Team USA guard Austin Reaves. -MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — Austin Reaves made sure to bounce back from his worst game for Team USA.
Reaves, the crowd-favorite guard, once again provided the energy off the bench as Team USA routed Italy, 100-63, to advance to the Fiba World Cup semifinals on Tuesday at Mall of Asia Arena.
“You man up. You go watch the film and you see the stuff didn’t do good. Obviously, struggled guarding the post. My brother’s boy had a couple of good moves. Tip your hat,” Reaves told reporters, referring to Lithuania guard Vaidas Kariniauskas.
The Los Angeles Lakers rising star fouled out in Team USA’s 110-104 loss to Lithuania last Sunday in a game where he was limited to just seven points and failed to get a single rebound and assist.
Reaves was also taunted by Kariniauskas but he never lost confidence and got back to being his usual productive self with 12 points, four rebounds and three assists.
“At the end of the day, you never lose confidence in what you do as a basketball player and I don’t know anybody that tries to make me lose confidence, Good luck to them,” he said.
Team USA guard Austin Reaves celebrates against Italy in the Fiba World Cup quarterfinals. -MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
Reaves said the Americans loosened up their game and were able to have fun again to regain their winning ways in time for the final phase.
“Anytime you win, it’s a lot of fun. You know, we played a good brand of basketball tonight,” said Reaves, who energized the crowd with his emphatic putback slam. “Obviously, shoutout to the fans. It’s a beautiful thing to see for me, it means a lot to me and I appreciate it.”
“That was our plan from the get-go, to have a lot of energy, a lot of effort and you know, really go — like you said — make a statement. Put our best foot forward. We still have two more to win and the common goal hasn’t changed,” he added.
Team USA is making its return to the World Cup semis after a quarterfinal exit in the 2019 edition in China.
Facing either Germany or Latvia in the semis on Friday, Reaves believes they are on the right track.
“There’s always points of improvement but this is obviously a good step in the right direction, obviously, we got two more to win,” he said. “It’s gonna be a tough game whichever opponent we draw next round. But today was a good start.”