Kobe Bryant says U.S team will be playing full speed in upcoming exhibition games – NBA News
NBA All Star and future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant has given the Argentinean and Spanish basketball teams a warning - he and the U.S team will be putting up a full speed effort in their exhibition game against the two countries.
Argentina won the Gold Medal at the 2004 Olympics while Spain was the runner up in the 2008 Olympics behind the U.S team, which won gold. Both teams are the biggest challenge to the U.S team in their attempt for another gold medal
finish. Spain boasts a tall front court with Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka. Argentina has Manu Ginobili and Luis Scola leading the way for the team.
"For Argentina and Spain, those guys have played big bulk minutes. Pau will be playing a big chunk of minutes; Ginobili will be playing a big chunk of minutes. Here, I don't play that much. Maybe 20 minutes or so. It's the same
thing for most of (our) guys,” said Bryant, who is currently in Barcelona training with the U.S basketball team for the upcoming Olympics.
The U.S team is scheduled to face Argentina in an exhibition game on Sunday, followed by an exhibition game against Spain on Tuesday. They have so far played three exhibition games, two in the United States and one in Manchester.
They easily won the contests against the Dominican Republic and the United Kingdom, while Brazil gave them a tough challenge to eventually lose 80-69. But the upcoming two games are being considered as the toughest challenge for the U.S team so far, and will
indicate their preparations for this year’s Olympics.
“I think we're getting there. I think it's a process. These two games coming up will be good indicators for us in terms of where we are,” added Bryant.
Bryant will be a regular on the U.S team in those two matchups, and will be joined by fellow NBA players such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony to complete a star studded roster. However, the players have not had
much time to play together and their on-court chemistry will be fully tested in the two upcoming exhibition games.
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