Lakers Playoff Enemy Bests Austin Reaves, Team USA In FIBA Bronze Game

The most talented program in the World Cup failed to medal.

After getting basically played off the floor by your Los Angeles Lakers during his Memphis Grizzlies' first round playoff upset this spring, small forward Dillon Brooks was actually informed by the only NBA franchise that he'd ever known they wouldn't be retaining his services in 2023-24. The 6'7" swingman faced a fairly tenuous NBA future. 

What a difference a summer makes.

Brooks has now wrought his vengeance -- on both his former team, and on one of the team that ousted that former team from postseason consideration.

Things first turned around when he inked a lucrative four-year, $86 million deal with the Houston Rockets. 

Now, he's just scored a team-leading 39 points on 12-of-18 shooting from the field against LA shooting guard Austin Reaves and the rest of Team USA to power his native Team Canada to bronze medal honors in this summer's FIBA World Cup competition. Brooks shot 7-of-8 from deep, quite the long range performative turnaround from his miserable playoff showing against Los Angeles. He also passed for five assists, pulled down four rebounds, blocked two shots and stole one ball.

Canada almost won outright, but Mikal Bridges managed to eke out a game-saving play in regulation to push the Great White North to overtime.

At that point, Canada outscored the US 16-7 to notch a 127-118 victory.

Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points of his own in Canada's winning effort, connecting on 11 of his 20 field goal attempts. He also dished out 12 dimes, grabbed six boards, swiped a steal and rejected a shot.

Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star shooting guard Anthony Edwards led all American scorers with 24 points on 9-of-20 shooting (1-of-4 from long range, 5-of-8 from the charity stripe). He also grabbed five boards, dished out three dimes, stole two balls and blocked one shot. Reaves was Team USA's second-leading scorer, with 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the floor (2-of-5 from three-point land, 7-of-7 from the charity stripe). He also notched five rebounds and logged an assist and a steal.

While Reaves enjoyed a solid individual tournament, he can hardly be excited about his program not medaling. He's played well enough to ingratiate himself with Team USA for future, more meaningful bouts.

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