U.S. places worst-ever 7th at World Cup
UNITED STATES 87, POLAND 74
BEIJING — Donovan Mitchell scored 16 points and handed out 10 assists, Joe Harris scored 14 and the U.S. defeated Poland 87-74 on Saturday for seventh place at the World Cup.
Khris Middleton had 13 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists for the Americans, who will head home with a 6-2 record — their worst placing ever in a World Cup, world championship as it used to be known, or Olympics.
Derrick White scored 12 and Harrison Barnes added 10 for the U.S.
Mateusz Ponitka scored 18 points, Adam Waczynski had 17 and A.J. Slaughter finished with 15 for Poland (4-4), which was in the World Cup for the first time since 1967.
The Americans put together a 10-0 run in the first quarter to take a 28-14 lead. Poland started 0 for 13 from three-point range, not getting one from beyond the arc to fall until Michal Sokolowski connected with 1:28 left in the half — and by then, the U.S. lead was 18.
There was little to play for except pride — and the Americans were playing with the realization that, for some of them, it easily could be their last time wearing the red, white and blue uniforms with “USA” across the chest. The roster for the U.S. trip to the Tokyo Olympics next summer is likely to look considerably different than this one.
It had much meaning to Poland Coach Mike Taylor as well. He’s an American, who lives in Florida, and mouthed along with the words to The Star-Spangled Banner when it played pregame.
His team wasn’t eager to quit, either.
Down 17 at the half, Poland made it a very serious game after intermission. Waczynski’s three-pointer from the right corner late in the third got Poland within 54-47, and Lukasz Koszarek had a three-point try that would have gotten his team within four with 8:21 remaining.
Timing is everything — the 6-2 record for the U.S. in World Cup play was better than silver-medalist Serbia (5-4) and bronze-medalist France (6-3) at the last World Cup. But losing in the quarterfinals doomed the U.S. medal hopes.
Kemba Walker (neck) didn’t play Saturday for the U.S. team, joining Boston Celtics teammates Jayson Tatum (left ankle) and Marcus Smart (left hand) on the injured list. White started in Walker’s place at point guard.
Poland had three players who played at the Division I level — Slaughter was a four-year player at Western Kentucky, guard Karol Gruszecki spent two years at Texas-Arlington and center Dominik Olejniczak started his career at Drake, then played two seasons at Ole Miss and will play this year at Florida State as a graduate transfer.
Poland started 4-0 in China, then dropped its last four games.