On Sunday, Team USA struggled against Turkey for the first three quarters, but that was not the case versus New Zealand on Tuesday. Team USA defeated them by 27 points, led once again by Anthony Davis.

The first quarter was dominated by Anthony Davis, Stephen Curry, and Kenneth Faried as they scored 21 of USA’s 27 points. Faried was a perfect 3 for 3 from the field in the quarter. Davis’ quarter was capped by an amazing alley-oop play courtesy of Kyrie Irving. However, USA only led by 7 at the end of the period.

The second quarter is when Team USA was finally able to break away. They outscored the Kiwis by 15 to earn a 22-point halftime lead. USA saw production from variety of players in this quarter. USA’s defense was solid as they held New Zealand to 35 percent shooting.

The third quarter was evenly played. New Zealand did most of their damage in the paint, and they won the quarter by a point. USA’s made field goals came in the painted area as well. They only had one field goal outside the paint, which was a three-pointer by Curry.

USA held on to a 21-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. USA was dominant in the paint once again, scoring 16 of their 23 fourth quarter points in that area. USA won the final period by 6 and finished the game with a 98-71 victory.

Anthony Davis put in 21 points and snatched 9 rebounds. Kenneth Faried recorded a double-double, scoring 15 points, and gobbling down 11 boards. USA had 6 players in double figures. James Harden added 13 points, the Splash Brothers chipped in with 12 apiece, and Irving had 10. Derrick Rose struggled again. He had 3 points on 1 of 6 shooting.

New Zealand was led by BJ Anthony’s 11 points. No one else on the team achieved double figures in scoring for the Kiwis. Everard Bartlett put in 9 points, all coming from three-pointers. Corey Webster contributed 7 points.

USA’s defense was solid as they forced 22 turnovers and held New Zealand to 40.3 percent shooting. USA continued to be sloppy, though. They had 16 turnovers of their own. As previously noted, USA dominated the paint. They outscored New Zealand by 22 from that area. USA also crashed the boards hard, outrebounding New Zealand by 15. With terrific rebounding, USA created 18 second chance points for themselves as opposed to the Kiwis 8. However, New Zealand’s bench was excellent, scoring 47 of their 71 points.

USA’s largest lead was 34 as they led wire-to-wire.

Team USA looks to stay perfect against Dominican Republic on Wednesday, September 3rd at 3:30 pm Eastern Time.

New Zealand will play Ukraine on the same day at 9 am Eastern Time.