And you do realize that's exactly what will happen starting in 2010. Sometimes I wonder if FIBA would have agreed to the changes if they had known what these Olympics would be like. The lane change and the 3-point line change will be huge.
Argentina got blow out in the first quarter on poor decision-making, bad passes, trying to do to much with the ball, etc. That is what happens when you face a focused, determined, NBA-quality defense... e v e r y t i m e Call it superior talent if you want, or more depth, or whatever. But it is a very valid way to play "smart basketball" to crush your opponent. I've never heard anyone say JVGs defenses got by on talent alone. It is oh-so common to reserve the tag "smart" to only the offensive end of team sports, but many coaches will tell you that there is much more teamwork required of the NBA-level man on man defenses than any offense. If defense wins, and we play superior team defense, that's smart. These FIBA teams just rarely face incredibly talented offensive players like in the NBA, so they have never really had to defend it. They have never really had to develop smart man-on-man defenses. It's foreign to them. They just sit back in relatively simple zones, flop and cleverly hide fouls, and concentrate their talents on offense. Their "smart" offenses can win against lame defense, but they will get crushed by what Team USA is bringing to the table this year. Is it "smart" for FIBA teams to not play better defense and to try to force their drive and kick style offense against a team designed to stop it? is that "smart." We found out in the 1st Q that Ginobody's drive and kick offense was not going to work. They were fortunate to have a second option in Scola.
Name me the FIBA or Euroleague teams that can successfully play all-out, man-on-man, trapping, attack defense to force TOs and fastbreak buckets (up the tempo) against the World's best motion offenses and stop them. Personally, I haven't seen one. They usually resort to slowing the tempo down like Greece with packed-in zones, or they say 'screw it' we'll up the tempo...try to outscore us...like a Dallas vs Kings playoff of past. point is: how many freaking teams are there who have ever been able to play an attacking defense to up the tempo and have a great motion offense as well. The same 5 players have to play the full 90'. It's hard to expend that much energy on the defense end and have a constant motion offense as well. Team USA is doing it about the best I've ever seen anyone do it.
so would you say if we had Yao for the 6th game and he picked up 2 quick fouls with only 2 pts in the first 6 minutes and left due to injury with a 20 pt deficit in the 1st Q, that we would have won had he not gotten injured? If you think the consensus opinion in the GARM would use a Yao excuse under those circumstances (2 early fouls and only 2pts), then you haven't been here very long.
They play that defend and attack style because it gives them their biggest advantage. To answer your question, I don't think any other freaking team that I've seen has been especially effective against other good teams in both areas. USA smartly chose to play that style but the majority of possessions still end up being in the half-court where they are naturally behind the curve because of their lesser experience playing under FIBA rules. On second thought, I was wrong to say that Argentina plays smarter team ball. Team USA is doing the smart thing by playing to their advantage. What I should have said was that Argentina better executes in the half-court, where most of the game ends up being played for all teams, even those that run. If Team USA had the time to develop the international half-court game, the games would be embarrasingly lopsided. As the FIBA rules are modified to more closely resemble NBA rules, I would have to believe USA's dominance will increase.
I like this Team USA (even though I don't particularly like Melo and I hate Boozer), but yeah, I really do genuinely like this Team USA a lot more than the last few. That said, I still think that the 2003 Pan Am team was better suited for the international game (Carter, T-Mac, Ray Allen, Mike Bibby)... I don't really care to argue the what ifs. I'm just glad to see Team USA win without playing their best ball, and I'm glad to see Scola dominate. Scola did score on LeBron. He also scored on Bosh, Melo, Wade, Howard, and even Kobe on a switch once I think. Scola hit catch and shoot jumpers, post moves, and hustle plays. I really hope his dominance is a sign of things to come. He really was the Rockets #2 guy after Yao went out. Hope USA takes the next one vs. Spain. Drive and kick for 3's not just pass around the zone!
You are underrating Team USA's half court offense. While they do get into crap stretches as in today, they also can and do move the ball very well and execute for great inside passes and shots. It's not like only Argentina was executing a half court set. Team USA was scoring in the same manner the 2nd half and was just as successful...not overly successful but not nearly inept. I think the half court sets in the 2nd half for both teams had equal success. Team USA just had a few points advantage on a couple of breakaways and some good O-boards.
