Team USA began its pre-Olympics exhibition tour against arguably its biggest competition for the gold medal. It was an encouraging start.
Led by Anthony Edwards and Anthony Davis, the Americans defeated Canada 86-72 on Wednesday in Las Vegas. The team has four exhibitions remaining over the next two weeks before heading to Paris, against Australia, Serbia, South Sudan and Germany.
The game opened as a slog, despite featuring the two teams most stocked with NBA talent from top to bottom. With Kevin Durant out with a calf strain, Team USA opened with a starting lineup of LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid, Devin Booker and Joel Embiid.