Team USA shined against Canada. It’s awesome to see the talent come together through chemistry and also to see D-Wade really look phenomenal in his first action in months!
ESPN: Mike Krzyzewski wanted Dwyane Wade on the U.S. team, just in case something ever happened to Kobe Bryant or LeBron James.
With James out Friday night, Wade proved he is definitely back.
Wade stepped into the starting lineup and scored 20 points in his first action in more than four months, and the United States beat Canada 120-65 in the opener of its exhibition schedule.
“D-Wade is a warrior to anybody who knows him. He’s been rehabbing and he’s been working out probably more than anybody, just trying to get back in shape,” point guard Chris Paul said. “That’s D-Wade. We see it every day in practice and you saw it tonight, that he’s back. When he’s aggressive like that, we’re a dangerous team.”
James, the NBA’s leading scorer, missed the game because of a mildly sprained right ankle, but the Americans have plenty of offense without him. Carmelo Anthony and Michael Redd also finished with 20 points, and Bryant added 15.
The Americans made 16 of their first 20 shots and ended at 65.7 percent (44-of-67), getting plenty of layups and dunks at a sold out Thomas & Mack Center in their lone game on home soil before completing their Olympic preparations in China.
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If they don’t win gold, then I’ll be damned.
And that Carl English fella that played against Kobe and Tayshaun did pretty well! The announcer said something like “Even though he only has 1/100th the talent of Kobe, he is still working his butt off and trying to impress his opponents.” Even Kobe patted him on the back for such a hard working performance.
Without Nash and with the whole Dalembert fiasco, Canada is nothing compared to the competitive countries in Europe and south America.
You know what, was it just me or did English contest Kobe’s J really, REALLY well?
it was just you.
I was impressed. I thought they didn’t bite on his fakes and whatnot.
Contesting well isn’t something you see out of your average NBA’ers these days. That being said… I told my buddy I feel bad for the dude who has to guard KB and have KB guard him.
go here to watch the highlights http://www.lakersmedia.com/?p=199
I didn’t watch the the 04 team because:
#1 No Kobe
#2 I thought that squad would dominant to slaughter international teams anyways, that team had Lebron James and Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson? Ca mon now …
Still lost…
06′ - Same thing .. lost a few games
Now they Kobe and they haven’t lost a game since. I can’t wait to watch this team in Bejieng.
Kobe and J-Kidd make a major difference.
The thing I see here as opposed to 04 is CHEMISTRY.
English did contest kobe’s shot better than most do LD2K, totally agree.
Also, this is the first time team USA has made their players sign 3 year commitments so they could grow together and gain that chemsistry. The 04 team was a bunch of young guys mixed with some older stars and it was a PURE EGO FEST. Everyone wanted to score and make the big play, no one played defense, it was ugly. The team we have now is definitely the best team we’ve seen since 1992!
I’m excited!
Kobe and J-Kidd are a huge reason for that
Ya, that was a fun game to watch last night. I hope USA meets SPAIN in the Gold Medal game in Beijing. That would be AWESOME! Kobe vs. Gasol…
Kobe was great. D-Wade was great. I personally think D-Wade is better than Lebron when he’s healthy =).
I am the god of TLN
Yeah I was at the game 4th row. There is some chemistry issues, but that will come. Although they did dominate, they need to slightly step up the overall team play to dominate teams like Greece, Argentina, Spain etc. All those teams have been doing so well because they really preach team play and on top of that, Europe obviously has some very talented players. There is no question that USA will do great, but they need to gel just slightly more. Remember, Canada didn’t even qualify for the Olympics and they were still in the game until the end of the second quarter. Other teams will not go away as easy, so they need to come out from the get-go and make a statement. As they play and practice together even more, they will be unstoppable I think…..but it all starts with team ball.
USA USA haha dwade look like A kimo kid lol but great win
Also you guys remember, LeBron wasn’t even playing in this game. Personally I think USA will be unstoppable. Teams usually have one or two really good perimeter defenders, but Kobe, Wade, LeBron, Carmelo, and now Chris Paul and Deron Williams comin off the bench along with Michael Redd? It’s just too much for any team to handle. I know Europe has really good teams, but USA has some of the best players in the world.
Wow, that was random man. VERY random.
Hell Yeah! Go team USA!