US’ Showtime’ vs Jordan Led By Anthony Edwards
At the Basketball World Cup, the United States lost yet another game in a rout. The competition should now get much stiffer.
On Wednesday, the Americans defeated Jordan 110-62 to go to 3-0 and take first place in Group C. Anthony Edwards contributed 22 points as the Americans finished off a smooth transition through the group round. The Americans’ second-round matchup with Montenegro is on Friday.
With 13 points from Bobby Portis, the United States led by 19 after one quarter and 62-33 at the break. Both Jalen Brunson and Jaren Jackson Jr. scored twelve points.
Jordan’s sole player with any NBA experience, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, led his squad with 20 points and seven rebounds. Jordan placed last in their group with a record of 0–3 and thus will compete starting on Thursday in the non-second-round teams’ classification phase.
After including five exhibition games played on the road to Manila, the U.S. advanced to 8-0 overall this summer. Along with Group H winner Canada and Group D winner Lithuania, who will play the Americans in the second-round finale on Sunday, they are one of three teams that won all three of their group-stage contests by at least 20 points.
After defeating New Zealand by 27 in its first game and Greece by 28 on Monday, the U.S. found this one to be the simplest of the three.
Hollis-Jefferson has struggled to model his play after Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, not to mention his current hairdo, which is quite similar. This summer, he even donned the No. 24 for Jordan.
It wasn’t terrible if this was his NBA comeback tryout after a lengthy absence (since June 2021). In Jordan’s opening two World Cup contests, he scored 66 points. On Wednesday, he made 6 of 16 shots.
Before this, Hollis-Jefferson had faced off against all four members of the American coaching staff: head coach Steve Kerr of Golden State and assistant coaches Erik Spoelstra of Miami, Tyronn Lue of the Los Angeles Clippers, and Mark Few of Gonzaga.
In the NBA, Hollis-Jefferson’s teams had a 3-7 record against Lue’s teams (3-6 vs. Cleveland, 0-1 vs. the Clippers), a 6-10 record against the Heat, and a 2-0 record against Gonzaga for his Arizona teams. When Hollis-Jefferson played, his team had a 1-7 record against Golden State.
TIP-INS
USA: When there were five games instead of three in that stage of the 2014 tournament, the U.S. also won all of its group games by a margin of at least 20 points. The Americans were 41.5-point favorites, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
Jordan: Jordan faced the United States for the first time in a senior men’s match. In matches against Jordan in the global University Games in 1979 and 1985, U.S. teams triumphed (both times by an identical score of 110 points, no mistake), also by 10 points in the U19 global championship in 1995. Jordan concludes its World Cup run against Mexico on Saturday after playing in Egypt on Thursday.
CHANGE OF LINE-UP
The American starting five was different for the first time this summer. Josh Hart replaced Brandon Ingram and joined Mikal Bridges, Brunson, Edwards, and Jackson Jr.
EVERYBODY IN
By the end of the third quarter, all 12 Americans had scored. Additionally, everyone scored for the Americans against Greece on Monday.
UP Next
USA: On Friday in Manila, Montenegro plays in the second round.
Jordan: Thursday in Manila is a classification match against Egypt.
