"Ant can get 30 whenever he wants": Mikal Bridges heaps praise on Anthony Edwards' unselfish play as USA beat Italy by 37 points
Team USA advances to the 2023 FIBA World after demolishing Italy with a 37-point victory. Only this time around the American squad got a boost from other than Anthony Edwards.
Throughout the tournament, Anthony Edwards led Team USA in the scoring department and had a tournament-high of 35 points during their loss against Lithuania.
Against Italy, Edwards gave the spotlight more to his teammates as he finished the game with only three points, three rebounds, three assists and one block in 18 minutes.
Mikal Bridges of the Brooklyn Nets was the team's top scorer with 24 points and he credits Edwards for his unselfish play to help Team USA gain a confidence-boosting win over Italy.
"Earlier, I gave Ant a big shoutout," said Bridges post-game. "Ant can get 30 whenever he wants. You know, like easily, Just to him to be unselfish and you know we talk to him and try to help him out just to find guys and that's what we did and he's probably the happiest dude in the locker room right now."
"Shout out to Ant for that and he knows how dominant he is and confident. Just to find guys and I think we kind off fed from that, you know, once we saw Ant doing that and how happy he was and everybody had that kind of joy as well," added Bridges.
Team USA moves up to the semi-finals of the FIBA World Cup and awaits the winner of the Latvia vs. Germany matchup.
WATCH: Mikal Bridges and Steve Kerr talk to the media after Team USA beat Italy
Anthony Edwards would try to break Kevin Durant's FIBA scoring record
Kevin Durant left a mark during the 2010 FIBA World Cup by leading Team USA with 38 points to win over Lithuania, 89-74. As Anthony Edwards faced the Lithuanian team, he made it known to try and break the record to the media.
"On beating KD's record? He is probably one of the greatest players. That's going to be tough but I'mma try. For sure. I'm going to try," said Edwards after Team USA's victory over Montenegro.
After the game, Edwards came close and only had 35 points but the team suffered a bad loss against Lithuania led by New Orleans Pelicans center Jonas Valanciunas.
WATCH: Anthony Edwards talks to the media about breaking Kevin Durant's FIBA scoring record
There is little doubt about Edwards' talent on the basketball court and he would surely come back stronger in the next game and could challenge Durant's benchmark as well.