I am going to do try a "DVR-enhanced" live running commentary blog on the games...
Spain blew out a very young Croatia team, but that outcome was expected, considering Croatia was missing one of its best players. The other three games interested me more.
China-Lithuania
The first thing I noticed when I stopped my super-fast forward DVR function halfway through the 1st quarter was that the Chinese crowd sounded like it was cheering at the end of a close game. And really, this is the most important basketball game that the team has ever played. It will not get another chance to play a major international tournament in China for probably at least another decade, so it's do or die for the Team Red against the Lithuania. Making the semifinals and earning at least a chance would be a big, big deal in Beijing. Lose in the quarterfinals and they've done no better than their 7th place finish in Athens.
It is 1:24 left in the 1st quarter and Yao Ming has yet to shoot the ball, color commentator Skipper Jones says. Yet China still leads 15-14. This bodes well for them.
Yi Jianlin, though, has 6 points and 5 rebounds - a magnificent start for the New Jersey Net. He misses a 5-foot gimme with 5 seconds left in the first.
2nd Quarter
9:31 - Yao scores his first point on a free throw after being fouled on a 3-point attempt! He misses the next two and looks fatigued, though.
A few minutes later, Lithuania hits a 3 pointer, out-hustles the Red to an offensive rebound for a put-back and scores a fast-break lay-up to take a 25-20 lead. It'll be interesting to see if this is the beginning of the end.
5:00 - Wang Zhu Zhu looks old as sin. He turned the ball over on a drive and (dropped) a dish to the Green and White on one possession. The next time he had the ball, he was stripped of his lollipop and kicked out of the candy store, leading to a Lithuanian dunk.
Did anybody else notice the NBC NBA theme song leading into the commercial breaks? I understand USA is owned by NBC, but linking the Olympic games so blatantly seems a bit ridiculous. Conversely, you could argue that there's no way NBC would even be airing a non-USA Olympic basketball game without the participation of foreigners in the NBA and the interest these athletes have generated both in their home countries and the American viewer.
Siskaukus, the "Baltic Scottie Pippen," cans a wide-open three from the wing to put Lithuania up 41-30 heading into half. From what I've seen, I'd say China has a better chance of soon fielding a 100m sprint champion than coming back from this game. Time to FF it.
End of the 3rd quarter: Jasikevicius drains a three to put Lithuania up 70-53. Make that Jon Stewart has a better chance of being invited to George W. Bush's birthday party than China does of winning this one.
"Saras" Jasikevicius scores 23 points to lead the Green and Yellow to 94-68 triumph.
China did well to make it into the quarterfinals but it is obvious that, although they are the best team in Asia, they have to be more aggressive and deep at the guard positions to compete with the better European teams. With the interest the NBA has shown in China (the NBA tentatively plans on installing 800,000 rims around the nation), progress will be made before London 2012.
U.S.A. vs. Australia
Wow. I have just happened upon the Aussies' averages for their last three wins (including a blow-out win over previously undefeated Lithuania) - all victories. Check it:
Points - 102.3
Field goal % AND 3-pt FG % - 53 %
Point Differential - 28.0
Of course, Lithuania wasn't playing for anything and was probably reserving their strength for the medal round. Also, the numbers are inflated by the Aussie's wallopin' of weakest team in the tourney - Iran. I predict the US wins by 32, partly because the Aussie point guards outscored the Americans 24-5 in the exhibition game and I expect Chris Paul and Deron Williams to show they're just a tad bit better than that.
1st Quarter
Kobe get out the kleenex and erases a Brad Newley tear-drop and on the other end jab-steps his way to a deuce, putting the U.S up 9-3. He's good.
5:18 - Patrick Mills, the Aussie PG, hits a sweet step-back three. One Aussie three later and the US is only up 15-12.
3:00: Australia misses three consecutive lay-ups on two consecutive possessions. C'mon guys. If you're going to pull a colossal upset, you gotta do better than that. Still, only down 17-21 are the Down-Underers.
04:5 - Wow. Patty Mills just blasted by Chris Paul (not an easy guy to make look slow) and threw in an angled, off-balance 8-foot runner. Aussies down 24-25. So far, he is the point guard - not Jose Calderon or J.R. Holden - that has given the US the most trouble in these Olympics.
2nd Quarter
8:45 - Mills redux. He stole it from Deron Williams and outraced everybody to the rim for a dipsy-doo layup. I can't help cheer for the fiesty lil' guy. Aussies down 28-30.
7:20 - Australia only has 3 turnovers at this point, which has done a spectacular job of taking care of the ball against the US. The US goes small, with LeBron as a post player, and a couple of turnovers later, Uncle Sam is up 37-30.
6:02 - D-Will scores a lay-up off off of an offensive foul and right on cue Doug Collins points out the US is up 39-32 because they have a 10-1 offensive rebound edge.
A little later: Wait a minute. Maybe they're ahead because LeBron is a beast. You don't often see someone strong enough to bull into a defender with such force that the poor chap's still sliding after the ball's gone through the hoop. LeBron did that. And stared the dude down even as he slid away from him.
Right before half the game shifts. Kobe grabs an offensive rebounds, spins, fades to Shanghai and scores. Australia then misses its 3rd consecutive three point attempt, and D-Will hits a trifecta with a second left to put the US up 55-43. Still, the Aussies should be happy they're only down by so much after being hammered 31-14 on the boards.
It's late and I gotta go to bed. FF time.
Halfway through the third, the US is up by 25 points, 69-43. As Doug Collins put it, they have learned to "have patience in delivering the knock-out punch."
As I FF through the second half, I notice Andrew Bogut look progressively more beat up. Finally, he can no longer play. With 6 minutes left in the game, I see him hobbling over to the Australian bench on one foot. They are down 70-101. After a shaky first-half, my prediction is looking good.
The drama increases as the numbers in the upper left corner zoom downwards. I am practically on the edge of the couch as the US's lead oscillates from 25-32 points. Finally, the final score emerges from the smoke: 116-85.
A 31-point win!
Sooooo close!
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2 comments:
I like the exploratory new style. Having not read too carefully, at first I thought you were being sarcastic and funny when you said you were on edge watching the huge lead fluctuate slightly as the clock wound down, but then I realized you had a horse in that race with the 32 point win prediction. Good guess! Who left stands the best chance at a USA upset?
Both of their remaining games will be dangerous but with the same focus, intensity and defensive pressure the US has shown thus far, they will not be beaten.
They beat their next opponent, Olympic champions Argentina, in the 2006 Bronze Medal game at the World Championships, so they have already enacted some measure of revenge for their 2004 Olympic loss to the same team.
Argentina is not a deep team and should have problems running with the US team towards the end of the 1st half, the point at which all other teams have cracked. ,
IF Ginobili, Scola, Delfino et al have the games of their lives, they will give the US a close game. If not, it will be another rout.
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