INDIANAPOLIS -- There's a reason George Karl offered Jason Kidd everything from extra pillow mints to setting his own practice schedule if he'd lead Team USA despite the fatigue of last year's playoff run, this season's pending free-agency showcase and the paucity of world-class cornfield golf courses in these parts.

If Kidd weren't at home nursing an untimely groin injury -- all right, stop all that winking and nudging -- no one would have the audacity to predict, as Algerian forward Moured Boughedir did, that the U.S. will walk away with silver from next Sunday's World Championship finals.

"The U.S. Team is strong," Boughedir said from the far side of a 110-60 first-round loss to Karl's squad Thursday night. "But Yugoslavia is strong, too. I think the U.S. will lose to Yugoslavia in the finals."

	Baron Davis turns up the defensive pressure on Algeria's Amine Benramdane.

Here's the dilemma: The USA team's strength is its athleticism. Its weakness is it's a young group that is as unfamiliar with each other as they are the style of international basketball. That's why Karl is preaching defense and ball control as the keys to winning. When you can't out-think or out-execute the opposition, you vow to out-work them.

The solution: a veteran point guard adept at organizing great athletes into a ball-hawking defense and fast-break offense. In other words, JKidd.

The alternative: Find a magic combination that compensates for the absence of a true floor leader. "I think you'll see me shake up the lineup for three, four, five games," said Karl, whose team needs nine victories to win gold.

Why all this concern after a 50-point blowout? Well, let's see which combo stands out from the rest:

Andre Miller, Baron Davis and Jay Williams.

Jason Kidd, Gary Payton and Tim Hardaway.

Joe Dumars, Kevin Johnson and Mark Price.

Gary Payton, John Stockton and (a healthy) Penny Hardaway.

Magic Johnson, John Stockton and Michael Jordan.

Juuuuuuust a slight difference in experience with that first group, don't you think?

For those who need numbers to believe Boughedir's perspective has merit, find the last statistic on the score sheet. Fastbreak points: Algeria 11, USA 26. That's not nearly lopsided enough, particularly after having forced the Algerians into 28 turnovers and played Davis and Miller together for long stretches with shooting guard Reggie Miller resting his sprained ankle. Two point guards against the Algerians should've turned the RCA Dome court into a replica of the Indianapolis Speedway.

But it didn't. Andre Miller and Davis finished with five assists each while Paul Pierce (team-leading six assists) actually made the best transition dish of the night, whipping a 30-foot pass to find Miller cutting in from the left wing for an easy second-half layup. Unable to fashion fastbreak points and not familiar enough with each other to break down tried-and-tested zone defenses, the U.S. has been launching a inordinate number of 3s -- 33 against Algeria -- and committing way too many turnovers (15 vs. Algeria, 20 in last week's exhibition vs. China.)

Pierce, sitting on the postgame dais with Karl, peeked at the Algerian turnover count and shot a guilty look at his coach. "That's one of the things we're trying to concentrate on," he said.

For good reason. Yugoslavia is a patient, efficient squad. It executes well enough to get the easy mid-range jumpers the U.S. isn't finding and enough quality shooters to make them.

	“	(Miller and Davis) might be a little intimidated by the vets on this team, but we just want them to keep working at it. ”
		— Ben Wallace

So it's not lost upon Team USA how young its point guards are. The problem, the Americans suspect, is that so do the young point guards. "They might be a little intimidated by the vets on this team," said forward Ben Wallace, "but we just want them to keep working at it."

This, by the way, is not meant to heap any potential blame on Andre and Baron. It's simply reality. Other Dream Teams have been assembled in short order, but they had all-pro veteran point guards as floor leaders: John Stockton and Magic Johnson, Tim Hardaway and Isiah Thomas, Gary Payton and Kidd. Miller never has been in a playoff or All-Star game and the Cavs didn't exactly have a high-flying offense. Davis has all the tools to be the league's next great point guard, but he is more lethal in the open court finishing than setting up.

"A lot of our offense is going to have to come off turnovers and fast breaks and we just don't have that chemistry yet," said rookie point guard Jay Williams. "These other teams have been together a lot longer and everything is easier for them. But I had a friend in high school who didn't have to study and always aced every exam. It wasn't like that for me. I had to bust my butt to get the same grades. But in the end, we both had the same result, so it doesn't really matter how you get there."

As long as you get there. The world is about to find out if Andre and Baron can.

Ric Bucher covers the NBA for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at ric.bucher@espnmag.com.