NBA stars fall in love with beach volleyball at the Olympics
One night, the U.S. men's basketball team was in the stands watching beach volleyball, screaming their heads off in support of the U.S. women's Olympic team. The next day, the NBA stars of Team USA were on Rio de Janeiro's warm sands, playing volleyball themselves.
Now if they could only bring that enthusiasm and passion to the basketball court ... but we'll get to that in a minute.
First, ever wonder how your favorite NBA players would make out as volleyball pros? Your questions were answered Monday.
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The clip below shows Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Kevin Durant, DeMarcus Cousins, Paul George and DeAndre Jordan getting loose on Copacabana beach with some unidentified fellow sun-worshippers. That's Thompson -- normally a hot shot in the NBA -- who sends the ball sailing out of bounds to end the rally.
Where could they have gotten the inspiration? The night before, several players attended the beach volleyball match featuring American stars Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross. (Perhaps they got bored sitting around on their luxurious cruise ship lodgings.)
Anyway, here are Green, Durant and Jimmy Butler getting some love on the big screen while rooting for Ross and Walsh Jennings.
Sunday night was also Walsh Jennings' 38th birthday -- and the basketball stars made sure to honor her in song.
Walsh Jennings and Ross beat Australia's Taliqua Clancy and Louise Bawden to advance to the women's beach volleyball semifinals. Ross told USA Today's Nate Scott the NBA stars' presence added a little extra motivation.
"I actually didn’t notice them until I heard them cheering in the middle of rallies," she said. “I was like 'Oh, hey, look who’s over here.' And they really fired me up when I heard them cheering for us. That’s one of the biggest things I love about the Olympics. We’re all Team USA and we all support each other."
While Walsh Walsh Jennings and Ross are now two wins from a gold medal, the men's basketball team hasn't performed up to its lofty expectations in Rio.
After blowout wins against overmatched China and Venezuela teams to open the Olympics, Teams USA struggled with a confident Australia squad but managed a 10-point victory. It then beat Serbia and France by just three points apiece.
Perhaps a bit of American camaraderie and beach volleyball time will get the NBA stars clicking on all cylinders before the men's basketball quarterfinals begin Wednesday.
Topics Olympics
Sam Laird is Mashable's Senior Sports Reporter. He covers the wide, weird world of sports from all angles -- as well as occasional other topics -- from Mashable's San Francisco bureau. Before joining Mashable in November 2011, his freelance work appeared in publications including the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Slam, and East Bay Express. Sam is a graduate of UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, and basketball and burritos take up most of his spare time. Follow him on Twitter @samcmlaird.
