Warriors

Sacramento Kings assistant coach Jordi Fernandez is expected to be hired as the next head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, according to ESPN&rsquo;s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Fernandez, 41, will take over a rebuilding Nets squad that finished the 2023-2024 season with a 32-50 record, 11th in the East. He will replace interim head coach Kevin Ollie, who was appointed in the middle of the season after Brooklyn fired Jacque Vaughn.
Fernandez will continue to be part of Mike Brown&rsquo;s staff in Sacramento as they prepare for the 2024 Play-In Tournament for a spot in the 2024 Playoffs.
The Barcelona, Spain native has been one of the leading candidates for the position as one of the fast-rising young coaches in the league. He led the Canadian National team last summer in the FIBA World Cup 2023 to a bronze medal finish &ndash; the country&rsquo;s highest-ever in the tournament.&nbsp;
Starting next season, Fernandez will now handle the Nets featuring their young talent in Cam Thomas, Mikal Bridges, Ben Simmons, and Cameron Johnson as they trek the second year of the post-Big Three era of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden.

Sacramento Kings assistant coach Jordi Fernandez is expected to be hired as the next head coach of the Brooklyn Nets.

Kings’ Jordi Fernandez emerges as top candidate for Brooklyn Nets head coaching job

Charlotte Hornets head coach Steve Clifford is expected to step down from his head coaching position to take a front-office role with the franchise, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Clifford, 62, has led the Hornets to a 45-112 overall record in two seasons, which have been riddled with injuries to young players LaMelo Ball and Mark Williams.&nbsp;
According to sources, new Charlotte owners Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin were open to bringing him back as coach next season, but Clifford thought he wasn't prepared to commit to the year-round grind of head coaching for the 2024-2025 season. He will coach them for their final 7 games.
Clifford informed his players and staff on Wednesday of the decision, which will allow the Hornets to immediately start searching for a new head coach for next season.
Among the league&rsquo;s assistant coaching candidates expected to be considered in the Charlotte process are Jordi Fernandez (SAC), Charles Lee (BOS), Chris Quinn (MIA), and Kevin Young (PHX).
Coaching the Hornets next season will be appealing following the emergence of 2023 no.2 overall pick Brandon Miller with the impending return of Ball and Williams. All three players would be paired with the new players acquired from this year&rsquo;s trade deadline as well as the projected lottery pick in next season&rsquo;s draft as the organization pivots to a new era of winning basketball under their new ownership.

Hornets head coach Steve Clifford is expected to step down from his head coaching position to take a front-office role with the franchise.

Steve Clifford to step down as Charlotte Hornets coach at end of season

The NBA announced that 242 players have filed as early-entry candidates for the 2023 NBA Draft. Here is the complete list.

NBA announces 242 early-entry candidates for 2023 NBA Draft

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash; Jayson Tatum scored 36 points and the Boston Celtics ended a long road trip on a high note by beating the Sacramento Kings 132-109 on Tuesday night.
Boston bounced back from blowing a 19-point lead in Utah on Saturday night by knocking off one of the top teams in the Western Conference. It won four of six on the road trip.
Jaylen Brown added 27 points and Derrick White scored 20 to help the Celtics open up a one-game lead over Philadelphia in the Atlantic Division.
Domantas Sabonis had 16 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists for the Kings, who lost consecutive games for the first time since Feb. 3-5. De&rsquo;Aaron Fox scored 18 points.
Sacramento fell 1 1/2 games behind Memphis in the race for second place in the Western Conference. The Kings are trying to clinch their first playoff berth since 2006 &mdash; the longest postseason drought in NBA history.
Playing their fifth game in seven nights in their fourth time zone, the Kings offered little defensive resistance for Boston.
The Celtics shot 53.3% from the field, turned the ball over only five times and took control of the game during a torrid shooting stretch coming out of halftime.
Boston hit 10 of its first 11 shots from the field in the third quarter, scoring 27 points in less than six minutes to build the lead up to 14 points on a 3-pointer by White.
The Kings never really threatened after that.
The Celtics scored the final nine points of the first half on 3-pointers by Al Horford and Brown, and a three-point play by Tatum to take a 60-54 lead at the break.
TIP-INS
Celtics: C Robert Williams III (hamstring) returned after missing the past eight games. He had six points and seven rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench. He was also called for a technical foul in the third quarter. ... The Celtics had 22 assists before committing their second turnover of the game midway through the third quarter.
Kings: Swingman Kevin Huerter (knee) missed his third straight game. ... Keegan Murray&rsquo;s 3-pointer in the first quarter gave him at least one in 33 straight games, tying the NBA rookie record held by Landry Shamet (2018-19) and Rudy Fernandez (2008-09). ... Sabonis&rsquo; 12 triple-doubles are second in the league this season to Denver&rsquo;s Nikola Jokic, who has 28.
UP NEXT
Celtics: Host Indiana on Friday night.
Kings: Host Phoenix on Friday night.

