Paul George scored 14 first-half points, Kevin Durant added 12, and the US blew open the game early before an appreciative crowd on the Las Vegas Strip.
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DeMar DeRozan scored 13 points in his hometown Los Angeles, and DeMarcus Cousins had 12 points and seven rebounds in the second stop on the five-city tour leading the Americans to Rio de Janeiro. DeAndre Jordan contributed twelve points and an air-ball during a free-throw attempt late in the fourth quarter, which led to the Team USA bench making a play for the floor, from laughter.
In Team USA’s second exhibition game before heading to Rio for the Summer Olympics, Clippers and Lakers fans didn’t hold back when expressing their sentiment towards the Warriors players representing the United States.
The challenge for both was that they knew there would be no challenge on the court, not with a star-studded lineup of National Basketball Association standouts facing a young, largely inexperienced team from China that has two players who were second-round picks in this year’s draft but no one now in the National Basketball Association. It was George’s first appearance with the national team since breaking his right leg in a 2014 exhibition game. Team USA enters Sunday’s exhibition against China at Staples Center still with areas to sharpen. “I don’t think he’s changed a bit”.
The USA men’s basketball team has proven that they are still the most dominant team that will be participating in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“I didn’t hear it”, Durant said.
I’m not sure how much China was able to truly test the red, white, and blue jerseys because this was a blowout for nearly the entire game.
“I did? Huh”, Durant said of being booed. Krzyzewski added that they are learning more about each other and that they are growing together as a unit.
In Olympic competition, the United States are on a 17-game unbeaten run that dates back to the bronze medal game of the 2004 Athens Olympics.
“Before the game started, we kind of knew the result”, Gong said to the American media after his team’s loss. They’re slated to play on August 6, the first day of action, as the Americans look to defend their title as the world’s basketball superpower.
And then in the offseason, Green added to his reputation with an incident in East Lansing for hitting (slapping?) a former Michigan State football player, among other accusations that didn’t put Green in the best of lights. “But we’ll find guys, whatever we need”.
Team USA has been practicing at UNLV’s Mendenhall Center, according to The Christian Post, and hopefully they’ve worked out all the kinks.
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“Today, it was all about getting better”, Anthony said.
