Gems from Greece/Spain Wins

The US defeated Spain 119-82 in the most resounding victory over a quality international opponent I have seen in a long, long time. One wonders how much of its gameplan Spain decided not to show against the US in the second half once it was down and how much they were able to learn to their advantage for a likely gold-medal game. The hunch here is that the Americans' athletic dominance and neck-breakingly intense full-court pressure will be something Spain won't be able to overcome, no matter how many tactical adjustments they may make.

To wit: The US forced 28 turnovers and outscored Spain 32-0 in fast-break points. Nearly as downright sick a stat is that such defense enabled the US to go into the second half 16 points ahead despite the Spanish team shooting 58% from the field.

Snooping around, I found some other interesting factoids:

1. The first is from Chris Sheridan's self-interview heading into Olympic play. It is a good, basic description of how FIBA ball is different from the NBA.

Q: What aspects of international play will be most difficult for Team USA to adjust to?

A: The NBA is an outside-in game, meaning you try to move the ball from the outside to the inside for a closer look at the basket. The FIBA game is inside-out, with teams trying to penetrate the middle, draw defenders in, then kick the ball outside to the shorter 3-point line.

The best teams move the ball quickly and make the extra pass to the open man on the perimeter, and the Americans have not been quite as adept at playing that style, which features more catch-and-shoot jump shots than what we see in the NBA.

2. In recent game recap by David Friedman, we find out that improvement of big man D-Howard's perimeter defense has been contributing factor towards the US's drive for gold. Interestingly, Coach Krzyzewski, in his CEO capacity, is sometimes so busy that he must outsource his instruction to the squad's more senior players...
sideline reporter Craig Sager mentioned that Coach Krzyzewski had asked Tayshaun Prince to explain to Howard what he was doing wrong in help defense situations because he (Krzyzewski) did not have time to do this during the game. Bryant also talked with Howard during a stoppage of play. While great defense starts with pressure by the guards it is critically important that all five players are "on a string" defensively and that everyone rotates properly.

3. Chris Sheridan wrote another interesting article about one strategic difference between FIBA and NBA coaches (even if his speculation of a close US-Spain title game looks woefully off right now). Essentially, in close late-game situations in which a team is up by 1 or 2, Americans like to "man-up" and play defense to preserve their win. Europeans would rather foul, make the other team hit free throws and then win the game with offense. This may help explain why European players have traditionally had a reputation of being more offensive-oriented than American (especially before Ginobili, Kirelenko, Nocioni).


4. I finally saw the 17-year old phenom Ricky Rubio play for the Spanish squad. He appeared preternaturally poised for his age and I look forward to monitoring this immensely talent point guard's progress over the next few years. If you don't know about him, here are his biographical highlights from a recent Alexander Wolff piece:

The story thus far: At 14, Rubio actually played in Spain's ACB, the top European pro league, for DKV Joventut Badalona near his Catalan hometown of El Masnou.

At 15, he led Spain to FIBA's Under 16 European title, along the way registering a quadruple-double and, in a double-overtime win over Russia in the final, 51 points, 24 rebounds, 12 assists, seven steals and one half-court buzzer-beater to force the first OT.

At 16, he led the Euroleague (a man's league) in steals (a man's stat).

Redeem Team Strikes; Cooks Greece's Feta 92-69

Finally, after 23 months, the US team avenged their 2006 World Championship quarterfinal loss to Greece, the last loss Team USA has endured. Some tasty morsels I have picked from the Informational Bread known as the Internet:

1. The "greatest self-trip in the history of basketball" is unfortunately not available through youtube. Fortunately, there is still an nbcolympic.com route by which you can see it, though a bit a circuitous. Simply, go here and click China under "By Country." Then choose the video "Highlights: Gasol, Spain defeat China." If you have to download software, it's worth it to see Carlos Jimenez do something I thought was physically impossible at the 1:05 mark.

More forthcoming...

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.

US Dispenses China 101-70

This game, likely the most widely watched in basketball history, was very much a Jekyl and Hyde affair. The electricity surging through the arena before the game was palpable, I'm sure. From all I saw it was, anyway. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to listen to the commentators on TV but instead watched the live webcast on nbcolympics.com.

N.B - NBC's website says that the company will air more than 3,600 hours of the Summer Olympics this year, 1,000 hours more than the combined coverage for every televised Summer Olympics in U.S. history (Rome 1960 - Athens 2004, 2,562 hours).
It is "the most ambitious single media project in history."

My viewing experience, however, wasn't as grand. I was chagrined to learn that nbcolympics.com does not stream commentators (for this game, the color commentator was Doug Collins). So I watched the game in silence, pretending I was there, occasionally checking the weird text-based live commentary some random ex-coach provided.

The beginning of the game is all a basketball fan could have hoped for - the president in attendance, Yao Ming hitting a three, and the home team starting out with tough, spirited basketball. But while China was able to keep the game close through the first quarter (America did not shoot well, hitting only 2 of 16 threes through 3 quarters, and Carmelo did not score in the 1st half), a number of factors led to China's eventual 31-point demise:

1) China is not a deep team and the US is. The US kept running and at first China could handle it - they had the adrenaline of playing at home and fresh legs going for them. But over the course of the game, they fell victim to wave after wave of fast-breaking, stars and stripes-saluting greyhounds.

