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Team USA sweep exhibition sked, 5-0 By Adeline Deladisma PhilBoxing.com Wed, 03 Aug 2016 HOUSTON -- The United States men's basketball team notched another victory as they routed the Nigerian men's team 110-66 Monday night (Tuesday morning Manila time) at the Toyota Center in Houston. The crowd of 18,247 was obviously partisan as the U.S. was on the final stop of the USA Basketball Showcase, but there were raucous pockets of support for the Nigerian visitors. The Texas crowd also welcomed home two Houston area players, DeAndre Jordan (Houston, TX) and Jimmy Butler (Tomball, TX). Nigeria kept the game somewhat close early on and were only down 27-16 at the end of the first quarter. By the half, Team USA found its groove and stretched its lead to 24. In the end, the U.S. men proved to be too much for the Nigerian squad to handle. Guard Chamberlain Oguchi led Nigeria with 21 points. The U.S. was led by Carmelo Anthony (19 points) and Klay Thompson (17 points). Kyle Lowry started in place of Kyrie Irving and dished out 11 assists. Irving and Paul George sat out the final warm up before the team leaves for Rio. According to head coach Mike Krzyzewski, both Irving (left thigh contusion) and George (left calf contusion) will be ready for the start of the Games. Part of the challenge in preparing the for the Olympics is the short time available to get the team playing well together. But all involved understand that and see the bigger picture. On the opportunity to play in the Olympics, center Jordan said, "It's amazing. It's bigger than the Clippers, it's bigger than the Warriors, the Knicks. It's bigger than all of us, just to be given the opportunity to compete for a gold medal and represent our country." Players have relished this experience and downplayed any challenge. According to Thompson, "It's easy playing with these guys. We've all got high [basketball] IQs. We all know we're not going out here for individual stature, you're just going out to win gold. So when everyone has that mindset it's easy to come and play with each other." The work of the past few weeks has led to Brazil. The U.S. men begin their quest for gold on Saturday, August 6 in Rio when they face China in Group A competition. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Adeline Deladisma. |
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