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Posts tagged as “USA”

Taylor Swift endorses Kamala Harris in the coming US President Election   

September 12, 2024

Taylor Swift, as posted on her IG account:

I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos. I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.

Considering Taylor Swift massive popularity, this is a very big endorsement for VP Kamala Harris and her party. It also great that Taylor Swift mentioned the reason why she is voting for Kamala, which is a great question to ask those who are voting for Trump.

I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice. Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make. I also want to say, especially to first time voters: Remember that in order to vote, you have to be registered! I also find it’s much easier to vote early. I’ll link where to register and find early voting dates and info in my story.

With love and hope,

Taylor Swift
Childless Cat Lady

She reminded her fans to register in order to place their vote and count. The “do your own research..” appears to be directed to her fans who are partial to Trump but are still 50/50 on who to vote for.

Swift’s endorsement come right after the Presidential Debate, where Kamala Harris appears to have gotten the upper hand.

Anthony Zurcher, writing for BBC;

If debates are won and lost on which candidate best takes advantage of issues where they are strong – and defends or deflects on areas of weakness – Tuesday night tilted in favour of the vice-president.

Steph Curry powers Team USA for a Gold Medal Finish Against France (98 – 87)

August 11, 2024

The USA Men’s Basketball team, led by Steph Curry, has won the Olympic gold medal at the 5×5 Basketball tournament. Curry scored a team-high 24 points, making 8-of-12 shots from the three-point line, and added 5 assists. Teammates Booker and Durant each scored 15 points apiece, while LeBron James contributed 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 10 assists. James was also awarded the tournament’s MVP.

It was a dramatic finish for the Americans, as France mounted a comeback by scoring 7 straight points, cutting the United States’ 14-point lead to a single possession game, thanks to a Wembanyama tip-in. But then Steph Curry showcased his greatness with a dagger three-pointer, defended by two French players. He then celebrated with his trademark “Night night” gesture while returning on defense.

Victor Wembanyama led the French team with 26 points but lacked his usual defensive presence compared to the semi-finals against Germany. Guerschon Yabusele added 20 points for France, while no other player scored more than 9 points. Considering the number of young French players entering the NBA, future Olympic medal games could become regular showdowns between the USA, France, and Serbia.

Steph Curry lead Team USA in a come-from-behind win over Serbia, advances to the Finals of the Men’s Olympic Basketball (95-91)

August 9, 2024

A Steph Curry exploding for 36 points, Lebron James triple-double and a 19-point game from Joel Embiid proved too much for Serbia to overcome, despite leading the game for the first three quarters (76-63). At one point, Serbia was ahead by as much as 17 points and seemed to be hitting every shot, especially from the 3-point line.

Bogdan Bogdanovic led the Serbian national team with 20 points, while Nikola Jokic added 17 points, 5 rebounds, and 11 assists. Aleksa Avramovic scored 15 points and grabbed 4 rebounds. However, as a team, they shot 38.5% from the 3-point line, especially in the final period when their shots started to miss.

As much offensive firepower as Team USA possessed, it was their defense that secured the win. Trailing by 13 points entering the fourth quarter, Team USA clamped down on Serbia, allowing just 15 points in the quarter after surrendering an average of 25.33 points in the first three quarters. Embiid and James made several stops that led to 9 fast-break points, and it was the bench players who helped turn the game around for the Americans.

Steph Curry led the team with 36 points and 8 rebounds, falling just one point short of tying Carmelo Anthony’s 37-point record at the 2012 London Olympics. LeBron James contributed 16 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists, his second triple-double in the Olympics. The “crowd-favorite,” Joel Embiid, scored 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting.

Team USA will face Team France in the gold medal game this Saturday, August 10th, while Serbia will play Germany for the bronze medal.

Semi-Finals Bracket for the 2024 Paris Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament

August 7, 2024

We are now down to 4 teams, this sets up the Semi-Finals Bracket for the 2024 Paris Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament.

Semi-Finals of the 2024 Paris Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament

  • USA versus Serbia
  • France versus Germany

How they got here?

Team USA are undefeated (4-0) and have been winning with an average 24.75 points margin. It be a rematch against Serbia, a team they played and defeated in the Group games. Serbia on the other hand, after getting the “L” from Team USA went undefeated including an overtime win against Australia in the quarter-finals. Serbia will try and avenge their loss as they try to win and eliminate Team USA in their coming rematch.

