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After a tough first first, the USA stepped up and dominated Serbia, winning 96-66 on Sunday in Brazil to win 2016 Olympic gold.
Kevin Durant led the way for the USA, shooting 10-of-19, including 5-of-11 three-pointers, for 30 points. DeMarcus Cousins also had a great game, coming off the bench to contribute 13 points and 15 rebounds in just 17 minutes of play.
Klay Thompson added 12 points, on 11 shots.
For a full recap, read our Team USA Basketball page.
The 2016 U.S. Olympic Women’s Basketball Team (8-0) rolled to a sixth straight Olympic gold medal and remained undefeated at the 2016 Olympic Games with an impressive 101-72 win over Spain (6-2) on Saturday afternoon at Carioca Arena 1 in Rio de Janeiro.
The U.S. women now have won eight gold medals in Olympic competition, own a 49-game Olympic win streak and an overall record of 66-3 since beginning play in 1976.
Serbia (4-4) beat France (4-4) 70-63 to win the bronze medal.
The game was close for the first 13 minutes before the USA began to pull away. Led by four players in double digit scoring, including Diana Taurasi with 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting from 3-point and Lindsay Whalen with 17 points and six assists, the USA got 55 points off its bench, outrebounded Spain 51-28 and scored 23 points off of 17 Spanish turnovers.
“Obviously it was an incredible tournament for us,” said USA head coach Geno Auriemma. “From the very first game that we played to today, with very few exceptions I thought we played basketball at a really high level. I can’t say enough about our players. How quickly they’ve come together, how much they’ve been able to accomplish in less than a month that we’ve been together.
“It wasn’t as easy as sometimes it looked, these last two games especially with France and today against Spain,” Auriemma continued. “These are very good teams that we’re playing, and you could see that it wasn’t just a cake walk, that it was a struggle. Then finally, because of our depth and because of the experience on our team, we were able to separate ourselves. But the way we played, we respected our opponents and we respected the game itself, we earned a lot of respect from a lot of people around the world, and I’m really proud of that.”
The first quarter saw six tied scores and four lead changes before the USA closed with seven straight points to take a 21-17 lead into the second quarter. The first 10 minutes saw eight different U.S. players score and 14 points from non-starters.
“Tonight was a good game,” Whalen said. “Spain is a tough team. They really pushed us. We worked hard this month to get to this point, really our whole lives to get here. We’re glad we played well tonight.”
The run stretched into the second quarter when Sue Bird made a 3 at 9:36 to bring the score to 24-17. Spain responded and cut into the margin with its own 3-pointer at 6:54 to bring the score to 27-24. The USA held Spain scoreless for the next 3:37, however, while it tallied 10 points, including back-to-back 3s from Taurasi, to lead 37-24. Spain ended its drought at 3:17, but the USA again closed strong, outscoring Spain 12-6 to go ahead 49-32 at halftime.
Maya Moore scored nine of her 14 points in the second, while the U.S. defense buckled down in the second period to hold Spain to 5-of-18 shooting (.278) from the field. Moore also finished with six assists.
The USA was a red-hot 77.8 percent from the field (14-18 FGs) while it raced to 32 points in the third quarter, and it held Spain to 33.3 percent from the field (6-18 FGs) and just 17 points in the period to all but seal the win. Nine U.S. players put points on the board in the third, including two more 3s from Taurasi and six points from Elena Delle Donne, who tallied 10 in the game.
“You play these eight games and you want to win so bad,” Taurasi said. “The one thing we didn’t do is we didn’t take any possessions off. We played every single game like it’s a gold medal game, and that’s why I think you see everyone is emotionally and physically spent right now. And that takes a certain character of team and individuals. I’ve never been a part of anything like this.”
Spain, which was playing in its fourth Olympic Games and its first medal game, outscored the USA 23-20 in the fourth quarter as the USA cruised to the 101-72 win.
Breanna Stewart, who finished with 11 points, pushed the USA into triple digits with the USA’s last field goal with 35 seconds remaining to make it 101-70.
