The Statement Within The Statement Of The Statement Game

Photo: Fox Deportes

On Thursday night, Team USA's summer officially began as coach Mike Krzyzewski and the Americans met up with coach John Calipari and the Dominican Republic in an exhibition game in Las Vegas — with the red, white, and blue running the Dominicans out of the building, winning 113-59.

It was a definite statement game for Team USA. Much has been made about the Americans' lack of traditional big men, and Tyson Chandler remains the only true center on the roster. Chandler played limited minutes, getting into early foul trouble and forcing Krzyzewski to go small, using three forwards with LeBron James playing chunks of the game at center.

Once the Americans went small, they were relentless with their ball pressure, seriously disrupting the Dominicans' offense as they pressured the ball the full length of the court. Russell Westbrook was particularly impressive as his next-level athleticism wreaked havoc on Calipari's ball-handlers, who frequently were unable to start their offense until 15 seconds into the 24-second shot clock.

With so much being made about the Americans' lack of size, Coach K utilized this game to demonstrate that Team USA is so athletic that size may be irrelevant. The team's superior athleticism was awe-inspiring as they utilized that full-court press to ultimately score 38 points on 27 turnovers.

Report Card: USA 113, Dominican Republic 59

United States

113

Final

59

Dominican Republic

STARTERS

	Chris Paul, G 0-1 FG | 0-1 3PT | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 3 AST | 0 PTS Whether it was to rest his injured thumb or for some other reason, Paul didn't see much time on Thursday, playing only 8 minutes. When he was on the floor, he was his usual CP3 self, but the sample size isn't big enough to fairly award a grade.
	Kobe Bryant, G 2-6 FG | 0-3 3PT | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 1 AST | 4 PTS A below-average effort for Kobe. He looked disjointed and, dare I say it, old out there. Nevertheless, he is still Kobe and he hit a few unreal shots, as he is prone to doing. This clearly wasn't his best game, but Kobe's not done yet.
	Carmelo Anthony, F 3-6 FG | 0-0 3PT | 7-8 FT | 5 REB | 0 AST | 13 PTS Carmelo score very efficiently, repeatedly attacking the basket and getting to the line. He's still not interested in playing defense, but if he was, hell might actually freeze over. Melo just is who he is — and he had a solid game against the D.R.
	LeBron James, F 2-5 FG | 1-3 3PT | 2-4 FT | 2 REB | 3 AST | 7 PTS LeBron James is the best player in the world, but he was mostly invisible on Thursday. Coach K opted to rest him, playing him only 17 minutes, but he wasn't aggressive when he did get his chances. That's fine in Vegas, not so much in London.
	Tyson Chandler, C 3-3 FG | 0-0 3PT | 1-2 FT | 5 REB | 1 AST | 7 PTS Chandler got into foul trouble early, which is something that absolutely cannot happen against teams like Spain and Brazil. However, he rallied in the second half and showed why he'll be indispensable as the anchor of the defense.