic gold medal seekers slowly started to lose their firm hold. Knowing where the blame lay, NBA fans didn’t hesitate to make their true reactions.

Fans aren’t happy with Steve Kerr and draw out several angles to criticize the GSW leader, like no Tatum inclusion!

One of them outright claimed that the blame for being “awful” does not go to any player, but the head coach himself. While that judgment may have gotten a tad personal there, Steve Kerr is a legend in the NBA coaching community. Alongside players like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, the 58-year-old helped usher in the best era of the Golden State Warriors, during which they won 4 championship titles, 6 conference titles, and 5 division titles. However, the same level of success seems to elude Steve Kerr when coaching the national team. Or, it seems to be reaching him at a much lesser rate than he might have expected.

Another social media user highlighted that, given Team USA’s current situation, it would be better off if Steve Kerr was replaced. “Team USA so badly needs Joe Mazzulla it’s not even funny,” a netizen said.

Serving as assistant coach of the Celtics for 3 years, and as interim coach for a year, Joe Mazzulla finally got the hot seat in the 2023-24 season. He clinched two Eastern Conference Coach of the Month awards and led the Celtics to a 64-18 record, one of their best!

Under his leadership, the Celtics continued their streak of success and ultimately won the Championship for the first time since 2008. Having already earned the Larry O’Brien trophy recently, adding an Olympic Gold Medal to his resume would not be the worst thing.

Team USA has remained unbeatable in the last 4 Olympics, times have changed, as compared to the earlier generations. One commenter highlighted, “Not sure I trust Kerr to get it right, but #USABMNT will be very hard to beat if he does. Problem is, they don’t have the margin of error they used to in 90s era FIBA ball. Just one bad quarter could sink you.”

The 1994 Team USA roster that had won the FIBA WC defeated Russia by a score of 137–91. While they continued to find success, other teams caught up as well. In order to analyze the swift rise in competitiveness, look no further than how Anthony Edwards and Co. were humiliated in 2023.

Another fan indirectly drew references to Jayson Tatum’s absence in the lineup and shockingly claimed, “Kerr still salty.”. He went back in time to reveal a screenshot of a regular season game’s scoreline that Steve Kerr and the Warriors would want to forget.

Back on the 3 of March, the Boston Celtics ended up defeating GSW by a jaw-dropping score of 140-88. With Jayson Tatum’s 27 points helping the team reach that point, the Warriors’ offense simply couldn’t catch up. The 82-38 lead that the Celtics had at half-time ended up being the largest halftime lead in the Boston side’s history.

Overall, the reactions were negative towards Steve Kerr and his lineup management with attempts to test different strategies. With a few more exhibition games, the head coach may still get another chance to redeem himself.

Before leaving, be sure to check out some insights that Shaquille O’Neal’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, shared about the Lakers legend’s infamous feud with the late Kobe Bryant.