United States thrashes China in tuneup Associated Press NEW YORK -- Short on size, the United States showed off a surplus of speed. Danny Granger scored 22 points and the Americans sprinted past China 98-51 in a scrimmage Saturday at Madison Square Garden. On a day they gave their strongest hint yet that they're prepared to take only one center to the world championships, the Americans were credited with a 32-4 advantage in fast-break points. "We're the fastest team, I think, in the world, so we've got to use that to our advantage," Philadelphia's Andre Iguodala said. Eric Gordon strengthened his case for a spot on the team with 15 points, while Kevin Durant added 14 and Derrick Rose had 12. Among those in attendance was Kobe Bryant, who was on the gold medal-winning team in 2008. Granger, showing no effects from a dislocated ring finger on his shooting hand, was 9 of 12 from the field and made three 3-pointers. He was hurt earlier this week and missed a day of practice. "I score the ball, that's what I do," Granger said. Gordon made three of the Americans' 11 3-pointers. Though he's been considered on the bubble to make the final roster, he's played well in U.S. game action and supplies some of the outside shooting a perimeter-oriented team needs. He scored 16 points in the intrasquad scrimmage last month in Las Vegas. Coach Mike Krzyzewski likely did show who two of his cuts will be, not using Jeff Green or JaVale McGee. If McGee is cut, it would leave Tyson Chandler as the only true center on the U.S. team. The Americans believe they can overcome a lack of size with their speed and shooting. It worked for three quarters. The first field goal of the fourth quarter put the Americans up by 51 points. The teams played four 10-minute quarters, with the score reset at the beginning of each period. The Americans outscored the Chinese 35-8 in the third, then lost the fourth 17-16 when Gordon was just short on a 3-point attempt at the buzzer. "We expected to win every quarter," Gordon said. "It didn't happen for us, but we really did good the first three quarters." Yi Jianlian of the Washington Wizards scored 13 points for China. Both teams will play Sunday in a doubleheader at Madison Square Garden. The United States faces France in its lone exhibition on home soil, with China meeting Puerto Rico in the second game. The Americans leave Monday for three exhibition games in Europe. Their first game in Turkey is scheduled for Aug. 28. "We just need to play," Krzyzewski said. "I'm not saying China's a great team or anything, but they've played, and that's what they do. They play internationally. Our guys need to play these scrimmages and games to get accustomed to the international game." Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/olybb/news/story?id=5464038 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team USA appears ready to cut Jeff Green August, 14, 2010 Aug 145:45PM ET By Chris Sheridan Archive NEW YORK - Nobody would come right out and say it, but it appears Jeff Green will be cut from Team USA before the team leaves Monday evening for Europe. Green did not log a single minute Saturday afternoon as the United States played a closed-door scrimmage against China at Madison Square Garden, winning the first three quarters handily (the scoreboard was reset to 0-0 after each quarter) before losing the final quarter 17-16 while experimenting with a small lineup featuring Kevin Durant at center. JaVale McGee was also a DNP-CD, but he may still make the trip to Europe for exhibition games against Lithuania, Spain and Greece as an insurance policy in case starting center Tyson Chandler gets injured. "The chances of us having more than 12 on the plane Monday are good, but it may be one more than 12, or two more than 12," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "What we’re trying to do is see how Lamar (Odom) and even (Kevin) Love do there at the center spot. The 3 spot and the 4 spot with (Kevin) Durant, (Rudy) Gay, (Danny) Granger and (Andre) Iguodala is pretty solid, and the 5 with those two guys (Chandler and Odom) is good. "So, it's who do you want to be insurance or a backup for a big, and then we have to evaluate the guard situation as to making sure we have a point in there all the time. We tried to take a look at those things today, and tomorrow (in an exhibition game against France at 1 p.m. EDT) will be even better because it’ll be a game." So with Green and McGee more or less out of the picture, the competition for the 12th spot may come down to Stephen Curry vs. Eric Gordon. Gordon who was the better of the two Saturday, scoring 15 points and going 3-for-8 from downtown in 15 1-2 minutes to Curry's 7 points and 1-for-3 3-point shooting in 13 1-2 minutes. But Gordon could not connect on the final shot of the fourth quarter, a 3-point attempt from in front of Spike Lee's regular courtside seat off a designed inbounds play from near midcourt. Lakers reject Sun Yue had given China the late fourth-quarter lead by sinking two free throws with 1.3 seconds left following a questionable foul call against Granger (team-high 22 points) on the perimeter. "I was trying to ask the ref what I did," Granger said. "I don't know. It's one of those things with the international refs. They call it a little bit differently than they do in the NBA, and it's just one of those things you have to get accustomed to. And I think that was a good situation for us, because next time I'll know I'm going to have to give him at least a foot because I didn't think I fouled him. He said I hit him on the arm, and I thought I went straight up." The U.S. team won the first quarter 20-11, the second quarter 27-15 and the third quarter 35-8 when Yi Jianlian sat out the entire quarter and the Americans employed a zone in the halfcourt when their full-court pressure failed to produce turnovers. For almost the entire 40 minutes, China was unable to get its set offense in motion because of the constant harassment from the U.S. defenders, who produced 22 steals (Gay had four, while Iguodala, Durant and Rajon Rondo had three apiece) as China committed 28 turnovers. I watched the game with David Thorpe of ESPN.com, who is a huge Derrick Rose fan but believes Granger will prove himself to be the second most valuable player on the U.S. team behind Durant. One thing Thorpe kept repeating: "The last U.S. team had basket-getters at every position. This team doesn't." Green did not make himself available to reporters afterward, but those who spoke to him Friday said they had noticed a change in his normally outgoing personality. Green did not distinguish himself during an intra-squad scrimmage at Radio City Music Hall on Thursday night -- except for blowing a wide-open dunk on the fast-break that led one wag (OK, it was me) to quip that it was the worst onstage moment in that building since Kanye West grabbed the microphone from Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV awards. http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/19088/team-usa-appears-ready-to-cut-jeff-green
Jeff Green and JaVale McGee were obvious cuts. I've been wanting Curry to beat out Gordon, but Gordon's physicality could be an important advantage under FIBA rules. May the best man win, but Curry is a more consistent shooter IMO. Gordon is an incredibly dynamic player when his shot is on.
Any truth to the rumor that Yao Ming is demanding either they give him better teammates or trade him to to a better national team, like that of Brazil or Argentina?
I couldn't help but notice in Chris Sheridan's write up on True Hoop that the U.S. forced roughly 58,000 turnovers in the game. Not entirely surprising given that it's the Chinese national team, but it's still good to see.
I've always found it weird that China is awful at the two biggest Team sports in the world: Men's football and Men's basketball.
