ABU DHABI (UAE) - United States showed their class and blew open a high-profile matchup with Serbia with a 105-79 victory in a pre-Olympics friendly.
Serbia were hanging tight for about 15 minutes before USA raced away with a 31-5 run to take control. And USA showcased a real balanced effort in front of 12,517 fans at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
This game had extra intrigue when you consider USA and Serbia face off in their opening game of the Olympics in Group C on July 28 in Lille's Pierre Mauroy Stadium.
The story of the game
Serbia were coming off an 84-73 upset loss to Australia a day earlier in Abu Dhabi while USA had beaten the Oceanians only 98-92 on July 15.
Serbia once again were without the injured Bogdan Bogdanovic, who missed the Australia game as well. USA head coach Steve Kerr meanwhile used his third different starting lineup in three friendlies with Steph Curry, Jrue Holiday, Jayson Tatum, LeBron James and Joel Embiid.
Curry was on fire early, scoring USA's first 9 points and it was even 9-9. His connection with LeBron James is already looking sharp.
Jokic was his usual handful in keeping Serbia up most of the first quarter until Anthony Edwards came on late in the first quarter and scored 7 straight USA points for a 28-26 lead and it was even 28-28 after 10 minutes. The Joker was very vocal once again as a leader and showed a lot of intensity.
USA were struggling with turnovers and two triples by Serbia put the Europeans up 34-28. Curry returned and took over again with a three, layup and four-point play before Edwards' triple had the Americans up 47-40 - for a Serbia timeout after it was 40-40.
Next up was Bam Adebayo - inside and outside - and Anthony Davis coming off the bench to take over with scoring and rim protection respectively and USA were up 59-45 at the break. When Davis accepts doing the dirty work—rebounding, defense, screening—this team reaches another level.
The Americans scored the first 12 points of the second half as the cushion swelled to 26 points at 71-45. And the advantage was 83-58 after three quarters.
USA just did not let up at all in the fourth quarter with James coming on and starring in essentially garbage time. But the 39-year-old veteran took the job serious - as did the rest of the team in not allowing Serbia to get any sort of momentum.
The player of the game
Kerr used a long rotation but Adebayo was especially strong with 17 including 3 three-pointers to go along with 8 rebounds and 3 assists.
Curry finished with a team-high 24 points on 6 three-pointers in 21 minutes, Anthony Davis collected 7 points, 6 rebounds and 6 blocks and Anthony Edwards chipped in 16 points.
Serbia were paced by Jokic with 16 points and 11 rebounds and Aleksa Avramovic added 14 points.
The stats of the game
Serbia converted just 40.8 percent from the field including 29.4 percent from long range. They were also out-rebounded 38-26. The Americans were hot from three-point range with 16 of 36 for 44.4 percent.
The takeaways of the game
The Americans looked a lot better than they did against Australia, especially finishing strong after allowed the Boomers to get back into the game and make it tight.
Adebayo's offensive production gives Kerr some nice options and Davis shined once again with some impressive rim protection. The willingness to share the ball was also promising for Kerr. This game is a strong statement for USA Basketball. They are the heavy favorites.
The Americans have two more warm-up scheduled with a game against South Sudan on July 20 at London's O2 Arena, where they will also face Germany on July 22.
After USA and Serbia open their Olympics campaign, both sides will play South Sudan and Puerto Rico in Group C.
Serbia, for their part, still have one more friendly as they host Greece on July 22 in Belgrade.
Svetislav Pesic will be happy to get Bogdanovic back and this loss can act as a clear wake-up call to just how much work is left to be done. It also gives Serbia a bit of pay-back motivation for the game coming up in 11 days.
FIBA