ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — USA Basketball dug deep to head to the World Cup with an unbeaten exhibition record.
Anthony Edwards scored 34 points, Austin Reaves and Tyrese Haliburton each added 16 and the U.S. rallied from a 16-point second-half deficit to beat Germany 99-91 on Sunday night in its final tuneup game before heading to the Philippines for the World Cup.
An 18-0 run in the final minutes saved the Americans, who finished the exhibition season 5-0.
Franz Wagner scored 17 points for Germany, which got 16 points and 10 assists from Dennis Schroder, and 14 points from Moritz Wagner. It became the first team this summer to take more than a four-point lead on the U.S. but couldn’t finish the win off.
Moritz Wagner’s 3-pointer with 6:58 left put Germany up 86-77. The Germans missed their next eight shots — and the Americans scored the game’s next 18 points.
The U.S. team has been together for only 2 1/2 weeks yet has had very little trouble clicking to this point. The Americans opened the tuneup schedule with a 117-74 win in Las Vegas over Puerto Rico, then headed to Spain for wins over Slovenia (92-62, though the Slovenians played without Luka Doncic) and Spain (98-88). From Spain, they headed to Abu Dhabi to finish preparations, beating Greece 108-86 on Friday and then capping it all off by topping the Germans.
Next up: The stuff that matters — the World Cup, which will take place in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia. The U.S. is the heavy betting favorite to win the tournament, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, and will face New Zealand, Greece and Jordan in group play that starts Saturday in Manila.
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