U.S. basketball team routs another formidable opponent
Kobe Bryant, being challenged by Aleksey Savrasenko, led all scorers with 19 points in the Americans' 89-68 victory over Russia. With Kobe Bryant leading all scorers with 19 points, the American men ran their exhibition record to 4-0 by pulling away to beat Russia, 89-68
SHANGHAI -- Another so-called big one bites the dust.
The Americans' latest opponent took a little longer to fall, but fall it did. With Kobe Bryant leading all scorers with 19 points, the U.S. ran its exhibition record to 4-0 pulling away to beat Russia, 89-68, in the Ghizong Tennis Center.text ignored
As fans had done when Bryant went to the free-throw line in the exhibitions in Macao, fans here chanted "MVP!"
"It feels like home away from home," Bryant said. "It's great to be so far from Staples Center and still have so much support, I feel like I'm home."
For the U.S., that was actually a squeaker after beating Canada by 55 points, Turkey by 32 and Lithuania by 36, and that's exactly how Russian Coach David Blatt took it.
"Any time you face the beast and you don't get eaten," said Blatt, an American who once played at Princeton, "you did all right."
Appearances notwithstanding, Russia and Lithuania are expected to contend at Beijing -- U.S. Coach Mike Krzyzewski called them "medal capable" -- although they're ranked behind the U.S., 2004 Olympic champion Argentina and Spain, which features Lakers center Pau Gasol.
The U.S. has one exhibition left, Tuesday here against Australia, then flies to Beijing on Wednesday, although it will be four more days until the opener against China.
There was a time when "Russia" in Americans' minds meant the Soviet Union, which had an imposing team, indeed, with 7-4 Arvydas Sabonis, Sarunas Marciulionis and a bench full of seven-footers and knock-down shooters.
It was the Soviets who knocked off the U.S. in the finals at Seoul in 1988, the last time college players would ever represent the United States in basketball.
Of course, Sabonis and Marciulionis were actually from Lithuania, a part of the Soviet Union until its breakup.
Now rebuilding its program under Blatt, who arrived in Russia afer a stint coaching in Israel, Russia surprised everyone by winning last summer's Eurobasket tournament.
Nevertheless, aside from the Utah Jazz's Andrei Kirilenko, this team is hardly imposing.
Sasha Kaun, the backup center on Kansas' NCAA champion, is in rotation. The point guard is a 31-year-old former Bucknell guard named J.R. Holden, who hit the winning basket in the Eurobasket finals. When rule changes limited the number of Americans who could play in Russia, Holden, an American citizen, received Russian citizenship too -- by decree of Vladimir Putin.
Russia played a zone most of the game, slowing the U.S. down and making the Americans shoot from the outside, still probably the weakest part of their game.
Nevertheless, slowed down and all, the U.S. opened up a 15-point lead at halftime, pushed it to 20 early in the third quarter, saw the Russians cut it to 61-51, then spurted away again.
"What I'm really happy about," said Krzyzewski, "it didn't come easy on offense for us and it never had an impact on our defense. That's a very big thing for me."
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