Jayson Tatum scored 36 points and the Celtics ended a long road trip on a high note by beating the Kings 132-109 on Tuesday.

Jayson Tatum’s 36 points lead Celtics past Kings 132-109

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash; Michael Porter Jr. scored 30 points, Jamal Murray added 25 and the Denver Nuggets rallied from a 20-point deficit to beat the Sacramento Kings 113-106 on Tuesday night for their fifth straight win.
&ldquo;We got down by 20 points and we didn&rsquo;t drop our heads,&rdquo; coach Michael Malone said. &ldquo;We just stayed with it, kept on chopping away and were able to get the win.&rdquo;
Porter and Murray sparked an 8-0 run in a span of 56 seconds late in the fourth quarter to turn a tie game into another win for the top team in the Western Conference.
Porter's 3-pointer broke a 96-all tie with 3:14 to play and Murray followed with a desperation 3 just before the shot clock expired. Murray then added a steal and breakaway layup to make it 104-96 with 2:14 to play and Denver hung on from there.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what you want,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;You need your best players to step up.&rdquo;
Nikola Jokic added 20 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds for the Nuggets, who have won eight of their last nine games.
De'Aaron Fox scored 26 points and Kevin Huerter added 11 for the Kings, who have lost three of four games to open a six-game homestand.
&ldquo;This was a game, especially the first of a back-to-back, we needed to have more energy than them,&rdquo; Huerter said. &ldquo;We came out the right way &hellip; and obviously they kind of worked us in the second half.&rdquo;
The Kings built a 20-point lead midway through the second quarter before the Nuggets chipped away thanks to the play of Porter, who scored 19 points in the first half.
Sacramento led 56-47 at the break, holding Jokic to two points on two shots.
&ldquo;The most important stretch of this game was how we closed the second quarter,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;They had all the momentum, they were feeling good and we allowed that to happen. They didn&rsquo;t feel us. To have that run of 23-12 to kind of get back in the game, cut it to nine at the half, and then we used our third and fourth quarter to kind of continue that.&rdquo;
But Jokic scored 14 points in the third quarter to cut the deficit to four points headed into the tight final period.
&ldquo;At some point we were tired and made some mistakes,&rdquo; said acting Kings coach Jordi Fernandez. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s human nature.&rdquo;
SHORT-HANDED
The Kings were without coach Mike Brown and star center Domantas Sabonis.
Brown entered the health and safety protocols after testing positive for COVID-19 and missed the game. Fernandez took his place.
Sabonis was sidelined with an avulsion fracture of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb. Sabonis hurt his non-shooting hand in the fourth quarter of Sacramento&rsquo;s loss to Washington on Friday. He will be re-evaluated Wednesday.
Denver forward Aaron Gordon missed the game with a shoulder injury.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: This was the third time in the past six seasons that Jokic was held to two points or fewer in the first half when playing at least 17 minutes. ... G Bruce Brown left the game in the second quarter with a sprained right ankle and didn't return. ... Zeke Nnaji replaced Gordon in the starting lineup for his third start in three seasons in the NBA. He fouled out with no points in 15 minutes.
Kings: Alex Len, who had played 25 minutes all season, started in place of Sabonis. ... Former Kings GM Vlade Divac sat courtside next to owner Vivek Ranadive.
&nbsp;

Michael Porter Jr. scored 30 points, and the Denver Nuggets rallied from a 20-point deficit to beat the Sacramento Kings 113-106.

