UCLA Basketball: Jrue Holiday Helps Propel USA Basketball to Blowout of Team Serbia

The ex-Bruin continues to make his case for a starting spot.

Aug 7, 2021; Saitama, Japan; United States guard Jrue Holiday (12) dunks the ball against France in the men's basketball gold medal game during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games at Saitama Super Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Former UCLA Bruins one-and-done combo guard Jrue Holiday, now a two-time All-Star, two-time NBA champion, and six-time All-Defensive Teamer, is making the case that he deserves to start on a loaded Team USA that seems heavily favored to help him win his second Olympic gold medal this year.

In 21 minutes, Holiday scored eight points on 3-of-4 shooting from the floor (2-of-2 from long range), grabbed two rebounds, dished out two assists, and swiped a steal while submitting his typically superlative defense in a 105-79 blowout win over Team Serbia on Wednesday. The 6-foot-4 vet's passing stats may not pop off the page, but that kind of undersells just how good a distributor he really is:

Jrue's got eyes in the back of his head 👀

🇺🇸 #USABMNT x 📺 FS1 pic.twitter.com/yfHv1obHvA

— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) July 17, 2024

Holiday (ahem) drew his second start in USA Basketball's three exhibition games so far. Head coach Steve Kerr has trotted out three different starting lineups, with his only constants being LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid. Holiday was benched in favor of Minnesota Timberwolves All-NBA shooting guard Anthony Edwards for the program's too-close-for-comfort 98-92 win over Team Australia. Though somewhat out of shape (as usual), Embiid's sheer size was clearly a key asset against Team Serbia, which boasts a trio of fellow 7-foot behemoths, headlined of course by three-time league MVP Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic.

"We've still got so much room to improve," James said, per Brian Windhorst of ESPN. "But we want to continue to get better and not waste opportunities, I felt like tonight we got better."

Team USA now travels to London for two more exhibition contests in London before the real competition begins in Paris. First, they'll square off on Saturday against Team South Sudan. Then, they'll play on Monday against Team Germany.

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