France with only one loss, advances to the semis after defeating/eliminating Canada – the second team that has the most NBA players in their roster. Spurs Rookie Victor Wembanyama was a defensive problem for the Canadians, grabbing 12 rebounds with 3 steals and this monster block on Dillon Brooks.

Germany, just like Team USA, are also undefeated, even after facing Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Greeks in the knock-out games.

Every semi-finals games of the 2024 Paris Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament will be this Thursday, August 8th at the Bercy Arena in Paris, France.

Team USA steamrolled Brazil to advance to the semifinals of the Men’s Basketball Paris Olympics (122 – 87)

August 7, 2024

Team USA advanced to the semifinals of the Men’s Basketball Paris Olympics after they defeated Brazil in the quarter finals.

The game which was decided by the end of first half after the Americans went on a 15-0 run finishing a dominant second quarter. In the second half, Team USA was never threatened as Brazil’s National Team could not cut the deficit to below 20 points.

Score by Quarter

1st Qtr 2nd Qtr 3rd Qtr 4th Qtr Total
USA 33 30 31 28 122
BRA 21 15 35 16 87

It was a team effort for the Americans, with six players scoring in double digits. Led by Phoenix Suns’ Devin Booker with 18 points, Team USA was followed by Anthony Edwards’ 17 points and 5 rebounds. Kevin Durant scored 11 points off the bench and passed Lisa Leslie (488) for most points all-time in USA Olympic history.

Game Stats via FIBA

Brazil led by Bruno Caboclo scored 30 points with 6 rebounds, Georginho De Paula added 15 points and 8 rebounds. No other Brazil players scored more than 9 points. Team USA will face Serbia in the semis this Thursday, August 7th.

Here’s the Quarter-Finals Bracket for the 2024 Paris Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament

August 4, 2024

Now that the group stage is done, the Quarter-Finals for the 2024 Paris Men’s Olympic Basketball Tournament are now set.

As the top seed, Team USA has drawn the most favorable matchup, playing against Brazil, which only has one NBA player on its roster.

The first game will be between Serbia and Australia, followed by USA versus Brazil. On the other side of the bracket, Germany will face Greece, and the host country, France, will take on Canada.

Aside from Team USA, Team Canada has the second-most NBA players with 10.

The Quarter-finals will be on August 6th at the Bercy Arena in Paris, France.

Team USA cruises past South Sudan, Qualifies for Quarterfinals (103 – 86)

August 1, 2024

Just like in their first game, Team USA demolishes their opponent showing no signs that they almost lost their exhibition game against the South Sudan Men’s National Basketball Team.

Led by Bam Adebayo’s 25 points and 7 rebounds, with both Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis adding 17 points apiece, the game was decided in the first half. Team USA went on a 25-4 run that started at the 5:30 mark of the 1st quarter, where the Americans trailed by 2 points, and ended at 8:07 of the 2nd quarter (33-14), building a 19-point lead en route to victory.

But the Sudanese stayed on course and was able to cut the 19-point lead to just 10 points in the 3rd period, thanks to the hot shooting of Nuni Omot (24 points) and Bul Kuol (16), both players made a combined 7 three-point shot out of the 10 that they shot. Aside from Omot and Kuol, South Sudan also got a lot of help from Carlik Jones, scoring 18 points and dishing out 7 assists.

Team USA will play against Puerto Rico, their last opponent for the group games, while South Sudan will face Serbia.

2024 Paris Olympics Men’s Basketball Tournament Groupings have been Revealed

July 8, 2024

Now that the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament have concluded and we now have all 12 Basketball teams in 2024 Paris Olympics, know the group of your favorite team and their opponents.

Group A

  1. Australia
  2. Greece
  3. Canada
  4. Spain

Group B

  1. France (hosts)
  2. Germany
  3. Japan
  4. Brazil

Group C

  1. Serbia
  2. South Sudan
  3. Puerto Rico
  4. USA

Joel Embiid to play for Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics

October 8, 2023

Philadelphia 76ers and the NBA’s reigning MVP, Joel Embiid announced that he will play for Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The announcement comes after talking to both Team USA executive director Grant Hill and the representatives from the French national team.

Joel Embiid who was born in Cameroon and holds both French and American citizenship, to which team he will be playing have been the talk/debate, since Team USA failed to bring home a medal in the last FIBA World Cup and the coming 2024 Paris Olympics. Embiid joins other NBA superstars like LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant who have expressed interest in playing for Team USA at the next year’s Olympics.

