There are only a small handful of countries which can present a challenge to Team USA, but it only takes one game to make the difference between a gold medal or bust. By those standards, at least, each could and did claim success.
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They’ll also meet August 6 in the opening game of Olympic competition in Brazil.
The Chinese team’s most recognisable player, Yi Jianlian – the No. 6 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft who spent five seasons with four NBA teams – led his side with 18 points. “The result for us was not important”.
At the helm of the United States squad is Duke Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski, his third time doing so, along with a string of assistant coaches, like Syracuse Orange head coach Jim Boeheim, current Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Tom Thibodeau, and former Oklahoma City Thunder associate head coach Monty Williams.
Krzyzewski believes the American team will excel at defensive switching because of its abundance of versatile players. It was the only free throw Jordan shot in this game and that looks to be a good thing.
“I did? Huh”, Durant said of being booed.
Krzyzewski said he didn’t mind the sluggish offense in the early minutes but he didn’t allow it to fester.
Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Meyers did though, and he had a theory about why.
“Although our players are a dominant force in Asia, there is still a lot for us to learn from the best of the best”, said China’s coach Gong Luming. “But KD and Klay come in and boom, boom, boom, it’s there”. Klay Thompson (17 points), DeMar DeRozan (13 points, four rebounds), DeAndre Jordan (12 points, five rebounds, three blocks) and DeMarcus Cousins (12 points, seven rebounds) all had solid performances in limited playing time.
While he came off the bench after starting against Argentina, he still played 16 minutes, which as many as Sunday’s starting point guard Kyle Lowry. For basketball teams, that means taking it to the court.
Krzyzewski’s team is intent on becoming stronger and more cohesive in the three exhibitions before its Rio opener. Still, it made the news, and anyone who was looking for new reasons to dislike Green and the Warriors, got them with abundance over the last two months. “We’re getting used to new rules, a new basketball, getting ourselves acclimated”. “We got better. We shared the ball even better”.
On defense, the USA “really showed what we’re capable of”, forward/guard Paul George said.
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They might not be pushed by an opponent until they’re deep into the Rio tournament. Well see. I dont know what to expect. “But there have been challenging points of each game”.
