T-MOBILE ARENA, LAS VEGAS, NV — USA Basketball‘s Men’s National Team (#USABMNT) faced the national team from Argentina, which included NBA players Luis Scola, Manu Ginobili, and Andres Nocioni.
Team USA head coach Mike Kryzyzewski started Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony and DeMarcus Cousins.
1st Quarter – Dunks And Missed Threes
Durant got involved at the get-go as Irving stole the ball after Argentina won the tip and fed Durant for an easy breakaway dunk:
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But both Thompson and Durant were short on their first two three-point attempts each, perhaps getting used to the FIBA ball.
After Ginobili drove on Klay and drew a foul on the help from DeAndre Jordan, who had just come in for Cousins, Thompson drove in and lofted what appeared to be a drastically short airball at first — then obviously an intended pass — to Jordan for a dunk.
On the next possession, Klay inadvertently poke Ginobili in the eye for a foul — Manu was okay — but Thompson missed another three from the left side short, and came out for Jimmy Butler at the 5:23 mark.
Durant fed Jordan for an and-one dunk after a beautiful crossover…
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…and USA took a 13-3 lead with 5:02 remaining.
Later, Kyle Lowry, in for Irving, got a steal and fed Durant for another dunk, uncontested.
With 3:46 to play, Draymond Green entered for Durant and got the first touch on the next sequence, posting up, then passing out to Paul George, who missed.
Eventually, Durant exited, the last USA starter to come out, for DeMar DeRozan with just over two minutes to go.
Green fed George, who scissored in the lane for a floater, then after a Cousins putback dunk of a George miss, Team USA held a 26-14 lead.
Draymond missed a three from the left wing, but Cousins was fouled on the offensive rebound. Cousins missed the second attempt, but Green got the rebound from the right block, although two consecutive short putback attempts were blocked. Still, Draymond got the third board, and dished back out to George for a catch-and-shoot three.
George wasn’t done, as Lowry got another steal and “PG” finished the quarter right before the buzzer with a near-dunk lay-in.
That gave the United States a 32-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.
2nd Quarter – Glimpse Of The Future
With 8:52 left in the ten-minute second period, Durant and Thompson checked back in and Green sat down.
“KD” and Klay played pickle on the right side, with the crowd a little dismayed that Thompson passed up an open three on a catch from Durant and, instead, drove in to feed the corner, but still, Klay got the ball back with the shotclock about to expire, but missed the three.
However, DeRozan grabbed the board and fed an open Durant, this time from the left wing, and KD buried the triple:
So. Much. Ball. Movement. pic.twitter.com/DlmIPJLCeE
— Rob Perez (@World_Wide_Wob) July 23, 2016
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A wild sequence ensued where DeRozan lost his left shoe while rebounding an Argentina miss. Eventually an Argentine player tossed it to the scorers’ table by their bench and DeRozan went over to put it back on, getting the pass from Durant shortly thereafter, and feeding Jordan in the post for a foul.
It wasn’t a perfect game for Durant, though, as he took an outlet from George and stutter-stepped for an unforced traveling violation.
Green teamed up for a nice defensive sequence with Durant as KD blocked Scola on the right baseline, and Draymond grabbed the board and fed the ball right back out to Durant. Irving ended up missing a jumper after a massive crossover on the perimeter against Argentina’s point guard, Facundo Campazzo.
But Draymond forced Scola into yet another miss in the post, and USA cashed in as Green set a pick on the right arc for Durant. Klay was in the corner just in case, but KD calmly buried the three and Team USA had a 42-18 lead as Argentina took a timeout shortly thereafter with 4:54 remaining:
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Durant also displayed some great spirited post defense against the gritty Scola, stopping his attack, with an eventual pass to Leonardo Mainoldi, who put up a shot that was swatted into the baseline seats by Thompson.
But Klay was whistled for a foul and he gave the referee a look a disbelief.
Thompson came back with a layup in traffic for his only points of the half…
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…then George subbed out Durant with 2:48 to play, with USA up 50-23, and the quarter ended with a Ginobili buzzer-beater from the left corner…
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…with all three Warriors on the bench.
Team USA took a 56-33 lead into halftime as George led the way with 14 points. Durant had 12 points on 4-for-7 field and 2-for-5 from distance. Green tallied 3 rebounds and 2 assists in just under 7 minutes of play. Klay was 1-for-5 shooting, 0-for-4 on threes.
3rd Quarter – Looks Who’s Starting
Harrison Barnes got the start alongside Irving, Durant, Anthony, and Jordan, which meant, at least by height, Barnes replaced Thompson at the two-guard spot.
Carlos Delfino and Anthony traded threes early on, then Barnes found himself bringing up the ball on the left side, Durant from the opposite wing motioned for Barnes to take his man, and he did.
Harrison pulled up after a few dribbles and canned the jumper, and from our baseline seats, we could hear Durant yell, “Good job, H!” on the way back on defense.
But later, Delfino picked Durant’s pocket, and both teams traded buckets. Klay would enter the game with about five minutes to play.
After more back-and-forth with the buffer on Argentina still around twenty points, with just over two minutes to go, Thompson ran pick-and-roll with Cousins, drove, got in the air to pass, didn’t find anyone, so Klay put up a shot which got easily blocked by Patricio Garino.
Later, Thompson got fouled going to the hole, drilled both free throws with 36.3 seconds to play, and USA had an 80-57 lead after three quarters.
4th Quarter – KD Flurry
Thompson got the final frame started with a catch-and-shoot triple from the right arc, assisted by Lowry.
With less than nine minutes remaining, Green checked back in and didn’t make a clean handoff to DeRozan cutting on the right side, with the ball trickling off DeRozan for a turnover. Barnes checked back in for Klay at that point.
George committed his fourth personal foul, so Durant subbed back in for him with about seven minutes to play. With 7:24 to go, Team USA held an 87-59 lead.
Out of the timeout, Green hit a three from the left arc, then Garino got swatted in the paint by Durant.
Draymond gave himself a heat-check but, perhaps fouled, perhaps not, threw up an airball on a deep attempt on the next possession, but Barnes corralled the rebound and DeRozan found Durant once again from the right wing, via another pick by Draymond.
And that lit the fire for KD, as he hit another three on the catch shortly afterwards to make it 96-62, USA, with 5:43 left.
He was then hit in the family jewels and Anthony had a little chuckle as he entered the game on Argentina’s subsequent free throws. Durant was able to walk off the pain during the trips to the charity stripe.
KD drew three free throws on contact by Gabriel Deck on another catch from the right arc, then after an over-and-back violation by Argentina, hit a jumper from the left side, giving him 23 points on the night and USA a 101-63 lead with 4:59 remaining.
Officially, Durant scored 11 points in a span of one minute and 23 seconds:
Kevin Durant 4th quarter FLURRY: 11 pts in 1:23!!! #Warriors #TeamUSA #USABasketball pic.twitter.com/3fOtCEytw0
— LetsGoWarriors (@LetsGoWarriors) July 23, 2016
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All three Warriors sat on the bench for the final two minutes as former Warrior Barnes hit a layup to go up, 109-72, Team USA, with 1:59 to play, and eventually the game ended with the score 111-74.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @usabasketball)
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