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U.S. hoops players play rock, paper, scissors during rout of China

dan devine
Senior NBA writer

The U.S. men’s national basketball team didn’t get off to the crispest start in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, missing their five first field goals and even trailing underdog China … for all of 34 seconds. That 2-0 first-quarter lead seemed insurmountable, but then Mike Krzyzewski’s club got things cranked up, finishing the contest on a tidy 119-60 run to earn their first win of the Olympic fortnight.

No, Team USA didn’t get the stiffest contest on Saturday evening. It’s important, though, not to play down to the level of your competition … and, whenever possible, to create competition among yourselves. So, good on U.S. wings DeMar DeRozan and Jimmy Butler for taking a mid-third-quarter technical foul on the Chinese squad as an opportunity to play a game within the game … literally:

DeRozan and Butler played rock, paper, scissors for the right to take the single free throw afforded a team when the opposition gets a technical foul. DeRozan came out on top, but missed the freebie. You can’t win ’em all, I suppose.

[Related: So Team USA walks into a Rio brothel, and …]

The rub: Butler thought the count was, “One, two, three, shoot,” whereas DeRozan just shot on three. Clearly, the Chicago Bulls guard was bamboozled by the Toronto Raptors scorer’s quick release.

The loss clearly stuck with Butler; as he sat on the bench later, watching his teammates continue pulverizing China, he just couldn’t stop scratching his head in wonderment at how DeRozan had bested him:

Here’s hoping Butler doesn’t lose much sleep over this. (If he’s even getting any sleep on Team USA’s boat, that is.) The U.S. hits the court again on Monday to take on Venezuela, and with all due respect to Néstor García’s side, that game could get out of hand enough to give Jimmy another crack at DeMar. Make it best two out of three next time, man … and watch out for him jumping the gun.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!