Poor China. Its basketball team lost twice to Team USA by 49 and 50 points in warmup matches and nearly got posterized by a DeMar DeRozan 360 dunk for its troubles. Guess who China had to play in its first game of the 2016 Olympic basketball tournament? Team USA, of course.
Watch highlights of Team USA basketball dunking all over China in its Olympic opener
This game was never close.
Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports
The result was a slaughter even more gruesome than the two exhibitions. The final score was 119-62, and it included what amounted to 35 minutes of garbage time after Team USA was a tad shaky in the first five minutes.
Team USA dominated this game in three stages. First, the U.S. second unit of Kyle Lowry, Paul George, Jimmy Butler, DeMar DeRozan and DeAndre Jordan turned up the defensive pressure in the first quarter, turning a close start into a 30-10 first-quarter lead. Then, Kevin Durant caught fire in the second quarter, nailing three straight threes to push the lead even further. Finally, after a sluggish start to the third quarter, Kyrie Irving came in and nailed four threes in two minutes to put the game to bed.
China must be tired of seeing Team USA on the other side of the court.
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