Five things we learned from USA unbeaten buildup to the World Cup

ABU DHABI (Dubai) - The title chances of the USA at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, which tips off in just a few days on August 25, look to be very good.

Steve Kerr's squad does appear to have at least as good a chance as any team, using the five preparation games as evidence, to lift the Naismith Trophy on September 10, when the Final is played in Manila.

What are the main things we learned? Let's dig deeper!

#1 - USA are the team to beat in 2023

This USA unit, with no players from previous senior national teams, has proved its mettle against opponents at or near the top in the FIBA World Ranking Men, presented by Nike.

USA have beaten 2019 World Cup winners Spain, also the No. 1 team in the World Ranking, No. 7 Slovenia, No. 9 Greece, No. 11 Germany and No. 20 Puerto Rico.

#2 - Pressure? Not a problem!

The games against Spain and Germany showed that the USA, who play with panache and flair, can also win hard-fought, close games.

Sundays' 99-91 win over Germany was particularly gratifying for the coach. The Germans played like a well-oiled machine. They were smart, slick and powerful. They defended well, and led by 16 points in the second half. USA were really in danger.

Yet the USA came back and won. What happened?

#3 - Anthony Edwards is a superstar in the making

Well, Anthony Edwards happened and Kerr liked what he saw in his his team. 

"Just to see the team's grit and guts," he said. "They've only been together a couple of weeks but you saw how they fought, you saw how everybody came off the bench playing hard and competing and they stayed with it. And obviously, Anthony Edwards took over, he was incredible tonight."

If Jalen Brunson, the MVP of the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2015 ago in Crete, entered this summer as the natural leader of this team, Edwards has cemented his status as the team's go-to man.

After a 21-point game in USA's 108-86 rout of Greece on Friday, Edwards exploded against a Germany team that has the majority of the players from last year's third-placed team at FIBA EuroBasket 2022.

Edwards poured in 10 points during an 18-0 fourth-quarter run to lead the USA in their come-from-behind triumph over the Germans. He finished with 34 points!

 

His toughness raised eyebrows. After a hard fall while going to the basket, it seemed Edwards would have to come out of the game but he sat up, tied his shoelaces tighter, and rejoined the fray.

Also during the game, he had a couple of sensational blocks and also six rebounds.

"Man, this was fun," he said. "I ain't had fun like this in a minute. This was super-exciting. We was down. That was adversity, fight."

#4 - Steve Kerr has found his starting five

Kerr's starting lineup is led by Brunson and Edwards and has Brandon Ingram, Mikal Bridges and Jaren Jackson Jr and consistency will surely benefit USA in the long run.

The established starting five might even turn it up a notch if, or rather when, Ingram starts firing on all cylinders. Both he and Brunson only played 15 minutes against Germany.

#5 - The best bench in the competition?

Two players that have distinguished themselves as key men off the bench have been Austin Reaves and Tyrese Haliburton. Each scored 16 points against Germany and both played hard, and smart.

 

Bobby Portis brought a lot of energy from the bench, pulling down five rebounds in just eight minutes.

Now, what's next?

The conversation always goes back to Edwards, though, who has every chance of becoming this team's version of what Kevin Durant was for the USA in 2010.

Durant, who was just shy of his 23rd birthday at the time, was not only the Americans' best player at that World Cup in Turkey, in his first tournament with the USA. He was the World Cup MVP. Durant averaged 22.8 points per game at that event, shooting 55.6 percent from the floor, and 45.1 percent from three-point range.

Edwards just turned 22 on August 5.

This is a new experience for him because unlike Brunson, Jackson, Haliburton and Walker Kessler, Edwards never played for a USA youth team.

The Americans are not playing perfect basketball, yet they are looking formidable. What is a certainty is that Australia, France, Canada, Spain and maybe Slovenia, if Doncic doesn't sit out as he did in the warmup game against the USA, are all teams capable of going on deep runs at the World Cup.

It's also fact that France have several players that have beaten the USA before, in the Quarter-Finals of the 2019 World Cup, and on the opening day of the Tokyo Olympics. Yet that USA had different players.

USA's World Cup journey officially starts on Saturday, August 26, against New Zealand, and continues two days later against Greece.

They will then wrap up their First Round, Group C campaign against Jordan on August 30; a top-two finish will be needed to advance to the Second Round.

FIBA