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USA 118, Britain 78: Notes, Mensah-Bonsu quotes, highlights, upcoming games

July 20, 2012

So the USA-Britain meeting in yesterday’s friendly turned out to be something described with words like “blowout,” “thrash,” “humiliate” and “eviscerate.” The last lead Team Britain had in the Red-White-and-Blues’ 118-78 win in Manchester was at 2-0, and the Brits resumed a discouraging tendency from the Eurobasket 2011 tournament, mentally lapsing and collapsing in head coach Chris Finch’s estimation, to be outscored 63-39 in the second 20 minutes.

Good news for Britain: Luol Deng led all scorers with 25 points; Pops Mensah-Bonsu was good for 12 points and nine rebounds, but the pair accounted for 11 total turnovers. The sole other double-digit scorer was Andrew Lawrence, who contributed 11 in six minutes of garbage time.

Among the key statistical contributors for Team USA were Deron Williams (19 points, five assists, two steals), Carmelo Anthony (19 points, two steals), Lebron James (16 points, six rebounds, four assists) and Russell Westbrook (15 points, nine rebounds). All 12 members of the Team USA squad played, with starter Tyson Chandler at bottom with 10 minutes of court time.

On another note … From the In Case You Missed It Department: Prior to the game, the UK-based Telegraph posted an interview with stalwart Team Britain guy Pops Mensah-Bonsu. The effusive and enthusiastic Pops went into the game positively, philosophizing that “The USA are obviously superior to everybody else in the world game but they can only play five guys on the court at any one time … They tie their shoes the same way as us, they pull their trousers on the same way, they bleed just like we do and they go to the bathroom just like we have to. As a sportsman and opponent, you have to look at them as just another five guys.”

Hmmm, maybe not.

As for his next season at the pro level, Mensah-Bonsu would like to stay with Beşiktaş JK, but this may prove difficult with the club’s current sponsorship/financial issues. As optimistic as he is about British basketball, Pops doesn’t figure his chances of playing NBA ball are too high after five NBA contracts with four different teams.

“I am very competitive and perhaps I chased it too hard in the NBA. Also it might be cliché, but a lot of it is political in the NBA. I just couldn’t settle for being second best and that’s why I sometimes didn’t last the whole season with clubs. I couldn’t settle for being the 15th man in the squad. It was a role I was neither willing, nor experienced enough, to play.”

Each team has a pair of friendlies remaining before the London Games. Team Britain goes to Belgium to play African champions Tunisia on Saturday (5pm CET, 11am EST) and the hosts on Sunday (3pm CET, 9am EST).

Team USA will play Argentina on Sunday night (9.30pm CET, 3.30pm EST) followed by Spain next Tuesday night (10.30pm CET, 4.30pm EST) in a tournament celebrating 20 years of basketball since the Dream Team stomped through Barcelona. (Incidentally, these are two of three teams that the US must watch out for in the Olympics, according to D-Will.)

All games can be seen in online streaming as part of the FIBA TV “Road to London” package.

Jul 20, 2012ballineurope
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This post was published on July 20, 2012
Twenty Years Ago Today: A European Dream Team for 1992Twenty years ago today: The greatest in his greatest season
Comments: 17
  1. El Diablo
    13 years ago

    GB guards were just awful, given that this is also USA’ strength ATM, a pounding was inevitable.

    They may win a couple of games just because of Deng, but they ain’t going far

    ReplyCancel
  2. Gabe
    13 years ago

    Okay he are my Olympic predictions.

    1. USA
    2. Spain
    3. Argentina
    4. Lithuania
    5. Australia
    6. China
    7. Russia
    8. France
    9. Brazil
    10. Nigeria
    11. Tunisia
    12. Great Britain

    As you see I basically picked chalk for the 4 top teams but in pool play I see some surprises with Brazil disappointing and China and Australia doing well.

    Group A is pretty much set but with Group B having only one weak team (Great Britain) we have Russia, China, Brazil and Australia fighting for the last three spots. Brazil has chocked before in international competitions (9th in 2010 & 19 in 2006) plus Australia has looked tough losing by only single digits in both friendlies against Spain and China always seems to advance out of pool play in every competition since 2004.

    ReplyCancel
  3. Phileus
    13 years ago

    China above Russia and Brazil is insane. Put down the crack pipe. You should be banned from the forum. JUST GET OUT, GABE. HAVE YOU EVER WATCHED A GAME OF BASKETBALL IN YOUR LIFE?

    Haha seriously though, I would be surprised if China won more than one game. Their domestic league is bad, and their best player is Yi Jianlian. Lolicopters.

    ReplyCancel
    • Gabe
      13 years ago

      Well I had to pick some upsets. People called me crazy when I predicted an African team taking one of the last 3 Olympic spots from a European team and lo and behold (yes I was wrong about the specific African and European team but still).

