The United States woke up in the second half from the nightmare New Zealand caused them as the Oceanians, with nothing to lose, came out all guns blazing and put Steve Kerr‘s team in trouble more than once.
A magnificent third quarter and a final one with overtime included gave the victory to an American team which produced more questions than answers.
A slow start for the United States
The US looked off the pace, they were stuck in attack and suffered in defensive transitions.
A 2-9 partial encouraged the Oceanians early on as neither Edwards on the outside nor Jackson on the inside were able to hurt the structure of New Zealand.
With 4-14 on the scoreboard, the alarms seemed to go off.
The great defense from New Zealand did not let the Americans think and the long faces of Kerr and Spoelstra on the bench expressed that it was not going according to plan,
The waters seemed to calm down, and the forces evened out, something that suited the United States as Banchero led the comeback.
The scoreboard showed a surprising 19-18 in favor of the Americans at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter it seemed that the American dominance would come.
With Edwards and Cam Johnson leading the way, the United States was comfortable, but it did not take Te Rangi long to close the gap and even put New Zealand ahead (25-26).
It had to be Anthony Edwards, the great leader, who put the turbo into the game.
Good defense and better offensive transitions took the game 45-36 at halftime and New Zealand had produced a historic first half.
In the second half, a US outburst put the maximum difference between the teams (+13) at any point in the game.
New Zealand was still clinging to the game, without the success of the early stages.
The New Zealanders were strong in defense, and did not let the game get away from them.
In reality though, there was little they could do as the US reached fifth gear with Reaves and Banchero and created a +15 gap that suggested that the scoreboard was not going to turn around.
The third quarter closed with a 76-58 that gave Kerr’s team some breathing space.
In the last quarter, with the duel resolved, the best version of the United States came out, the most recognizable.
Haliburton‘s show, with several passes looking at the floor, opened the way to enjoy and lift the audience from their seats.
Reaves, Hart and Banchero rounded off a bittersweet but efficient debut for the United States.
Summary:
99 – United States (19+26+31+23): Bridges (7), Brunson (10), Edwards (14), Ingram (2), Jackson (12) -starting team- Banchero (21), Haliburton (10), Hart (5), Johnson (2), Kessler (0), Portis Jr (4), Reaves (12).
72 – New Zealand (18+18+22+14): Delany (12), Ili (12), Ngatai (0), Te Rangi (15), Wetzell (10) -starting team- Britt (2), Brown (0), Cameron (5), Fotu (4), Harris (0), Smith-Milner (3), Le’Afa (9).
Referees: Manuel Mazzoni (Italy), Boris Krejic (Slovenia) and Kyongin Park (South Korea).
Setting: Match corresponding to the first day of Group C of the Basketball World Cup 2023, played in Manila (Philippines).
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