FIBA World Cup, Team USA vs. Finland final score: James Harden leads 114-55 blowout win
By Josh Hill
The FIBA World Cup tipped off today in Spain and the results for Team USA’s opening game in group play was pretty much what you’d expect it to be. It’s not that Finland is bad at sports — because they’re not, the country is a hockey factory — it’s just that they’re very bad at basketball.
More from FIBA World Cup
- Lionel Messi delivered greatness for Argentina in a thrilling World Cup final
- There’s an Anneli Maley sized hole on every WNBA team
- Evaluating NBA Draft prospects at the FIBA U19 World Championships
- Thon Maker was throwing karate kicks in an epic brawl at FIBA qualifier
- USA women’s basketball win FIBA World Cup
Perhaps it was just the competition they were up against, but the Finnish national team has nothing to hang their heads high about after their blowout loss to Team USA on Saturday. If you want to get a good idea of just how bad things were for the Fins, they scored all but two points in the second quarter against Team USA.
James Harden didn’t lead the team in scoring but he did manage to go ham with the steals against Finland, tallying four in total and throwing down some highlight plays in the meantime. His euro-step around the Finnish defense in the first quarter of the game wowed everyone watching and his alley-oop to Rudy Gay — off of a steal, no less — was equally impressive.
Group play will be a cake walk for the Americans, as they have no formidable opponents facing them in their group. If Finland was the toughest test, then Team USA will coast to the final rounds of the World Cup tournament.
There are still things that need to be shored up, but Finland just stood absolutely no chance against Team USA on Saturday and that’s ditto for the rest of Group C in the World Cup.
Be sure to check FanSided.com’s official NBA page to keep up to date on the latest news and rumors from around the league all summer long.