LeBron Ends the Exhibition
Posted on August 16th, 2006 by
Maybe it’s time for LeBron James to be named captain of Team USA.
The superstar forward of the Cleveland Cavaliers scored 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting as the Americans rolled to a 116-63 victory over Korea on Tuesday in their final tuneup before the World Championships.
Coach Mike Kryzyzewski wanted Team USA to re-establish its dominance on the world stage and that is what it accomplished in four of its five exhibition games. The U.S. won the five games over Puerto Rico, China, Brazil, Lithuania and Korea by an average margin of 34.2 points and reached the century mark four times. The lone close call came against Brazil - a 90-86 victory last week.
But the exhibition finale against overmatched Korea was hardly a test.
“Obviously, we knew we were going to win,” Kryzyzewski said. “The talent differential was in our favor by far. But our guys played hard, they were diving for loose balls, they were unselfish and they just had a good attitude.”
James scored 19 of his points, including two dunks and three 3-pointers, in the first half when Team USA opened a 62-35 lead.
Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat and Elton Brand of the Los Angeles Clippers each added 16 points, combining to make 12-of-15 shots. #
Well team USA finished the exhibition series in style, led by who other than the phenom, and the 2006 finals MVP. At least South Korea didn’t get doubled (they were 10 whole points away!)
