Wolves' Kirilenko, Shved push Russia past China
Andrei Kirilenko and Alexey Shved led Russia to another easy victory on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports. The two future Timberwolves players helped beat China 73-54 in the men's Olympic basketball tournament. Kirilenko finished with 16 points and nine rebounds. Shved had 14 points and six assists. Russia will face Brazil on Thursday.
Kirilenko and Shved led Russia to a 95-75 win over Great Britain on Sunday afternoon. Kirilenko scored 35 points on 13-15 shooting. Shved finished with 16 points, 13 assists and six rebounds.
The Timberwolves signed Russian forward Kirilenko and Russian guard Shved last week.
It appears Kirilenko is using the Olympics as a warmup for his return to the NBA. He told the AP:
"For me, it looks like European flavor on the team," said Kirilenko, referring to Ricky Rubio, Nikola Pekovic, himself and Shved. "For me right now, it's pretty much the same type of team-building. A lot of European guys, a lot of guys who can run the floor. Alexey is another big, big plus."