The United States dominated the Czechs by 88 to 67 to open the Jazz World Cup, Donovan Mitchell, leads the Americans with 16

Shanghai • The first major celebration reaction of the US bench in this World Cup came just minutes after the start of the match, when Myles Turner blocked a shot. And with that, the tone was given.

The US team is focusing on defense and this has been evident from the start of its Group E opening on Sunday. Donovan Mitchell scored 16 points to lead a balanced evening and the Americans have regularly wavered to beat the Czech Republic 88-67 and begin their quest for a third consecutive World Cup title.

"This must be our calling card," said American coach Gregg Popovich. "We will try to run better and better over time, but on defense, we have to put our money in. That's what we have to be about to have." an opportunity."

Harrison Barnes added 14 points, Kemba Walker scored 13 and Jayson Tatum finished with 10 for the Americans. Turner had seven rebounds and a pair of shots blocked.

"As long as we win, that's all that matters," Tatum said.

Tomas Satoransky, the former Washington striker who was traded to Chicago during the summer, led the Czechs with 17 points.

While the series of 78 wins by Americans in international matches against NBA players ended last month with a defeat in Australia, their long series of victories in major tournaments continued. We are now in 54 games, starting with the 2006 world championship bronze medal match and the 2007 FIBA ​​Americas gold medal races, 2008 Olympics, World Cup 2010, the 2012 Olympic Games, the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.

"We have done a lot of good things," said Mitchell. "We have kept the game well. We certainly have a lot of things we can work on, and I think it's a good start to the tournament."

The Czechs scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to be between 66 and 52, but the Americans were not threatened. Walker made a pointer to 3 to stop the mini-stick, found Mitchell in the corner for another pointer that did 72-52 about a minute later and the result was academic from there.

The Czechs had their best time early in the race for a quick lead of 11-7, and the few thousand of their fans in Shanghai – most wearing a white or blue jersey, with some Satoransky Wizards jerseys mixed in there – roared.

After a 9-0 victory of the Czechs, the order is quickly restored. The Americans scored the following 10 points, giving the kickoff to what became a 29-9 total run, and led by 16 players before starting in the half with a 43-29 lead. .

And that's the defense that brought the Americans. In 10 minutes, the Czechs scored four goals in twenty with seven turnovers.

"Chemistry is building," said Barnes. "In the expectation of continuing to build."

Czech Republic: It was the first match of the World Cup for the Czechs since 1982, when the tournament was called the World Championship and the country was still Czechoslovakia. This nation beat the United States 0-3 in previous clashes. … Jaromir Bohacik and Vojtech Hruban each scored 13.

United States: Americans started Walker, Mitchell, Tatum, Barnes and Turner. … Mason Plumlee, the only player to come back from the gold medal winning team of the 2014 US World Cup, was the only one not to be part of the initial 11-man rotation of the team. American coach Gregg Popovich, Sunday. Plumlee had its first action in the third quarter. … Walker did his five two-point tests.

This is the 18th World Cup or FIBA ​​World Championship – and for the 18th time in a row, the United States took the 1-0 start. All opening victories, except four, were double-digit; the closest were a 37-33 victory over Chile in the first edition in 1950, a 81-73 victory over Argentina in 1959, a 77-75 victory over Australia in 1978 and a victory over 103-95 on Greece in 1990. The average margin of victory: 22.6 points.

Popovich and the American staff wore red polo shirts – Popovich and assistant coach Steve Kerr were not drawn – and blue pants. Czech coaches all wore a dark suit, which is unusual for FIBA ​​coaches who prefer polo (Canada's Nick Nurse went with a gray crew-neck sweater earlier Sunday), but dropped his shoes dressed for his sneakers.

It's the biggest World Cup ever – 32 teams – and that means the number of NBA reps in the tournament is more important than before. The World Cup has 54 NBA players from 17 countries. At the last World Cup in 2014, a 24-team competition, there were 45 players in the NBA.

Czech Republic: Japan (0-1) faces Tuesday in Shanghai.

United States: faces of Turkey (1-0) Tuesday in Shanghai.