ESP/USA – Durant defense gives USA late win in Spain warm-up

MADRID (2010 FIBA World Championship) - Kevin Durant makes most of his headlines by pouring in the points, something he did better than any other player in the NBA last season as Oklahoma City's most explosive player.

He became the NBA’s youngest scoring champion at 21 years of age, averaging better than 30 points per game.

It was his defense, however, that came to the fore with the game on the line on Sunday night in a thrilling FIBA World Championship tune-up against Spain in Madrid’s ‘La Caja Magica’.

In a game played before a capacity 10,960 fans, Durant came up with two blocks in the waning moments to preserve an 86-85 triumph over Sergio Scariolo's side.

Durant, who also scored a game-high 25 points, first got a finger to Ricky Rubio's attempted three-pointer and he then blocked Rudy Fernandez's shot from behind the arc as time expired.

"I just wanted to cover a much ground as I could and help my teammates out," said Durant, who explained what happened at the end.

"I saw Ricky Rubio open in the corner and I just wanted to use my length to get out there and tip the shot and I was able to get a finger on it and I had the ball and it kind of slipped out of my hand and Rubio got it back and threw it to Fernandez and I just didn’t want to jump and get a foul on a three-point shot so I stayed down and kind of timed it pretty well and I was fortunate enough to get a block and the game was over," he said.

"I just wanted to do something to help my team win."

It's fitting that Durant's blocks did secure the win because defense is what coach Mike Krzyzewski has been preaching ever since he was handed the reins to the national team before the 2006 FIBA World Championship.

Defense is the word most associated with his teams at Duke University.

The USA have none of the players that played on the gold-medal winning side at the 2008 Olympics, but they do have superstar talent that seems determined to win gold at the World Championship in Turkey, and to do so with a suffocating defense.

The Americans threatened early on to run away from Spain when opening up double-digit leads and had a 67-58 advantage entering the final frame.

But Spain, with Juan Carlos Navarro (20 points) and Marc Gasol (17pts) scoring and Rubio disrupting the USA with his own special defending, came back and took their first lead of the night at 82-80 with less than two minutes remaining on a Felipe Reyes lay-up.

After Durant knotted the game again, Derrick Rose hit a driving lay-up with just under 33 seconds to go for an 84-82 USA advantage.

Following a Spain timeout, a three-point play by Juan Carlos Navarro gave the hosts an 85-84 lead.

Rose then drew a foul by Rubio and made two free-throws that ended up being the game-winning points.

Durant's two blocks preserved victory.

Neither side is at its best, but each provided plenty of evidence that come the knockout stages of the FIBA World Championship, each will be a force.

"We had great stars on the court, a fantastic turnout and a close end to the game," Spain coach Sergio Scariolo said.

"The only thing we lacked was more precision in the final seconds. Aside from the first six or seven minutes, I am very satisfied with the performance of my players.

"I think they reacted very well and upped their physical level in order to reach that of our rivals and be able to compete against a USA team that has a tremendous physical strength and a very high quality.

"This group has been able to prove yet again that it always competes and we have taken the game to the last shot.

"We are not happy to have lost but after this game, we have more information on them and I hope that soon we will face them again."

Spain do not have Pau Gasol this summer, the MVP of the 2006 FIBA World Championship and last year's EuroBasket, but Team USA's Stephen Curry says the European giants are going to be dangerous.

"They’re one of the favorites going in," Curry said.

"They have a lot of expectations on them.

"A lot of people aren’t expecting as much out of us because we’re not the team that everybody saw in the Olympics.

"For us to come out here and play well like we did today and just go through a game and get some experience of how it’s going to be in Turkey, playing in hostile environments. That will make us a better team for when we get to Turkey."

Spain weren't able to hand the United States their first loss of the summer, with the Americans having beaten France (86-55) and on Saturday night Lithuania (77-61), but veteran forward Jorge Garbajosa nevertheless believes his team can grow and again challenge for honors.

"We started nervous and not focused but we reacted and it has been a level game, it was good for the fans," Garbajosa said.

"This game clearly states that these two teams are candidates for the title.

"We hope to continue to improve in our journey towards the World Championship."

The USA have travelled to Greece to continue their warm-ups and face the Greeks on August 25 in their last game before the FIBA World Championship while Sunday’s clash was the final game for Spain before Turkey.

Scariolo’s team finished 7-1 in their preparations.

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