sport world

The United States will play for another gold medal in men’s basketball, and they’ll be doing it thanks largely to Clippers center DeAndre Jordan. On the surface, this seems like a remarkable sentence. Jordan is the third best player on his team, he can’t make free throws and he’s not exactly a tactician with the ball in the post. But Jordan’s performance Friday in Rio de Janeiro was another reminder that it’s what Jordan can do that matters – not what he can’t. In a touament in which the U.S. has had to sweat out wins in the early rounds, they’ve handled two veteran teams in the medal rounds, beating Argentina in the quarterfinals before beating Pau Gasol, Ricky Rubio and Spain on Friday in ...

While the U.S. men’s 4x100 relay team made headlines Sunday with its gold medal performance, Valencia’s Anthony Ervin was also key part of the story and one of the Rio Olympics’ unlikeliest gold medal wiers. Ervin helped the men’s team advance from the prelims Saturday, but didn’t swim the finals and wasn’t on the podium Sunday. Nonetheless, he received a gold, along with finals swimmers Caeleb Dressel, Michael Phelps, Ryan Held and Nathan Adrian. It was Phelps’ 19th gold medal and 23rd altogether, but Ervin’s story is as extraordinary. This spring, Ervin answered questions from Southe Califoia News Group columnist Tom Hoffarth about his...

RIO DE JANEIRO — Another game, another rout for the U.S. women’s basketball team. This time though, it wasn’t record setting. Diana Taurasi scored 13 points and Elena Delle Doe added 12 to help the Americans beat Spain 103-63 on Monday in women’s group play. The victory was the 43rd consecutive for the U.S. (2-0) in the Olympics. The contest was a rematch of the 2014 world championship gold medal game that the Americans won by 13. While this win didn’t come in the same record fashion the U.S. opened the Olympics with when it beat Senegal by 65 points, the Americans coasted after the first few minutes. Spain (1-1) led 8-6 before the U.S. closed the quarter on a 23-6 burst. Once again first-t...

RIO DE JANEIRO — Another game, another rout for the U.S. women’s basketball team. This time though, it wasn’t record setting. Diana Taurasi scored 13 points and Elena Delle Doe added 12 to help the Americans beat Spain 103-63 on Monday in women’s group play. The victory was the 43rd consecutive for the U.S. (2-0) in the Olympics. The contest was a rematch of the 2014 world championship gold medal game that the Americans won by 13. While this win didn’t come in the same record fashion the U.S. opened the Olympics with when it beat Senegal by 65 points, the Americans coasted after the first few minutes. Spain (1-1) led 8-6 before the U.S. closed the quarter on a 23-6 burst. Once again first-t...