USA Basketball Holds On For Win

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Team USA wore the 1992 USA basketball jerseys in Sunday’s game against Argentina and learned that in order to reach the gold medal, they must have the heart of a champion.

The USA Basketball team got more than they could ask in their 86-80 win against Argentina. USA is now 4-0 in exhibition play leading up to the Olympics.

The game was primarily dominated by Team USA including taking a commanding 31-16 lead in the first half but through the play of Manu Ginobili, Argentina was able to bring the game to 78-74 with 2:50 left in the game. USA was able to take back control in the final minutes of the game to finish off Argentina with a couple of three pointers by Kevin Durant and Chris Paul.

“It was a great game for us because we played against champions. The Argentine team played like champions for over a decade and to play in a game like, I thought it was really our first international. I thought our guys did a great job at the start of each half,” said Mike Krzyzewski, USA and Duke University head coach.

Kobe Bryant hit a couple of crucial points before the fourth quarter to keep off the hot hands of Argentina. Bryant finished with 18 points off of 6-of-12 shooting. Kevin Durant led Team USA with 27 points, shooting 7-of-11 in three point shooting.

“We started off pretty well, got a couple of shots. Argentina did a great job of slowing the game down, making the right passes and penetrating and executing. So, it was a good game for us. We learned a lot tonight,” said Durant, who was MVP in the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey. “We just have to keep getting better for the Olympics and our guys did a good job of playing through everything, playing hard, playing together.”

Team USA will have a chance to go 5-0 in pre-Olympic gameplay as they play their final game against Spain. Tip-off is on Tuesday at 10:30 p.m.