U.S.A. Basketball Survives Early F.I.B.A. Scare Against Turkey

Puerto Rico v USA
Cause for concern? U.S. Men’s National Team’s inconsistency from long-range leads to early scare.

2014 F.I.B.A. play officially kicked off earlier this weekend and Team USA Men’s Basketball is trying to gain enough chemistry together, to compete for a shot at another Gold Medal run at the Olympics in 2016. Coach Mike Krzyzewski cited James Harden as a captain for the team, a squad who opened things up yesterday with a nearly 60-point blowout victory against Finland.

The team was back in action earlier today, this time against Turkey. In comparison to Saturday, USA came out flat even heading into the second half, down 6 points. The first half would see Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Derrick Rose shooting a combined 3-13, which then led to lineup adjustments. The team would finally see an offensive explosion, focusing more on getting Anthony Davis involved early in the third, when their inconsistent jump shots weren’t falling.

The always energetic Kenneth Faried was the MVP of today’s game, scoring 22 points in the second half alone. With Turkey’s confidence dwelling late in the third, USA pushed their lead up to up twenty points to finish the game with an impressive 98-77 victory.

They now prepare for a Tuesday meeting at 11:30am ET on ESPN against New Zealand.

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