Team USA thump Spain in the Barcelona exhibition game – NBA Recap
On Tuesday night, the U.S Olympic basketball team played a much anticipated exhibition game against Spain in Barcelona, the same city where the “Dream Team” was born 20 years ago.
It was a re-match of the gold medal game from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and quite possibly a preview of the gold medal game this year at London. The two best teams in the world had a lot to prove as they took the court, and it
was eventually the U.S team that eventually cruised to a 100-78 victory.
Carmelo Anthony scored 27 points, 23 of which came in the first half. LeBron James finished with 25 points and Kevin Durant had 13, 10 of which came within the first three and a half minutes of the third period.
“We knew that this was a big game. When Coach K talked to us, he told us this was probably the biggest game here in Barcelona since the '92 team was here, so we approached it like that and it was a good win for us,” said point
guard Chris Paul.
Pau Gasol finished with 19 points for Spain while Serge Ibaka added 16 on the night. The Spanish team struggled with injuries, with Marc Gasol unable to play as he recovered from a left shoulder injury and backup point guard Sergio
Rodriguez also missing.
Despite the absence of Marc, the Spanish team still had the advantage in the paint with Pau and Ibaka, and they used to their advantage early on. Tyson Chandler, the only U.S centre on the roster, was sent to the bench after he
earned two quick fouls and had to sit out as the Spanish team used Ibaka to penetrate into the paint and post up, allowing easy baskets.
Three successive dunks by Ibaka had the U.S team calling a timeout, and Victor Sada’s jump shot extended the Spanish lead to 22-13 with 1:40 left in the first period.
However, the disadvantage in the paint was made up by the athleticism and speed of the Americans. Anthony, who was left almost guard less on the perimeter, knocked down some big three pointers to initiate a 20-6 run for U.S team
which took a 42-32 lead. U.S held on to lead 48-40 advantage at half time.
The 2nd half belonged to the Americans, with Durant lighting up the scoreboard in the first few minutes of the third period to extend the lead to 60-46, and then Russell Westbrook scoring 7 straight points to gain a
69-48 advantage. The Spanish tried to come back into the game after that, reducing the lead to 12 at one point, but the American onslaught was too much for them to handle, and they eventually lost 100-78.
“Well, it was definitely a game that we would have loved to play better as a team. We made too many mistakes which they capitalized and they played their game,” said Spaniard Pau Gasol.
This was the last in a series of exhibition games for the U.S team before the Olympics, and they enter the Olympics competition unbeaten in the 5 exhibition games they have played. The U.S team will now travel to London and will
play their first game on July 29th against Tony Parker led France.
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