Team USA falls to Canada for the 3rd Place of the FIBA World Cup 2023

September 10, 2023

Canada made history at the FIBA World Cup 2023 by winning its first-ever medal at the tournament, defeating USA 127-118 in overtime in the third-place game on Sunday in Manila, Philippines.

As expected between two NBA laden team, it was a roller coaster game that had 14 lead changes, 12-0 scoring run by the Americans and 8-0 by the Canadians, and it was punctuated by Mikal Bridges at the end of the 4th qtr; he missed 2nd free-throw on purpose, got the rebound, then hits corner 3 with 0.6 seconds left to extend the game to over time. In the OT, the Canadians had other plans, since they outscored Team USA, 16 to 7 to secure the bronze medal.

The Canadians, who had never finished higher than sixth in the World Cup, protected a 2-point lead at the start of OT and outscored the Americans 7-16.

Dillon Brooks was the hero for Canada, scoring a game-high 39 points on 12-of-18 shooting, including 7-of-8 from the 3-point line. He also added four rebounds, five assists, a steals and a couple of blocks in a stellar performance.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was equally impressive, adding 31 points, twelve assists and six rebounds. He scored nine of Canada’s 16 points in overtime, including an assist to RJ Barrett for a a clutch 3-pointer that gave them a 115 – 124 lead with 0:23 secs left.

Canada also got contributions from Kelly Olynyk (11 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists), Luguentz Dort (11 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists) and Dwight Powell (4 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists).

Team Highlights

USA, meanwhile, will go home without a medal for the FIBA World Cup 2023. Team USA has not won a medal in the World Cup since 2014, that featured a roster lead by Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Derrick Rose, Kyrie Irving, James Harden and Anthony Davis.

Six players of Team USA had double digits points; Mikal Bridges with 19 pts, 9 rebs, 2 steals and 4 assists, Anthony Edwards led the team with 24 pts and 5 rebs, then there’s Austin Reaves who contributed 23 pts, 5 rebs, an assists and a steal, Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Bobby Portis Jr. also made big contributions scoring 13 pts, 10 pts and 14 pts respectively.

Despite the loss, Team USA, already qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics in France and we can expect that the team will have totally different roster.

FIBA World Cup 2023 Finals Bracket is Set

September 9, 2023

With Germany’s win, this is the Finals Bracket for the FIBA World Cup 2023;

Finals will be between Germany and Serbia, while the battle for 3rd will be between USA and Canada. Serbia defeated Canada (95 – 86), Bogdan Bogdanavic is the best player in the game with 23 pts, 4 rebs, 3 assists and 3 steals. For Canada, it was RJ Barrett with 23 pts and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 15 pts and 9 assists.

As for the USA – Germany team (113 – 111), Anthony is the U.S. top scorer with 23 points and 8 rebounds, followed by Austin Reaves with 21 pts. For the Germans, Franz Wagner added 22 points for Germany, and Andreas Obst led all scorers with 24 points.

Both USA and Canada are the favorites to face in the finals but it looks like their European counterpart have other plans.

FIBA World Cup 2023 Finals will on Sunday, Sept. 10th at the MOA Arena.

Finals
Serbia vs Germany – 16:30 local time

3rd Place game
USA vs Canada – 20:40 local time.

Germany upsets Team USA in FIBA World Cup 2023 Semifinal (113 – 111)

September 9, 2023

The United States men’s basketball team was stunned by Germany in the semifinals of the FIBA World Cup on Friday night, losing 113-111. The loss is a major upset, as the US was the overwhelming favorite to win the tournament.

The US got off to a slow start, trailing by as many as 10 points in the first half. However, they rallied to take a 60-59 lead into halftime. Germany came out strong in the third quarter, outscoring the US 35-24 to take a 94-84 lead. The US made a late comeback attempt, but they could not get any closer than 106 -108.

Anthony Edwards led the way for the US with 23 points and 8 rebounds, followed by Austin Reaves with 21 pts. For the Germans, Franz Wagner added 22 points for Germany, and Andreas Obst led all scorers with 24 points. Dennis Schroder, who have been best player in the roster, chipped-in 17 pts and 9 assists.

The loss is a major disappointment for the US, who have won the World Cup four times in the past five tournaments. It is also a setback for the development of the US men’s basketball program, which has been struggling in recent years.

The US will now play Canada in the bronze medal game on Sunday. Germany will play Serbia in the championship game.