Donovan Mitchell scores team-high 13 points as Team USA beat Spain in World Cup warm-up
Saturday 17 August 2019 07:38, UK
Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell scored a team-high 13 points as Team USA beat Spain 90-81 in a pre-FIBA World Cup exhibition game in Anaheim, California, on Friday night.
Much was made earlier this week after USA Basketball's national team was soundly beaten by a bunch of G League players during a scrimmage in practice. Maybe it was a wake-up call.
The Americans are on their way to the other side of the world, and they'll have a win to think about on the way to Australia.
Mitchell scored 13 points and Khris Middleton added 12 as the US topped Spain 90-81 on Friday night in a warm-up exhibition in advance of the FIBA World Cup that starts in China on August 31.
The US are the top-ranked team in the world, Spain the second-ranked squad.
Team USA led virtually the whole way, saw their lead trimmed to eight on a three-pointer by Spain's Sergio Llull with 4:10 left and responded with an 8-0 run over the next minute to restore order quickly.
Joe Harris made a triple to start the flurry, Derrick White got a runner from the lane to fall and Jayson Tatum's three-pointer from near the US bench with 3:15 left made it 88-72 as the Americans sealed matters.
Toronto's Marc Gasol led everyone with 19 points for Spain. Phoenix's Ricky Rubio had 16 for Spain, and Llull finished with 11.
It was the first official win for Gregg Popovich as head coach of the national team, and the senior program's 77th consecutive victory overall a run that goes back to the bronze medal game of the 2006 world championships, now called the World Cup, and continuing on through the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship, the Olympic runs in 2008, 2012 and 2016 and the World Cup titles in 2010 and 2014.
Most of those 77 wins have been one-sided. Only nine have been by single digits, and Spain has been the opponent in four of those contests.
The US led 54-41 at the half, after being up by as many as 16 in the second quarter. Even with Popovich using a 12-man rotation in the first half, the Americans were clicking almost from the outset. They shot 61 per cent in the half, started 7-for-11 from three-point land - one of those four misses being a 60-foot try by Tatum that hit the rim - and outrebounded Spain 21-9 over the opening two quarters.
Spain started the second half on a 9-4 run, getting within 58-50 midway through the third, but the Americans rebuilt the lead to 71-58 going into the fourth.
The US are scheduled to play three games (two against Australia, one against Canada) and practice five times in Australia before leaving for Shanghai on August 28. The Americans open their World Cup campaign on September 1 against the Czech Republic.
Spain host the Dominican Republic in an exhibition in Madrid on Thursday. Team USA play Australia in an exhibition in Melbourne on Thursday.
