Team USA met Spain as the top two ranked teams in the world faced in an exhibition game and defeated them, 90-81. The Spaniards managed to cut the 18-point deficit to just eight with four minutes to go, but the Americans responded through Joe Harris, Derrick White and Jayson Tatum to secure a win.
After the first two weeks of camp, USA Basketball played its first exhibition game, excluding an inter-squad duel with Select Team. They are traveling to Australia today, and head coach Gregg Popovich will announce the names of 12 players who will compete at the FIBA World Cup in China. Team USA will play its final two exhibition games against Australia in Melbourne and then will face Canada in Sydney.
Sacramento Kings forward Harrison Barnes is happy to see how his team is performing, and he is not worried about the skeptics. Barnes believes the skeptics can only make them better and motivate them.
“We hear the noise. It’s just about the 14 guys that we got here right now, and when we go to Australia, it’s about just us, getting better, continuing to grow closer on and off the floor, and we’ll go from there,” Harrison told The Undefeated’s Marc Spears. “The team is motivated more than anything to keep the gold standard going, by the teams that went before us, that went and won the World Cup, that went and won the Olympics multiple times. That’s what we’re chasing right now,” Barnes added.
Harrison Barnes is fully embracing the chance to represent his country 🙌#SacramentoProud #Kings pic.twitter.com/2XtbEzGvEW
— Kings Nation (@KingsNationCP) August 15, 2019
Donovan Mitchell led the Americans with 13 points and four rebounds. Kemba Walker followed him with 11 points, eight dimes, and six boards while Khris Middleton scored 12 points. On the other hand, Marc Gasol had 19 points while Ricky Rubio chipped in with 16 points and seven assists.
Spida-man Donovan Mitchell scores 13 and leads Team USA to a convincing win over Spain. Ex-Jazzman Ricky Rubio scores 16. Future Jazzman Jaylen Brown scored 9. https://t.co/bCiZYr9mEs
— SLC Dunk (@slcdunk) August 17, 2019
“I’m excited about everybody coming,” Mitchell said. “The biggest thing for us is just jelling on and off the floor. That’s going to help us. These [other international] teams have played with each other since about 12, 13 years old. So for us, we’ve got to be able to match their chemistry. And I think the only way to do that is to be around each other as much as possible.”
