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

NBA, or may I say NBA refs, always make its stars bigger than what they really are. They gives the so-called super stars unbelievable treatment as if there are two sets of rules in the league: super stars rules and basketball rules. Last season's NBA Finals is a fine example to display how they pushed it to an extreme.

NBA do everything it can to make its home-made stars look invincible. It is good for entertainment purposes and good for NBA's business, but it is bad for USA basketball.

 

Is Duncan American?

I wouldn't guarantee domination from that team either. First, some of the foreign squads are also missing key players, be it from injury (Greece) or player just not being on the team (like in America).

Second, it requires more than just being there. Even this current squad should have dominated. They actually have to play like they care, though.

Third, with all that, as the announcer mentioned repeatedly, the international game IS different. I think it is fair and right that it is the style used - after all, pretty much every other team in the world uses that style - but it is different. 3 weeks of practice certainly doesn't help.

To tell you the truth, I'd actually be more sure if you just, for example, took this year's Miami Heat team to the tournament. Of course, the team would still be required to play inspired ball, though.

 

Oh...one more thing.

Wouldn't Bruce Bowen had been a nice guy to be able to throw out on the court last night? Or even Ron Artest...that guy is crazy, but plays with passion.

 

ray allen would have helped from the arc....

 

Man. It's pathetic hearing some folks blame the format of the game and "luck" for the loss.

One word, people: scoreboard! That's what decides winners and losers, period. Even NBA championships can come down to a single game 7, or a single quarter, or even a single possession. If you win, you're a winner. If you lose, you're the loser.

The "we would've won if we had played more games" argument is ridiculously weak. Maybe we could've won if there were a few more seconds; maybe we could've won if there were two more quarters; maybe we coulda won if we had 8 fouls to give... ya know what, it doesn't matter.

Scoreboard, scoreboard, scoreboard.

 

Bowen wouldn't have made a damn bit of difference.

 

Wake up late just catch a big surprise...Glad to see V-Span the KillBill kills again. Looks like Rox really gets a steal.

 

thank you Clutch. After reading thru this crappy thread and all his BS, this is a silver lining to the loss. well, that and VSpan.

 

I am not so sure about that. Arroyo (from Puerto Rico) who was superb in 2004 olympics stinks in NBA.

 

rudy's teams play with heart.

 

Thank you, Clutch. That creep obviously took advantage of the time of day, when most are asleep. I'm sure that's right about the California goats.

 

Disagre completely. Bowen knows how to play defense, especially perimter defense, physically and mentally...and he cares. He plays dirty, but that's part of his success...it's a mindset issue as much as anything else. Same with Artest, too.

USA did not struggle offensively. Shot 3's poorly, horrible on FT's, but they scored enough points.

 

nice. no one owns like Clutch.

from sitting through just now and reading the whole thread from scratch , it was obvious this BayArea was probably some kid in need of attention.

we're not babysitters here!

 

Did you watch prior to the tourney? Bowen played on this team two weeks ago, he didn't do diddly poo poo squat.

Bowen's defensive strenght (and NBA value). is playing people one on one, not high screen and rolls. One-on-one wasn't the issue today.

That's why he was dropped.

 

Thanks, Clutch.

 

Another thing, was any scouting of the Greek team made before the game? I didn't see any special plays that tried to exploit Greece's weaknessess. Coach K spoke very highly of the Greek players in the press-conference, but he referred to them by their numbers, he didn't use a single name, not even Spanoulis who is certainly the most recognisable Greek player right now because of the Rockets connection. I didn't expect him to know them before the tournament started of course, but the coaching team had 2 days to scout Greece and learn the players and the systems they use. Teams like Lithuania and even Australia nearly managed to beat Greece in the first round because they had studied their play and knew what their weaknessess are. Not knowing the opposing players' names is just not a very good example to set for your players...

 

LOL, you came to the wrong board if you're going to criticize US National team scouting...can you guess why?

 

that guy was a pain in the ass...

whats up? people still blaming this and that, hehe

fact is the better team won tonight...yea it did surprise everyone, but that happenes in sports

Spanoulis is something we need to concetrate now...JVG should be happy with his performance this morning..I hope he watched the game!

We need a pure shooter, and hopefully it will be Novak, so the starting five woulkd be all set!

Spanoulis/Novak/TMac/Battier/Yao

 

So right. Chauncy, Kobe, Wallace and the guys with expereience would have pulledd through.

Such a great game by Spanoulis. Now I think that we forget about Casey Jacobsen and go for a big guy and maybe even Badiane. With Battier, , Spanoulis and our two stars Tracy and Yao we are going to be better.