FIBA Basketball World Cup: USA has work to do after Turkey thriller, says Popovich

United States has plenty of work to do after edging Turkey at the FIBA World Cup, head coach Gregg Popovich said.

Members of the USA team celebrate their win over Turkey in the second round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Gregg Popovich believes the United States' thrilling overtime win against Turkey at the FIBA World Cup showed that the team was still "not there yet".

USA advanced to the second round from Group E after edging Turkey 93-92 in Shanghai on Tuesday.

The two-time defending champion survived a huge scare, Turkey having chances to go three points up with nine seconds remaining in OT, only for Dogus Balbay and Cedi Osman to miss free throws.

USA head coach Popovich said the encounter showed the defending champions still had plenty of work to do at the tournament in China.

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"It was a heck of a game," he said.

"As we all know, it was anybody's game. We will accept the win, but it was anybody's to win.

"The team that we played tonight again showed its experience and the improvement we have to make execution-wise. We're not there yet. We're still trying to get better at that.

"But, playing a fine team like that gives us another good example of how we can be when everybody knows what they're supposed to be doing on the court.

"So, I give them a lot of praise for what I saw."

USA rounds out its Group E campaign against Japan on Thursday.