The U.S. men’s basketball team’s stifling defense was too much for China to handle Sunday in a 106-57 win for Team USA in Los Angeles.
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This year’s roster includes popular and familiar names from the National Basketball Association, such as New York Knicks small forward Carmelo Anthony, Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, Golden State Warriors small forward Kevin Durant, and Warriors shooting Klay Thompson, just to name a few. DeMarcus Cousins grabbed 15 rebounds to go with his 14 points in just 16 minutes in the win.
Providing a preview of what’s to come this season, Green immediately set a screen, freeing up Durant for a 3-pointer from the top of the key.
That animosity was on full display Sunday night when Durant and his Warriors teammate Draymond Green took the floor for Team USA in a friendly tune up before the Olympics against China. It was George’s first appearance with the national team since breaking his right leg in a 2014 exhibition game.
“They all impressed me because I like when people play hard and they play together”, he said.
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.
China connected on just 30.9 percent of their shots, and 26 Chinese turnovers led to 36 U.S. points.
Durant, one of the two returning American gold medallists from London, was booed by the LA crowd during the introductions, but quickly found his outside stroke with 14 points and four assists in the first half. The other facet of the first game was Team USA’s strength on the interior.
Such was their dominance that coach Chuck Daly did not call for one timeout through the course of the Olympics, some games even saw opposing players asking for autographs of the United States team’s stars, clearly in awe of their star power. “Argentina has four guys who have played, if you add their worldwide experience, they’ve probably played I bet 800-1000 games for their country”.
“We should have won, but the way we won was excellent”, USA coach Mike Krzyzewski said after the team’s 65th consecutive victory and 77th in the 78 games since he became its coach in 2005.
“Obviously it didn’t bother him”, Krzyzewski said of George’s leg. “I think he’s playing the best basketball of his life”. Yi [Jianlian] is an outstanding player, but the other guy. “If it’s not fun it’s not worth it. We’re going to enjoy ourselves but at the same time we’re going to be focused in trying to get that gold medal”.
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“We can be a competitive team in the Olympics, but we have some work to do”.
