After weeks of seemingly every able-bodied NBA player dropping off the roster, and after a somewhat surprising exhibition loss to Australia, USA Basketball kicked off the 2019 FIBA World Cup with a fairly run-of-the-mill, 88-67 win over the Czech Republic on Sunday. Donovan Mitchell scored 16 points to lead the States, while the Czech Republic never really threatened after a brief first-quarter spurt, despite an impressive effort from Tomas Satoransky.
Although there was some bit of bored-in-the-summer induced hysteria surrounding this USA team, their opening win followed the script of many international games you’ve seen before.