Nuggets rally to beat Kings 113-106 for 5th straight win

SAITAMA, Japan (AP) &mdash; Luka Doncic&rsquo;s first Olympics have not been perfect, despite what the basketball standings say. He was defeated. Once. By the rules.
Doncic was looking for tickets to go watch men&rsquo;s tennis when Novak Djokovic was playing in the men&rsquo;s semifinals. Ordinarily, the world&rsquo;s top athletes have no problem getting into other Olympic events when their schedules allow. But at the Tokyo Games, amid a pandemic, there are very strict policies about what athletes can do and where they can go. As such, Doncic&rsquo;s plea for tickets went unfulfilled.
He settled for watching &ldquo;everything on TV,&rdquo; Doncic said.
Another marquee event is coming up Tuesday, that being the men&rsquo;s basketball quarterfinals at the Tokyo Games. Doncic won&rsquo;t have tickets to those, but won&rsquo;t need them, either. He&rsquo;ll be on the court when Slovenia takes on Germany for a berth in the medal round, a step that would put his basketball-crazed homeland even more on the sport&rsquo;s map and potentially send his stock soaring even higher.
&ldquo;We have, obviously, the best player in the world,&rdquo; Slovenia coach Aleksander Sekulic said.
Doncic is certainly in the conversation about being the world&rsquo;s best. As far as being the best player in the Tokyo Games, there&rsquo;s no argument.
Through the group stage, Doncic led the Olympic men&rsquo;s field in scoring at 28.3 points per game, 6.0 points ahead of Japan&rsquo;s Rui Hachimura. He&rsquo;s second in rebounding at 10.7 per game, behind only Slovenian teammate Mike Tobey&rsquo;s 13 per contest. And he&rsquo;s third in assists at 7.0 per game; Tomas Satoransky of the Czech Republic averaged 8.7, Spain&rsquo;s Ricky Rubio is averaging 7.3.
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No men&rsquo;s player has ever finished an Olympics averaging Doncic&rsquo;s current numbers. And nobody has averaged 28.3 points in an Olympics since Brazil&rsquo;s Oscar Schmidt &mdash; the Olympic standard for just about every men&rsquo;s scoring mark &mdash; averaged 42.3 per game at Seoul in 1988.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re making history for our country,&rdquo; Doncic said.
His impact is all over the court.
Nobody in this men&rsquo;s tournament has drawn more fouls, by a wide margin, than Doncic. He&rsquo;s also tied for the Olympic lead in blocked shots, is shooting a ridiculous 75% on 2-pointers, is one of five players in the Olympics with at least 10 makes so far on 3-pointers.&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/luka-doncic-dazzles-with-48-points-for-slovenia-in-olympic-debut-vs-argentina" target="_blank" rel="noopener">He had a 48-point Olympic debut,</a>&nbsp;tying him for the second-highest scoring game in Olympic history, and&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://apnews.com/article/2020-tokyo-olympics-sports-spain-slovenia-spain-olympic-team-f1d1076d62e86449f8c46bb03e4b7ce3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was one assist shy on Sunday against Spain</a>&nbsp;from posting what would have been the third triple-double ever at a games.
&ldquo;He is the best player in the world, including the NBA,&rdquo; Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez said. &ldquo;If there was any doubt in my mind, it is there no more.&rdquo;
