All the pieces had regarded really easy for the US on the Basketball World Cup. Factors have been coming in bunches, closing scores have been blowouts and stress wasn’t an issue.
Till Friday.
If the People have been ready a severe take a look at on the World Cup, they’ll wait no extra. Going through a 26.5-point underdog in Montenegro in a second-round opener for each groups, it trailed by a degree on the half, didn’t take the lead for good till halfway via the third quarter and nonetheless had a contest on its arms till the ultimate minutes.
It discovered a method in the long run, successful 85-73 to stay unbeaten and transfer to the brink of the quarterfinals.
“Nice sport for us … These video games are going to occur,” mentioned U.S. coach Steve Kerr.
Anthony Edwards scored all of his team-high 17 factors within the second half for the People (4-0), who obtained 12 from Austin Reaves and 11 from Jaren Jackson Jr. Mikal Bridges and Tyrese Haliburton every added 10 for the US, which didn’t draw back till late within the fourth.
“It wasn’t the prettiest sport,” Haliburton mentioned. “However what FIBA video games actually are?”
Nikola Vucevic had 18 factors and 15 rebounds for Montenegro, which led 39-38 on the half. Kendrick Perry scored 14 for Montenegro (2-2).
It was primarily a must-win for Montenegro, and it darn close to pulled off a stunner.
“We performed properly and we made it as robust for them as we might,” mentioned Vucevic, who performs for the Chicago Bulls. “However in the long run, high quality prevailed.”
The US led 61-55 going into the fourth and tacked a degree on to make it a seven-point edge — its largest of the sport to that time — early within the closing quarter.
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Montenegro simply wouldn’t go away. A 3-pointer by Nikola Ivanovic obtained the underdogs inside 64-62 with 7:15 remaining, and the People couldn’t exhale till the ultimate seconds — a far cry from the best way the primary three video games of the match went, with factors coming in bunches and the US successful each sport by at the very least 27 factors.
“It’s good for us to get one in all these video games,” Reaves mentioned.
Montenegro had a sport plan and labored it almost to perfection: Sluggish the People down by any means obligatory — “our solely hope,” Vucevic mentioned. That included well-timed substitutions, sprinting again on protection, no matter it took.
The People know they’ll see extra of that going ahead.
“We’ve obtained to get stops and get rebounds so we will’t go in opposition to a set protection each time,” Edwards mentioned. “In the event that they set their protection, they’re going to pack the paint, load up and make us shoot. And I shot horrible from the skin immediately. I don’t know what’s happening, however I’ll determine it out.”
He figured it out solely as soon as from lengthy vary Friday, nevertheless it was an enormous second. Edwards’ solely 3-pointer got here with 6:07 left, placing the U.S. up 69-62. It stayed a two-possession sport, at the very least, for a lot of the rest of the competition.
“A small nation like Montenegro, we performed tonight possibly the most effective video games ever,” Montenegro coach Bosko Radovic mentioned. “We performed such a superb workforce.”