So, Team USA's basketball guys had a pretty sweet start to their gold medal defense with a big 110-84 win over Serbia, right? And the best part was that big guy Nikola Jokic, who's got three championship rings, was just killing it. The game went down pretty much how everyone thought it would - the U.S. team took a bit to warm up, but once they did, oh boy, they ruled the court. Kevin Durant looked like a rockstar in his first Paris Olympics game, and LeBron James showed everyone that even at 39, he's still the main man on Team USA.
But here's the weird thing that had everyone talking: Jayson Tatum, the beast from the Boston Celtics, didn't play at all. Like, zero minutes. This was super surprising because he had a killer season and was a big deal in helping Team USA get that gold in Tokyo three years back. So, why was he just chilling on the bench while everyone else was out there hooping it up?
Everyone on social media was losing their minds about coach Steve Kerr's call to keep Tatum out. They were guessing maybe he was sick, since Joel Embiid and Anthony Davis had both been feeling under the weather before the game. But, get this, Tatum said afterward that he was totally fine. So, no one's really sure why he didn't play.
But you know what? Team USA still played like champs without him. So, maybe sitting Tatum wasn't such a bad idea, even though it was super weird. They got the W, and that's all that really matters.
Now, the basketball fans and experts are all talking about this and what it means for Team USA's gold medal chase. It's definitely going to be interesting to see what happens next with Kerr's coaching moves and all that.
