Another reason he might be excited-he probably won’t get booed in his new home stadium, as he did at Staples Center on Sunday according to USA Today.
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For Durant, Thompson and Green (sadly not the former Warrior Harrison Barnes, who’s in attendance with Team USA), their national experience this summer gives them a chance to get a feeling of what it will be like to play together in Golden State.
Yi earned most valuable player honors in the Asia Championship last October, leading China to a victory over the Philippines in the final that secured their Olympic berth.
DeMar DeRozan and DeAndre Jordan were the only two starters to score in double figures, combining for 25 points.
The USA beat that Yao Ming-led China on the opening night of the Beijing Games eight years ago and the Americans’ coach at the time, as he is now, was Mike Krzyzewski.
“There have never been two MVPs. under 30 (years old) on the same team, so it was a no-brainer just because he’s such a great talent and he’d be such a pleasure to play with”, Thompson said.
Krzyzewski believes the American team will excel at defensive switching because of its abundance of versatile players. “They didn’t have a guy out there who didn’t play hard and together”.
Team USA was up 55-29 by halftime and continued rolling throughout the second half.
“He won’t get booed on Tuesday”, Myers said with a smile. The other protagonist, Team Argentina, will hail from Group B together with the other friendly games participant, Nigeria.
And better luck next time, China? Some of the highlights came from the hands of Jordan, who scored the first points of the game on an alley-oop from Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry.
And that’s not even counting the United States women having won six of the past eight World Championships titles, going 63-2 but settling for third after semi-final losses in 1994 at Australia and 2006 in Brazil. They’re two different teams. “I’m still in awe of the guy”.
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After the United States Men’s basketball team routed China, 106-57, in an exhibition match on Sunday, they will meet again for a rematch on Tuesday night at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. Two decades ago, he was at the helm of a China side that beat Angola and Argentina in its first two games at the Atlanta Olympics before crashing to a 133-70 defeat to a U.S. team that had Shaquille O’Neal, Scottie Pippen, Hakeem Olajuwon and other NBA All-Stars.
