USA Basketball 2014 World Cup: Klay Heats Up As USA Demolishes Finland (Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account)
BILBAO EXHIBITION CENTRE (BEC), BILBAO, SPAIN — 8,000 fans from Finland made the trip to Bilbao and they could be heard throughout the arena. However, #TeamUSA came out determined on defense and silenced the would-be raucous crowd.
Here’s a quarter-by-quarter recap…
FIRST QUARTER
Stephen Curry got the start again alongside Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Kenneth Faried, and Anthony Davis, and started out on the 6’3″ Sasu Salin and fought his way through high picks.
Curry had an early open look on a cross-court feed from Harden, but missed it. He later missed another trey that was in early transition after the Finns had a scored an inside bucket in front of a roaring crowd.
Harden and Davis led the way, however, as #TeamUSA stretched its lead to double-digits. The team started running downhill seemingly after Curry got a steal in the backcourt and was fouled. By then, Finland was already in the penalty due to some early offensive, over-aggressive fouls by Finn frontman Gerald Lee, so Curry got to go to the line.
Klay Thompson checked in after the second made basket and delivered an open three shortly thereafter, fed by Harden again.
Not long after, the #SplashBrothers were in full effect as Curry checked back in.
Not much between them happened, but Thompson got the last play call with 14.7 seconds remaining in the quarter. He got the hand-off on the right side, but was on an island as he tried a stutter-step move then launched a long jumpshot which rimmed short.
Finland raced towards the frontcourt, but Curry and Klay got back in just enough time to bother the Finns into a miss and the buzzer sounded. Thompson looked at Faried as if there had been a blown assignment on the offensive play.
USA took a 31-16 lead into the second quarter.
SECOND QUARTER
The second quarter began with the same starting five for USA and a total team effort on defense. Team USA held the Finns to just two points on free throws, blowing the game open with a 29-2 explosion to put them up 60-18 at the half.
There were a couple highlights from the #SplashBrothers.
Curry got a defensive rebound and fed a streaking DeMarcus Cousins for a fastbreak layup.
Late in the quarter, Thompson ran the floor and spaced himself on the fastbreak after Mason Plumlee hustled to get a rebound going out of bounds, that Cousins outletted to Derrick Rose.
Rose rewarded Thompson with a perfect feed for a soaring two-handed smash.
On the low-light end of things, Curry got called for a touch foul, his second of the night. When he motioned to the ref that his man had extended a forearm, the ref didn’t engage Curry.
Thompson had a bad turnover on a pass that landed right in the hands of a defender as Klay drove left-handed, jumped in the air, and tried to force the ball to a wing. However, right after that, he got himself back into rhythm with a one-on-one stop-and-pop from the left side.
THIRD QUARTER
Curry immediately got his 5th assist after a late-in-the-shotclock pass to Davis, who knocked it in from the baseline.
After picking up his 2nd personal foul on a touch foul outside, Curry got a one-handed “rim-grazer” dunk on a fastbreak, with the long pass from Harden.
With the score 72-29, coach Mike Krzyzewski subbed the entire starting five, so Thompson was on the floor with the second unit.
Klay got it going with a steal and three treys. One of them was a turn-and-pivot launch. By the end of the third, he was the second-leading scorer on #USABMNT with 15. Davis led all scorers with 17.
USA was up 89-39 heading into the fourth.
FOURTH QUARTER
In the fourth, Thompson heated up, scoring 11 points on three three-pointers to push his total for the game to 15, second to only Davis, who finished with 17.
Before hitting his last, Klay made another turnover jumping into the air and turning the ball over. However, again, immediately after that, he made a shot, this time a trey.
Curry didn’t play in the final frame, but USA won by 60 points, 114-54.
Finland got demolished on the court, but their fans gave the team a rousing cheer at the end of the game, as the team acknowledged their countrymen from center court with their own applause.
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