“I’m just really happy,” said Sue Bird. “We just did something that’s pretty incredible. When you get together as a team and you know you only have a month to do something, it’s remarkable in so many ways that we were able to put this together and do it in a fashion that leaves no question marks. This put us on the map as arguable one of the best teams and we had fun doing it. Not only that, you can talk about the 100-point games or the margin of victory, but we played our butts off. We really did. I don’t think I’ve ever been around a group that’s this talented and also played this hard. Again, I’m just super happy. I’m proud of my teammates. I’m proud I’m part of this group. I’m happy for coach Auriemma and the rest of the staff, and it’s just a really fun day today.”
The Olympic semifinals were Friday, and Serbia dominated their matchup with Australia and will play the USA on Sunday in the Gold Medal Game. Here’s the Deseret News reporting:
Jazz forward Joe Ingles didn’t mince words when discussing Team Australia’s surprisingly lop-sided semifinal loss to Serbia Friday.
“For us it was pathetic,” said Ingles, who had seven rebounds, two steals and 12 points in Australia’s 87-61 loss to Serbia. “We haven’t played like that all tournament. (It was) totally not like our team.”
Australia beat Serbia in group play 95-80 on Aug. 8, but Serbia clearly had a different game plan and mindset in Friday’s semifinal win as they led start to finish in every way.
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The Jazz on Friday signed 2016 second round pick Joel Bolomboy (pronounced “Ball-um-boy”).
A 6-9, 235-pound forward from Weber State University), Bolomboy averaged 17.1 points on 57.3 percent shooting and grabbed 12.6 rebounds (third in the nation) during his senior year, setting a school single-season record by tallying 415 total rebounds. He was named the 2016 Big Sky Conference Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year and a unanimous All-Conference First Team selection. Bolomboy finished his four-year career as the all-time leader in rebounds for Weber State as well as the Big Sky Conference.
The 22-year-old was a member of the Jazz entry at the 2016 Utah Jazz Summer League (July 4-7) and NBA Summer League (July 8-15) in Las Vegas, averaging 7.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 19.3 minutes of action in nine games. In Las Vegas, he averaged 9.5 points on 53.3 percent shooting, 7.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists in six contests. He recorded one double-double, scoring 13 points and 11 rebounds vs. New Orleans on July 10. In the team’s summer league finale against the L.A. Lakers on July 15, Bolomboy led the Jazz in scoring, recording 20 points, shooting 9-for-12 from the floor, adding seven rebounds, one steal and one block.
Born in the Ukraine, Bolomboy played high school basketball at Keller Central in Fort Worth, Texas.
He will wear jersey #22 for the Jazz.
The Lakers have hired Jud Buechler, Brian Keefe, and Theo Robertson as player development coaches on Head Coach Luke Walton’s staff, joining associate head coach Brian Shaw and assistant coaches Jesse Mermuys and Mark Madsen.
Additionally, it was announced that Casey Owens has been named assistant coach/advance professional scout and Will Scott has been named to the staff as video coordinator.
Buechler enjoyed a 12-year playing career highlighted by winning three consecutive championships with the Chicago Bulls from 1996-98, and was a member of the 1995-96 Bulls team that went 72-10 in the regular season. The Poway, CA native also suited up for the Nets, Spurs, Warriors, Pistons, Suns, and Magic between the 1990-91 and 2001-02 seasons and appeared in 720 regular season and 71 postseason games.
Keefe comes to L.A. after spending the last two seasons serving as an assistant coach with the New York Knicks. Prior to his stint with the Knicks, Keefe spent seven seasons working with the Oklahoma City Thunder after joining the franchise in the summer of 2007, where he was a player development coach for two years before spending his last five seasons as an assistant coach. During his time with the Thunder, the team reached the post-season five times including a trip to the NBA Finals in 2012. Before joining the Thunder, Keefe worked for two seasons as an assistant video coordinator with the San Antonio Spurs and was a member of the coaching staff that won an NBA Championship in 2007.
Robertson joins the Lakers after spending the previous two seasons with the Golden State Warriors, where he was part of the 2015 NBA championship as the team’s video intern, working with Steve Kerr’s coaching staff assisting with game preparation. He was promoted to video coordinator/player development prior to the 2015-16 season, working on-court with players in addition to his game-planning responsibilities.
