US men romp past China 119-62 in Olympic basketball opener

Not long after beating China in an exhibition game, Team USA, the 2016 Olympic version of the Dream Team, had no problem handling their first opponent en route to a third consecutive gold medal, winning 119-62, led by Kevin Durant.

“It still can be better and that’s what makes us scary”, said New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony, who is seeking a record third men’s hoops gold.

“Just because they aren’t here today, we’ve got another batch of guys that’s walking around on the streets saying they want to win a gold medal and we all have something in common”, Durant said.

“We wanted to send a message to the rest of the world that we mean business”.

Team USA heeded Anthony’s call.

Kevin Durant gave US the offensive boost they needed after a slow start, hitting 10 of his 14 field-goal attempts to finish with 25 points.

Center DeMarcus Cousins entered the competition as a player to watch. Former Saint Mary’s standouts Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova had 21 points and 10 assists, respectively, both game highs. Team USA led turnover-plagued China by 20 (30-10) after one quarter, by 29 (59-30) at halftime and by 44 (91-47) after the third quarter that contained an 18-0 US run.

Former NBA lottery pick Yi Jianlian had 25 points to open his fourth Olympics. He was the lone bright spot for China on offense, as no other player cracked double digits.

If the Americans keep playing like this, the Olympic competition may not, either.

DeMarcus Cousins scored 17 points for the U.S. team while Paul George had 15 and Kyrie Irving had 12.

The United States defense was just as relentless, with the likes of Kyle Lowry and Klay Thompson putting constant pressure on China’s perimeter players and challenging every pass.

DeAndre Jordan shook the backboards inside Carioca Arena 1 with some of his powerful dunks, DeMar DeRozan had a couple, and in case the dunks were too easy, Irving knocked in four 3-pointers in the second half for his 12 points. Even with the dip in quality and concentration from the United States, China still had trouble keeping up.

“You go all out”, DeRozan added, “[because] you know you’re not going to play a large amount of minutes to where you get tired”.

Team USA now stands undefeated in the Group A standings.

Notably, Coach K has been part of the national team program for the last several decades. The 57-point win was an improvement on the two exhibitions for the USA against China within the last few weeks when they won by 49 points and 50 points, respectively.

The U.S. will face Venezuela on Monday at 6:00 pm ET followed by China taking on France at 9:30 pm ET.