Greece (V-Span) vs. United States (Battier), 6:30 a.m, Friday, Sept. 1

It is funny so many posters here are still in denial mode. Man, I can agree that USA lost by accident in 1998 World Championship (3rd), then captured it back in 2000 Olympics, but then for all the past major tournaments, they have lost in 2002 World Championship, 2004 Olympics and now 2006 World Championship.

It just showed one fact. Just admit it. The competition level of the rest of the world in basketball has caught up with USA, and even given a bunch of NBA All Stars, composite of individual talents, but hastily put together for 3 ~ 4 weeks training, is not going to win it against teams of players that do not rely on individualistic show-boating one-on-ones, but great O&D strategies and teamwork. After all, basketball game is a 5 versus 5 team sports, not a 1 superstar versus 5 or 2 superstars versus 5 or 3 superstars versus 5 sport.

 

Didn't the all-star show-boating iso US team just beat the Argentina "team" that you admire so much?? The fact remains the US team, as they are now, are STILL one of the best 3 or 4 teams in the world! They can still win it all. It's just that instead of a guaranteed gold medal, they have to share with other teams the probability to win.

 

For Spanoulis to play like that, in that specific games. Says a lot. He showed offensive versatility. This was not a case of a player going off on a 3 pt tear (albeit solid in that category as well).

I think I agree with the consensus around here. And that seems to be that we need one other person to step up besides our big three. We can imagine what we will get out of Rafer. But everyone else is kind of a question mark.

Spanoulis could end up being our gem. He could be the one that steps up.

 

Wow, did you just use the ClichePostGenerator v1.0 to make this post?

Thanks for the incredible insight, very fresh. I'm sure Coach K will take this kind of knowledge under advisement - I'm sure he drew up a strategy of individualistic show boating 1-on-1 play for a random team of all stars....while the Greek and Argentinian team was running the picket fence like Hickory High.

Int'l tournaments are a hastily assembled exhibition for everybody; the US is still the best team in the world on paper but of course they can be beaten in one game. Conversely they can send up a team of second rate players and challenge the best in the world like in 98. It's a two way street.

Of course taht won't stop people from drawing ridiculous, trite conclusions that we've heard a billion times about hte state of the basketball universe.....yawn. For the last two weeks Argentina was the shining star that re-invented the wheel with crisp team play, and the FIBA wet dream team to unseat the US -- and they just got run out of the gym by Dwayne Wade and co. What does that tell us? Playground style RULZ? Argentina lacks fundamentals? No, it tells us that a team of American all stars beat an argentine team of all stars in one game. Great.

 

I think, if these games were best of 7...

America would win easily. 4-2 probably. They would make adjustments. The fact that they have had significantly less time together is a major factor. Give Greece all the credit in the world. The gap is a lot closer than it was 10-12 years ago. But.....

The NBA is still the strongest league in the world. The NBA should send there league champion (with allstars and roleplayers off the bench or to fill out the roster.) Send the Greek teem to play against SA, DAL, MIA, DET... In an NBA style 7 game series. And I believe that Greece would lose.

 

LMAO. I say from now on any basketball game should be make it like a beauty contest. We appoint judges so that they can decide on paper which team should win the game. The real basketball game itself is not really a good indicator of which is a better team. The game itself just confuses the general audiences' conception. So the best way to decide which is the better team in a particular tournament is to appoint some basketball experts who can evaluate the talents of different teams.

I say Italy's World Cup is not really legitimate. The talents of Brazil and Agentina were so much better. It decided by one game. I'm sure if it's 4 out of 7 and even better 51 out of 100, brazil or agentina would win the cup. To make it more fair, I say the 100 games should be spread over 4 years because you know the talents would have different form at different time. It's not really fair as Italy was just "lucky" to hit the best form at the time. And it's not fair for teams which had injuries problems at that particular time. Maybe Olympic games should also be canceled as most if not all competitions is decided by one game. It means nothing anyway as the winner doesnt mean he's the best at the moment. I just wonder what games should be physical played from now on as they practically mean nothing.

 

European Bball and NBA are totally different animals. They don't play one on one, don't play some fansy stuffs, however, they focus 100% on efficiency, that is the most easy way to put the ball into the hole.

I love the easy bball they play. Look at their smart ball movement and offense. There might not be some superstars, but that is also the pleasant bball to watch.

In the Greece vs USA game, team ball beats superstars, plain and simple. For the Rockets, they should know this is the trend, and figure out a way to play smarter and more efficient in offense, just like the Greek did.

 

Once again the world has proved that NBA "all stars" are not the best players in the world. It's about time that the NBA fesses up that it is hawking an inferior product to the American consumer. The NBA needs to lower its ticket prices so they at least in the same price range as tickets to professional Spanish basketball games. And NBA players need to take an across the board pay cut so that their inflated paychecks are in line with the salaries of the world champion Spanish professional basketball players salaries. You talk about scaming the American public--NBA you da man.

 

The rest of the world values shooting, passing, fundamentals, team defense,and team offense.

The USA values athleticism,dunks,shoe contracts, luxury,video game and magazine covers,merchandising.

One of the reason I am optimistic about the rockets and respect the Heat and the Pistons is because they stress the team concept and defense and smart basketball. I think these teams come as close to the world teams without comprimising the unmatched athleticism as possible.

However IMO I believe that the World teams have only perfected the basketball that made such dynasties as the Celtics of the Russel and Bird era as well as the Showtime Lakers, Detroit Bad Boys as well as the championship Rockets to an extent.

The fact is a majority of NBA players have always been "THE MAN" on their high school and college teams which hurts them.

 

What happened when they played Spain? Did they forget team basketball and efficiency?

 

Greece may have forgotten team ball but Spain sure didn't I guess.

 

Alright, maybe I'm late but...

Didn't Clutch come up with the "Silver Lining" headline before Rockets.com did on their site?

 

Yahoo's coverage of the Championship game: "Vasileios Spanoulis, who recently signed with the Houston Rockets, especially struggled for Greece, making just 1-of-10 shots"
Great....

 

one game we love him the next game we don't?

with 82 games in a NBA season hold on everyone this ought to be one hell of a Spanoulis rollercoaster ride.

 

NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION does not have the faith for its NATION

1. They used a coach from NCAA instead of NBA and that is wrong.
The main job of a NBA coach is to find the best available players, use as much combination as they can, fight hard and win the championship.

The main job of a NCAA coat is not only to win, but also to TEACH and GUIDE POTENTIAL players, give students chances to grow. Let them learn from failure.

However, FIBA is one time deal, so a NCAA coach is not supposed to show up in FIBA.

2. Unlike other countries, all NBA players play for their countries.
USA NBA players are different. They don't play because they don't get paid.