      Just as the Olympic qualifier showed how African basket has improved perhaps this Olympics will show the rise of China, they are a nation of over a billion people. They have also advanced out of pool play in every competition since 2004 including the past Olympics when defending Eurobasket champions Russia and Germany with Dirk were not able to. Yes China had Yao then but maybe now that nation of over a billion people will have found enough ballers to get them out of pool play again.

      China did win the Stankovic Continental Cup which had African champs Tunisia and second tier teams from Russia and Australia.

      ReplyCancel
      • Phileus
        13 years ago

        Sorry, but I’m not buying it. We’ll see soon enough 🙂

        By the way, your favorite South American team just got embarrassed by Spain, which also looked 10x as fluid as the US against while playing a solid team (whupping GB with your guard play hardly counts). I’m not taking away from Spain’s impressive performance, but Argentina played old.

        ReplyCancel
        • Phileus
          13 years ago

          Sorry, I forgot to add:

          JUST STOP. I’M AN AMERICAN NBA FAN, BUT YOU ARE EMBARRASSING US. JUST GET OUT.

          ReplyCancel
        • Gabe
          13 years ago

          Wow. This either means Argentina is really bad or Australia is very good. Spain played two friendlies against Australia and neither time was able to beat them by double digits. Or maybe it means that friendlies don’t mean much…

          ReplyCancel
          • Gabe
            13 years ago

            Just checked out that friendly between Spain and Argentina. Spain won by 20 so I guess that is on the borderline of embarrassed. But 10X as fluid as the US? I assume you’re talking about the US game against Brazil since they beat DR by 54 and Great Britain by 40. So Spain beats Argentina by 9 more points than the US beat Brazil and they’re 10X as fluid?

            But let’s see what happens when the games start to count.

            ReplyCancel
      • El Diablo
        13 years ago

        @ Gabe.

        China did win the Stankovic Continental Cup which had African champs Tunisia and second tier teams from Russia and Australia.

        It was the Russian underage side, Tunisia missing their best player (better than Yi IMHO) and it was maybe Australia’s 4th tier team (they were young, and all the decent big guys didn’t play in the tournament).

        No way China hangs it hat on that tournament

        ReplyCancel
        • Gabe
          13 years ago

          Oh Salah Mejri didn’t even play? Looks like the Stankovic Continental Cup doesn’t mean much!

          ReplyCancel
          • Phileus
            13 years ago

            Spain was up big early (close to 30, I think?) and then rested its starters which allowed Argentina to come back. You’re right, though; these friendlies are hard to use for real data, especially as Spain seems to like to use these games to learn more than it shows…

            ReplyCancel
          • El Diablo
            13 years ago

            It never did!

            ReplyCancel
  4. Vinz
    13 years ago

    My predictions:

    Gr. A
    1.USA
    2.ARG
    3.FRA
    4.LTU
    5.NGR
    6.TUN

    Gr.B
    1.ESP
    2.RUS
    3.BRA
    4.AUS
    5.GB
    6.CHN

    1.USA
    2. Spain
    3.Russia
    4.Argentina
    5.France
    6.Lithuania
    7.Brazil
    8.Australia
    9.Nigeria
    10.GB
    11.China
    12.Tunisia

    ReplyCancel
  5. Vinz
    13 years ago

    Or maybe there will be a surprise team in Nigeria and they will come out of group game!!

    ReplyCancel
  6. Yosh
    13 years ago

    Vinz, you must be kidding. Look at what Argentina has right now. Personally, I think there’s no way for them to finish 2nd in the group. They’re too old, everyone will just outrun them. I’m not saying they’re not dangerous. Just stop for a sec and they’ll drag you down to play their slow, positional basketball. But after all, I don’t really see them that high in the group. Might as well switch places between them and Lithuania. And, might I ask on what are you predictions based? The friendlies? I should just mention that Lithuania always looks crappy in this stage.

    ReplyCancel
    • Gabe
      13 years ago

      I don’t know. Argentina only lost by 6 points to the US. I know it was only a friendly but still they were down by 20 twice and still managed to come back to within 6. It showed they can beat anyone. On the other hand, Lithuania lost to Nigeria in the qualifying tournament, although that game didn’t matter for their standing it still countered and therefore mattered more than a friendly. And last year Lithuania was eliminated by FYR of Macedonia on their own soil. The same FYR of Macedonia team that was just eliminated in the qualifying tournament by the Domincan Republic team that just lost to the US by 54 points in a friendly!

      ReplyCancel
  7. Daren Becker
    13 years ago

    The Saints had shown signs of fatigue in Nelson and trailed by six points at halftime.

    ReplyCancel
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ballineurope
13 years ago 18 Comments FIBA, More, NBA/NCAAAndrew Lawrence, basketball highlights, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Finch, Deron Williams, EuroBasket 2011, FIBA TV, Lebron James, Luol Deng, NBA, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Russell Westbrook, Team Argentina, Team Belgium, Team Britain, Team Spain, Team Tunisia, Team USA, Tyson Chandler
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