2. Yao Ming, China's hinge, was creaky. He had surgery in the spring and has been playing with the national team since only July 15th. He scored only half (13 points) of what he averaged 2 years ago as the leading scorer of the world championships and was not able to finish plays around the rim during the 2nd half. He wearily waved to the crowd as he exited with 4 minutes left in the game, but I expect China to bounce back as Yao's stamina improves and EVERY OTHER TEAM WON'T BE THE UNITED STATES from now on. The Red Dragon's second brightest flame, New Jersey Nets forward Yi Jianlin, was horrible: he had made only 1 of 9 shots a couple of minutes into the 4th quarter.

3. LeBron and D-Wade were spectacular. LeBron had 18 points on 8-12 shooting, buttressed by 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 blocks. He also looked like he was ready to win the 100 meter dash. Late in the 2nd quarter, as he waited for a rebound off of a free throw attempt, he hunched down like a sprinter in the starting blocks. There was no way he was letting Yi Jianlin get the rebound.

Wade was impeccable - 7-7 FGs, 5-5 FTs. If he continues to play at his NBA Finals MVP-level of last year, the US's transition game goes from orange alert to red.

Catching Wind

With the US National team's last exhibition game against Australia more than two days in the rear view mirror and the opening game against China still three days down the road, it's time for a quick look around the blogoscape.

These landmarks stick out -

1. As David Friedman reported in his Team USA Exhibition Tour Report Card, Dwayne Wade has been mighty impressive lately.
He's shooting .723 FG & and, surprisingly to me, is shooting better from deep (5-7 3 pt. %) than Deron Williams (1-6).
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2. Meandering through a past blog about Team USA's 2007 evisceration of Argentina, David also mentioned something that I had never known about the genesis of the 1992 Dream Team. In the late 1980s, when FIBA proposed that the US inject professional players into future Olympic competitions, the US evidentally "was the one country that was initially opposed to the idea. The fact is that sending college players to compete against other countries' professionals is pointless; the college players cannot win in these kind of events and it is better for the development of the game for the best to play against the best."

A USA basketball article clued me in that:

"In 1986 - two years before Americans lost in '88 - the rules were nearly changed. FIBA Secretary-General Stankovic introduced the resolution for open play at a FIBA convention, and the vote to allow all professionals to play was 31-27. At the time, Stankovic said 18 or 19 countries abstained from voting, but if only five had changed and voted "yes," the resolution would have passed and the original Dream Team could have debuted in 1988 rather than 1992."


3. In a recent prognostication article, CNN SI's Ian Thomsen writes, unsurprisingly, that Spain is favored for silver. He said one reason for this because the fleet, full-court oriented Spanish squad "lost the European championship final last summer when the Russians slowed the tempo. By trying to push the ball up the court, the Spaniards will be playing to the preferred pace of the Americans."

Then, almost shockingly, he quotes Ettore Messina, the highly respected coach of CSKA Moscow, saying that Spain would be content to settle for silver: "Their goal realistically has to be nothing more than to make the final. I remember they were so happy when the draw put them in the same group with the U.S., meaning they [are likely to] face the U.S. only in the final. I think they are thinking of second place.''

I can understand why Messina said Spain was glad that they are in a situation where they will not (in the elimination games) likely face the US until the finals, but I cannot fathom a team with 6+ NBA-caliber players not considering gold as a realistic goal. If anything, after last year's loss in the Euro Championships in Madrid, I would expect Spain to be more hungry for gold than ever. The possibility of one nation holding the FIBA and Olympic championships in basketball, and the Euro Cup in soccer, as Spain has a chance to do, is unreal.

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.

Russia v. US

This 89-68 victory was the least impressive of the US's exhibition victories so far. Russia was tall, tough, experienced and able to minimize the Americans' fast break points while outrebounding them 12-4.

Some sights -

1. There's no doubt David Blatt, Russia's head coach but born and raised in the US, has officially gone over to the dark side, sartorially speaking. If his open-collar, flaming-font red Russian shirt tucked into tight designer jeans doesn't scream "Euro Trash," it's only because the outfit's far too hoarse.

2. It is both amazing to note and indicative of the US's obscene stable of talent that Kobe Bryant, one of the greatest scorers in NBA history and at 29 still in his prime, was only the US's 6th leading scorer at the game's onset. Admittedly, part of the reason for this relative paucity of points is Kobe's single-minded dedication to defense for this team. His 12 points in the third quarter, however, showed how important Kobe's offense still is for his team. The 8 point deficit they faced with 3 minutes was the closest they had been late in an exhibition game so far. Kobe's timely drives and perimeter shooting, as well as a couple of 3s from Redd, helped expand the US's lead to a more comfy 18 going into the fourth quarter.


3. It just occured to me with 4 minutes in the first quarter as Dwayne Wade speedily slithered to the basket for a deuce that Wade's new bald pate makes him look like a bigger, less surly version of Nick Van Exel.