Less than two weeks ago, Team USA barely pulled off a 101-100 win over South Sudan in an exhibition game held in preparation for this year’s Paris Olympics.

It was quite a shocking evening as the top-ranked Team USA had to battle back from a double digit deficit in the second half just to beat a South Sudan team that came into the match ranked 33rd in the world.

These two teams met again in Group C of the Olympics and the first few minutes of their second encounter seemed to follow the same script as their scrimmage. Both teams were tied at 10-all at the 4:10 mark of the first quarter when USA head coach Steve Kerr decided to bring in his first batch of reserves.

This proved to be the turning point of the game for the Americans.

The second unit of Bam Adebayo, Kevin Durant, Jrue Holiday, Anthony Edwards, and Derrick White went on a 16-4 run to close the opening period, giving Team USA a 26-14 lead. Their lead would not fall below double digits for the rest of the evening as they continued their rally in the second quarter to take a 19-point halftime lead.

Come the second half, South Sudan refused to quit. They brought the Americans’ lead down to 11 points, 60-49, midway through the third period, but Team USA’s bench once again stepped in. The Americans closed the third quarter with a 13-8 run that ultimately sealed what would become a 103-86 win for them.

The success of Team USA’s bench unit was driven by their defense. Durant, Edwards, and White all had three steals each while Adebayo had one steal and two blocks. Their length and defensive tenacity was too much for South Sudan and this opened up several transition opportunities for them. The Americans scored 25 fast break points and scored 26 points off turnovers in this win, both of which were over 10 points higher than South Sudan’s.

Furthermore, out of the 103 points that Team USA scored in the victory, 66 came from their reserve players. They outscored their South Sudan counterparts by 52, 66-14, as four of them scored in double figures.

For the second consecutive outing, the Americans’ leading scorer was a player who came off the bench. In their first game, they were paced by Durant’s 23 points on eight-of-nine field goal shooting. This time around, it was Adebayo who led the way with 18 points on eight-of-10 shots.

Adebayo had a spectacular all-around game as he also recorded seven rebounds, an assist, a steal, and two blocks in 21 minutes of action. He was the back-up center for Team USA in this game after playing most of his minutes in their exhibition schedule as a power forward. This shift was a tactical one from Kerr and his staff following their tune-up game with South Sudan where the Americans’ struggled due to their lack of switchability. This led to the benching of Joel Embiid in this game and allowed Adebayo to see a much bigger role.

Meanwhile, Durant had another effective performance, finishing with 14 points, two rebounds, three assists, and three steals. He shot eight-of-nine once again in this match, though this time it was from the free throw line. The other two reserves who scored in double digits were Anthony Edwards (13) and Derrick White (10) while only two starters in LeBron James (12) and Devin Booker (10) managed to reach that mark.

If Team USA’s reserves continue to play at this level, it will be difficult for any opposing team to keep up with them. The buy-in from this second unit has elevated this group and if they can continue to bring this type of intensity on a nightly basis, they should have no problem at all taking home a fifth consecutive gold medal.