On Wednesday in Abu Dhabi, Team USA easily defeated Serbia in an exhibition game, winning 105-79 to move to 3-0 on their pre-Olympic tour.
Bam Adebayo scored freely, both inside and outside the court, and assisted Anthony Davis in making things tough for three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, a top player from Serbia. In the fourth quarter, Davis had six blocks, including a pin off the glass that sparked a standing ovation at the eight-minute mark.
Steph Curry finished with six 3-pointers and 24 points, while Adebayo concluded with 17 points and seven rebounds in the first half.
From 3-point range, Team USA made 16 of their 36 attempts.
Jokic finished with eight points on three of ten shots.
After grabbing a loose ball, Curry made his sixth 3-pointer of the game with a lightning-fast release from the left wing, extending the US lead to 90-63. LeBron James then forcefully scored a right-handed dunk off a lob from Adebayo. The ensuing possession was a spectacular reel of passing and dribbling that culminated in another 3-pointer from Curry. James then drove the ball downhill to finish with a lefty basket and a 31-point advantage.
Almost every time he touched the ball, Jokic pleaded with his teammates to play defence, but to no avail. Jokic sat alongside Serbia and the United States during the fourth quarter of the Olympic Games. The two teams will play again on July 28 in their first Pool C match.
As the US clustered behind Jokic on the defensive end and distributed the ball around with extra passes, shooting and depth showed out. Late in the third quarter, Adebayo made a 3-pointer from the top of the key to increase the margin to 81-53.
Team USA’s high-energy defence helped them close the first half with a bang, as the bench outscored the starting lineup 30-29 to take a 59-45 lead.
In the opening 20 minutes, Curry scored 18 points. At the halfway mark of the second quarter, he went on a single scoring run of nine points in a row, and with 4:12 remaining in the half, Anthony Edwards made a 3-pointer to give the US a 47-40 lead.
With two straight baskets sandwiched between two of Davis’s rebounds on Jokic attempts in the lane, Adebayo extended the lead to 13-2. Edwards splashed a shot to increase the margin to 56-42 after Davis had tampered with another Jokic attempt to start the half.
Before pool play at the Olympics starts this month, Team USA plays two additional matches in London on Saturday. The other opponent is South Sudan.
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