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For as good as Doncic is with the Dallas Mavericks, he&rsquo;s been impossible to beat in his nation&rsquo;s colors.
Slovenia&rsquo;s senior team is 16-0 with Doncic in the lineup. He was a teenager on the team that captured the European championship in 2017 behind Goran Dragic&rsquo;s MVP performance, a win that remains, for now anyway, the top achievement in Slovenia&rsquo;s basketball history. Dragic insisted &mdash; not predicted &mdash; when that tournament was over that Doncic would be an NBA &ldquo;superstar.&rdquo;
&ldquo;They could win this,&rdquo; Dragic said earlier in these Olympics, watching from his Slovenia home.
Doncic is why.
Slovenia surrounded Doncic for these Olympics, and the six-team qualifier it had to win last month just to get to Tokyo, with plenty of shooters who space the floor for his game and a big man like Tobey &mdash; who played at Virginia &mdash; to provide the inside help needed. The formula has worked all summer; Slovenia is 7-0 with an average winning margin of 26.4 points per game.
A win over Germany on Tuesday, and they&rsquo;re in the medal round in their debut Olympics.
&ldquo;Playing with him is just amazing,&rdquo; Tobey said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s so talented. At this type of basketball, maybe every type of basketball, he&rsquo;s the best in the world. I don&rsquo;t know what he does. You try not to be in awe too much.&rdquo;
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The U.S. came to Tokyo with 12 NBA players, a past MVP and NBA Finals MVP in Kevin Durant, seven players who have played for an NBA title, five of them who have actually won championships. Top to bottom, the talent the Americans have overshadows every team, Slovenia included.
But Doncic grew up playing the international style, obviously. He knows how the game is called. He knows the nuances. He&rsquo;s used to playing with a ball that differs from the feel and bounce of the NBA ball. For him, the transition between playing for Dallas and playing for his country has been seamless. Not every NBA standout in Tokyo can say the same.
&ldquo;Luka Doncic is one of the best four or five players in the world right now,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://apnews.com/article/2020-tokyo-olympics-slovenia-japan-basketball-518f71485c91c54ec6fb2a61c6205474" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Japan coach Julio Lamas said.</a>&nbsp;&ldquo;But he plays very comfortably in FIBA with the spacing and the rules. Some other NBA players feel uncomfortable sometimes in FIBA. He don&rsquo;t. He is excellent in all the game situations.&rdquo;
Doncic wants no part of the best-player conversation. He won&rsquo;t even discuss an offseason of change with the Mavericks &mdash; Jason Kidd taking over for Rick Carlisle as coach, changes in the front office, changes to the roster &mdash; until the Olympics are over. He&rsquo;s locked in solely on playing for gold, nothing else.
Besides, he doesn&rsquo;t need to rave about his own play. Everyone else already is doing that for him.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy that I can witness and play with him,&rdquo; said Slovenia guard Zoran Dragic, Goran Dragic&rsquo;s brother. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s such an awesome guy and it&rsquo;s so easy to play with him, because he&rsquo;s just an unbelievable person and basketball player. Yeah, we can be all happy that he&rsquo;s Slovenian.&rdquo;
</div>

