NBA
Anthony Edwards scored 21 factors, Cam Johnson added 13, and the U.S. by no means trailed Friday.
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A quick begin was all that USA Basketball wanted to stay unbeaten because it retains transferring nearer to the World Cup.
Anthony Edwards scored 21 factors, Cam Johnson added 13 and the U.S. by no means trailed Friday in a 108-86 win over Greece in a World Cup tune-up sport for each groups.
Austin Reaves and Jaren Jackson Jr. every had 11 for the U.S., which improved to 4-0 in its five-game exhibition season earlier than flying to the Philippines subsequent week to begin World Cup play. The People had all 12 gamers rating, and Mikal Bridges and Bobby Portis every completed with 10 factors.
“I really feel like we acquired it going fairly good,” Edwards mentioned.
Greece is taking part in with out Giannis Antetokounmpo, the two-time NBA MVP for Milwaukee who’s sidelined this summer time whereas recovering from offseason knee surgical procedure. Panagiotis Kalaitzakis and Nikos Rogkavopoulos every scored 12 for Greece. Thomas Walkup and Georgios Papagiannis added 11 apiece.
“These video games, these friendlies, they’re glorified practices,” Walkup mentioned. “That’s what they’re. In fact you need to win, however we need to come out right here to compete, get higher, sort things.”
Greece, even with out Antetokounmpo, figures to be the highest competitors for the U.S. when group-stage play begins on the World Cup subsequent weekend. Greece is the No. 9 nation within the FIBA rankings; New Zealand is No. 26 and Jordan is No. 33.
The highest two finishers in every group transfer to the second spherical. Not surprisingly, the race in Group C looks as if it will likely be for second place after the way in which this exhibition turned out.
The People — simply as they did at instances of their first three exhibitions towards Puerto Rico, a Slovenia staff taking part in with out Luka Doncic and Spain — regarded dominant in some stretches. That they had a double-digit lead halfway by means of the primary quarter, had been up by 17 by the point the sport was 9 minutes outdated and by no means appeared in any bother.
That mentioned, there are two huge areas that fear U.S. coach Steve Kerr.
“The priority is turnovers and rebounds,” Kerr mentioned. “If we keep even on the possession sport, I really feel nice about our possibilities towards anyone. The best way groups can beat us is that if they get additional possessions and drive a whole lot of turnovers and we’re not sharp and we’re not boxing out. I’ve informed our guys that. I’ll let you know guys that. It’s probably not a secret. So, that’s our focus.”
The U.S. solely outscored Greece 76-71 over the ultimate 31 minutes — largely due to 20 turnovers.
“They let up a bit of bit, for certain,” Walkup mentioned. “We’re conscious of that. We’re not tricking ourselves.”
TIP-INS
Greece: The staff had three gamers with NBA regular-season expertise: Thanasis Antetokounmpo performs for Milwaukee, Kostas Papanikolaou made 69 appearances with Houston and Denver and Papagiannis performed in 39 video games with Sacramento and Portland. … The staff additionally has Texas-born guard Walkup, who performed in faculty at Stephen F. Austin. He was naturalized and acquired a Greek passport earlier this yr, enabling him to play on this occasion.
USA: Among the many NBA faces in attendance had been Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley (who has Magic gamers Paolo Banchero, Moritz Wagner and Franz Wagner taking part in in Abu Dhabi this weekend) and Brooklyn normal supervisor Sean Marks. … Walker Kessler was the primary sub off the U.S. bench, partially due to Greece’s dimension, and all 12 American gamers had gotten into the sport by the primary possession of the second quarter.
FIRST FIVE
The beginning lineup for the People has been the identical now in all 4 exhibitions: Jalen Brunson, Bridges, Edwards, Brandon Ingram and Jackson Jr. Kerr has tinkered with different mixtures in practices, simply in case, however that first group hasn’t modified on sport days.
STILL PERFECT
Not a lot conclusive could be learn from exhibition video games, however out of 32 World Cup-bound groups, the U.S. is considered one of 5 nations nonetheless unbeaten on this summer time’s slates of warm-up video games. France is 6-0 with one sport left, Italy is 5-0 with two video games left, Latvia is 4-0 with two video games left and Brazil is 3-0 with two video games left (together with one towards Italy).
UP NEXT
Greece: Performs Germany on Saturday in Abu Dhabi in its final pre-World Cup sport.
USA: Performs Germany on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, the ultimate World Cup tune-up for each groups.
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