U.S. basketball team wins world title

With golden confetti raining on their heads and “Party in the U.S.A.” ringing in their ears, it must have been hard for the U.S. basketball players to hear anything. Doesn’t matter. They had stopped listening long ago. All the questions about their talent, the doubts about their ability, were put down as easily as their opponents.

“It kind of was, again, a smack to our face, saying the U.S. was sending the B-team to go play in the World Cup,” forward Kenneth Faried said. “Just because LeBron’s not here, Kobe’s not here, Durant’s not here, doesn’t mean anything.

“We can step up and win the gold, too. That’s what we did tonight.”

Tournament MVP Kyrie Irving made all six of his 3-point attempts and scored 26 points, and the U.S. repeated as world champion for the first time by crushing Serbia 129-92 on Sunday in the Basketball World Cup in Madrid.

James Harden added 23 points for the Americans.

Former Washington State standout Klay Thompson (at right in photo with teammate Stephen Curry) scored 12 points.

Associated Press