USA Basketball: A Breath of Fresh Air

As I sat and watched the USA Basketball team take on Puerto Rico, I couldn't help but smile. This team put together by Coach K was playing basketball the way it should be played. Smothering defense led to fastbreaks. Even though Puerto Rico was penetrating very well. Team USA would not be beat. Coach K made sure his troops were ready for battle. And Team USA beat Puerto Rico 111-100. All twelve players played solid minutes, and Carmelo Anthony led scorers with 21 points. Lebron James had a nice showing with 15, and Kirk Hinrich had a superb performance with 15 points himself.

In game two against China, USA took no prisoners. Yao Ming was no contest as Team USA cruised to a 121-90 victory. Defense and offense stepped it up for this one, as the USA didn't want it to be as close the Puerto Rico. USA had seven players in double figures, and was led by Dwayne Wade who exploded with 26 points. Taken from the USA basketball website: "I thought our team played extremely well and we needed to because China has improved tremendously since our game with them two weeks ago," said Mike Krzyzewski, USA head coach. "The tempo tonight is exactly what we want. I'm not so concerned about how many points we keep them (opponents) to as long as we have that margin. I thought we played really hard defensively. We worked very hard to defend Yao, he's a terrific player. He's just coming off a serious injury, he played with great courage."

USA's next game will be Tuesday against Slovenia which will air on ESPN2 at 6:30 am ET NBATV at 4 pm ET August 23.