Milwaukee Bucks duo struggle in USA exhibition win over Australia

As USA Basketball continued its preparations for the FIBA World Cup, Brook Lopez and Khris Middleton struggled in a win against Australia in Melbourne.

With the FIBA World Cup set to get underway in China in just over a week’s time, USA Basketball has reached a crucial juncture in ramping up its preparations, as have Milwaukee Bucks duo Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez in their hopes of being key contributors to that effort.

Gregg Popovich’s final roster cut is also coming up quickly on the horizon, leaving a three-game exhibition schedule as the last chance for any players on the bubble to make a lasting impression to make the 12-man squad.

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The first of those games took place in Melbourne against the mini-tour’s host, Australia, in the early hours of Thursday morning U.S. time, and in spite of some tough spells, the U.S ultimately managed to see off the Boomers and secure a convincing 102-86 victory.

Staged in Marvel Stadium, which is most commonly used to stage Australian Rules Football AFL games, the court made for quite the sight dotted in what would usually be the center of the field with over 51,000 fans in attendance around it.

As Popovich and his staff continue to experiment with their lineup combinations ahead of making the trip to China, Kemba Walker, Donovan Mitchell, Joe Harris, Jaylen Brown, and Myles Turner got the starting nods for Team USA.

On the opposite side of the floor, Boomers coach Andrej Lemanis opted for a lineup consisting of many familiar faces, including former Buck Matthew Dellavedova, Patty Mills, Joe Ingles, Aron Baynes, and Jock Landale, who recently starred for the Milwaukee squad at Summer League.

From the opening tip, the U.S. starting five showed an impressive level of cohesion. Throughout the course of the game, the offense purred along seamlessly when Walker and Mitchell were paired in the backcourt, making that duo the obvious frontrunners to occupy those berths in the World Cup opener against the Czech Republic.

The U.S. held a 9-5 lead when Lopez was among the first two subs to enter the game at the 5:51 mark in the first, and it was just a little over a minute before Middleton would join him.

Lopez certainly showed good activity through his first stint — even if he was a little overzealous in picking up an offensive foul against Andrew Bogut down low — as he dished out an assist to Kyle Kuzma on a corner three, secured an offensive board, and came up with a rejection before he returned to the bench just under four minutes later.

Middleton’s opening shift had the advantage of being a little longer than his Bucks teammate’s, yet he struggled to find any real flow during a stretch where the Australians really found their footing in the game. Middleton followed Lopez’s lead in assisting Kyle Kuzma on a triple, and also came up with a steal, but failed to score on his two attempts.

By the time Middleton did go to the bench a minute into the second half, he’d been guilty of a cheap foul on Joe Ingles that gave the Boomers their first lead of the contest, 23-22, via an And-1.

With Lopez and Middleton on the bench, and Walker and Mitchell notably among the players back on the court for the U.S., the visitors swiftly regained some semblance of control with an 11-0 run.

Middleton returned with 3:48 remaining in the first half and the U.S. leading by 39-31, and in spite of an instant turnover, made a mid-range jumper on the next possession. From a Bucks’ perspective, the hope would have been to see that shot settle the All-Star wing down, but again he found himself as a part of a U.S. unit that was rapidly losing ground.

Lopez returned to join Middleton at the 2:34 mark, where the pair combined for their best moment of the game when Middleton grabbed a rebound and pushed the ball up the floor before dishing out a delicate feed over the top to give Lopez two points with a layup.

Unfortunately another tough individual moment was just around the corner for Middleton, though, as he again committed a foul on an And-1, this time on Patty Mills.

Both Bucks finished out the first half, but with Australia closing the gap to 44-43 on the scoreboard, that was by no means a positive reflection on their play.

For Lopez, that would be the end of his night’s work, logging just over six minutes and contributing two points, two rebounds, an assist, and a block on 1-of-2 shooting. That rounded out to a plus/minus of -12, which was tied for worst on the US team alongside Middleton.

Middleton may not have been done for the night like Lopez, but he was pretty close. The two Bucks sat side-by-side on the bench throughout the entirety of the third quarter as Mitchell (13 points, three assists), Walker (26 points, six rebounds), and an especially dominant Turner (15 points, 14 rebounds) pushed the Americans out to a 76-61 lead.

Kuzma (12 points, 4-of-5 from deep) also impressed with bursts of sharpshooting over the course of the game, while Celtics duo Jayson Tatum (11 points, four assists) and Brown (11 points, six rebounds) also had their moments.

As Team USA cruised home through the fourth quarter, Popovich experimented with extended run for Harrison Barnes on the wing and Kuzma as a small-ball 5, neither of which will be greatly encouraging to Middleton and Lopez, but was by no means unfair based on this particularly underwhelming outing.

Middleton did get to return for the final 3:13, and did provide some joy in the form of a made three-pointer. In the end, he had to settle for five points, three rebounds, two assists, and a steal, on 2-of-5 shooting in almost 13 minutes of action.

A comfortable win for USA Basketball should keep confidence high, yet for Middleton and Lopez improved performances against Australia and Canada in the coming days would certainly be welcome.

Next. Milwaukee Bucks: Eric Bledsoe’s disruptive defense remains key. dark

Next up for the U.S. is a rematch with the Boomers at 11pm CT on Friday night.

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