5 takeaways from Team USA's win over Jordan at FIBA World Cup

Team USA closed out the first round of Group Phase play with their most dominant win yet, blowing out Jordan 110-62 on Wednesday from the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila.

Anthony Edwards led the way with 22 points in just 19 minutes of action as the United States never trailed and led by as many as 50 points. Team USA won the opening quarter 31-12 and continued to build on the lead against the overmatched Jordan squad, which was led by former NBA player Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who scored a team-high 20 points in the loss.

Here are five things that stood out from Wednesday’s game.

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1. Edwards delivers a ‘the guy’ performance

Following Team USA’s win over Germany in the final game of the exhibition showcase to prepare the team for the World Cup, head coach Steve Kerr made it clear that Edwards had earned the status of being “the guy” on this team of senior national team rookies.

After dazzling everyone in the exhibitions, Edwards was solid, but not spectacular in the first two games of Group Phase play at the World Cup. He finished with 14 points and seven rebounds in the opening game against New Zealand but also committed five turnovers. He followed that up with 13 points and three assists in Team USA’s win over Greece, but the story of the first two games was the bench play rather than that of Edwards.

That changed on Wednesday as Edwards shined while being matched up with Hollis-Jefferson, Jordan’s top player. In just 19 minutes on the court, Edwards racked up 22 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three 3-pointers, while shooting 50% from the field and committing zero turnovers as the U.S. outscored Jordan by 30 points with Edwards on the court.

ANT MAN WINDMILL JAM

ESPN2/ESPN+
#USABMNT #WinForUSA pic.twitter.com/16N9PlITPX

— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) August 30, 2023

And as he has done throughout his time with Team USA and with the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves, he also provided the highlight of the night with a windmill dunk off a steal late in the third quarter. The ESPN2 broadcast caught a great shot during its slow-motion replay of the dunk as you can see Jordan’s head coach signaling a timeout to the referee just as Edwards is doing his final windup for the dunk.

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2. Ingram moves to the bench, Hart into the starting lineup

After going with the same starting five throughout the exhibition tour and the first two games of the Group Phase, Kerr finally made a change to the starting lineup on Wednesday, inserting Josh Hart for Brandon Ingram.

Hart was coming off a strong performance against Greece as he collected a game-high 11 rebounds, dished out five assists and scored six points in 20 minutes off the bench. Hart has excelled throughout his time with Team USA (and throughout his NBA career) by doing the little things – grabbing rebounds, getting 50-50 balls, pushing the tempo, playing strong defense, and scoring when opportunities present themselves – all without specific plays drawn up for him. In his first start, Hart scored just two points, while attempting only two shots, but made his presence felt with a game-high 12 rebounds and three assists in 18 minutes.

Fresh starting five for a matchup with Jordan

@mikal_bridges
@theantedwards_
@joshhart
@jarenjacksonjr
@jalenbrunson1

ESPN2/ESPN+
#WinForUSA pic.twitter.com/6xJjwV50Rt

— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) August 30, 2023

But this change was more about Ingram than it was about Hart. Ingram had not looked comfortable in the first two games of the Group Phase as he often found himself as a spot-up shooter, which really doesn’t play to his strengths. Leading the second unit, Ingram is able to have the ball in his hands a bit more and was able to create offense for himself (seven points on 3-of-7 shooting) and for others (five assists) in 15 minutes.

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3. Starters have their best outing of the Group Phase

Led by Austin Reaves, Tyrese Haliburton and Paolo Banchero, the bench unit had been the star of Team USA through the first two games of group play. But against Jordan on Wednesday, the starting five had their best performance of the World Cup thus far.

Led by Edwards’ 22 points, the five starters matched the seven bench players as both groups scored 55 points each. Jaren Jackson Jr. had another strong two-way game with 13 points, six rebounds, two blocked shots, and countless shots altered as he protected the basket. Jalen Brunson was once again able to create shots for himself off the dribble – and even had a sweet spin move on a post-up that led to a wide-open layup – as he finished with 10 points and four assists. Mikal Bridges had nine points and three steals, while Hart added the two points and 12 boards we discussed earlier.

Protecting the paint.

#USABMNT #WinForUSA pic.twitter.com/GSbFtxFmTk

— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) August 30, 2023

Meanwhile, Bobby Portis led the bench group with 13 points and six boards in 16 minutes. Walker Kessler, who has played sparingly in both the exhibition tour and World Cup, logged 12 minutes and made the most of his time with eight points and three blocks.

The big man connection

Walker ➡️ Paolo ➡️ Bobby

#USABMNT #WinForUSA pic.twitter.com/cSK7DT8uCu

— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) August 30, 2023

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4. Hollis-Jefferson gets final audition game

One of the best stories of the Group Phase of the FIBA World Cup has been the play of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson for Jordan. The 23rd overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, Hollis-Jefferson played six seasons in the NBA, including four with the Brooklyn Nets, but has been out of the NBA since 2021. Over the past two years, he’s played in Turkey, Puerto Rico and a brief stint in the Philippines earlier this year.

Hollis-Jefferson entered Wednesday’s game against the United States as the second-leading scorer in the Group Phase at 31.5 points per game – trailing only Slovenia’s Luka Doncic. Hollis-Jefferson was coming off a 39-point performance against New Zealand that sparked Kobe chants from the Filipino fans and seemed poised for another big scoring outing against the Americans on Wednesday.

Hollis-Jefferson scored six points in the first quarter and sparked an 8-0 Jordan run to open the second quarter. He was sitting on 13 points with just over seven minutes to play in the opening half as he dueled with Edwards when he sprained his ankle on a drive to the basket. He remained in the game and played throughout the second half, but was not nearly as effective.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson tonight against USA:
20 PTS
7 REB
3 AST
3 STL#FIBAWC x #WinForAll pic.twitter.com/njr43edway

— FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 (@FIBAWC) August 30, 2023

He finished with 20 points on 6-of-16 shooting from the field and 8-of-11 from the free-throw line while adding seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.  At 28 years old, Hollis-Jefferson is still in the prime of his career. It will be interesting to see if his performance in the World Cup will garner some attention from NBA scouts and coaches and leads to a potential return to the league. He clearly showed he was a formidable opponent against this USA squad stacked with NBA players.

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5. Matchup with Montenegro next

The stakes for this game were low with Team USA having already advanced to the second round and Jordan having already been eliminated. But every time this new-look U.S. squad shares the court is another opportunity to build chemistry and habits that will prove necessary as the competition rises. That begins on Friday in the second round of the Group Phase when the Americans face Montenegro.

As a refresher on the format, the top two teams in each group advance from the first round to the second round as the field is trimmed from 32 to 16 teams. After going 3-0 in Group C in the first round, Team USA joins Group J in the second round along with Montenegro and Lithuania from Group D and the winner of the final Group C game between New Zealand and Greece.

The U.S. will only face Montenegro (Friday) and Lithuania (Sunday) in the second round as the results from the first round carry over to the second. The top two teams in the second round will advance to the Final Phase, consisting of the top eight teams playing in a bracket-style tournament to determine the champion.

The first round of the Group Phase saw Team USA pick up wins by 27 points (over New Zealand), 28 points (over Greece) and 48 points (over Jordan). While these games did not deliver any clutch moments to test the resolve of the Americans – like they had against Spain and Germany in the exhibition showcase – it did give them another week together to work toward the ultimate goal. The starting lineup change is a key example here, as Kerr was able to make a change to the lineup and test things out before the critical knockout games in the Final Phase.