Their final game at the World Cup had been over for several minutes, and every member of the US team and coaching staff were still lingering together on the court.
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They were ready to go home.
They just weren't ready to go their separate ways.
For USA Basketball, summer ended Saturday with an 87-74 win over Poland in the seventh-place game at the World Cup, the lowest finish ever by a US team in a major international tournament.
Donovan Mitchell finished with 16 points and 10 assists, Joe Harris scored 14 and the US wrapped up their stay in China with a 6-2 record.
And when it was over, as his players signed each other's jerseys in the locker room as souvenirs, US coach Gregg Popovich insisted this team have nothing to be ashamed about.
"If you don't win, some people will play the blame game," Popovich said.
"There's no blame to be placed anywhere. They play the shame game, like we should be ashamed because we didn't win a gold medal? That's a ridiculous attitude. It's immature. It's arrogant. And it shows that whoever thinks that doesn't respect all the other teams in the world and doesn't respect that these guys did the best they could."
Khris Middleton had 13 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Americans. Derrick White scored 12 and Harrison Barnes added 10 for the US who led by 17 at the half but had to stave off a Poland rally in the final minutes.
Mateusz Ponitka scored 18 points, Adam Waczynski had 17 and Louisville-born A.J. Slaughter finished with 15 for Poland (4-4), who were in the World Cup for the first time since 1967.
Australian Associated Press
