American players paused from their warmups to stand and face their New Zealand opponents as they performed the haka, their traditional war dance challenge.
The U.S. response wasn't nearly as interesting. Just pound the ball inside and outmuscle an overmatched opponent.
Anthony Davis had 21 points and nine rebounds, Kenneth Faried added 15 and 11 boards and the U.S. remained unbeaten at the Basketball World Cup by beating winless New Zealand 98-71 on Tuesday.
James Harden scored 13 points for the Americans, who will play two more games in Bilbao before moving on to Barcelona for the round of 16. They face the Dominican Republic on Wednesday before wrapping up Group C play on Thursday against Ukraine.
“It was a good, solid performance,” U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “I thought the intensity was excellent.”
Two nights after having to rally from a halftime deficit and pull away in the fourth quarter for a 98-77 victory over Turkey, the U.S. led this one wire to wire. The game was close only for a little more than a quarter.
BJ Anthony scored 11 points for New Zealand, which fell to 0-3.
“It was pretty awesome getting to play against these guys. These are guys that we watch on TV all the time,” veteran forward Casey Frank said. “To be able to get out there on the court against them and have a little bit of success offensively, obviously the result didn't go our way, was pretty awesome.”
Stephen Curry finished with 12 points for the U.S., getting his shot to fall after going just 4 of 17 through the first two games. Golden State Warriors backcourt mate Klay Thompson also scored 12 and Kyrie Irving had 10.
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