(sabasports report)After his team’s 105-79 victory over Serbia, Coach Steve Kerr said he likes to start with Joel Embiid, LeBron James and Stephen Curry together. He appears to have settled on three of the first five, with the other two still in doubt.
In the rout of Serbia, Kerr used a starting lineup of Curry, Jrue Holiday, James, Jayson Tatum and Embiid. Embiid’s performance was still inconsistent, 16:17 into the game, although he had eight points and eight rebounds, but shot 2 of 8, plus/minus the lowest of the starting five plus/minus 5. Anthony Davis, on the other hand, had seven points, six rebounds and six blocks in 16 minutes, 4 seconds, and was so dominant that his plus-minus rating was plus-21.
Despite the buzz of the start, Cole has his own insistence. “Yeah, I like those three guys (Embiid, Curry and James) in the starting lineup,” he said after the game. “We always look at the guys around them, and obviously we have other good options, but I like putting those three together.”