Luka Doncic has been outstanding in his first Olympics. "He is the best player in the world, including the NBA," said a rival head coach.

Luka Doncic's Olympic debut earns praise: 'He's the best in the world'

Win or go home. Those are the stakes entering Tuesday&rsquo;s clash between the American and Spanish national teams. These squads will meet again in what has become the best international-basketball rivalry since the Soviet Union was in existence.
These teams played in the 2008 final at the Beijing Olympics (won by the &ldquo;Redeem Team&rdquo; in a 118-107 shootout); the 2012 gold-medal game in London (won by the Americans 107-100) and the 2016 semifinals in Rio de Janeiro (also won by Team USA 82-76). Spain is 0-12 in Olympic history against the United States, and 2-4 in World-Championship and World-Cup games.
Like Team USA, they are 2-1 in these Olympics. However, the Americans are averaging 105 points and shooting 51.4% compared to Spain&rsquo;s 85.3 points per game and 43.6% shooting. But the Spanish national team is clever, as evidenced by a box-and-one defense against Luka Doncic in the group phase that held the Dallas Mavericks star to just 2-of-7 from the field (although Slovenia did get the 95-87 win).
Ricky Rubio, Marc Gasol, Pau Gasol, Rudy Fernandez, Victor Claver and Sergio Llull have the longest tenures with the Spanish federation and have been through most (if not all) of the battles, but that makes Spain a much older team than the Americans. Whether that is a benefit or a hindrance remains to be seen.
But it is a certainty that Spain will try to trick the game up somehow and keep it close through the midpoint of the fourth quarter. If they can do that, it&rsquo;ll be a toss-up since the Americans are inconsistent in closing tight games (as seen during their exhibitions and pool play).
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/tatum233_lg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="403" />
"[Spain] is a team that's been legendary in the world of basketball for being able to compete throughout the years, regardless or players who were in, regardless the generations which were involved," Spanish head coach Sergio Scariolo said. "We just have to keep being ourselves, keep our identity, that's it."&nbsp;
The American federation has been at this for 32 days now, though in different forms. Because of the late finish to the NBA Finals, Jrue Holiday, Devin Booker and Khris Middleton did not join the team until the eve of their opener, a loss to France. Team USA looked very good against Iran and the Czech Republic, but neither of those teams are as accomplished or experienced as Spain.
Spain enters the medal-round elimination game with a 2-1 record but suffered its first defeat against Slovenia 95-87 in its final pool-play game on Sunday night. Doncic&rsquo;s team scored 12 of the final 14 points.
Rubio, 30, whom the Americans got their first look at when he was a teenager leading Spain at the 2008 Olympics in China, is averaging 21.3 points and 7.3 assists a game while shooting 43.8% from three-point range. Spain&rsquo;s attack is very balanced: Llull is averaging 9.0 points per game, Pau Gasol is contributing 8.7 points and 5.3 rebounds, Claver is chipping in 8.7 points and 5.7 rebounds, and Marc Gasol is posting 7.7 points and 4.3 rebounds.
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Since France had success playing two centers (Rudy Gobert and Vincent Poirier) together in its win over Team USA, the Americans should expect to see both Gasol brothers on the court at the same time.
The Spain-USA game (tipoff is at 12:40 a.m. EDT) is the second of the quarterfinals following Germany vs. Slovenia in the opener. Italy plays France and Australia plays Argentina in the other two quarterfinals.
Oddsmakers have made the Americans a 12-point favorite, but that is not the largest line. Slovenia, playing in men&rsquo;s basketball at the Olympics for the first time, is favored by 14.5 points over Germany. Australia and France are both favored by 8.5 points.
The Americans have already shown themselves capable of losing. They fell to Nigeria and Australia in glorified scrimmages in Las Vegas, then lost their opener to France.
&ldquo;It would be disingenuous if you said we wanted to lose on purpose so we could learn things. That's kind of ignorant, if I said that. But circumstances should be taken advantage of no matter what, win or lose,&rdquo; head coach Gregg Popovich said. &ldquo;We were behind the eight ball in the beginning, and we're making some fast progress. We still have a lot of improvement that we must and can make. But I think the losses in the beginning put a laser focus on how you have to play with these rules in this environment against these talented teams, who execute wonderfully. And if you do not have respect for your opponent, you're going to be in big trouble. So, we learned that the hard way.
&ldquo;But it also was a difficult beginning, not being able to have a team together. And so, under some unusual circumstances, I think our guys really focused well and did a good job in gaining ground day-by-day, practice-by-practice, and hopefully we'll continue that as we move forward. And we have to if we want to be successful.&rdquo;
Four teams are going home early, and one of them will be either the top-ranked team (U.S) or second-ranked team (Spain) in the world. The planet waits four years for basketball games of this caliber to be played, and this one should not disappoint.

Win or go home. Those are the stakes in Tuesday's game between the world's top-ranked team (U.S) and second-ranked team (Spain).

