It wasn’t pretty, but 13 points each from Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson led Team USA Basketball to a big win over Venezuela, 80-45, in their friendly at the United Center in Chicago on Friday night.
If anyone was wondering what it might be like if there was something more boring than watching Team USA light it up against some helpless opponent on a basketball court, wonder no more. Referencing this game should do the trick.
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The commentators mentioned that coach Mike Krzyzewski put his team through a particularly intense practice prior to their game with the South Americans and it showed. After putting points on the board first, Venezuela came back, going on a big run, and taking the lead back midway through the first quarter. And then it was business as usual. The American defense was on display, led by the Bulls’ own Jimmy Butler and DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers. After the early run, they held the visitors to just six points in the entire second quarter and never allowed more than 14 in any single quarter.
Despite the good defense, Team USA failed to put the game away early. At one point, they missed 13 shots in a row.
Butler had another quiet night, which was unexpected since tonight’s game was against a particularly weak opponent, ranked No. 22 in the FIBA World Rankings, and on his home floor. But there were plenty of strange things about the international affair. For example, Thompson received the loudest crowd response of the night when rising up for a 3-point attempt. Newly announced Bull, Dwyane Wade, received a great response when he was introduced. Wade was sitting courtside with his family, as was Bulls legend Scottie Pippen. There was also a loud cheer for Butler when he was reintroduced to the game after his first spell on the bench.
There wasn’t much else to cheer about. While the standard USA blowout might not be thrilling due to the outcome never being in doubt, this game was much harder to watch as they struggled to beat an opponent that threw their opening punch well but take another swing the entire match. Yet, there was no knockout blow from the USA. Instead, there was a certain amount of fatigue and perhaps a lack of focus as shot after shot fell short, both for Butler and the rest of the team.
Butler did produce the highlight of the evening, late in the contest he finished a fast break with this slam dunk:
Jimmy Butler with the highlight play of the game (there weren't many!) pic.twitter.com/XYITQvzn9p
— Steph Noh (@StephNoh) July 30, 2016
Another meager offensive performance wasn’t due to lack of trying, Butler put up eight shots. However, including that dunk, he made a total of just two shots. He acted as the glue guy again, playing tough defense, hustling and running action off of screens. In addition to his four points, he had eight rebounds, one assist and one steal in 21:37 of action.
Next: Dwyane Wade's Introductory Press Conference
Team USA has now completed their duties in Chicago and will head south, spending a few days in Houston where they will play their final friendly against Nigeria on August 1. They will play their first game of the Olympics on Saturday, August 6 against China. The have already played two friendlies against China this month, beating them in Los Angeles and Oakland.