However, in Friday’s game against Argentina, Coach K ran three starters (Anthony, Irving, Durant) above 20 minutes played with two players not reaching 14 minutes.
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George started for Team USA, but his shot wasn’t anywhere near the level it was on Friday. It was before a mostly full T-Mobile Arena instead of Oracle. Several minutes later, the newest Warrior helped Thompson come alive. He just hopes the games are close-ish.
“I did? Huh”, Durant said of being booed. “In 2008, they had this center, I forget his name…Yao Ming?”
The difference in this game against China, there was a greater balance among minutes played.
Krzyzewski said his roster is starting to mesh even more following the 111-74 blowout win of Argentina, while also crediting China’s defense ahead of another matchup Tuesday in Oakland, which will technically serve as Durant’s first time in front of the Warriors crowd.
They may not match up with the U.S. “Dream Team” from the 1992 Games that included 11 future Hall of Fame players, but the current squad possess everything needed to reach the top of podium again.
The only area the USA will need to improve upon from Sunday’s performance is its point guard play. It is being coached by Mike Krzyzewski of Duke University. “If we take care of business, if we maintain our focus, if we keep our eye on the prize then all things should work out because of our talent and coaching”. Ten U.S. players registered one or more assist, including Durant, Anthony, and Lowry who each had five.
Stephen Curry opted out of the Olympics this year, so Durant has become the adopted Splash Brother filling in for his new teammate. He said the minutes eventually won’t be distributed as evenly as they were in the first two games but he’s waiting to see how well different combinations mesh. All of the exhibition games will be carried by NBA TV, and also will be streamed live on the USA Basketball and NBA Facebook pages. By the second half, this was just about whether or not Team USA could actually win by 50 points or more.
“This is probably the longest Olympic team we’ve had in awhile”, Durant said.
Durant was greeted with a healthy dose of boos during pregame introductions – no doubt some from local fans who felt Durant should have joined the Clippers – before scoring a game-high 19 points.
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“Really the final step in the chapter of this is coming home with that gold”, George said. It was an emotional week for the Pacers forward and the teammates that supported him through his journey back to this stage.
