Money men too flash for rookie Brits
AS THE USA emerged, everyone in the soldout Manchester Arena turned to their end of the court; camera phones flashed and messages were tweeted, recording the moment £160million worth of wage packets loped out in front of them.
Since the 1936 Olympics, the USA’s men have won 13 gold medals in 16 attempts, losing only five of 127 games. Great Britain, meanwhile, have not fielded an Olympic basketball team since 1948.
Lionel Price, 85, Britain’s only surviving basketball Olympian, was here last night looking, understandably, a little bewildered. He was given a bus pass to get to Harringay Arena 64 years ago. The USA may have won this exhibition match comfortably but, as all parties kept saying beforehand, it was certainly a ‘big deal’.
British basketball started from nothing only five years ago, but last night hosted the defending Olympic champions just days before a home Olympics. That is a big deal.
Some of Britain’s own famous sporting names, including Joleon Lescott, Fabrice Muamba, Darren Fletcher and Amir Khan, were court-side. We think our Premier League stars are well paid, but the NBA is another level: Kobe Bryant earns around £19.6m a year, plus around £18m in sponsorship deals. LeBron James’s annual salary is around £10.4m, with £21m coming in from other commercial interests. King James could not have looked less interested in proceedings in the warm-up, but for the six minutes and 53 seconds he was on the court in the first quarter he was on another level: fizzing a pass out to the right and collecting rebounds at will.
In the second he coasted towards the basket quite brilliantly and he was showboating by the
third, darting in from the right and hanging on the rim. James, 27, isn’t the tallest — 7ft 1in Tyson Chandler takes that honour — but the Olympic Games may not see a more imposing athlete.
Great Britain could not quite match their female counterparts’ lightning start on Wednesday night, but they did score first. Joel Freeland broke quickly to capitalise on Pops Mensah-Bonsu’s rebound.
London-born Mensah-Bonsu has played 61 games for five NBA teams and certainly looked at home in such esteemed company, snapping up rebounds and yelling ‘C’mon Kobe!’ when he was penalised for fouling Bryant in the second quarter. The 28-year- old Freeland and Chicago Bulls and NBA All-Star Luol Deng certainly hold the key to Great Britain’s challenge in London.
There was no chance of the USA letting Great Britain off lightly. Maybe, just maybe, this was a ‘big deal’ for them, too. l.williamson@dailymail.co.uk