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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The U.S. next plays Monday against Venezuela. That group missed its first five shots, but never looked back after the game was tied at four.
The Americans thoroughly dominated despite signs that the recently assembled unit is yet to completely gel.
Team USA basketball star Carmelo Anthony (L).
“We just wanted to send a statement to the rest of the world”, Anthony said, “come out this first game and let everybody know that we’re focused, we’re locked in and we’re about business on this trip”.
China features former National Basketball Association center Yi Jianlian and 2016 second-round draft picks Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin.
China, which has never finished higher than eighth, tried to slow the American onslaught with physicality, a strategy that kept U.S. players parked at the free-throw line. Even with some top stars staying away this year due to concerns about Zika and injuries, the men’s team are heavily favored.
At one point, with three minutes to play in the second quarter, Durant sank a 3-pointer, marking his third straight three, a personal 9-0 run all coming from around the same spot, on the right wing. We’ll be providing live scoring updates, highlights and analysis throughout Saturday’s game, so be sure to keep it here for all of your USA Basketball coverage.
“The USA are so aggressive in every position”. Do you think that making Olympic basketball amateur only would be a good thing? “They’re everywhere”, said dazzled Chinese guard Zhao Jiwei.
With the high profile NBA players coming to defend U.S. in 2016 Olympic Men’s Basketball, they have to be secured outside the already-prepared Olympic Village. Durant hit China with a flurry of three-pointers during his hot stretch, and he finished with five bombs on the night.
Cleveland won, and Bogut embarked on a desperate rehab to get ready for Rio.
Unless the US suffers some major mental lapses, plays with poor chemistry or has an extraordinarily cold night shooting jumpers, it’s hard to envision anyone threatening the Americans from going undefeated in the men’s Olympic basketball tournament.
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China (0-6) has never beaten the US on Olympic hardwood and there was not the faintest hint that this was going to be the evening that drought would end, even when Ding Yanyuhang scored the first points on a pair of free throws.
