FIBA World Cup 2019: 3 Talking Points from Czech Republic vs USA

#2 Team USA's rather slow start meant this is no NBA basketball

Team USA managed to quickly restore order after their rustic start

Amidst the roaring spectators in Shanghai, the Czech stunned the Americans with a 9-0 run for a brisk 11-7 lead early in the game. As predictable as it might sound, Team USA bounced back with 10 straight points to go on a 29-9 run of their own and never looked back from that point on. The prohibitive favorites showed the world that there does exist a slight chance in the near future that the underdog just might topple the scales for good.

Apparently, this is not the league where you get to meet one particular team twice or thrice during the year. From the perspective of any team currently playing in the FIBA World Cup, there only exists a small window of time before you need to adapt to the opposition's style of play, before the clock runs out on you.

With this being the biggest World Cup ever - consisting of 32 teams - the versatility needed to read and capsize different teams on different days, is sky-high. And the quicker Team USA gets used to it, the better.