The Los Angeles fans were gathered to cheer for the Americans during an exhibition blowout, but some of them couldn’t resist jabbing at the newest member of the Warriors and his two-team teammate, Draymond Green.
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The game was the first of five exhibitions the US will play before traveling to Rio to defend the gold medal.
So what can you learn from a dominant exhibition game like this? They entered the game with four minutes, 56 seconds left in the 10-minute first quarter and the US leading 4-2. The newly minted Warriors star went 5 for 7 from the field and 5 for 5 from the free throw line. Now that they are officially teammates, it seems like the Western Conference will be completely dominated by the Golden State Warriors. It nearly seems unfair to pair the two against global competition, but that’s for the rest of the world to figure out.
Kevin Durant is the adopted Splash Brother now. “Every team is different, every game presents different challenges”, Green said. By the second half, this was just about whether or not Team USA could actually win by 50 points or more. It’s the second consecutive tuneup against China, the first Olympic opponent. Check out all their accomplishments here and get excited for cheering on the US women as they chase Olympic history! The 101-70 loss to Team USA in the 2008 Beijing Olympics was the most favorable result in the history of Chinese basketball against the Americans.
“Obviously, they have the best talent and the best size in the world”, Argentina’s Luis Scola said.
China really struggled shooting the ball the entire game. He spent five seasons with four National Basketball Association teams before heading back to the Guangdong Southern Tigers. There are only a few teams in the world that can come even close to supplying the talent to keep up with the USA, and China is not of them.
And the two exhibitions with China, followed by the rest of the warm-up schedule will likely serve as a solid primer for group play and perhaps the tournament’s later stages. Exciting guard Zhao Jiwei scored 14 points. “We’ve got so much depth”.
“Coach told me if I didn’t do anything in the first 30 seconds I was coming out”, said Jordan, who finished with 12 points, five rebounds and three blocks in just 17 minutes.
Someone shut that window!
DeAndre Jordan blocked a feeble shot attempt, sprinted to the other end and grabbed a lob from Kyle Lowry with one hand and jammed it with thunderous force. Early on in the game, Jordan was part of another incident involving the basketball.
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“We can be a lot better and that’ll come”.
