USA Basketball kicked off the Round of 16 at the 2014 FIBA World Cup with a resounding 86-63 victory over Mexico in Barcelona on Saturday, advancing to the quarterfinals. The Americans will play the winner of Slovenia and the Dominican Republic on Tuesday.
Unlike their play during the group stage, Team USA got off to a blistering hot start against the Mexicans in the first round of bracket play and opened up a quick 13-2 lead in the game’s first four minutes. The Americans never trailed in this one, and turned a 23-13 first quarter advantage into a complete rout in the second half once a certain baby-faced assassin got going.
After building an early lead, Team USA struggled on the offensive end in the second quarter. With the Americans relying a little too heavily on isolation ball and one-on-one play, Gustavo Ayon was able to keep Mexico in the game in the first half. Ayon led all scorers with 25 points and eight rebounds. Mexico’s next leading scorers were Roman Martinez and Jorge Gutierrez, who added seven points apiece.
USA Basketball was led by the supernova known as Stephen Curry, who absolutely took over in the third quarter and helped the Americans extend their lead out of reach. Though he shot 43 percent from three-point range during the group phase, Curry finally had a breakout game from behind the arc, totaling 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting (6-of-9 from deep) to go with four assists.
Team captain James Harden followed up with 12 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Though the half-court offense wasn’t exactly stellar at times, the Americans were once again able to turn steals into transition points. Anthony Davis had a pretty quiet game, but one such steal and fast break dunk served as a perfect reminder of what Team USA can do once they start forcing turnovers.
Three-point shooting was one area the Americans needed to work on heading into bracket play, and they certainly answered the call on that front, burying Mexico with a barrage of threes. Team USA shot 45 percent from downtown and made 13 threes for the game, a huge improvement for a team that entered Saturday’s game with only the 13th highest three-point percentage out of 24 teams in the tournament.
Klay Thompson had 15 points and five rebounds off the bench and Rudy Gay added 10. DeMarcus Cousins was once again effective in limited minutes as a reserve, totaling 11 points, seven rebounds and two blocks in 14 minutes.
Anthony Davis and Kenneth Faried, who dominated most of the group phase for Team USA, had relatively quiet games for the second time in a row. Faried helped get Team USA started early with his work on the offensive glass and finished with eight points and eight rebounds while Davis had four points, six rebounds, four blocks and two steals.
Derrick Rose‘s struggles from the field continued, as he finished with zero points on 0-of-5 shooting. Rose still looks plenty athletic, much like he did during his 10 games with the Chicago Bulls last season, but the rust is pretty clearly there and it may be awhile before NBA fans see those trademark acrobatic layups start falling again. Rose had four assists and hounded Mexico’s ball handlers on the defensive end.
Every player for Team USA scored except for Rose and Mason Plumlee. The Americans will be heavily favored against Goran Dragic and the Slovenians, their likely opponents in the quarterfinals.