Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Angolan' for a Gold Medal - US drops Africa's Finest in 97-76 rout

I am trying to turn this whole watching the game without aural commentary thing on TV into an advantage. So I am trying to decipher the players' souls by listening to what they're shouting over the squeak and squawk of the hardwood:

1. Lebron hits the ball hard. Late in the first , he received the ball at the top of the key and hit it like he was trying to spank Satan out of a toddler.

2. For all the hubbub about the US not defending the 3-point shot well, I like what I see from Bron-Bron so far. After his "Satan Smack," LeBron and D-Wade defended against a pick n roll near the arc. As LeBron closed out on the dribble, he screamed out to D-Wade - "Get up, D-Wade! Through, through D-Wade!" telling him to pick up on a switch.
No three was attempted then, and soon afterwards Kobe flew out to disturb a subsequent Angolan attempt, ending in one ugly travel.

3. A similar occurrence happened early in the 2nd quarter when Anthony yelled out to Redd to switch on the arc and the two Americans orchestrated it well. The resulting pressure resulted in the Angolan pivoting himself into a pretzel and throwing the ball directly into Deron Williams' hands. It was 33-21 and I knew the mud was only beginning to slide for Africa's Finest.


On to the Spain-China, a much more competitive outing. I knew China would improve after playing the US, but playing Spain even in regulation only to lose in 85-75 overtime was very impressive. I quite frankly didn't think they were that good.

There are a few things I will add once the video is up of the above game. Teaser: The first is the most spectacular self-trip in the history of the sport, courtesy of Carlos Jimenez.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey man,

This is Mark from Pulaski Heights basketball. Cool blog. I'm getting my MBA right now, but I'm actually considering getting into some sort of sports writing career just because I love sports so much. I really have no idea though. Anyways, I'm going to keep up with your blog and keep up the good work.

Evin Demirel said...

Thanks for checking it out, Mark.
Very interesting career aspirations...