New Warriors trio impresses with Team USA
LAS VEGAS — The watershed moment happened in the second quarter of Team USA’s 111-74 win over Argentina on Friday in the first game of the Olympic preparation run. For the first time, new Golden State Warriors teammates Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson shared the floor.
They didn’t even realize it.
“When you’re out there right now, you don’t even think about the fact that we’re teammates,” Green said. “We’re all teammates right now. Honestly, if you want me to be quite frank with you, I didn’t even notice me, Klay and KD were out there together.”
“I didn’t really notice. I was just lost in the game,” Durant said. “We didn’t really talk about it.”
Durant apparently didn’t notice when Green set a screen for him, which freed KD to nail a 3-pointer, and gave him a low-five after the perfect execution of a two-man game that could terrorize the NBA next season. Or when in the fourth quarter, Green set Durant up for two more 3-pointers and Durant hit Green for a 3-pointer in a span of four possessions.
“All I saw was USA across the chest,” said Durant, who scored 23 points to lead the team. “When you’re playing out there with players who know how to play the game of basketball, it just makes it so easy for you.”
Green, Durant and Thompson played together for only two minutes, but they played longer and stronger in separate pairs, specifically with Green at center and Durant at small forward in coach Mike Krzyzewski’s small lineups that repeatedly victimized Argentina’s inexperienced big men.
The highlight of the evening, however, belonged to Paul George. Playing in his first Team USA game since he suffered a broken leg in an exhibition two years ago in Las Vegas, George scored 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting with two steals. This game was in a different arena than the one two years ago — the brand-new T-Mobile Arena — and George has played more than 100 games since the injury. But he still felt he had a hurdle to overcome.
“There were a lot of emotions, I’m not going to lie,” George said. “The guys in the locker room did a great job of making sure I was good when I came out on this floor.”
Krzyzewski praised George’s play and said he was perhaps in the best shape of any of the Olympians — most of them were playing their first game action in weeks.
Team USA’s strength on the interior was another facet of the first game. With two true centers in DeAndre Jordan and DeMarcus Cousins, the Americans crushed the Argentines on the inside and with second-chance points. Cousins had 15 rebounds in just 16 minutes, and the two had nine offensive rebounds and seven dunks or layups. Overall, Team USA had 22 offensive rebounds and 26 second-chance points.
The only time Argentina was competitive was during a short spurt in the third quarter when veterans Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola, Carlos Delfino and Andres Nocioni played together. They tied the Americans 24-24 in the third quarter, but their younger players struggled otherwise.
“The first time we played the Americans when I was young, we took pictures and asked for their jerseys,” said the 36-year-old Scola, who scored 10 points. “Our young guys didn’t do that, so that was good.”
