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SHANGHAI – Kemba Walker and Jayson Tatum are likely to win many games with the Boston Celtics over the next few years. On Sunday, they combined to play an important role in their first consecutive victory together when Team USA opened the FIBA World Cup with a 88-67 victory over the Czech Republic.
Tatum and Walker combined 20 points in the first half, with the United States breaking slightly after a slow start. The group played only five exhibition games – some of its competitors in the tournament played more than ten – and featured lineups and rotating staff, which allowed the start of the pool to play. a little smoothly for this training.
But Tatum has shot the ball since the group gathered for training camp in Las Vegas a month ago and he broke two points 3 points from the door for this to continue. Tatum finished with 10 points.
"Playing together so much together now (with Walker) has built chemistry for the season," Tatum said. "Hope that there are good things to come for the future."
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At the same time, the game plan of the Czechs was to attack the smallest Walker with his best player, Tomas Satoransky, who is about six inches tall. Satoransky went to the station many times to try to silence Walker in the first period.
The Bulls awarded Satoransky a three-year contract worth $ 30 million this summer, in part because of his talent for the ball to his size. But then, the Celtics gave Walker $ 140 million because he is a star used to playing against the size.
Walker held his, pushing the ball several times and not afraid of committing a foul when he lost his leverage.
"Oh yes, they came after me," said Walker, who had 13 points. "It's a different game in the NBA, it's a lot more physical, we're the USA team, we're going to get the best shot from everybody, especially physically, the teams are going to be tough on us. We just have to keep calm and be tough and play through everything. "
He played at the other end of the pitch, where his speed has regularly defeated the Czech perimeter. His back-and-forth actions and quick movements from one side to the other drew "ohs" and "ahs" from the crowd full of capabilities of the Oriental Sports Center.
Walker's fate was part of a solid American defensive effort, which coach Gregg Popovich hopes will be the foundation for the team's run to a third consecutive World Cup title. The Czechs only shot 35% in the first period as the Americans blocked five shots and forced them out of their attack.
Popovich wants energy from his defense and he kept the players fresh, playing 10 of them in the first quarter only. After losing 98 points in the loss to Australia a week ago, the United States limited the last two opponents to less than 70 points including their last warm-up match against Canada.
"Happy is not a word that coaches use because we are sick puppies and probably never happy," said Popovich. "But the defense has to be our calling card, we have to put our money in. In the end, it's better."
"We did a lot of good things," said Mitchell, "it was really a good start."
Star of the game: Walker finished with 6 points out of 8 for 13 points, as well as four assists and one robbery.
Status of the game: After scoring only 2 points out of 14 by 3 points in their last exhibition game against Canada, the Americans scored 10 points out of 26 for a much better performance.
Following: The Americans play Tuesday their second game in three pools against Turkey (ESPN +, 8:30 ET). It's a rematch of the 2010 World Championship match and the Turks are probably the toughest competition of this group for the US team. They have three NBA players: Cedi Osman, Ersan Ilyasova and Furkan Korkmaz, as well as former NBA player Semih Erden. Ilyasova had 19 points and five points to 3 points in Turkey's 19-point win over Japan on Sunday night.
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