Walker, Turner power USA past Australia in warm-up

Kemba Walker scored a game-high 23 points, and Myles Turner racked up 15 points and 14 rebounds in just 19 minutes as Team USA beat Australia 102-86 in Melbourne on Thursday in a warm-up game for the FIBA World Cup. Walker also chipped in six rebounds in his 26 minutes. Donovan Mitchell added 13 points, Kyle Kuzma had 12, and Boston Celtics teammates Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum had 11 apiece. Kuzma collected all of his on of 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point range.

The U.S. led by as many as 20 in front of a crowd of 51,218, reported to be the largest crowd ever for a basketball game in Australia. The venue, Marvel Stadium, typically hosts soccer, cricket and Australian rules football but set up the stadium for basketball, with a closed roof. The teams will meet again on Saturday in Melbourne.

Patty Mills and Chris Goulding each had 19 points to lead Australia, which led by one early in the second half before the U.S. went on a 13-0 run. Turner, Harrison Barnes and Mitchell hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions during the stretch.

"We have guys that are just starting to play with each other," Mitchell said afterward. "We got off to a little bit of a rough start in the first half, but the third quarter, we really picked it up defensively." The U.S. beat Spain 90-81 last week in their first tune-up game after a intrasquad scrimmage in early August. The Americans open the World Cup on Sept. 1 against the Czech Republic and continue group-stage play against Turkey on Sept. 3 and Japan on Sept. 5.

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