Team USA Sends Slovenia Home

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 these sites: www.nba.com/fiba and www.fiba.com. To follow Team USA on-line go to www.usab.com

Recap/Game Day 7/

 Team USA was stone cold to start this quarterfinal match-up with Slovenia. But, as this team has come to realize, “slow starts” can only be tolerated for 1, maybe 2 quarters, at this high level of play. Then, the ignition switch was turned on behind the “Double-Double” synergies of Kenneth Faried (14) and Anthony Davis (13), and the rally began. During a strategic 2nd quarter time-out to discuss the on-court situation, Coach Krzyzewski’s message was heard, and dominance was restored. Although only up by (49-42), Team USA easily pulled away in the 3rd quarter as solid team defense triggered crowd-pleasing “Fast-Break Dunks” and spectacular “Alley-Oops” on a frequent basis.  Slovenia had no answer to the 70 points put up by Team USA in the 2nd half. Also scoring in double-figures were: Derrick Rose (12); Klay Thompson (20), James Harden (14), and Kyrie Irving (12). All players scored in the win. Final score: USA 119  Slovenia 76. Team USA now heads to Madrid for the Semi-Final/”Final Four” Round.                Rico Cabrera, Sr/East LA Sports Scene.Com

Selected Player Stats:

Rose (12) points on 6-10 FGs/5 assts/1 stl {This was his second 12 pt. game of the tournament}; Thompson (20) points on 7-13 FGs/4-8 3-Ptrs/2 assts;1 blk/1 stl; Harden (12) points on 4-14 FGs/2-2 3-Ptrs/5 rebs/3 assts/1 stl; Irving (12) points on 5-9 FGs/1-1 3 ptr/1-1 FTs/3 assts/4 stls; Davis (13) points on 5-11 FGs/3-4 FTs/11 rebs/3 blks/1 asst; *Faried (14) points on 5-9 FGs/4-5 FTs/10 rebs; *(2nd Double-Double of Tournament).

Next Game: vs. Lithuania, Thursday, Sept 11th at 12 noon (PST). on ESPN