LAS VEGAS—For the U.S. basketball team, the road to the Paris Olympics began with a victory.

Anthony Davis scored 13 points, Stephen Curry added 12 and the United States opened its Paris Games preparation schedule by beating Canada 86-72 on Wednesday night.

Jrue Holiday scored 11 points and Anthony Davis finished with 10 for the United States, which has four friendlies remaining before arriving in France.

RJ Barrett scored 12 points for Canada, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dillon Brooks each had 10.

President Barack Obama was at the game, as were numerous NBA coaches and dozens of dignitaries from the U.S. national basketball team who were in town for the 50th anniversary celebrations. Among them: Jerry Colangelo, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Dawn Staley, Lisa Leslie, Teresa Edwards, Swin Cash, Lindsay Whalen and many others.

And total attendance was 20,757, a record for any game at T-Mobile Arena, USA Basketball said.

COLD START

The United States trailed 11-1 midway through the first quarter, after missing its first six field goal attempts. The rest of the half: USA 40, Canada 22, and the Americans shot 18 of 28 (64.3 percent) in that span. The lead was 41-33 at halftime, and the Americans extended it to 69-54 early in the fourth.

It was easy to see where the Americans, who have been together less than a week, are still figuring it out; there were at least four times when single passes ended up in the front row because someone thought a zigzag was coming instead of a zag.

SECOND UNIT

The U.S. second unit (Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo, Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum) was particularly impressive. Each of those five players had a plus-minus of plus-10 or better, meaning the U.S. outscored Canada by at least 10 points with them on the court.

And that's as it should be. Only the Americans can field a roster of “bench players” at the Olympics, all of whom are All-Stars. That quintet has a combined 21 All-Star nods, two NBA champions in Davis and Tatum and two perennial All-Defense players in Davis and Adebayo. This is clearly not your typical second unit.

Oh, and remember: Americans Kevin Durant (calf strain) and Derrick White (not yet with the team) were unavailable Wednesday.

TO START

The first starting team of the summer presented by American coach Steve Kerr: Stephen Curry, Jrue Holiday, Devin Booker, LeBron James and Joel Embiid.

That could certainly change in the future. But if last year is any indication, what Kerr thinks now is clear.

Kerr has cautioned in the past against reading lineups too much, especially from the first scrimmage. That said, the starting five he played in the first exhibition game last summer before the World Cup — Mikal Bridges, Jalen Brunson, Jaren Jackson Jr., Brandon Ingram and Anthony Edwards — started in the tournament opener against New Zealand.

AFTERWARDS

The United States and Australia play Monday in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.