Owens transitions to his role with the Lakers after spending last season serving as Head Coach for their D-league affiliate, the Los Angeles D-Fenders. In his first season as Head Coach of the D-Fenders, Owens led the team to its second Western Conference Championship and a trip to the D-League Finals. In addition, Owens helped produce two NBA Call-Ups in Justin Harper (Detroit Pistons) and Jeff Ayres (L.A. Clippers). Owens got his start with the D-Fenders as an assistant coach for the team during the 2013-14 season. A 17-year veteran of professional basketball, Owens has worked in coaching, player development and scouting at the NBA, NBA D-League, Continental Basketball Association, and international levels, and worked with the Lakers coaching staff throughout their 2015 training camp and preseason and 2016 NBA Summer League.
Scott has assisted the Lakers in the video room since the 2011-12 season, while simultaneously working for the D-Fenders. The Los Angeles native was promoted to assistant coach/video coordinator with the D-Fenders last season, where his responsibilities grew to include scouting upcoming opponents and assisting in on-court player development, as the team reached the D-League Finals. During the summers of 2014 and 2015, Scott served as video coordinator of the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, where he developed video scouting reports on opponents and was intimately involved in game-planning and daily coaching operations.
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The Grizzlies have hired Bob Bender as an assistant coach and Bob Thate as shooting coach on head coach David Fizdale’s staff.
Bender comes to Memphis after working last season as a scout for the Brooklyn Nets. His professional coaching experience includes: two seasons (2002-04) with the Philadelphia 76ers, first as an assistant coach/player development and then as an assistant coach; nine seasons with the Atlanta Hawks (2004-13) as an assistant coach, where he worked alongside Fizdale for the first four seasons; and one season with the Milwaukee Bucks (2013-14) as an assistant coach. Bender began his coaching career as an assistant at Duke University under Mike Krzyzewski (1983-89) and later served as head coach at Illinois State University (1989-93) and the University of Washington (1993-2002). He was named the 1992 Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year at Illinois State and the 1996 Pac-10 Coach of the Year at Washington.
A Duke graduate, Bender is the only individual to play for two different teams in two different NCAA Championship games, one as a freshman on Bob Knight’s undefeated 1976 Indiana team and the other as a point guard at Duke in the 1978 title game against Kentucky. The Quantico, Va. native was drafted by the San Diego Clippers in the sixth round of the 1979 NBA Draft but did not play in the NBA.
Thate joins the Grizzlies after serving in the same capacity for four years (2012-16) with the Los Angeles Clippers and three years with the New Jersey Nets (now Brooklyn), tutoring superstars such as Blake Griffin and Jason Kidd. Griffin shot 52.1 percent from the foul line during the 2011-12 season but saw his free throw percentage rise to 72.8 percent and 72.7 percent over the last two seasons, respectively, under Thate. Kidd shot 37.0 percent from three-point range over the final eight years of his NBA career after first working with Thate in 2005 (32.9 percent in his first 11 seasons).
A graduate of Occidental College in Los Angeles, Thate earned All-America recognition after setting the school’s single-season records for scoring average (27.2 points) and points scored (598) in the 1969-70 season. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1970 NBA Draft but instead embarked on a four-year professional career in France and a combined 23 years of coaching at the Division I college and high school levels, including stints at Pepperdine University, Loyola Marymount University, the University of California-Irvine and Long Beach State (now California State University, Long Beach).
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The Heat have re-signed veteran guard Beno Udrih.
The Heat backcourt is built around Goran Dragic, Tyler Johnson, Josh Richardson and new addition Dion Waiters. Udroh’s minutes may be fairly limited.
The big change this offseason in the Heat backcourt is the loss of legendary shooting guard Dwyane Wade, who decided to join the Bulls.
Udrih has appeared in 792 NBA regular season games (272 starts) during his 12-year career and has averaged 8.5 points, 3.4 assists, 2.1 rebounds and 22.3 minutes while shooting 46.3 percent from the floor, 34.9 percent from three-point range and 83 percent from the foul line. The two-time NBA champion has appeared in 53 postseason games and averaged 4.5 points, 1.2 assists, 1.0 rebounds and 11.3 minutes while shooting 38.8 percent from the field and 80.4 percent from the foul line.
