NEW YORK, New York (But The Game Is On) – Team USA bid farewell to their home soil with one final exhibition game at Madison Square Garden against the French National Team. The Americans had a happy farewell, putting away France 86-55 by dominating the second half.
“This is a really good experience for us,” USA Basketball Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski said after the game. “It’s our first game, and I thought our defense was outstanding throughout and our effort was outstanding throughout.”
Team USA was led by veteran point guard Chauncey Billups, who hasn’t been getting as many repetitions during scrimmages during practice as some of the younger player like Derrick Rose or Rajon Rondo as the coaching staff had been giving he and Lamar Odom some veteran’s courtesy.
Billups was not standing out with any big time scoring performances before tonight, with Derrick Rose having most of the attention on him during the Las Vegas Showcase, the only other real game played during this summer’s camp, but Billups thinks its beneficial to have so many different guys capable of being “the man” on any given night.
“That’s gonna be the beauty of our team,” Billups told me after the game. “Every night its gonna be a different guy stepping up and having a huge night. I think it takes the pressure off of everybody. You just gotta be solid and somebody is gonna jump up and have a big game.”
Billups had 17 points on five of nine shooting including three three-pointers. Though he is a point guard in the NBA, Billups played alongside Rondo today at the two spot and did not accumulate an assist because of that. However, at six-foot-three, Billups can and is expected to contribute on the boards. With limited big men, the guards will have to make sure they secure all rebounds, long and short, and Chauncey did a good job of that in this game by grabbing four rebounds, a high for the guards.
Rudy Gay was the top scorer for Team USA with 19 points on seven of 12 shooting. Gay had a few impressive dunks and a couple of outside jumpers as well to compile his points. He spent some time at the power forward spot with Andre Iguodala on the floor and possibly some center when Kevin Durant checked in. I say possibly because he was manning the paint but did not have a specific man to cover. Either way, he did have some minutes as one of the anchors downlow with Team USA, which is a new responsibility for him.
“We wanted to do the best we could,” Gay said of the game. “But also we wanted to learn these rules and about these players because we are going to play similar players. This is probably our last game we get cheered for. Its going to be loud over (in Turkey) and we know that so we wanted to do the best we could today.”
Gay has been a scoring machine during his time with USA Basketball. Not just this summer but ever since he joined the program. Rudy’s overall skill hasn’t come out as much as it has during his time with Team USA during his time with the Grizzlies, perhaps due to the lack of a true point guard on the squad to distribute the basketball between he and O.J. Mayo, but after watching him for the past two seasons its clear he deserves his spot on this team and that his talent is at a higher level than he is given credit for.
One of team USA’s other forwards, Kevin Durant, who is viewed as the best player on the team, did not have such a great afternoon. He finished with 14 points but had to take 11 shots to do so. Durant started off quietly and never got his jump shot going. He made five shots but at least two of those were off dunks in transition and another came right at the basket. Kevin did pull down eight rebounds, which is a big time contribution on this team, but because he is playing with a new group, he did not get as many touches as he would in a game with the Thunder. Durant has said that he is not a vocal leader or player and that may be why he didn’t stick out much in this game. Russell Westbrook is the only guy on the team that knows the job is to get it to Durant. Hopefully, the other guys will pick up on that before Team USA heads to Turkey.
“We do have something to prove,” Durant said on heading to Turkey for the World Championships. “Of course we want to go over there and win it. A lot of the big name guys are not here, so people are kind of counting us out. So we definitely have something to prove and tonight was a good start.”
Rajon Rondo was the other Team USA member to stick out tonight. After a sub-par Showcase game in Las Vegas two weeks ago, Rondo was excellent in filling his role tonight. As the starting point guard, Rondo did everything expected of him by distributing the basketball and getting his teammates easy looks. Not many of those looks were for Durant, but you can’t knock down his performance simply because of that. Rondo had six points, including a beautiful sequence where he split two defenders and okie-doked Nicolas Batum with a behind-the-back fake to get an easy lay-up, but his main contribution was with his six assists. Rondo was also very active defensively. He didn’t get any official stats to back that up, but NBA.com’s John Schuhmann estimated that he had about 10-15 deflections on the night.
