Two nights after defeating the Chinese National Team in the opening 2016 Olympics in Rio pool play match, USA Basketball’s Men’s National Team (1-0) faced another opponent they had already faced in pre-Olympics exhibition play: the Venezuelan National Team.
Head coach Mike Kryzyzewski once again started Kyrie Irving at point guard, Golden State Warriors teammates Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant at shooting guard and small forward, respectively, Carmelo Anthony at power forward, and DeAndre Jordan at center.
1st Quarter – Doldrums
Durant picked up where he left off from his 25-point outburst on Saturday night, with the first two buckets for Team USA. His second was a baseline dunk fed on a backdoor pass by Anthony:
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Shortly thereafter, “KD” canned a triple:
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Meanwhile, Thompson picked up two early personal fouls, sending him to the bench for Paul George.
USA started turning the ball over and not making shots, which allowed Venezuela to take an 11-10 lead before a dunk by DeAndre Jordan broke a 4-for-11 opening spell by the United States.
Not only was Team USA committing turnovers and having a hard time finding the bottom of the net, but they were also fouling a lot on defense. DeMar DeRozan turned the ball over, giving USA five turnovers in the first eight minutes of play, then George committed a blocking foul, sending Venezuela to the line as Draymond Green checked in.
With 1:29 remaining, Venezuela had the game knotted up at 13-13.
Green continued to have problems with the FIBA-regulation ball, as he caught a pass in the right corner, then attacked the rim, but fumbled the ball in the process, leading to yet another turnover and yet another foul by George.
Jimmy Butler started asserting himself and hit a three, then got fouled on a drive, but two more free throws by Venezuela tied the game again at 18-18 with just 2.4 seconds to play:
Lots of this happening in Q1: free throws by VEN. DeRozan another foul. Butler hits a 3, but more FTs for VEN w/ 2.4 https://t.co/pspyAXwtF5
— LetsGoWarriors (@LetsGoWarriors) August 8, 2016
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After the second made free throw, Green tried to find a receiver for a touchdown pass, but a substitution by Venezuela disrupted that flow, Draymond gave the ball up to Kyle Lowry in the backcourt, and he missed a halfcourt heave, ending the quarter with the same disappointing 18-18 tie score.
2nd Quarter – Late Surge
Venezuela had their trouble with fouls to start the second quarter and, after a deflected pass by Green which led to Durant leading the break and getting fouled, Team USA was already on the brink of bonus situation, up 22-20.
Draymond managed to steal another pass, but once again the ball slipped out of his hands on the break, although Butler corralled the loose ball, then got fouled (again).
With under eight minutes to go in the half, Thompson checked back in as Cousins subbed in for Green, but Klay immediately turned the ball over after faking a shot and attacking the paint off the dribble, then leaving a lob too short for Cousins, and into a Venezuelan defender.
Things got worse for Thompson as he shot an airball from the right wing with USA up just 26-22 with 5:56 left:
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According to Michael Lee of Yahoo’s The Vertical, present at the gym, the crowd booed Klay’s bad miss:
Klay Thompson shoots an airball. The crowd boos.
— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) August 8, 2016
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Cousins then committed his third foul, sending him to the bench with Jordan coming back in, but Durant gave USA a little jolt as he rose for a three then got pummeled by a Venezuelan defender. KD, however, missed the first of his three free throws and USA held just a 28-22 lead.
That’s when Anthony batted the ball away on a double-team in the post, Irving led the break, and found “Melo” for the trailing three.
But Venezuelan scorer John Cox, 35-year-old cousin of Kobe Bryant, answered back, shedding Klay off the bounce. Cox actually missed the shot as Thompson flew by, but that allowed Cox to retrieve his own miss and toss in a floater put-back.
Sensing USA gaining speed and momentum, Venezuela’s head coach Nestor Garcia ordered a “Hack-A-Jordan”, but Jordan hit the first free throw, then missed, was granted another shot on a lane violation, and barely grazed the rim on the official second try.
However, the ball caromed off a Venezuelan player, then Durant received the baseline inbound and promptly got mangled by Miguel Marriaga for an unsportsmanlike foul, which awarded KD two foul shots plus possession.
The plodding style of Venezuela went a little too far, as USA exerted its defensive pressure and forced the shotclock to melt away. Durant swatted away a three-point attempt by Gregory Vargas, Cox got the deflection, but the clock expired by then for a turnover.
