It’s time for the stars of the National Basketball Association to be like the Wu-Tang Clan and form like Voltron, forgetting their team rivalries to unite under the uniform of Team USA. The United States never trailed, behind Kevin Durant‘s game-high 19 points and five assists, Klay Thompson added 17 points as well.
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Krzyzewski added, “We really played hard, and we shared the ball well to have 29 assists on 41 buckets”. He wasn’t quite as lethal against China, but still managed to lead the way with 19 points in 18 minutes of action. I think we are learning more about one another. His teammate Bogdan Bogdanovic is a deadly outside shooter, and shot 57.8 percent from the floor and an absurd 55.6 percent from three-point range.
Along with Durant and Thompson, Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving, Kings forward DeMarcus Cousins, Clippers big man DeAndre Jordan, and Raptors shooting guard DeMar DeRozan all scored in the double figures.
On Tuesday, the teams will play a second game in Oakland, marking Kevin Durant’s first game at Oracle Arena since deciding to join the Golden State Warriors in free agency.
“We should have won, but the way we won was excellent”, Krzyzewski said.
The United States goes to Chicago from there, to play Venezuela on Friday, and then to Houston, to face Nigeria on August 1 as the final tune-up before heading to Rio de Janeiro. “That’s why you play these exhibition games, kind of iron out the kinks and get used to playing with each other”, Green said. Their time together during a little less than a two minute stretch showed off their chemistry; a chemistry that the fans of the Staple Center didn’t seem too fond of. The two teams meet again on Wednesday at 10 a.m. (via satellite). Cousins led the home team with 15 rebounds to go with his 14 points.
“I respect (New York Liberty star) Tina (Charles) and the players in the WNBA for their concern and their voices and the passion that they have and for their beliefs”.
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“We can be a competitive team in the Olympics, but we have some work to do”. China was on the hook for numerous shot clock violations, George having a say in perplexing the Chinese offense. “But there have been challenging points of each game”. A good chunk of that poor shooting also comes from Team USA being able to clamp down defensively and force them into tough scoring situations. He conceded there is a delicate balance, however, between representing a team, or a country at the Olympics, and expressing personal opinions on the court.
