honestly, i wonder if you put team USA, spain, argentina, greece, and maybe australia and lithuania and croatia (or maybe just spain, argentina, and greece) through an 82 game NBA season, played by nba rules with games reffed the nba way, what the result would be. i would almost be shocked if team USA did any worse than 80-2 or 79-3. with the rectangular lane and 23'-9" 3 point line spreading the court the way it is in an nba game, the handchecking rule would be absolutely devastating to international teams. kobe, lebron, and wade would just live at the line and chris paul could not be stopped. can you imagine kobe, lebron and wade being the guys who are comfortable with the game and the guys guarding them being the ones who are uncomfortable? then you factor in howard actually being comfortable and dominant and boozer maybe even seeming like a worthwhile player again and superstar calls and depth concerns for other teams over a whole season and it's hard to imagine them losing, assuming they actually tried each game.
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... Certainly it would have been great to see all your faces at this moment. I'm very polite calling you simple ignorants... at the same time you generate disgust and a bit more of sorrow. You could go out of US, there is life outhere. At least tell me you're 15 years old, it would be such a relief. In fact, Navarro had a poor tournament. But his game of today can be considered anything but surprising. Juan Carlos "la bomba" Navarro is a hell of complete offensive player and one of the most prolific winners of the current international basketball: - European U19 championship (1998) -MVP- - FIBA U19 World championship (1999) -MVP- - Korac cup championship (1999) - 4 ACB league championship (1999, 2001, 2003, 2004) - Bronce medal Eurobasket Turkey (2001) - Silver medal Eurobasket Sweden (2003) - Euroleague championship (2003) - ACB Supercup championship (2005) - FIBA World championship (2006) - Silver medal Eurobasket Spain (2007) - ACB best national player (2003) - ACB league MVP (2005) - Included in 2006 ACB league-first team. - Included in 2007 ACB league-first team. - 15 times Player of the week in ACB league. ....... Of course his game of today has been an absolute surprise. I'll put some videos to help you meet this player and his SURPRISING threes, passes and floaters... <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/YPq39LsR97U&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YPq39LsR97U&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vQLFni4eX6M&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vQLFni4eX6M&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/W25GVX3vQTE&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/W25GVX3vQTE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Oh! He's nicknamed La Bomba wtf?!!ยก <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5uQdivj8KK4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5uQdivj8KK4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/R6K0LEJYGJo&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/R6K0LEJYGJo&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Yes, Rudy hits 3s off the dribble. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/j0HLn0v0SZ0&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/j0HLn0v0SZ0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Thanks guys, I appreciate that, congratulations for the gold medal. Fortunately here is a hope between a mount of IGNORANCE, and I'll take it to keep following the NBA basketball. Greetings.
as a long time clutchfans user and basketball fan i feel pretty ashamed for the ignorance and arrogance that's still very present on the american side of the basketball world. that's all i've got to say to some of the comments in this thread. come on, people, you can (and should) do better than that! other than that it was a heck of a basketball game. at the end, the most talent meant the gold medal, but it was a close game and team usa needed a very good outside shooting game to beat a team spain without it's best backcourt player. team usa probably would've won the gold medal even with calderon playing but the semi final and the final would've been open ball games to the end if they woul've faced both opponents at full strength. team usa can't bring a much better team (individually) next time. if other teams get some more nba talent on their rosters team usa will have a hard time avoiding losses to other teams even if the best nba players are nominated. with the fiba rule changes and the current global developement of the nba this time shouldn't be too far away. maybe not in 2012, but 2016 at the latest.
Didnt dwade actually have a good shooting game (which is certainly out of the ordinary? Its probably the reason kept it so close. The only reason the US won: Kobe (and Dwade getting hot from the three), otherwise i dont know if USA wouldve gotten it done. Btw carlos arroyo actually had the starting position and Utah for a couple of years and did quite nice for himself. The guy can actually play, he just wasnt given another chance afer his fallen out with Sloan and subsequent trade (and to this day i still believe he is a better player than jameer nelson). Juan Carlos Navarro is another talented player and id pick him over rafer any day (especially when it comes to taking a three). I dont see why you guys are hating so much, when again Team USA barely won against a supposed blow out. And i was kind of on the fence about this, since i hate team USA's reluctance to actually play the game the "right" way (meaning move the ball around, fundamental basketball, hitting jump shots, and solid D ) but i also hate any other country thinking their superior since i know for a fact that if Team USA ever played the game the "right"(which i believe they did for the first quarter against Argentina and it was beautiful)would thoroughly dominate any team.
Are you kidding me? Gasol, granted hes been called soft, is a better player than bosh and howard. Calderon and Navarro are actually a lot better than you think, and then theres Ruy F. who probably deserves more merit than 1/5 of talent. The only major difference(s) (Kobe) that made Team USA distinct over Spain was their overall strength. Team USA seriously out muscled Spain a lot of the times.
I honestly dont get the whining about NBA rules and FIBA rules. You play in a FIBA tourney you follow the FIBA rule, simple as that. Why should the FIBA follow the NBA rule? Because the Team USA cant longer dominate the game of Basketball? 16 years ago Dream Team dominate olympics' basketball with the winning margin of 40 plus points under the same FIBA rule. Why can't team USA do it this time? Simple answer is, the rest of the countries have improved. Team USA still the best but they are no loner dominate, THAT'S THE FACT AND JUST ADMIT IT! Else you wont see so many Europeans scrubs and Asian Softies playing in NBA now compare to 16 years ago. Stop complaining about FIBA rules and the referees! I guess next time USA football(soccer) team get thrashed by Argentina or Spain in the World Cup. You guys might as well ask Argentina or Spain to play football the American way so that you guys can thrash them 100-0 and feel happy about it!
You obviously don't like the US team. Fine, I don't have a problem with that. However, you seem to make plenty of excuses for injuries for Spain. Not sure if you noticed or not, but Calderon's backups played very well - claiming that Calderon would have been an incremental improvement over his replacements who played out of their mind is a stretch. The US turned it on every time they needed to - Spain never led in the 2nd half. Without Spain being unconscious behind the 3 point line, this game results in what happened the first time the two teams played - a 30+ point blow out. also keep in mind the US didn't even have probably the 3 best big men (debateable) on the team in Duncan, KG and Amare. Eh, whatever. The US took home the gold with a double digit win. I'll take that any day
Great game.... The USA pulled it off, and played as a team under pressure. Kudos to Spain for playing so well too..... Great game. DD
I stayed up way late yesterday to see this game. It was worth it. Best Olympic basketball game I can remember ever watching. This is actually the first time I got a good look at Rudy Fernandez, and he was very impressive. I wonder if that IOC guy is going to criticize Team USA for all their celebrating, like he did with Usain Bolt?
I stayed up and watched it live. What a great game. And I don't know why it is, but everyone on the Spanish team just seems like a prick. I mean I've thought that about Gasol for years, but I didn't assume everyone from the country was like that.
Do you call "turning it on" missing wide open lay-ups on a fast break(Deron, Paul) and not for one second doing anything different on the defensive end and getting taken off the dribble at will by Navarro? The only players that "turned it on" were Kobe and Wade.
The US team's enthusiasm at reclaiming the Gold was great to see. So much joy, I think the end of the game was the best scene at an Olympics event in my view. The guys hugging Colangelo, coming over to shake hands with Doug Collins, etc. It was great to see.
