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Brian Windhorst, ESPN Senior Writer
PARIS — Team USA, the most scrutinized basketball team on the planet, often isn’t evaluated just on whether they win but by how many points they win. And now that’s a mandate within the team.
When coach Steve Kerr met with the team Friday, he presented the Olympic basketball tournament standings and underscored the importance of not just beating Puerto Rico in their final pool play game Saturday but by trying to do it by the largest amount possible.
Point differential is a tiebreaker for seeding in the quarterfinal round that begins Tuesday. The Americans, at plus-43, enter the third pool play game with the best number in the field. They have a 10-point edge over Germany, which plays Friday against France, and want to make sure they secure the top seed.
“We want the No. 1 seed,” Kerr said at practice Friday. “It gives you the best matchup in the quarterfinals. So if we drop down to two or three — which I think is unlikely, but we’ve got to take care of our business — we possibly have a much tougher opponent.”
Differential became a concept that mattered in the NBA last season when it determined seeding and advancement for the inaugural in-season tournament. But it’s not something that usually is considered for NBA players.
Puerto Rico, which qualified for Paris with an upset over Lithuania in a qualifying tournament last month, is 0-2 and has the worst point differential in the Olympics at minus-52. Team USA is favored by 33.5 points by ESPN BET as of Friday morning.
“The point differential is a big thing, and so even the first two games we were focusing on not taking our foot off like you do in the NBA sometimes,” Team USA guard Derrick White said. “So it’s a little different than what we’re used to, but that’s all part of the tournament.”
Guard Jrue Holiday, whom Kerr planned to return to the starting lineup after he came off the bench last game, suffered a minor ankle injury against South Sudan and is questionable for Saturday’s game.
Anthony Davis, who had his foot stepped on Wednesday night, and White, who took a shot to the back, both practiced Friday and will play.
Kevin Durant will come off the bench for a third straight game, a role he expects to retain for the rest of the Olympics and is embracing.
“It’s basketball. It really doesn’t matter who starts. It’s about really who finished the game, who put their impact on the game while they’re in the game,” Durant said Friday. “So I just try to do my best to impact it any way I can.”