Steve Kerr pushes ‘appropriate fear’ with U.S. Olympic team

PARIS — Team USA has initiated the “appropriate fear” phrase.

This tradition traces back to Hall of Fame coach Gregg Popovich, who pioneered the mindset — a respect for the underdog mantra he brought to the San Antonio Spurs and later as coach of Team USA.

And one that current coach Steve Kerr, one of Popovich’s many pupils, has been imparting this week as the Americans prepare to see South Sudan on Wednesday in Olympic pool play. On the heels of an impressive win over Serbia, another U.S. victory would clinch a spot in next week’s quarterfinals.

South Sudan is playing in its first Olympics and doesn’t have any current NBA players on its roster. But the Bright Stars beat Puerto Rico in their Olympic opener last Sunday and pushed Team USA to the brink in a one-point loss in a friendly in London less than two weeks ago.

“We have appropriate fear,” said Steph Curry, who has played for Kerr for a decade with the Golden State Warriors and is quite familiar with the concept. “We know we can’t just sleepwalk through any game and feel like you’re going to win.”

The U.S. is a heavy favorite against the Bright Stars; ESPN BET has set the line at 29.5 points. But the Americans were favored by more than 40 points on July 20. It took a basket by LeBron James with eight seconds left and surviving multiple good looks the South Sudanese got just before the buzzer for the U.S. to secure a 101-100 victory.

“They came within one shot of beating us,” Kerr said. “I’m really glad that we played them so we can feel their speed and their 3-point shooting ability and feel how good they are.”

Unlike Serbia, a methodical bruising team that prefers to play slow and rough, South Sudan is loaded with players with NBA-level quickness.

Led by former NBA player and current Houston Rockets assistant coach Royal Ivey, South Sudan will have five 3-point shooting threats on the floor at all times and look to spread opponents out. It made 14 3-pointers against the Americans in London and made 10 more against Puerto Rico.

“The exhibition schedule was great because you got to figure out where we need to get better and also feel the force of teams that are coming trying to beat us,” Curry said. “They’re a very high-octane offense, spread the floor, shoot a lot of 3s and have athleticism. So you just got to be mindful of how…