Walker, Turner lead US to 102-86 win over Australia
MELBOURNE, Australia, Aug 22, (AP): With his team playing on a raised basketball court in a stadium normally used for soccer and cricket, US coach Gregg Popovich said he felt like he was on a movie set.
But once the game started, Popovich thought it all seemed normal. And if it had been a movie, Popovich surely would have liked the ending.
Kemba Walker scored 23 points, Myles Turner added 15 points and 14 rebounds, and the US topped Australia 102-86 on Thursday before a crowd of 51,218 – billed as the largest crowd ever to watch a basketball game in Australia.
Patty Mills and Chris Goulding scored 19 points each for Australia, which stayed with the Americans for about 2½ quarters before seeing chances slip away at Marvel Stadium – transformed into a makeshift basketball arena for two games against the Americans, tune-ups for both sides before the World Cup starts next week in China.
After Australia briefly took the lead at 45-44 early in the second half, the Americans scored 13 unanswered points, including three straight 3-pointers by Turner, Harrison Barnes and Mitchell, to go up 57-45.
Walker was one the keys for the second-half resurgence for the Americans, scoring 21 of his 23 points after halftime.
The roof of Marvel Stadium was closed and the court was placed in the middle of the field surrounded by hundreds of white chairs, more than 20 rows deep, for fans who paid for floor seating.
Despite the huge crowd, Australian media reported that some fans were issued refunds because they bought tickets based on promotional materials depicting Stephen Curry and LeBron James – who were part of the US player pool when the deal was struck last year to play these games. Neither Curry nor James is on the US roster for the World Cup.
Australia was also without its biggest star, Ben Simmons, who has opted not to play in the World Cup. Still, the Boomers starting lineup included four NBA players: Mills, Aron Baynes, Joe Ingles and Matthew Dellavedova.
And the Aussies gave their crowd some thrills – like a run just before halftime that cut the US lead to 44-43 after back-to-back 3-pointers by Goulding and six straight points by Mills.