Team USA drops opening scrimmage to Select Team / News - Basketnews.com

Keeping a long-time tradition of pre-tournament scrimmages against a Select Team, Team USA chose to start their preparation with a 20-minute game against a squad comprising several talented NBA players -- and lost.

Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images Credit Ethan Miller/Getty Images

In what has become a tradition before big tournaments, Team USA suited up in a scrimmage against younger, up-and-coming NBA players.

The squad coached by Steve Kerr started training camp Thursday and had the chance to measure up against a group spearheaded by 2021 No. 1 pick Cade Cunningham. The US national team lost 39-47 after two 10-minute periods. According to The Athletic, no stats were made available, while Kerr didn't treat the scrimmage like an ordinary game, choosing not to call a timeout when the outcome was at stake.

Houston Rockets guard Jalen Green, Sacramento Kings forward Keegan Murray, and Oklahoma City Thunder forwards Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams were said to be among the standouts in the scrimmages.

On the other hand, Team USA includes All-Stars Anthony Edwards, Brandon Ingram, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Tyrese Haliburton. Franchise stars such as Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, and Paolo Banchero are also on the team.

A few of them spoke to The Athletic’s Joe Vardon after the loss.

"They handed it to us," Tyrese Haliburton said. "The young guys did their thing today." Tyrese Haliburton was on the US Select Team in 2021 that beat the Americans in a scrimmage, prior to their eventual winning of gold at the Tokyo Olympics.

"That’s a time-honored tradition in USA Basketball," Kerr commented. "You want to get great talent to come in and challenge you every which way. That's what the select team did today."

"Everybody knows the Grant Hill, Bobby Hurley story from 1992. In 2019, for the last World Cup, the select team came in, kicked our butts, and that's the whole point."

Hill, now managing director for Team USA, and Hurley, at the time Duke teammates, were on a select team of college stars that were the only team to beat Michael Jordan’s Dream Team (62-54) in any game in 1992 early in training camp.

Kerr revealed he asked he asked Select Team coach Jamahl Mosley to instruct Cunningham, who looked fully recovered from the December surgery that kept him out for almost the entirety of his Detroit Pistons season, to run actions in which he would do a little Luka Doncic impersonation in high pick-and-roll and other actions in which the point guard dominates the ball.

Team USA and the Select Team face off again on Saturday, with the first team playing its first real game ahead of the World Cup on Monday in Las Vegas against Puerto Rico. A few days later (August 12 and 13), the Americans play Slovenia and hosts Spain in Malaga.

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