Los Angeles Lakers superstar Anthony Davis has proven time and time again that he can control a game without needing to score. And with Stephen Curry catching fire during USA Basketball’s exhibition against Serbia, the big man was able to do exactly that.
Curry scored 18 points in his first 11 minutes and finished with 24 overall as Team USA dominated Serbia in the second half to come away with a 105-79 victory. After another slow start, Team USA took control in the second and third quarters and never looked back, improving to 3-0 in their tune-ups for the Olympics.
Davis has been the most effective big for the Americans to this point and while he only took two shots to finish with seven points, he added six rebounds and six blocks to completely neutralize Serbia in the paint. He wasn’t the only big man to play well as Bam Adebayo added 17 points and eight rebounds to further the conversation on Team USA’s big man rotation as both he and Davis have outplayed starter Joel Embiid to this point.
LeBron James finished with an efficient 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting to go along with two assists while Anthony Edwards continued his strong play as well with 16 points and three steals off the bench.
Serbia, of course, was led by reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, who finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds. But Team USA’s interior defense bothered Jokic all game long as he shot just 6-of-19 from the field. Overall, USA held Serbia to just 40.8% shooting while out-rebounding them by 12.
Team USA also had another stellar shooting night from 3-point range, knocking down 16 total with six coming from Curry. They shot 44.4% from deep and 52.9% overall as they continue to gear up for the Olympics in Paris. The Americans also did a much better job in taking care of the ball, turning it over just 12 times while also forcing 12 from Serbia.
Head coach Steve Kerr once again tinkered with the Team USA starting lineup, this time going with Jrue Holiday in the backcourt next to Curry while moving Edwards back to a reserve role. The starting front court of LeBron, Embiid and Jayson Tatum remained the same.
Aleksa Avramovic added 14 points for Serbia, who were without their other top NBA player in Bogdan Bogdanovic of the Atlanta Hawks.
Next up for Team USA
Team USA will travel to London for their final two exhibition games, first taking on South Sudan on July 20 before ending things against Germany on July 22. Olympic group play will then get going on July 28 as they square off in a rematch with Serbia.
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