Pregame: The United States and China face off for the third time in the last few weeks, as the Chinese men were part of USA’s warm-up exhibition tour last month before kicking off play Saturday at the 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro.
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The Americans next play on Monday against Venezuela, another team they beat easily in exhibition play.
Durant made three 3-pointers in the first half as the USA opened a 29-point halftime lead and coasted. But coach Mike Krzyzewski said this squad has already bonded as much as any of the three USA teams he has led in the Olympics.
Durant is making his second Olympic appearance, but it will be Anthony’s fourth time representing the Stars and Stripes on the biggest stage and the 32-year-old will be the leader of the team.
Former NBA lottery pick Yi Jianlian returned 25 points for China but no other players reached double figures for the Asian champions.
Andrew Bogut wanted one more shot to represent Australia at the Olympics and wasn’t going to let an injury take that away again.
Team USA won the second game two days later at Oracle Arena 107-57.
“I thought China played really hard, they have a lot of young players and they are getting better and we were good”, said USA coach Mike Krzyzewski. The Americans’ ferocious defense and overwhelming athleticism made it hard for China to even execute simple basketball plays, and defense turned into offense again and again.
“We weren’t anxious, we just had to make some adjustments”, said USA captain Carmelo Anthony, when asked about the opening quarter.
From a Cavaliers vantage point, the game was a success. The players reportedly left quickly. Led by Olympic veterans Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant, the Americans played with a level of comfort and cohesiveness that’s rare this early in a tournament like this.
The U.S. was favored by about 50 points, so it wasn’t supposed to be close. Coach K has been with the team for many years and has stated that he will step down after the Olympics.
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“I know what it felt like when kind of the rest of the world was supposedly catching up with the US as far as from a basketball standpoint”. “Most of their main players play in our league (the National Basketball Association) but we’ll prepare for them tomorrow and see what we got”.
