Team USA beats Spain in exhibition match behind impressive play from Celtics' core

Friday night, Team USA laced up their shoes once again to face off in an exhibition match, this time against an outside opponent. The national team of Spain traveled to the Honda Center in Anaheim, California to face off against the training USA roster as they approach the end of their camp.

Boston Celtics' guard Kemba Walker talking to Team USA coach Gregg Popovich in the exhibition against Spain. Photo via Marcio Jose Sanchez 

Team USA ultimately came out on top, winning the game with a final score of 90 - 81, and any Celtics' fans out there should be very satisfied with how Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown all represented the green in red, white, and blue.

Starting at point guard, Kemba Walker pretty much controlled the flow of the game from the tip. Playing the second-most minutes (22:29) on the team only behind Donovan Mitchell (23:05), Kemba served as the primary ballhandler. He finished with a total of 11 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals while shooting a solid 57% (4-7) from the field. He also had a few highlights spread out through the game, including this move to the basket early on in the exhibition.
Although he didn't start, Celtics' forward Jayson Tatum recorded 21:57 minutes of play (the third-highest for Team USA). In that time he logged 11 points, along with 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and a block. Despite his relatively poor field goal percentage (33% on 3-9 shooting), Tatum still managed to have an immense impact on the game with his all-around play and his role as one of the closers as time wined down in the fourth quarter.
Within the game, he also finished this impressive contact dunk after slicing past his defender. The dunk spread pretty fast throughout social media as it was probably the most impressive highlight of the night.
What was also good to see was some solid play from Celtics' shooting guard Jaylen Brown, who made good use of his 9 minutes on the court. In that time, he scored 9 points on 80% shooting (4-5 FGS) while also adding 4 rebounds and an assist. He too had an impressive highlight play in the form of a two-handed slam right down the middle off of a baseline feed from Milwaukee Bucks' shooting guard Khris Middleton.
Other Team USA players such as Donovan Mitchell (13 pts, 5 rebs, 50% FG) and Khris Middleton (12 pts, 3 rebs, 3 asts) also had big nights that contributed towards the win, a win that was a very much welcomed change from the last scrimmage Team USA had this past week.

Playing a couple of ten-minute games at practice, this same Team USA roster lost to a group which mostly consisted of G-league and overseas players. This news which leaked from the closed practice went around the internet pretty fast and had many questioning what chances Team USA really had in the FIBA World Cup this fall.

However, in a post-game interview with NBA TV's Jared Greenberg, Kemba Walker said that the USA roster didn't care about the negative buzz that came out after the loss to the G-leaguers. With the bounce-back win against Spain, it certainly seems like this is the right mindset to have as they continue to get better before they head to Australia for their next two exhibition match-ups. For betting offers and free bet offers head to Max Free Bets and make your predictions on future games.
You can follow Thomas Desmond on Twitter @td_654.

Related: Video: USA 90, Spain 81 highlights