BARCELONA — Attack mode. Derrick Rose had lost it. Now, after a long one-on-one meeting with Coach Mike Krzyzewski, he has rediscovered it. And all that talk about how he was hurting rather than helping Team USA should disappear, too. It was a sight to behold Tuesday night in a 119-76 victory over Slovenia, the Derrick Rose we had grown accustomed to seeing a couple years ago before the two knee injuries. The guy who exploded to the basket and always was
BARCELONA — A reporter from Slovenia asked DeMarcus Cousins a question Monday: “Do you know where Slovenia is?” Cousins snapped back: “Do you know where Alabama is?” Touche. The reporter was undoubtedly pursuing the storyline of “They don’t respect us, they don’t know us, they don’t even know where our country is located.” It is as predictable of a storyline as you could imagine, but Cousins was not taking the bait. So make that two big days in a row for the big man
When the FIBA World Cup’s group stage ended Thursday, eight of the 24 teams went home. Four more went home Saturday, the first day of the knockout stage. One of them was Mexico, which put up little resistance in a loss to Team USA. Chris Sheridan is in Barcelona and was not overly impressed. As the games get tougher, the rotation needs to get shorter. Here’s a roundup of Saturday’s round of 16 games. BARCELONA GAMES Team USA 86, Mexico 63 In a rare mornng EST
In a day where all 24 teams played in the FIBA World Cup leading up to Thursday’s frenetic first round finish, it was The Manimal who again stood out in another Team USA victory. After a closely contested first quarter, Kenneth Faried helped the Americans (4-0), once again propelled by their big men, take the second and third quarters by a combined 26 points and defeat the Dominican Republic (2-2) 106-71 to advance to 4-0 and clinch the best record in
The national colors of Slovenia are red, white and blue, but for some reason they wear green as their national color when playing basketball. And technically, chartreuse is a shade of green. But damn, those were some ugly unis that Goran and Zoran Dragic were sporting. Watching the Americans’ 101-71 victory of Slovenia from the home office (I will be covering the tournament from Spain after pool play ends) gives you a different perspective. For instance, I thought Mark Kestecher and
Photo NBAE / Nathaniel S. Butler Chicago — USA Basketball held their first practice since the gruesome injury that befell Indiana Pacers All-Star Paul George. Practice was held at the Quest Multisport Center in Chicago, where the team will remain until after their exhibition game versus Brazil at the United Center on August 16. They will then travel to New York where they’ll continue training before exhibition games at Madison Square Garden versus the Dominican Republic (Aug. 20)
Goran Dragic slashes, drives and penetrates into the lane like no other NBA player, creatively opening up space to create for himself and his Phoenix Suns teammates. That creativity, though, comes with a heavy price: the beating he takes on a nightly basis as he hurtles into and bounces around defenders with his breathtakingly fun to watch forays towards the basket which sweep opponents and fans alike off their feet like a swift and strong gust of wind. Dragic’s offensive game
The quarterfinal round of EuroBasket ’13 began Wednesday. With only six available spaces for the 2014 World Cup, seven of the remaining eight teams are battling it out to make it to the Spain next year. [Read more…]