Approaching two minutes remaining in the half, Anthony hit another three and suddently USA found itself up, 41-24. The United States utilized inside buckets by Jordan, who could not be matched up against by the much smaller Venezuelan front line, a bunch of free throws, and stifling defense to go on a 19-2 run.
On the last possession, Draymond muscled an offensive rebound and dished the ball back out to an open Irving for three more, and Team USA took a commanding 48-26 lead at the break. The run grew to 24-4 for the last 7:33 of the second stanza, 30-8 overall in the quarter.
Durant led the team with 11 points on 3 field goals without a miss, 4-for-6 from the line.
3rd Quarter –
On the first play of the third quarter, Thompson made a cut, set an inside pick to free up Cousins for an entry pass, and Cousins bullied his way to a layup.
After Durant also fed Cousins with an entry pass for another inside bucket, Klay finally hit a shot, but it was a three from the corner that was after the whistle, which was called for KD on a double-left-handed-hesitation dribble to the paint.
Shortly after that, Durant utilized the inside-out left-handed dribble again, and scored on an athletic runner through the paint, off the board:
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Usually, Thompson making any type of shot, even after the whistle, is a sign of a torch lighting, but this was not the case tonight, as he bricked the next shot from downtown on the left wing. However, USA was still up 56-31, with 6:43 remaining.
Klay came close, getting another three-point try, this time from the top, to go in and out, but Venezuela hit a three at the other end to make it 60-38, approaching five minutes remaining in the third period.
KD flipped an alley-oop to Jordan…
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…then Durant found Jordan inside again for a foul and, after making a free throw on that trip, KD was awarded his fifth assist — FIBA apparently notches an assist if the scorer hits a free throw, which is not the case in the NBA.
Green subbed back in, missed a three, but Lowry tapped the rebound back to Draymond, who then fed Durant for a swish to give USA a 66-42 lead with about three minutes to play.
Green added an inside score, then got a defensive rebound, outlet to Lowry, who found George for a trailing three-pointer, and by the end of the third, USA held a 75-51 lead.
Durant led the way with 16 points and Draymond added 4 rebounds and 2 assists, but Klay was still struggling with zero points on 0-for-5 field, 0-for-4 on threes.
Ironically, about that time, CSN Bay Area reported that Klay’s brother, Trayce Thompson of Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers, revealed this morning his vertebrae was cracked in two places, fueling speculation that Klay’s mind was not 100% into the game. Trayce had been put on the 60-day disabled list with this devastating injury so early in his career — with Klay an ardent supporter of his brother, often sporting a Dodgers cap in public.
4th Quarter – Klay Ends Up Only Scoreless USA Player
Jordan continued to get fed the ball inside and, while plays didn’t always finish with dunks, he scored time and again, eventually running up his tally to six consecutive buckets at the rim before he missed a put-back dunk off the back rim:
DeAndre Jordan shot chart today. 6-for-6! #LetsGoWarriorsLive pic.twitter.com/XS2xX08wVw
— LetsGoWarriors (@LetsGoWarriors) August 8, 2016
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During this whole time, Harrison Barnes remained on the bench, but finally got some playing time with six minutes to go, after Cousins fouled out with just nine minutes logged.
George got this monster, yet meaningless, dunk as the Venezuelan team gave up:
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Notice Durant and Green celebrating in unison, while Klay seemed unenthused.
Barnes also missed a point-blank dunk..
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but got fouled on the play and after hitting both free throws, which meant Thompson was the only scoreless player on Team USA for the night.
Barnes also dribbled out the clock on the final possession and USA won by the final score of 113-69 — an impressive score although it failed to cover the 50-point Vegas spread, incidentally.
Durant finished with his team-high 16 points with this perfect shot chart:
KD's shot chart for tonight. The right-to-left runner off glass shoulda been marked on left side of the court though pic.twitter.com/f777JpKJp9
— LetsGoWarriors (@LetsGoWarriors) August 9, 2016
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Green still finished with 4 rebounds, and Klay zero points, as the fourth quarter didn’t involve the Warriors players much.
As the players waved to the crowd victoriously, Thompson still seemed out of it:
Don't miss the ? gallery from the @USOlympic Men's Basketball's 113-69 win v Venezuela! https://t.co/mCy7ogZMPw pic.twitter.com/GGPOXtJVlt
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) August 9, 2016
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Team USA (2-0) will face the Australian National Team (2-0) in two nights, their first real test since training camp began last month.
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