Exhibition Recap: Devin Booker starts, Team USA rolls against Canada, 86-72

Devin Booker started for Team USA. It was a fun opening exhibition game in Vegas.

It was a star-studded Wednesday night in Las Vegas.

Devin Booker got the start. Kevin Durant did not play, but he is making progress.

Team USA recovered from a slow start to win comfortably. There were your expected bumps on the road with the chemistry taking some time, but once they found their rhythm it was over. Canada is a talented squad, but Team USA was just too overwhelming with their balanced attack.

Dare I say, a superteam in the making. They’ll be clicking in a couple of weeks.

Team USA Starters

• Steph Curry
• Devin Booker
• Jrue Holiday
• LeBron James
• Joel Embiid

Team Canada starters

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
• Jamal Murray
• Dillon Brooks
• RJ Barrett
• Dwight Powell

First Half

Team USA started slow, struggling to generate offense, trailing 11-1. Booker grabbed an offensive rebound and missed a three-point attempt in his first stint. Canada has a deep, pesky team filled with legit NBA talent and they did their job.

Team USA scored just 14 points in the first 10 minutes of action. They trailed 21-14 after the first quarter of play. The second unit provided a bit of a spark.

Booker hit his first jumper at the 6:30 mark, giving Team USA a two point lead. LeBron had a monstrous block that led to a transition three from Devin Booker to make it a 5-0 Book run. Timeout Team Canada.

As the game went on, Team USA found its rhythm and started to gain separation, extending their lead to seven with less than a minute left in the first half.

Booker checked back in for the final 48 seconds of the half.

USA led Canada 41-33 at the break.

Second Half

The second half started off right for the US squad with Steph Curry heating up to extend their lead to 13.

Canada hit back-to-back threes to cut it back down to 7. Then Devin Booker hit a jumper to stop the bleeding.

Booker followed up a missed LeBron James layup and put it back in on the fastbreak to put his total to 9 points (4-5 FG), 2 rebounds, and 1 assist in his first 15 minutes of action.

Booker made some excellent passers that should’ve led to easy buckets and should’ve had a few more assists to his stat line.

After it looked like Canada was going away for good, they cut it back down to nine, 70-61. After the starters returned they blew it right back open and won with ease. After the slow start it was all Team USA.

Devin Booker finished the night with 9 points, 2 assists and 2 rebounds on 4-of-6 shooting in 20 minutes of action.

Reinforcements are on their way in Kevin Durant and Derrick White. Good luck to everyone.

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