“Yeah, (I’m) trying to cause havoc for the point (guards), especially a bigger point (guard) like today,” Rondo said about his activity on the defensive end. “I’m a smaller, quicker guard so I’m trying to use my advantage and picking the ball and turning it around and poking it every once in while.”
France was led by NBA players Boris Diaw and Nicolas Batum. Diaw, who looked out of shape, played a game high 33 minutes and scored 15 points on seven of 12 shooting while also pulling down six rebounds. At least in this game, it looked like the French will be featuring Diaw in the post whenever they can and he seems ready to contribute despite the added weight. Diaw was a big reason Team USA only had a 39-30 lead at halftime, which is something you wouldn’t expect considering the final scored featured a 31-point differential.
“I think in the first half we played pretty good defensively,” Diaw said about his team’s performance. “We didn’t let them get too many fastbreak. In the second half, I think we turned the ball over too much. We have to be careful with the ball.”
Batum had 11 points, five turnovers, four steals and four rebounds. He showed a array of skills against Team USA and challenged Rudy Gay and Andre Iguodala for best athlete on the court. Nicolas is young but is one of the key players for France and could break out next season with the Trail Blazers thanks to an improved jumpshot that he showed today.
“We hope to be in the top five,” Batum said about his country in the World Championships. “Its just my second year with the national team, but I learned a lot last year from my first experience.”
Team USA will now travel to Madrid, Spain, for a few more practice sessions and an exhibition game before stopping in Athens, Greece, for their final competitions before the World Championships begin in Turkey later this month. As for the roster, JaVale McGee and Jeff Green were cut earlier today and one more roster cut will be made before the Worlds officially begin. However, Jerry Colangelo, Coach K, and the rest of the staff will wait until the deadline to make their final roster move.
Other player notes:
Tyson Chandler – Chandler will never replace Dwight Howard but he has been an ample replacement with this squad. I have been very pleased by Tyson’s production during this summer’s workouts and he looks very good after battling injuries for the past two seasons. If he stays healthy, he could re-establish himself as one of the better defensive centers in the league again. He’s the last “true” center left with McGee being cut and he knows his responsibilities going forward.
“I know I have to hold it down for my country,” Tyson told me the other day. “Defend, rebound, all the little things. I’m ready to do it, too.”
Coach K also had very good things to say about Tyson:
“Tyson has been outstanding. We have a relationship from the 2007 qualifying team. One, he is such a good team member. Even when we’re in the meal room, he’ll make sure he’s eating with different players. He’s talking up. He doesn’t need the ball. He’s stronger. I bet he’s at least probably 15 pounds heavier and stronger than he was in 2007. He feels healthy. You get these guys who are good players who have been out with injury and all of a sudden they start — they’re really excited. That’s where Tyson is.”
Eric Gordon and Stephen Curry- In what seems to be a war between Gordon and Stephen Curry for the final spot on the roster, Eric won this battle. They both played similar minutes and Gordon ended up outscoring Curry 8-4 with only five shots compared to seven for Curry. Eric made a couple three’s and was extremely active defensively, which is where he will have an advantage going forward over Curry. There is a chance that both make the team with someone else like Danny Granger or Russell Westbrook being cut but all signs point to one of these guys having to head back home.
Danny Granger – After shooting nine-of-12 in yesterday’s scrimmage vs China, Granger went 0-for-3 today. And so is life on a team with this much talent.
Derrick Rose – Just like Granger, after shining in almost all all Team USA events so far this summer, Rose was quiet today with just two points but he did have three assists and three rebounds and was great with his on-ball defense.
Lamar Odom – Lamar is being counted on big time for his leadership but his play will likely be quiet with this team. Today he was excellent with eight points on four-of-five shooting with seven rebounds and a block. That’s a huge line for 17 minutes but none of it was sexy. Still, he’s going to be a humongous asset going forward.
Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook – The two UCLA products only played eight and seven minutes respectively. They both combined for just two points and three rebounds during their limited time on the floor. If you want to read into it, like most did with McGee and Green not playing in yesterday’s scrimmage and then being cut, then it may be likely that Westbrook will be cut prior to the Worlds (I don’t think cutting Love is an option due to the lack of size) but then again we may see him play 17 minutes in the Spain exhibition while Curry only plays seven minutes. There is an odd rotations concerning the guards right now and Coach K has spoken too highly of Westbrook to assume he would be on the fringe after sitting for most of one game.
