Utah Jazz’s Mitchell, Team USA beat Rubio, Spain comfortably

In a battle of former Utah Jazz teammates, Donovan Mitchell and USA Basketball hosted Ricky Rubio and Spain in their first exhibition bout.

Over the last 48 hours, much has been made about USA Basketball’s ill-fated scrimmage on Wednesday, and rightfully so. Facing a squad made up almost entirely of G-Leaguers, Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell and his crew got trounced in epic fashion losing by 19 points in a 10-minute contest.

That sounds bad — the video is even worse. But hey, in the words of Allen Iverson, we’re talking about practice; the real test came on Friday.

With the hoopla about the scrimmage still coursing through the hoops blogosphere, Mitchell and Team USA took on FIBA’s second-ranked team worldwide and a squad the Americans could face in the World Cup semi-final or even the gold medal game (depending on how the standings shake out) in Spain.

In a game that pitted Mitchell against his former Jazz teammate in Ricky Rubio, the Americans had a golden opportunity to redeem themselves against a quality opponent. In the end, they did just that, cruising to a 90-81 win in their first exhibition bout at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

Mitchell led a balanced effort, scoring a team-high 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting (and 2-of-3 from distance), while adding four rebounds. Also, he threw down a hammer (as is his style) —

Khris Middleton chipped in with 12 points, while Kemba Walker and Jayson Tatum added 11 apiece.

Marc Gasol paced Spain with 19 points; Rubio had a great all-around line with 16 points, seven assists and five steals. However, the former Jazzman also missed nine of his 13 shot attempts; in other words, it was exactly the kind of game Jazz fans saw from him time and time again over his two years with the club.

During the post-game scrum, Mitchell had nothing but great things to say about his former point guard —

"“I love Ricky. He’s helped me so much throughout my career. I’m just blessed to have a former teammate like that. He’s a competitor; loves to compete.”"

I, for one, love Rubio for wearing a pair of D.O.N. Issue No. 1’s during the game, which Mitchell also shouted out during media availability.

Where the game is concerned, people were clearly blowing the significance of the now infamous scrimmage completely out of proportion. This performance against Spain is likely a much better indicator of the progress the team has made after two weeks of training camp.

Still, talented though they may be, the Americans absolutely are in no position to let up on opponents or suffer through mental lapses. Any win against Spain is a good one, but this was still just an exhibition game — they didn’t get their opponent’s best shot.

And while it was a comfortable win overall for Team USA, they did surrender a 12-2 run in the final carom, which is exactly the kind of stretch that could prove disastrous in World Cup play.

Next up for USA Basketball is a move to Australia where they will resume camp. While there, Mitchell and Co. will face the Aussie Boomers twice and wrap up with Team Canada before tipping off World Cup play in China next month.