Team USA and Spain to clash again in an epic Olympic quarterfinal

USA Basketball finally made it look easy again.
Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal each scored 17 points and the Americans took control from the outset, beating Argentina 108-80 in Las Vegas on Tuesday to avoid what would have been the first three-game losing streak in this era of NBA players being able to represent USA Basketball on the international stage.
Zach LaVine scored 15 points for the U.S., which lost its first two games in Las Vegas to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/breakingnews/shocker-us-falls-to-nigeria-in-preolympic-opener" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nigeria </a>and&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/usa-basketball-falls-again-this-time-9183-to-australia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australia</a>. The Americans shot 51%, scored 33 first-quarter points to get off and running and beat Argentina for the 10th-consecutive time since a loss at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
&ldquo;It was better,&rdquo; U.S. coach Gregg Popovich said. &ldquo;Bit by bit, every day, I hope.&rdquo;
Damian Lillard scored 13 points and Bam Adebayo finished with 12 points, five assists and five rebounds for the U.S.
&ldquo;Just really locked in,&rdquo; Adebayo said.
Luis Scola, set to play in the Olympics for a fifth time, scored 16 points in 19 minutes for Argentina. Nicolas Laprovittola scored 13, Facundo Campazzo had 12 and Gabriel Deck added 10.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a big deal,&rdquo; Argentina&rsquo;s Luca Vildoza said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s only a loss.&rdquo;
The U.S. played with only eight members of the Olympic team. Jayson Tatum was held out with right knee soreness and will be day-to-day going forward, USA Basketball said. The Americans also will be without Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday and Devin Booker until at least this weekend because of the NBA Finals.
The back-to-back losses to start the U.S. team&rsquo;s stay in Las Vegas raised the possibility that the Americans might lose three in a row with NBA players for the first time.
If those thoughts truly existed, they didn&rsquo;t last for long.
&ldquo;Our biggest thing is we have to realize it&rsquo;s not the NBA and Coach Pop keeps re-emphasizing that every single day,&rdquo; Beal said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s way more physical. Guys are smarter. These guys have been playing together for five-, 10-plus years. So they have the experience and the chemistry and we&rsquo;re trying to develop that in a short period of time.&rdquo;
It was 15-4 USA before the game was even three-and-a-half minutes old, and the lead was as much as 17 later in the opening quarter &mdash; the biggest leads for the Americans in the first two games were 10 against Nigeria and 11 against Australia &mdash; and the outcome was never really in doubt.
&ldquo;The USA played great,&rdquo; Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez said. &ldquo;They played more aggressive defense than they had the last two games.&rdquo;
The Americans held a 58-42 lead at the half when Durant beat the buzzer with an 18-footer, a shot that Draymond Green was celebrating before the ball even swished through the net.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to make shots all the time,&rdquo; Durant said in a televised halftime interview. &ldquo;But if we continue to guard the way we are, it&rsquo;ll start to turn for us on offense... When we keep the ball in front and we get stops and rebounds, then we pretty much can play with a clean slate on the offensive side of the ball.&rdquo;
The U.S. won the rebound battle 40-34, committed only nine turnovers and held Argentina to 31% shooting &mdash; 9 for 29 &mdash; from 3-point range.
&ldquo;Today we got better,&rdquo; Beal said. &ldquo;Still a lot we can improve on, but we&rsquo;re moving in the right direction.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Argentina: Campazzo was shaken up late in the first quarter after taking a hard screen, but was able to eventually return to the game. ... Argentina went 0-3 in Las Vegas, losing 87-84 in its opener against Australia on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Patty Mills and then falling 94-71 to Nigeria on Monday.
USA: The Americans used all 15 of their available players. ... Kevin Love, who played only 3:01 in the in the Nigeria game and didn&rsquo;t play against Australia, was among the first-quarter subs on Tuesday. ... Even after the losses to Nigeria and Australia,&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/basketball/international-friendly-men" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FanDuel Sportsbook had the Americans as 18.5-point favorites</a>&nbsp;entering the game.
DOUBLING UP
The U.S. Olympic women&rsquo;s team begins taking the stage in Las Vegas on Wednesday, starting with the WNBA All-Star Game. The U.S. men and women both play Australia on Friday, before the men close their Las Vegas stay on Sunday against Spain and the women play Nigeria. The American teams will fly together to Tokyo on Monday.
POP TALK
Popovich is friends with Hernandez, and the two have spoken often during their stay in Las Vegas, and Hernandez said &ldquo;today was a special day&rdquo; as he coached against one of his idols. Argentina assistant coaches Silvio Santander and Maxi Seigorman have joined some of those postgame chats in Vegas with Popovich as well. &ldquo;Pop is a teacher for everyone. And an inspiration,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://twitter.com/cabboficial/status/1415024382292996099?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Argentine officials wrote on the team&rsquo;s Twitter account</a>&nbsp;while posting a photo of one of the get-togethers.
UP NEXT
Argentina: Expected to play Iran in Tokyo next week before the Olympics.
USA: Faces Australia in Las Vegas on Friday.

Kevin Durant and Brad Beal each scored 17 points and Team USA took control from the outset, beating Argentina 108-80 on Tuesday.

Devin