Tuesday marked the first time Kevin Durant officially stepped foot on the Oracle Arena playing floor since making his switch from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Golden State Warriors.
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DeMarcus Cousins was the top scorer of the night with 21 points, while former Warrior Harrison Barnes, who still received standing ovations from the Oracle crowd, chipped in with one of the team’s 14 three-pointers and contributed seven points total.
Green said Irving told Durant he was going to him right away, and that happened to be in the first eight seconds, off of the opening tip, and Durant took Irving’s pass and immediately buried a 3-pointer.
The first three exhibition games for USA Basketball have gone swimmingly. The United States never trailed, led by as many as 52 points and converted 18 of China’s turnovers into 29 points. As soon as Kyle Lowry’s 3-point attempt left his hands, Durant threw up his arms in celebration and looked to the crowd without even noticing Lowry’s shot bounce off the rim and into an opponent’s hands.
Judging from this game against China, the U.S. Dream Team stands a very good chance of taking the gold.
Durant didn’t say it was “different” with any shock or wonderment in his voice. Thompson had 15 points himself along with 5 assists. In addition, the starting five will include Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and the aforementioned Durant.
Hold your horses, Team USA. So Warriors fans have to wonder if KD will rock his newest shoe in the Warriors-colored vintage released earlier this month. After just a quarter, the game lost appeal and became similar to a spoilt weekend movie, Team USA indeed made a statement that they are a force not to be trifled lightly with Durant, Thompson and Greene in the lineup. “So many Warriors on the team, it feels like an All-Star game with the star Warriors players”, said Warriors fan Nick Stidhan. “He gave us four great years; we won a championship with him and he started his career here, so I was really happy for him”.
Said Durant: “I knew I would pull the first shot – since yesterday”.
In their two games, Team USA appears to already have jelled, and appears most certainly the team to beat at this year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. These are people both privileged by the Warriors’ greatness and traumatized by the last game that was played here.
Because a gold medal is going to be the only acceptable outcome for Team USA.
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“Being one of the best players in the world, he’s easy to play with”, Krzyzewski said.