Last season as a member of both the HEAT and Memphis Grizzlies, Udrih appeared in 44 games (five starts) and averaged 4.7 points, 2.6 assists, 1.6 rebounds and 16.1 minutes while shooting 43.4 percent from the floor, 34.1 percent from three-point range and 90 percent from the line. In his 36 games with Miami last season, he led the team in plus/minus seven times, the third-most on the team. He also posted an 11-assist, no turnover game on January 15 at Denver, marking the most assists without a turnover during a game in his career and the 28th double-figure assist game without a single turnover in HEAT franchise history.
The Trail Blazers have signed forward Grant Jerrett to a training camp contract, team president of basketball operations Neil Olshey announced today.
Jerrett, 23, last played in the NBA as a rookie in 2014-15, averaging 2.0 points (26.9% FG), 1.1 rebounds, 0.4 assists and 6.4 minutes in eight games with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Utah Jazz.
An early entry draft candidate out of the University of Arizona, Jerrett (6-10, 235) averaged 14.5 points (44.5% FG, 37.6% 3-PT, 76.3% FT), 6.4 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 28.9 minutes over two seasons (2013-14, 2014-15) with the Idaho Stampede and Oklahoma City Blue of the NBA Development League.
Jerrett was acquired by Oklahoma City in a draft day trade after originally being selected by the Trail Blazers in the second round (40th overall) of the 2013 NBA Draft.
The Bucks have hired Craig Robinson as the team’s new Vice President of Player and Organizational Development. He will serve as a mentor and advisor to the Bucks roster – the youngest in the NBA.
“Player development is instrumental to the success of our players on the court and their valuable impact in the community,” said Bucks co-owner Wes Edens. “We strive to equip every member of our organization with the tools they need to find personal success beyond basketball. As we continue to build a world-class franchise, we’re thrilled to have someone with Craig’s experience and character join our team and help our players reach their full potential on and off the court.”
Robinson will oversee the development and implementation of programs that support the professional and personal growth of players through education, mentorship, business and community efforts that align with the mission and goals of the Bucks organization.
“It’s so important to surround our young players with talented and experienced people that can help mentor and guide them through the different stages of their careers,” said General Manager John Hammond. “Craig has an impressive set of qualifications that we feel will be beneficial to our players and our entire organization. We couldn’t be more excited to welcome him to the Bucks family.”
A Chicago native, Robinson was a two-time Ivy League Player of the Year at Princeton University where he graduated with a degree in sociology. After a brief professional basketball career overseas, Robinson returned to his hometown to get his first experience as an assistant coach at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He left the sidelines to pursue a graduate degree in finance (M.B.A.) from the University of Chicago and went on to a career in finance and banking.
Robinson returned to the hardwood in 1999, joining Northwestern University as an assistant coach until he was named head coach at Brown University in 2006. After a two-year stint at Brown, he was named head coach at Oregon State University (2008-14) where his 93 wins made him the fourth-winningest coach in program history.
Robinson and his wife, Kelly, were married in 2006. He is the father of four children: sons Austin, Aaron and Avery, and daughter Leslie. Robinson is also the older brother of First Lady Michelle Obama.
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The Thunder today signed guard Ronnie Price.
He’ll serve as a backup to guard Russell Westbrook, who will have an even bigger role on the team this season than usual now that Kevin Durant left to sign with the Warriors.
Offensively, the Thunder will be a more guard-heavy team than ever next season since they traded power forward Serge Ibaka and landed SG Victor Oladipo.
According to the Oklahoman, “Price and rookie Domantas Sabonis had their contracts finalized in a span of three days, setting the Thunder roster at 15 players – the maximum a team can have on its active roster at any time – but, more importantly, 15 guaranteed contracts for 2016-17. The reported signing of bouncy 6-foot-8 forward Chris Wright to a partially-guaranteed deal will likely place him on the D-League Oklahoma City Blue.”
Price (6-2, 190), spent last season with Phoenix appearing in 62 games (18 starts), averaging career-bests in points (5.3), assists (2.4), rebounds (1.6), steals (1.19) and minutes played (19.5). An 11-year NBA veteran, undrafted out Utah Valley State College (now Utah Valley University), Price has appeared in 530 games (73 starts) with Sacramento, Utah, Phoenix, Portland, Orlando and L.A. Lakers, averaging 3.8 points, 1.8 assists 1.2 rebounds in 13.5 minutes per game.