A Spanish-American war is set to take place this Sunday, as Team USA and Span collide in a must-watch exhibition game between two superpowers in the sport. Check out our preview of this game along with our prediction for the winner and final score below.
Team USA has been dealing with some roster issues of late. Bradley Beal after getting into health and safety protocol, while Kevin Love is no longer part of the team after withdrawing because of health reasons. Still, the Americans have a formidable cast of NBA stars, led by Kevin Durant. The Brooklyn Nets star had 17 points in Team USA’s 108-80 win over Argentina last Tuesday which served as the Americans’ bounce-back contest after consecutive losses in Vegas to Nigeria and Australia. Damian Lillard and Zack LaVine provided additional firepower in that game with 13 and 15 points, respectively. Team USA seems to have developed better chemistry now, and that’s bad news for its future opponents, though the Americans will be welcoming new faces in Keldon Johnson and JaVale McGree.
Don’t expect Spain to be intimate by Team USA. After all, the Spaniards are the reigning world champions, as they won the title in China two years ago. (The US lost in the knockout phase of that round to France.) Spain boasts of a roster that’s littered with NBA players like Marc Gasol, Ricky Rubio, Alex Abrines, and Juancho and Willy Hernangomez. Also on the team are former NBA standouts like Rudy Fernandez and Pau Gasol. This group will look to take advantage of Team USA’s lack of preparation as a team and shaky defense. Spain surely has watched how the Nigerians made their outside shots against Team USA’s poor perimeter defense and will be looking to do the same this coming Sunday. The Spaniards’ frontcourt could also dominate Team USA in the paint, as the latter doesn’t have much to offer in that area.
