USA Men’s AmeriCup Qualifying Team (6-0) wasted no time in racing past Mexico (2-4), holding a 58-33 advantage at halftime en route to a 96-75 victory to close out qualifying games for the 2022 FIBA AmeriCup on Saturday evening in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Ra’Shad James (Orasi Ravenna, Italy/Northwood) paced the USA to victory with 21 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor and 3-of-3 from 3-point;
Brandon Bass (Free Agent/LSU) contributed 12 points and five rebounds;
Joe Johnson (Free Agent/Arkansas) notched 11 points, a game-high-tying nine rebounds and a game-high seven assists;
Will Davis II (Free Agent/UC Irvine) added 10 points and five boards; and
Joe Johnson is Back for the Love of the Game
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Date:
Feb 17, 2021
The longtime NBA veteran is providing leadership to the USA National Team at the FIBA AmeriCup Qualifying Tournament.
On this day, he was in his San Juan, Puerto Rico, hotel room, waiting for the next day’s practice with the U.S. team preparing for the FIBA AmeriCup Qualifying Tournament. He also knew that back in his hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas, there were several inches of snow on the ground. Meanwhile, the weather in San Juan was, as he put it, “like Miami in May.”
Johnson is 39 years old and hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2017-18 season. His last attempt at extending his run in the league came in 2019, when he was in training camp with the Detroit Pistons and cut before the season began.