Did you watch the same 1st half I did? I think someone must have said something to Kobe that made him stop taking so many dumb outside shots in the 2nd half.
Maybe I missed it but I was eating at the same time so I wasnt watchin very closely. However i did see Kobe penetrate more in the first half than the second. But maybe i'm mistaken.
USA shot too many threes even though they are pretty bad at the three. Besides Redd, and Melo we don't really have any pure shooters, all we have are streaky guys that can get hot and cold easily.
I wouldn't classify Melo as a pure shooter. So really Redd is our only consistent outside threat and even he has been shaky sometimes. If we cant hit our threes we play right into the zone and we will be in trouble.
Very true, and it seems like certain guys have a hard time getting into the flow of the game without the usual 30 shots they get to jack up.....
Its because most of our players are used to be the main guys who take most of the shots. Therfore they can get hot and feed off their own energy. But with team USA being so deep they play less minutes and get less shots which messes with their rhythm.
Scola is a hoss...man I don't think a lot of us really realize how good of a player we have in Scola. I love being able to watch a Rocket in international play...I think that if Argentina had Ginobli playing the whole game Argentina would of been the only team able to upset us. I'm not saying they would have pulled an upset just that I think they had the right combination of talent and determination with Ginobli.
The idiot shot 7 three-pointers in the first half and something like 12 total shots. It was ridiculous.
I wonder how many assists he had, or how much attention he drew which allowed the rest of his team to thrive. The interenational teams can ill afford to lose their best player, they do not have the depth the USA has. DD
He had 1 assist, 0 steals, 0 turnovers - generally a non-factor. Argentina lost by 15. Argentina's backups were the ones that kept the game from blowing open today.
I agree, but you have to think with Manu in there, they might have been even more effective. I will tell you what though, I guarantee you that the Spurs fans are freaking out right about now. We got Yao through without further damage, now let's get Luis through the last game, and get to training camp healthy. DD
Manu was trying to do everything in the 1st Q and picked up two fouls early. Him getting 2 fouls early was going to be a factor the whole game. He was either going to have to tone it down, get tired, or foul out. That is why Popovich doesn't play him big minutes in the NBA; he gets too erratic, and it was happening on cue vs Team USA. He would need to play 35+ hard minutes, and he started out poorly in terms of achieving that. Not only that, he wasn't helping the team; they were getting dusted. Team USA was keying on him, determined to make him a non factor. ARG was not getting anything inside. It's almost like ARG needs to focus more on Scola rather than expecting Ginobody to be superman. But imo, we just lost a little interest with a 20pt lead on Ginobody on the bench. That does not mean we wouldn't have shut him down like we did in the 1st, had he come back. imo: people who use the Manu excuse simply like to see Team USA struggle, if not fail. They had another statement game today, with or w/o ginobody. case closed.
Coach K doesn't seem to have much control over this team. Kobe (5/14) and Melo (3/14) chucked Argentina back within shouting distance. Those two missed a combined 13 threes, mostly in the 1st half, playing about 30 minutes each. Argentina clearly plays smarter basketball which is how they overcome their vastly inferior talent level. I would say that if Manu and Nocioni played the whole game healthy, USA wins by 10-12. Until the FIBA game more closely resembles the NBA game, I think Team USA would be served well to have an international head coach. I know D'Antoni is there but he's been coaching NBA ball for a while now and I'm not sure how much coaching he is doing as an assistant. I think FIBA rules have a major impact on how Team USA performs. If we were playing NBA rules, USA would probably be winning by 40-50 pts or more in 48 min games. If and when they modify FIBA rules to more closely resemble NBA ball (which is already in the works), USA's dominance will increase further.
The only reason the game was as close as it was is because Team USA was lulled to sleep in the 1st quarter by Argentina's slackness and they never got their edge totally back. Manu's presence and a better effort by Argentina would have brought out more fire from our players. The blowout was lost in the slow motion 2nd quarter when Argentina caught their breath. If we had pushed the ball up the court and put pressure on them, they would have been gassed most of the 2nd half.
whatever, team usa is blowing other teams out by 20 at least every game, but they're only winning on talent. ummmkay, stop hating
I agree whole-heartedly about the United States dominating if the FIBA game more closely resembled the NBA game. Excellent point.
Work on your reading comprehension, ummmkay? There was no hate intended in that piece. I was trying to be objective and give my honest assessment. I didn't say Team USA was only winning on talent. You somehow misinterpreted what I wrote or chose to twist my words. I said that Argentina plays smarter team basketball and I stand by that opinion.
no they don't, you have nothing to back that up. they relied on talent, scola. if not for him the blow out would have been massive.
From what I've seen, Argentina moves the ball better and moves without the ball better. They seemed to be committing fewer turnovers over the course of the tournament and their half-court offense seems to flow more smoothly. Yes, Team USA's philosophy is to play good defense and push the ball but they still have to play a lot of half-court offense. And when they do, they don't look as good as several of the other teams. They are just far superior talent-wise which makes up for their lesser team play and relative lack of experience playing FIBA rules. I'm not saying that Team USA doesn't have smarter players or the potential to play smarter than teams like Argentina and Spain, I just don't think they have so far. The more I watch FIBA ball, the more I realize how different the game is. I used to think the differences were exaggerated but I don't feel that way anymore.
