After following up a gut-check win against Spain with a demolition of a short-handed Greek squad, Team USA enters the FIBA World Championships in Turkey this weekend with plenty of reason for optimism.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski first saw his young gunners triumph against a Spanish team ranked third in the world by FIBA and loaded with NBA talent, including golden boy and Minnesota Timberwolves never-be Ricky Rubio, on the Spaniards' home turf at the Caja Magica in Madrid.
Three days later, he guided the Red, White, and Blue to an 87-59 shellacking of the fourth-ranked Greek team in Athens, slicing up the short-handed hosts like shawarma.
With its exhibition triumphs in the rear-view, the American group, led by 21-year-old NBA scoring champ Kevin Durant and Chicago Bulls superstar point guard Derrick Rose, now heads into its first pool play match of the World Championships, against Slovenia, with plenty of confidence and momentum.
But is it enough to carry this motley crew of international basketball newbies to a gold-medal finish?
Only time will tell, of course, but Coach K and company have plenty of reasons to be pleased, ba ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Josh Martin
Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose Lead Team USA Into FIBA World Championships
August 26th, 2010 by Josh Martin Leave a reply »
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