LAS VEGAS – In their first match together in preparation for the 2024 Paris Olympics, the U.S. men’s basketball team will play… Canada was defeated 86-72. In a show competition on Wednesday.
Anthony Edwards scored 13 points, Steph Curry added 12 points and Anthony Davis had 10 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks for the United States. LeBron James added seven points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals in 19 minutes, and Jrue Holiday had 11 points, five rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
The U.S. team is seen as a favorite to win a fifth straight Olympic gold medal, while Canada, featuring NBA stars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray and RJ Barrett, is also a gold medal contender as it seeks its first Olympic podium finish since winning silver in 1936.
The United States will play Australia (July 15) and Serbia (July 17) in Abu Dhabi, and South Sudan (July 20) and Germany (July 22) in London as part of the Olympic preparations. The United States will open its Olympic campaign on July 28 against Serbia.
It was a good start to the exhibition schedule for the United States considering their roster had only trained together four times and given Canada’s medal potential.
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US coach Steve Kerr started James, Curry, Holiday, Devin Booker and Joel Embiid, and the Americans trailed 11-1.
But Kerr has the luxury that no other team has: his next five players — Anthony Edwards, Jayson Tatum, Bam Adebayo, Davis and Tyrese Haliburton — helped spark a 14-3 run that put the U.S. up 28-23.
The U.S. led 41-33 at halftime and then took a 50-37 lead on nine straight points, including two Curry 3-pointers. Edwards’ 3-pointer put the U.S. ahead 69-54 at the end of the third quarter.
The U.S. team showed its size and strong defense. It outrebounded Canada 53-48, blocked nine shots, and held Canada to 33.8 percent shooting. The U.S. team shot 50.7 percent of its shots despite hitting just 7 of 23 three-point attempts.
“It’s a good first game for us,” Kerr said. “We’ve just started – four days of practice. You could see the rust on the offensive side (and) a lot of mistakes in that first half especially. But I like the intensity of the defense and the work on the glass.”
“So, it was a good first effort, and we needed to set a tone for how we wanted to play and I think we did that.”
The US team played with only 10 players, as Kevin Durant missed the game with a calf injury, and the US team replaced Kawhi Leonard with Derrick White, who will join the team in Abu Dhabi.
Barrett led Canada with 12 points, while Dillon Brooks and Gilgeous-Alexander each had 10 points.
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