Aussies Get (Down) Under Americans' Skin; Lose By "Only" 11

The fifth and final US exhibition game marked either a) the toughest challenge the US has received since Greece in '06 or b) the most bored Uncle Sam's Finest have been in a game situation. I'll chalk up the 87-76 victory more to the latter than the former, simply because I refuse to believe an Australian teams sans Andrew Bogut is capable of playing a snarling, fully engaged American team to only an 11 point loss.

Mine eye fell upon the following:

1. The Australian point guard - Patrick Mills - only 19 and a smidgen under 6 feet, looks like the real deal. He glides over the floor like a well-hit hockey puck and displayed impressive range and moxie against Paul, Kidd, et al. I wish to wallabies I had seen him play when his American college, St. Mary's, played Texas here in Little Rock, AR during the first round of this spring's NCAA tournament. Instead, I saw Memphis receive a closer game than expected from Texas-Arlington.

2. There's a LOT of jingoistic schlock floating through cyberspace these days with the onset of the Olympics only a few days away. Fortunately, not all of it is vomit-inducing. Every once in while, a piece or two of it is actually ok, makes you think - "Yeah, I guess it is pretty cool to be American."
Case in point - this commercial, featuring the dulcet voice of Marvin Gaye basking in the lushest, bad-assest rendition of the "Star-Spangled Banner" known to man (er, cat). His singing is interspersed with shots of a Team USA practice in impossibly cool slow-mo.
Then again, I have an inkling that even Marvin Gaye singing the Iranian national anthem with dramatic slow-mo shots of the Persian Go-kart team warming up would be equally as hip.

3. Kudos for Coach K finally deciding to call the Americans' first time-out of the exhibition games with 6 minutes to go in the third quarter. Of course, he had to do it - his team was reeling from a 15-4 2nd-half opening run that brought the Australia to only a 48-44 deficit. Following the break, the US was able to refocus and pad its lead a bit. As color commentator Fran Frashilla repeatedly reminded the viewers, the US's days of coasting through an international tournament w/o calling a timeout are long over (Daly did not call one during the '92 run). There will be tough stretches against the likes of Greece and Spain in which we'll need to call a timeout. And it's nice that the very act itself won't be such foreign territory once we arrive there.

Turkey Takes a Tumble

Tonight, the US defeated Turkey 114-82, a solid victory, though not nearly as diamond-like as the beating they gave Canada.

This game was of special interest to me because I'm half-Turkish and lived in Istanbul last year. I saw many of the Turkish players play live and it was fun to see them match up with some of my favorite NBA superstars, even if they outcome was, well, expected.

A few observations before I call it a night -

1. Bless Rick Kamla, the play-by-play announcer for ESPN. First off all - I have mad respect for the man. He gets PAID to write and talk about Fantasy NBA basketball. He has to have one of the coolest jobs on this terrestial orb.

BUT the guy couldn't pronounce Turkish correctly to save his fantasy squad. He repeatedly called Kerem Gönlüm, Kerem GONE-lume. It should have been more like "Gewm-leum". The ö and ü are hard for Americans to pronounce, granted, but still, maybe they could have gotten somebody to have shown him. Also, Ersan Ilyasova become "Arson." Such a mistake won't burn down the house, but it was annoying to those who knew better.

2.Fran Frashilla , the color commentator, was definitely more on target with pronunciation but some of his talent evaluation struck me as errant. Take his analysis of Semih Erden, one of Turkey's tallest and most athletic players. On the surface, Semih looks fine. Until you realize he's only half-way there. I remember watching him play with my Turkish friends and being awed by his inconsistency - he could turn in a highlight dunk one moment and churn out a dunce-headed blunder the next. My friends told me he wasn't the brightest lighthouse on the coast.

Yet Fran maintained that had Semih gone to an American college he would have been drafted in the top 20 of the most recent NBA Draft, instead of at the bottom of the 2nd round. The reason: "Because he's a young man with a lot of international experience." So if a 22-year plays four years with a Euroleague-caliber team but can never produce more than 7.1 points and 5.4 rebounds a game he is considered a potential top-20 pick. I don't think so.

He should have either a) produced more (and consistently) when he had the chance or
b) accomplished what he did as a much younger player.

3) Dwight Howard is the fearsomeist, slamjamminist, most awesome, glorified Garbage Man ever. His hands are hoover vacs and I swear his legs have rocket propellant in them.