Another game, another blowout for the US at the Basketball World Cup. And now the competition figures to get considerably tougher.
Anthony Edwards scored 22 points and the Americans completed an easy march through the group stage on Wednesday, beating Jordan 110-62 to improve to 3-0 and finish atop Group C. Second-round play for the US starts Friday against Montenegro.
“Staying aggressive, staying confident, it’s just something that I do,” Edwards said. “It paid off today.”
Bobby Portis scored 13 for the US, which led by 19 after one quarter and 62-33 at the half. Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 12 and Jalen Brunson added 10.
“It’s always fun when everybody gets to play and contribute,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson — the only player with any NBA experience on Jordan’s roster — led his team with 20 points and seven rebounds. Jordan finished group play 0-3 and will play in the classification round for non-second-round teams starting Thursday.
The US improved to 8-0 overall this summer, counting five exhibitions played on the way to Manila. It is one of three teams that won all three group-stage games by at least 20 points — joining Group H winner Canada and Group D winner Lithuania, which will face the Americans in the second-round finale on Sunday.
This one was the easiest of the three for the US, which beat New Zealand by 27 in its opener and Greece by 28 on Monday.
“We tried to slow them down as much as possible,” Jordan coach Wesam Al-Sous said. “We failed. They scored 110 points.”
Hollis-Jefferson has tried to fashion his game — not to mention his current haircut, it seems, since there is a striking similarity — after Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, even wearing No. 24 on his jersey for Jordan this summer.
“He was kind of like my vet when I was a rookie,” Edwards said. “We haven’t seen each other since then, so it was fun to catch up.”
If this was his audition to get back to the NBA, after not playing in the league since June 2021, it wasn’t bad. He had 66 points in Jordan’s first two games at the World Cup, then shot 6 for 16 on Wednesday.
Hollis-Jefferson had previously gone up against all four coaches on the US staff — head coach Steve Kerr of Golden State and assistants Erik Spoelstra of Miami, Tyronn Lue of the Los Angeles Clippers and Mark Few of Gonzaga.
His Arizona teams went 2-0 against Gonzaga, and in the NBA, Hollis-Jefferson’s teams had a 1-7 record against Golden State when he played, a 3-7 mark against Lue’s teams (3-6 vs. Cleveland, 0-1 vs. the Clippers) and a 6-10 record against the Heat.
Serbia, Georgia and Brazil advance to second round
Serbia, Georgia, and Brazil advanced to the second round of basketball’s World Cup with victories on Wednesday.
Serbia defeated South Sudan 115-83 helped by 25 points from 20-year-old Nikola Jovic. Georgia topped Venezuela 70-59 behind 25 points from Tornike Shengelia, and Brazil beat Ivory Coast 89-77 with Yago Santos scoring 24 points and adding 12 assists
The United States, which had already reached the second round, defeated Jordan 110-62 and plays Montenegro on Friday.
Ten teams had already advanced going into Wednesday’s games: The Dominican Republic, Australia, Italy, Spain, the United States, Canada, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, and Montenegro.
At Manila, Jovic shot 9 of 9 from the floor as Serbia (3-0) beat South Sudan (1-2) to reach the round of 16. Bogdan Bogdanovic added 23 points and nine assists.
Jovic and Bogdanovic combined for 18 points in the first quarter as Serbia led 30-20 and steadily built its lead.
Peter Jok scored 21 points for South Sudan but Chicago Bulls guard Carlik Jones had just three points in 22 minutes.
At Okinawa, Shengelia scored 25 points and Goga Bitadze had 11 points and 11 rebounds as Georgia advanced to the second round.
Georgia, which is playing for the first time in the World Cup, led 42-23 at the half as Venezuela (0-3) scored only four points in the second quarter.
Nestor Colmenares had 16 points and 12 rebounds to lead Venezuela. Jose Materan added 12. Both teams struggled from 3-point range. Georgia was 5 of 23 and Venezuela was 6 of 25.
At Manila, Anthony Edward scored 22 points and Bobby Portis Jr. chipped in 13 for the United States (3-0) to wrap up the group stage with an easy victory over Jordan (0-3). Josh Hart led the Americans with 12 rebounds.
Former NBA player Rondae Hollis Jefferson led Jordan with 20 points and seven rebounds. The United States faces Montenegro on Friday in the second round.
The U.S. improved to 8-0 overall this summer, counting five exhibitions played on the way to Manila.
They’re one of three teams that won all three group-stage games by at least 20 points — joining Group H winner Canada and Group D winner Lithuania.
At Jakarta, Yago Santos scored 24 points and added 12 assists and Brazil (2-1) advanced into the second round, a bounce back after not qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics. Tim Soares added 15 points for the winners.
Brazil went 14 of 31 from 3-point range.
Cedric Bah led Ivory Coast (1-2) with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
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