Okay, soccer boys, take it to the Hangout. Remember, everyone is "supposed" to be mad and upset that the US lost to Argentina.
I am almost crying...these damn Argentinians...Germany was supposed to be the first team to beat the US...in the finals!
I think this point needs to be re-emphasized. I just read those quotes, and I am very proud of the way our players are handling this. To a man, every single one of them acknowledged that Argentina outplayed the US and that the US didn't follow its game plan. No excuses. Also, don't forget that the first thing our players did at the buzzer was walk over to the celebrating Argentinians to shake their hands. Throughout this tournament the US team has done nothing but praise its opponents. Remember that team with Shawn Kemp and Derrick Coleman a few years ago? They were punks -- these are men. I'm as proud of them in their loss as I've been of any US team with NBA players in victory. George Karl: "I tip my hat to Argentina. We've known for two-three weeks from our scouts and felt they had been playing the best basketball. We lost our composure with their intensity. They played very hard in the first half and our lack of urgency has hurt us in other games and tonight it really hurt us." PAUL PIERCE: "I'd like to take my hat off to the Argentina team. They played hard and they played great basketball. We just went up against a team who was a little bit more hungry than us and for some reason we didn't come out with the same aggression we did in the second half at the beginning." ANDRE MILLER: "They played good fundamental basketball; they got a lot of easy baskets. We lost the game from the start with our slow start. They came out and played well. You have to take your hat off to them. They played physical and established themselves from the start of the game." BEN WALLACE: "It shouldn't have happened. They outplayed us. That's the bottom line. No matter what they did, they just outplayed us." BARON DAVIS: "Everything is possible and anything can happen. We played bad, didn't pass the ball. They played well and made everything. No excuses. They shot 50 percent and had 23 assists. They played very well." SHAWN MARION: "We didn't go out there and establish ourselves early and didn't what we wanted to do. We didn't play any defense tonight and that's what it boils down to. We didn't do what coach wanted us to do. We didn't play defense and that's why we lost." MICHAEL FINLEY: "They played good basketball. They're definitely a team that's been together for a while and it showed in their offensive execution in the first half. They made some big shots and when we weren't hitting ours, they were hitting theirs." link
I'm sure a team of Kobe, Shaq and Duncan etc. would have blown team Argentina out, but I think lack of first tier players on this NT roster is not an excuse for poor play. Every NT can use that as an excuse for losing. China can say that since Wang Zhizhi is missing they lost to the US. The Lithuania team that came up two points short to beat Dream Team 4 two years ago had their best players missing due to injuries. As long as the US NT with a superstar studded lineup spends only two weeks for training as it is now, I think they can still be beaten by a well coordinated team in the near future with the uprise in international talents. After all, basketball is a team sport.
i am glad usa lost, they played like arrogant little children. i do not like this new nba star. i miss the old days, before players went around stomping on people and screaming MUTHERFU*KER at the officials. nor selfrespect and definately not professional. they are thugs, especially jermain oneal. what the fu*k. stomping on that guy?? that was shameful and embarassing. sure they say the right things in the press, they don't want bad publicity, but actions is what counts. on the court all they did was whine and play dirty. look, i love the nba, but i am sick of these guys saying that there is nothing wrong with the new style of the nba. learn a jumpshot before you whine about fouling out. the article on espn is halarious, saying that there is nothing wrong with the nba players?? BULLSH!T!!! they are severly lacking in fundamentals. plain and simple, and as far as running around and saying that shaq and garnett would have fared better?? who cares!! i wanna see BASKETBALL not incredible athletes pushing people around. argentina plays ball the way is supposed to be played. it was one of the most entertaining games i have see in a while. sure, usa will probably still win a medal, but at least for one day, they got schooled.
My $.02: 1) The Aregentinian team was EXTREMELY well prepared. They knew exactly what the US weakness were and exploited them perfectly 2) This team was built specifically to beat the United States. Quick guards able to penetrate, tough defense all around and perfect halfcourt execution. They knew that if they got into a running game with the US, they wouldn't have a chance. Add to the fact that these guys practice with each other on a daily basis, and everything was just right for a victory 3) The United States picked the wrong time to have its worst game of the tournament. 37.5% from the field and 58.6% from the charity. Don't look for this team to shoot that bad for the rest of the tournament Now, having said that, it seems that the Argentines are getting a little cocky. Ginobili is quoted by ESPN, ""The U.S. is no longer the best in the world. . . I think they are not happy for sure." Uhh...so who is the best in the world? Aregentina? Sorry, when you guys win 58 straight games in international competition, then you can claim the title of World's best. Until then, I'd still take this team in a seven game series against Argentina. You know who I REALLY feel bad for? Yugoslavia, because they have to play team USA next. Argentina woke up a sleeping giant, and now the slavs will be virgin sacrifice #1. Expect a complete dismantling of Yugoslavia tonight. They'll be sending a message to Argentina, saying "See you in the gold medal game". If it's one thing the United States does have, it's pride. Unfortunately, it took an embarassing loss to Argentina to bring that pride out...
Its not that they didnt have the talent, the problem is that they underestimated the competition. I'm not taking anything away from Argentina but if they play again in the championship the US is gonna stick up up their @$$.
hmmm ... I only saw the second half, during which they were just running around with shell-shocked looks on their faces and didn't seem to be whining too much. o'neal stepped on a guy? i agree, that's pretty bush.
Hats off to our guys who DID want to play. Should there be a backlash on our 'star' players who refused to give up there summer-fun to represent their own country?
Panda, I hear what your saying but one could peer into the NBA talent pool and easily form two first and second all NBA teams ahead of this one, which makes this current team a third all NBA team. Im not making an excuse for the USA teams poor showing last night, but the fact of the matter is it was the Americas third team talent who played poorly last night, and not Americas best of the best.
Agreed. The Rockets championship teams get little respect because many forget that it is a team sport. It's a great wake-up call for the NBA players.
Arno-- I'm not saying these guys aren't talented. What I was trying to say is that they did not play up to their talent within the team concept of the game. How many times did the Argentines get inside position? How many times did they score off of inbounds plays? How many times did the US guys think they could overcome bad positioning or double teams with superior leaping ability? I don't know how many points Argentina scored in the paint, but it had to be huge. This wasn't some hot hand like Oscar going off and beating the US, this was superior team ball that consistently took advantage of what was there and our big guys did nothing to make Argentina change their approach. Even though Argentina came in undefeated, it's clear to me at least that the US went in cocksure and woefully understimated Argentina while overestimating their own ability to create wins based on talent alone. It's been said before but bears repeating again... The US did not bring a team, but a group of individuals and these individuals either did not know enough or care enough to start playing team ball until it was too late. This game reminded me of the way Princeton used to surprise high talent teams in the NCAA's.
Arno, I've acknowledged in my previous post that the USA team was outplayed. You have to give credit to Argentina for playing a terrific game. There were many aspects to why the USA lost to a team they were more than capable of beating. The biggest reason is that the USA shot themselves in the foot: horrendous defense, missing layups/free throws, atrocious offensive sets/execution. But the officiating is another aspect. If you watched the game, you would have seen that the officiating was indeed suspect, and atrocious at times. Of couse, this aspect would have been a moot point had the USA not played so poorly. Alas, they did, and the officiating became a small part of the issue.
