Staples Center Crowd Boos Kevin Durant During Team USA Game

From there, the US dominated both ends of the floor pushing the lead to over 50 points in the second half.

“We should have won, but the way we won was excellent”, USA coach Mike Krzyzewski said after the team’s 65th consecutive victory and 77th in the 78 games since he became its coach in 2005.

So what can you learn from a dominant exhibition game like this? He has a chance to be raucously welcomed by his new team in his new home court, when Team USA plays its second exhibition game against China on Tuesday at the Oracle Arena in Oakland.

While he came off the bench after starting against Argentina, he still played 16 minutes, which as many as Sunday’s starting point guard Kyle Lowry.

United States of America opened up its lead to a 26-point margin at halftime, as Kyrie Irving dazzled his way through two defenders to hit a hard layup just before the buzzer sounded to make it 55-29. His decision to bring in Durant, who had led the team in scoring against Argentina in the exhibition opener last Friday, and Golden State’s Klay Thompson quickly and irreversibly changed the tone.

Durant noticed it, as did Jordan, who kicked off the festivities by blocking a shot on China’s first possession and throwing down an alley-oop dunk on the Americans’ first possession.

Durant, Green and Thompson are teammates on Team USA’s roster for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Kevin Durant is the adopted Splash Brother now.

“Our defense was there pretty much the whole game”.

And better luck next time, China? Yi [Jianlian] is an outstanding player, but the other guy.

For China, Jainlian Yi earned 18 points and 7 rebounds while Jiwei Zhao scored 14 points. They played really hard and I thought defensively well. There’s different ways to look at why they were booed. [Durant and Thompson] are two of the best shooters in the world. The makeshift group took turns missing jumpers-opening 2-of-12 from the field-and found itself mired in a 4-4 tie midway through the first quarter. “Our offense and our athleticism were a little too much for them”. The Los Angeles Clippers big man had a nice game of 12 points, five rebounds, three blocks, two steals, and two assists in 17 minutes in his home arena, but it wouldn’t be a Jordan moment without an adventure at the free-throw line.

“When you’re out there right now, you don’t even think about the fact that we are teammates”, Green said.

No word yet on whether or not that was actually DeAndre Jordan or Draymond Green in a DeAndre Jordan costume.

In a preview of one of the most anticipated basketball match-ups in the upcoming Rio Olympics, the USA Men’s Basketball Team played the China National Team in a friendly invitational Sunday night.