LAS VEGAS — Steve Kerr and, more importantly, USA Basketball's managing director, Grant Hill, learned their lessons from a fourth-place finish a year ago at the world championships in the Philippines.

The most critical lesson? Team USA needed a bigger and more physical roster. The U.S. was bullied in that tournament, with Jaren Jackson Jr. playing as the only true center. Kerr and his Warriors may love small ball in the NBA, but it doesn't work in the more physical FIBA game with its different rules (like no three-seconds in the paint rule on defense).

The U.S. came to Olympic training camp with real size — Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo — and the difference was evident when the team pushed Canada around in a 86-72 exhibition win. The size and physicality of the U.S. just wore down a smaller Canadian team that, a year ago, beat the U.S. in the bronze medal game at the World Cup.

"I love the defensive intensity and the work on the glass," Kerr said of the win. "So it was a good first effort. We needed to set a tone for how we want to play and I think we did that."

The Americans will now trade the heat of the Las Vegas desert for the heat of the Arabian Peninsula, flying to Abu Dhabi for exhibition games against potential medal teams in Australia and Serbia.

That flight feels much shorter after a strong training camp and an exhibition win over a medal contender. Anthony Edwards led Team USA with 13 points, Stephen Curry added 12 (and shot 3-of-6 from three), and Jrue Holiday had 11 points.

Davis led Team USA's physical push with 10 points, 11 rebounds, and four of the team's nine blocked shots on the night.

Davis got more time on the court than Kerr may have wanted when Embiid fouled out after playing just 12 minutes. Embiid's fouls included an unsportsmanlike penalty — the equivalent of a flagrant in the NBA — for elbowing Josh Powell in the face. Embiid is going to have to find a balance between his physicality and what the inconsistent FIBA officials allow.

For this first game, Kerr started a guard-heavy lineup of Curry, Holiday, Devin Booker, LeBron James and Embiid. He reiterated after the game that he is still searching for the right chemistry and will use different starting lineups for the first couple of games.

This starting five stumbled out of the gate in the first contest, shooting 0-of-6 and falling behind 11-1. Curry said it was a matter of superstar players trying to fit with one another.

"There's a temptation to defer, there's a temptation to overthink every possession because everybody can make a play," Curry said of the amazing All-Star depth on this team. "And that first unit, we struggled with that. And then once we got settled in, it seemed like everybody got a little bit more comfortable as we got deeper into the game and hopefully the next four exhibition games we have (we'll) see more progress."

What turned the game around was the U.S. bench unit that came in late in the first: Edwards, Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton, Davis and Adebayo. That group played far more energetic defense than the starters, then turned those stops into transition opportunities the other way.

"I love the second group and the defense, picking up the pace for us in transition," Kerr said. They made a few good plays there defensively to really kind of jumpstart our offense, and that got us into the game.”

That defense and pace was contagious, and soon all of Team USA's stacked roster was having fun getting out and running. It was showtime when Curry threw an alley-oop to LeBron.

There are plenty of things for the U.S. to fix — 15 turnovers, 11 in the first half — and there were clearly moments of rust and confusion. That should be expected after three practices together.

Still, this was a gold-medal looking first step for the Americans.

Here are some other notes from the exhibition game and training camp.

Team USA gets a special visitor

President Barack Obama attended the game and addressed Team USA the night before at a USA Basketball 50th Anniversary celebration. Curry called Obama's words "inspiring."

"It's always a treat to talk to one of the greatest people this world has ever seen, in my opinion," LeBron said. "His vision, mindset and words are always resonating."

"I'm John Stockton"

When the U.S. won, Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us" blasted from the arena sound system. That hit has become this squad's unofficial anthem.

Don't discount Canada's medal chances after one game

Canada is a team that has to hit its threes to beat the best teams. They shot 7-of-33 (21.2%) from deep and that's one of the reasons the U.S. pulled away — they could run off those long rebounds. The Canadians are better than this outing and are still a medal threat in Paris.

Grant Hill discusses the day's big roster news

Things got a little awkward pregame when Grant Hill talked about Kawhi Leonard withdrawing from the team and the Paris Olympics (Derrick White of the Celtics will replace him).

When asked about Leonard's exit, Hill gave a winding, indirect answer (when everyone who watched the scrimmages the previous days knew the answer was Leonard was not moving smoothly). The one thing that became clear in Hill's answer was that this was not Leonard's call but one Team USA and the Clippers pushed on him. That tracks with what Leonard told the media the day before he withdrew.

"I'll be good tomorrow," Leonard said, referring to the game against Canada. "Everything's been good so far, it has been in a neutral state and hopefully it stays that way."

Almost as eyebrow-raising as Leonard leaving was the selection of White to replace him.

Hill was asked why White was named the replacement and not Jaylen Brown — the defensive-minded wing of the Celtics, who plays the same position as Leonard and just won Finals MVP. While White is a versatile defender who can shoot the three, he's another guard on a team with Holiday, Haliburton, Curry, Edwards and Booker.

"You have to build a team," Hill said of his decision. "And one of the hardest things is leaving people off the roster that I'm a fan of, that I look forward to watching throughout the season, throughout the playoffs. Guys who've been Finals MVP, guys who have been a part of the program, guys who've won gold medals. Guys who I respect, admire and enjoy watching. But the responsibility that I have is to put together a team that complements each other."