Austin Reaves led a balanced scoring effort with 15 points and the U.S. topped Greece 109-81 to clinch a spot in the second round that starts Friday.
The win, combined with New Zealand’s 95-87 overtime victory over Jordan earlier Monday, ensured that the U.S. is moving on. The Americans will finish group play against Jordan on Wednesday, then play Lithuania and Montenegro — in some order — on Friday and Sunday in Round 2.
"We’re really excited to win the first two and to guarantee ourselves moving to the next round," U.S. coach Steve Kerr said."But we just keep on, one game at a time — and, hopefully, six more.""We couldn’t compete the way we wanted to," Greece coach Dimitrios Itoudis said."We wanted them to feel us a little bit on the court."
Getting to the second round isn't exactly a surprise for the U.S., the current tournament favorites and a team seeking a sixth World Cup gold medal. There was no real gold-medal contender in Group C along with the U.S., and the Americans followed up a 27-point win over New Zealand in Saturday's opener with a 28-point victory that was never in doubt Monday.
But France — the reigning Olympic silver medalist — getting eliminated in Round 1 of this World Cup served as a reminder: Even for basketball superpowers, nothing is guaranteed anymore. And the U.S. took a businesslike approach to get past Greece. "All respect to Greece," Brunson said."That team over there, they play hard, they're well-coached. A lot of respect for that squad. And for us, we're still getting better."
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