– Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau is known for standing on the sideline, yelling defensive instructions to his players on every trip down the floor.
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Carmelo Anthony, playing in his US record 25th Olympic game, helped to turn the momentum midway in the second quarter.
“I don’t think they’ve gone back to their boat or apartment or wherever they’re staying thinking they can’t beat us”, the coach said.
In the 2016 NBA All-Star game, for instance, Gasol was the only worldwide player on either roster, and he was an injury replacement at 35 years old.
And on Monday, as they overcame a sluggish start and pulled away for a 113-69 rout of Venezuela, being a leader meant he had to cheer up teammate DeMarcus Cousins after Cousins fouled out in nine minutes against beefy Venezuela center Gregory Echenique in the Group A preliminary-round game.
The U.S. improved to 2-0 with two blowouts, but the score was 18-18 at the end of one quarter. As the two teams would score 27-25 for the U.S. in the third, but Venezuela simply didn’t look like they had enough to mount a comeback from their second quarter deficit. The U.S. Men’s basketball team takes on Venezuela on August 8 in a group stage match and HollywoodLife.com wants you to see. Butler finished with 17 points, was a team-best plus-29 and hit four of seven shots and had a steal.
It was a cold start for the USA, as Venezuela kept on prompting, registering consecutive field points while the Americans relied only on free throws.
Butler praised Thibodeau last week, saying he enjoyed again hearing Thibodeau’s raspy instructions.
It seems like we are well into Mens Olympic basketball, even through one or two games of play we can already sort out who’s a serious medal contender and who’s not.
“It’s great to see the way Jimmy played”. He’s one of the elite players in our league. “I’m a hugger. Sometimes you’ve just got to give him a hug and tell him everything’s going to be all right”. “He’s as good as it gets on both sides of the ball”.
While DeMarcus Cousins will have all night bullying the opposing team’s frontline, Durant will continue to be the uncontested superstar of this United States of America team, thanks to his efficient sniping from the outside.
Paul George scored 20 points to lead Team USA versus Venezuela. David Robinson is second at 270.
That remarkable group was all drafted into the National Basketball Association between 1996 and 2001, not long before the Americans were embarrassed at the 2004 Olympics. The team took advantage of inexperienced referees and Team USA’s own developing and shaky chemistry to make an ugly go of things.
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The U.S. of course, brings a lot more quickness and length with its aggressive defense than Serbia does.
