US basketball team rolls past not-so-Great Britain in exhibition

Associated Press

manchester, england

Deron Williams was in, Carmelo Anthony out, and both were better for it.

Of course, it wouldn’t have mattered what lineup the U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team used against an inexperienced and overmatched opponent.

Williams and Anthony responded to a lineup change with 19 points apiece, and the Americans beat Britain 118-78 on Thursday in an exhibition game.

LeBron James added 16 points and Russell Westbrook had 15 for the Americans, who built a 40-point lead early in the fourth quarter and every basket from there seemed to be a dunk.

Chicago Bulls All-Star Luol Deng scored 25 points for Britain against his former college coach at Duke.

“He said they just had never faced that speed and quickness, so you can’t practice that,” Mike Krzyzewski said. “You can’t simulate that, so I thought it was a great experience for them. And us.”

Krzyzewski inserted Kevin Durant for Anthony, and Williams for Chris Paul, and both Anthony and Williams flourished in their new roles.

Williams, who couldn’t scrimmage with the Americans when they opened camp because he hadn’t signed his $98 million extension with the Nets yet, made 7-of-8 shots, going 5 of 6 from 3-point range and adding five assists.

“I feel I adjusted pretty well,” Williams said. “I was a little worried about how my conditioning was going to be, just because I hadn’t played 5-on-5, but I just trained really hard coming in so I’d just be in the best shape possible, and I feel like I’m there.”

Anthony came in for Durant in the first quarter — apparently unnoticed to the PA announcer, who credited Durant with the Knicks forward’s first basket — and shook off the change well after being a starter in three previous years with the national team and both exhibitions this year. He rebounded from a poor game in Washington by shooting 8 of 10 from the field.

“It was fine with me, definitely fine with me,” Anthony said of the change. “[Krzyzewski] came to us this morning, me and Chris, asked if we were OK with it. I’m like, why wouldn’t we be? It is what it is. He wanted to put a different lineup out there against this team, see some different things. He’s still trying to figure it out as a coach as well with this new group.”

Britain’s home game was similar to the Americans’ opener against China in the Beijing Olympics, where plays for both teams were loudly cheered. The boos were brief, when a light “USA!” chant broke out in the fourth quarter.

Basketball has little place in British sports, but with the national team returning to the Olympics this year as the games’ host, the sport got some attention with a visit from the powerful U.S. squad.