Brooksball, Just please don't call it "smart basketball" when you clearly are only referring to half court offense. Team USA is playing as smart bball as any other team, when you count everything. Tough defense and ball control is smart. Why not. Especially when Coach K wanted to focus on defense, because that's the fastest, easiest way to crush FIBA. Coach K is smart. And these players can play smart D. These FIBA teams are idiots for trying to take on this defense with drive and kick bball expecting to have open 3s. If they expect to stay in the game, they better play better team defense and they better start controlling their passes more and stop driving into nothing expecting a pass to be available. Calling ARG smart today (or Greece or Spain) is like calling VSpan a smart player. Way too many turnovers to be called smart. Don't give them any excuses. If you get crushed, you got crushed. No excuses.
I don't think I underrated it at all. I never said they were inept at running a half-court offense but the ball does tend to stop more with them than it does for many of the other teams that are used to playing this way and there is also less movement off the ball. I remember Doug Collins saying it himself during the 2nd half (where you say they had equal success) as well as during other games. I definitely think Argentina and several other teams I've seen in Beijing run their half-court offense better, for whatever reason (FIBA experience, familiarity with their teammates, etc...). I think Team USA did a fine job considering their relative inexperience overseas and with each other. They are just far superior talent-wise and have done well playing defense and pushing the ball.
Did you even read my last response to you? I agree, Team USA is playing smart. There you go. I don't agree that Argentina's play against Team USA was not smart or that these FIBA teams are idiots, as you purport. I don't think Argentina can do anything else, offensively or defensively, because of their inferior athleticism and talent. I'd say they played extremely well, everything considered. By the way, they only committed 1 more TO than us and shot nearly the same percentage from the field.
Saying it should have been a 40-50pt blowout vs a 20pt blowout is analogous to penalizing a top-ranked NCAA basketball team for not blowing out a weak opponent by more. I don't get it. If quality teams play all 40 minutes without quitting like Greece did against us, it's going to be hard to much more than 20pts. The first Dream Team did not win the Gold by 40-50 pts. They won by 32 in the finals vs Croatia. So even they didn't match your arbitrary benchmark winning margin. So, go ahead, say we should have won by 32 instead of 20. Sounds kinda nick-picking when you say that, no?
Team USA is playing to their strengths.....individually talented players who excel at beating their man off the dribble... While the other better teams are playing to their strengths, team ball which relies on switches, cuts and picks to free up scoring opportunities. Also, the NBA players so rarely face a zone they are not accustomed to playing against one. The zones biggest weakness is a big man at the FT line that can shoot, drive or pass..... The only US player that might fit that bill is Bosh.... Team USA is playing the way they need to play to be effective, and so are the other teams. I would say they are all playing smart. DD
That's how almost all of the analysis of this "redeem" team sounds like. Aren't they winning by an average of like 30 pts? Every game you here something like, "Well, USA might be in trouble if they don't make their free throws" or "USA might lose if they don't stop taking so many 3's". Then they go out, demolish the opposing team and everyone has an excuse for it. When the U.S. lost, no one gave them an excuse. It was all their fault. Just like any other losing team.
I'm calling BS on those who think US isn't playing team ball. It was team ball that got the US to win. When USA was going one on one and just passing around the zone for the 3, then they sucked! It was attacking the zone with crisp passing, putting pressure on the zone weak points and then forcing defenders to move and then making the right pass that lead to Team USA getting easy buckets and fouls. If Kobe was dominating on crazy shots and same for Melo and co, then I would understand the sentiment. But the individual talent for offensive scoring for Team USA has been inconsistent at best. Team USA is scoring well because: -pressure D creating turnovers and easy buckets -offensive rebounding dominance leading to 2nd chances -good ball movement leading to layups and kick out 3's There have been many times where Team USA has played dumb and the results have been really bad because of it. As for team Argentina: They're half court offense wasn't that great in terms of great team sets. I'm not saying they suck...just saying they're okay, not great. When you have Luis Scola dominating on inside post moves, pick and pops, and loose ball put-backs, that really helps your scoring. Scola was the BEST POST PLAYER in that game. He was putting his back to the basket and scoring against Bosh, Howard, LeBron, Melo, and Wade. No one on team USA was doing to Argentina what Scola did to Team USA. The shooting % being close for both teams illustrates to me that Argentina's half court wasn't that great. USA was shooting terribly b/c of the 3's vs the zone without proper movement. USA was feast and famine. Argentina had Scola go off (mainly one on one or pick and pop), so where's the result of all these great half court sets? Once in a while you'd see a nice back screen resulting in a layup, but there were just as many contested shots.
