I missed it because I was at a wedding. I read that Germany played pretty well, at least for the first three quarters. How do you judge Nowitzki's performance in the game? 34 points and 10 rebounds against NBA all-stars in an international game, surrounded by a team of scrubs sounds pretty good - Yao Ming unfortunately still has a way to go to get there...then again, his scrubs are way worse than the German scrubs. I just have some quotes here... Paul Pierce: "I'd like to take my hat off to the German team. They really played hard and with a lot of heart. That's the way they played us in the exhibition and we knew this wasn't going to be an easy road for us. They have a great player in Dirk Nowitzki..." Antonio Davis: On Dirk Nowitzki: "You have to respect him and you have to pay attention to him. He does a great job when he catches the ball and he gets it off. And, he can shoot. So with us, what we try to do is to make sure we run him, make sure we know where he is at all times. And defensively, try to move him and maybe beat him up a little." Reggie Miller: On Dirk: "He's not only a great shooter. He's a great player. He has a knack for drawing fouls. I think he did a good job of keeping his team somewhat involved, but when they needed a basket, they went to him. Overall, he definitely has the package." By the way, Reggie also talked about Yao Ming: On Yao Ming and game vs China: "I think in time, he's going to be great. He has great fundamentals. He can shoot. He's long and he blocks shots. He's a little bit more physical than what I had expected. I think he's going to a good system and a good coach in Rudy T. I think he'll be pretty good." Michael Finley: On Dirk: "Dirk's going to get some numbers. He's the #1, #2 and #3 option on that team, so he's going to get some shots and make the most out of it. That's the way it is in the NBA, too so it's not going to change for the German team." ---------- Did anybody notice Ademola Okulaja's stat line? I said it before, this guy could make it as a backup SF/PF guy in the NBA. He had a good career in college at North Carolina, I think. Against the US, he had 19 pts (7-11 fg, 5-7 ft), 5 rebs, 5 asts, 1 st, 2 blocks. http://www.usabasketball.com/seniormen/02-mwc-game2_box.html
Thanks to his free throw shooting and the outside shooting of their point guard that they put a scare in the 3rd quarter. The game is dirk vs. the u.s. team. and his teammate is not that bad especially the guy that you mention and their point guards
That's very good numbers when you also consider the fact that Dirk was triple teamed everytime he touched the ball. Yao is definately stronger than I though he was. I think he'll still have trouble with Shaq but then who doesn't have trouble with Shaq. I think the main problem Yao is going to have is getting into foul trouble. He doesn't back down from rough play (which is good) but until he learns to play smart under those conditions he's going to rack up a lot of fouls early.
