Image via WikipediaATHENS, Greece (AP)—The United States breezed to one last warm-up victory before the start of the world basketball championships, not that coach Mike Krzyzewski seemed to care.He’s just happy that his group brimming with youthful exuberance is ready to play.
“The score doesn’t really matter, it was just an exhibition game,” Krzyzewski said after an 87-59 blowout of defending silver medalist Greece on Wednesday. “I’m happy we had the chance to play a great team, in a great atmosphere.”
Eric Gordon(notes) scored 18 points for the Americans, who led from start to finish against a Greece team playing for the first time since a brawl near the end of a game against Serbia turned the focus of the upcoming world championships away from the court.
The smaller Americans took advantage, even with Tyson Chandler(notes) in foul trouble. Kevin Love(notes) played well in the second half and finished with eight points and a team-high 13 rebounds.
In addition to Gordon, Love and Odom, the final 12-man roster for the U.S. includes: Kevin Durant(notes), Derrick Rose(notes), Rudy Gay(notes), Chauncey Billups(notes), Danny Granger(notes), Russell Westbrook(notes), Stephen Curry(notes) and Andre Iguodala(notes). Celtics guard Rajon Rondo(notes) pre-empted Krzyzewski’s decision about the final roster cut Tuesday by taking himself out of contention citing family reasons.
Krzyzewski denied there was any friction with Rondo.
“We respect his decision and we appreciate his total commitment to the team. Rajon is a classy person,” Krzyzewski said. “He is still in the pool of players we will consider for the (2012) London Olympics.”
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Ai1KTh8KriPU4uLcsCqUwiG8vLYF?slug=ap-greece-us
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