United States 119, China 62: Kevin Durant and this new-look U.S. Olympic basketball team look just as dominant as the ones who slammed and jammed their way to the last two gold medals.
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“We’ll have a chance to get a few days of consistent practice now”, said first time Olympian Elena Delle Donne, who made a few headlines when she talked openly about her fiancee Amanda Clifton in an upcoming story in Vogue magazine. Men’s team can rely on Kevin Durant and also Klay Thompson for sharp shootings.
The United States Men’s Basketball team kicks off their quest for gold by taking on the Chinese national team. Durant had 25 points, and on a night when the rest of his teammates struggled to shoot from the perimeter, he was 5-for-8 from the 3-point line.
Venezuela’s John Cox, a cousin of American superstar Kobe Bryant, scored 19 and Echenique 18.
Turning point: The score was knotted at 4-4 three minutes into the contest when the US turned on the afterburners. He lost his shoe.
He said he was upset about missing it, adding “that would have been my (third) if I played in that one”. “Our target before the game was to try to get things better”.
We should be getting used to this from Durant.
Team USA is coming off a very strong set of exhibition games around the United States. Yi led China with 25 points, but Zhou and Wang struggled against the USA’s pressure defense, which forced 24 turnovers.
Both USA teams haves kicked off this tournament by unleashing their superstar power. Carmelo Anthony, who turned 32 in May, serves not only as the leader of this internationally inexperienced team, but as the oldest member of the squad, too. And then you play Serbia, and we know them from the world championships, with [Milos] Teodosic and their big guys.
Some of that inexperience was on display on Saturday, particularly when coach Mike Krzyzewski started the second half with Kyle Lowry, Paul George, DeRozan, Jimmy Butler and DeAndre Jordan.
The USA has already showed off their dominance as they CRUSHED China by 57.
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In an interview after one of their practices in preparation for 2016 Rio Olympics, Anthony said, “It really hasn’t sunk in yet about the fact that I’m playing in four Olympics and have an opportunity to win three gold medals”.
