Team USA Gets 20 Minute Scare From Turks
Background: East L.A. Sports Scene.Com will keep our avid basketball fans up to date with our recaps and coverage of Team USA & USA Basketball at the FIBA World Cup Tournament. This tournament was re-formatted to become the FIBA World Cup of Basketball. The (24) countries that will compete for the 2014 FIBA World title, began “Pool or Round-Robin” play in several Spanish cities on August 30th. USA Basketball, the national governing body of basketball for our country, once again has assembled (12) outstanding NBA players, both young and veteran, from our Men’s National Team roster. They are charged with defending our World Championship title, claimed in Istanbul, Turkey, four years ago. To follow all of the 2.5 weeks of International hoops action, go to www.fiba.com. To follow Team USA on-line go to www.usab.com
Team USA (2-0) woke up on Day 2 of the World Cup, got “Game Day” ready and then headed to the Bizkaia Arena in Bilbao for what was supposed to be an interesting, entertaining, and competitive game. What Head Coach, Mike Krzyzewski and his team discovered was a very disciplined Turkish national team that went “Mano-A-Mano” with the defending World Champions. At the end of the 1st half, the score read Turkey (40) USA (35). After a serious Coach “K” pep talk in the locker room, when the 3rd period started, Kenneth Faried/PF (Denver Nuggets) and Anthony Davis/C (New Orleans Pelicans) went into a contagious overdrive to lead the team in catching up, and then powering its way past the Turks, closing out the period with a 6 point lead. A great sense of urgency carried Team USA (2-0) to an eventual 21 point victory, with the final score, USA 98 Turkey 77 (1-1). Leading USA scorers were: Faried, (22); Davis, (19); James Harden, Houston Rockets (14); Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers (13); and DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento Kings, (11).