Team USA got back on the right track, responding from a rare international loss to Australia, to defeat a talent thin Canadian team, 84-68, in their final exhibition game in front of a crowd of 15,155 at Quodos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia Monday night.
Forward Jaylen Brown from the Boston Celtics came off the scored a team high 19 points for the Americans, who played with more defensive intensity and limited Canada to 32 percent shooting for the game, allowing them only nine points in the first quarter.
Center Myles Turner from the Indiana Pacers was an intimidating force around the rim, finishing with 10 points and 15 rebounds while guards Kemba Walker from the Boston Celtics and Donovan Mitchell of Utah Jazz each contributed 12 points. The Americans, which shot just 43 percent and made just 2 for 14 three pointers, started Walker, Mitchell, Turner, forward Harrison Barnes from Sacramento and Jayson Tatum of Boston. NBA All Star forward Khris Middletown from the Milwaukee Bucks, who grabbed eight rebounds, was supposed to more of a factor as a long- range shooting threat, but he shot just 0- for- 8 and did not score. Tatum was also disappointing, shooting just 2 for 11 and scoring only six points.
Forward Kyle Wiltjer, who started his college career at Kentucky before transferring to Gonzaga before signing a contract to play with Toronto Raptor’s G-League affiliate, led Canada, which is ranked 23d in the world, in scoring with 21 points while center Khem Birch from the NBA Orlando Magic added 13.
It is hard to tell what to make of this victory since Canada, like the USA, was playing without most of its marquee players. NBA talents RJ Barrett, Andrew Wiggins, Tristian Thompson, Jamal Murray, Cory Joseph, Kelly Olynyk and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander all took a pass, leaving the Canadians to scramble if they want to secure one of two automatic bids from Americas for next year’s 2020 Olympic competition in Tokyo, Japan. The Canadians have not played in the Olympics since 2000 and only once since 1988.
The Americans will have a rest day, then one more practice before leaving for Shanghai, China, where they will play the Czech Republic Sept. 1 in the first three group E games.
“There is a lot of room to improve, I think, for this team’’ Brown said. “Defensively, we came out with the right mindset, and that’s half the battle. Now, we got to execute, take care of the ball, rebound and play unselfishly and we’ll be pretty good.’’
