The U.S. Men's National basketball team is safely in Spain and preparing to play its final exhibition match ahead of the 2014 FIBA World Cup.
The Americans went 3-0 in exhibition matches played in the U.S. and their 2 p.m. ET matchup with Slovenia will be the only one played in Spain before the tournament kicks off. The U.S. men's team is looking to protect a 53-game win streak in international games, friendly or official.
According to the team's official website, James Harden has led the way for Team USA's offense, scoring 14.3 points per game in the three exhibition wins. While Harden leads an impressive U.S. backcourt, Anthony Davis may be the most pivotal player on the squad.
Davis tied Steph Curry with 12.3 ppg against Brazil, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, but he will be a sorely needed low-post presence for the U.S. Joined by Andre Drummond, DeMarcus Cousins, Kenneth Farried and Mason Plumlee, Davis and the U.S.' big men will be tested during the tournament.
"We want to start putting our entire system in now that we have 12 guys," U.S. head coach Mile Krzyzewski said during a Sunday training session, according to the website.. "Roles can now be easier defined especially for (players) nine through 12. The first seven or eight guys kind of know what we're doing. Anthony (Davis) will be impacted on by having three other bigs, because we can use him at the four so his role will even be expanded."
After Team USA plays Slovenia Tuesday, they will travel to Bilbao, Spain on Wednesday. There they will have two last training sessions before their FIBA World Cup opener against Finland on Aug. 30.
The team may not have LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant or Kobe Bryant, but there are members of the National Team that competed in the 2010 FIBA tournament, as well as in the 2012 London Olympics.
"I've been here before: Rudy (Gay), Derrick (Rose) and I were on the (2010) World Championship team," Curry said in a release. "The three of us have experience and we understand what the job is and how hard it is, but we are very focused, working very hard."
