FIBA World Cup 2023: USA continue perfect record by beating ...

The USA men’s basketball team began the second phase of the 2023 FIBA World Cup by deafeting Montenegro 85-73 on Friday (1 September).

Steve Kerr’s men ended the first round with a perfect 3-0 record, and they made it 4-0 with the opening Group J win to move a step closer to the knockout stages.

Anthony Edwards, who has been one of the standard out players for the US, finished with a team-high 17 points and one assist. Austin Reaves scored 12 points and Jaren Jackson Jr. added 11 points.

In the first quarter, the USA were trailing for the first nine and half minutes, but thanks to seven turnovers by Montenegro, they had a narrow 19-18 lead after the first ten minutes.

The US were struggling with their finishing in the second quarter, and at the same time Montenegro showed grit to stay in the game, despite having made 12 turnovers at halftime. Boško Radović’s team were leading 37-38 after 20 minutes of play.

Momentum shifted again after halftime, as the US team outscored Montenegro to go up 61-57 at the end of the third quarter.

Montenegro were trying to fight back, but the US players managed to keep a cool head and take the win by 12 points . Nikola Vucevic of Montenegro produced a game-high 18 points.

In Phase 2 of the tournament, the US will next face the winner of Group D, Lithuania, on Sunday (3 September). Anything other than a heavy defeat would be enough to see the U.S into the last eight of the competition.

Montenegro will play Greece the same day.

Elsewhere, in Group I, Italy took a surprise 78-76 win over Serbia. Italy’s Simone Fontecchio scored a game-high 30 points to boost their hopes of making the quarter-final stage and potentially sealing a Paris 2024 qualification berth.

The FIBA World Cup 2023 concludes on 10 September with the final taking place at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.

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