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

I wonder what JVG things of V-Span now?

DD

 

i have a question. if the US sent duncan, garnett, amare, howard, and shaq on the inside. kobe, lebron, tmac, wade, and carmelo on the wings. and ray allen, bibby, and redd for outside shooting (along with kobe and tmac). does anyone think that team would lose? basically if we could get all of our best healthy and willing to participate, would we lose? i think i listed 13 players so take off someone (maybe shaq, maybe amare, maybe wade). either way, would that team not dominate like the olympic qualifying team from a few years ago that went 10-0 and dominated argentina?

 

but isn't the nba champion often the team with the best player? hakeem, jordan, magic, bird, duncan, shaq, wade. except for detroit 2 years ago, the best player (or top 2 or 3) almost always wins. the internationals should be able to take advantage of this if they are better.

 

LOL, lots of people root for goliath.

 

i think in your dictionary there is a something missing called "team".

basketball is a "team" game, it needs "team" work and everybody has to be a "team" player for the "team" to win, greece beats USA becaue they have far better "team" chemistry, USA can't win a sh$t in the past because they don't have any "team" spirit, 5 best players in the world doens't form the best "team" in the workd, the world championship is won by the best basketball "team" in the world not by the best player, get it?

 

Check out the NBA rules, it totally favor star players going one on one. The international rules are different. Also the star treatment the stars get from the refs plays a major role in winning the NBA championship too.

 

US team has enough talent, LB, Wade, Miller, brand, ..... all are great player.
The key is TEAM. BB is a TEAM game.

 

It's not about who has the best players or even who's the best team in multiple games. It's a tounament. upsets are part of the charm of international games, just like in Olympics.

 

RT - there are many decaffinated brands on the market that are just as tasty as the real thing


...since when does getting excited about the play of our hometown team's latest player in an exibition game contitute being an american-hater...

and considering the people from the East that are on here to follow Yao, you shoudl expect that not everyone is even living here

 

No offence, but "real" basketball is played with 9 men to a side with peach baskets, or inside of a cage with two handed set shots. That's true basketball.

Real basketball, as I see it, when players play for teams that they play with for 80-100 games for 9 months a year that matter because they're getting paid millions of dollars to do so. And if you thing "running up and down the court with no reason or gameplan at all" is what NBA teams do then it's pretty obvious you've never seen an NBA game in your life

This tournament is nice, just like the World cup is nice, but it's a two week exhibition for most of the top players (of course most of the best players aren't in Japan right now) featuring a handful of games between various all-star teams. I would have said that had the US won or lost. It's fun, and winning it is certainly an accomplishment, but essentially it's an offseason distraction.

Anyway, I can see this thread is going to turn into a long lecture on the value of teamwork, which I'm sure will contain maintain many valuable, never before heard insights

 

What if I put it this way...

USA will play against Argentina tomorrow. How many here think USA will win and how many think Argentina?

I am quite surprised why can't some posters here accept the fact that THIS USA BASKETBALL TEAM SIMPLY NOT THE BEST TEAM PLAYING IN THIS TOURNAMENT?

It is no doubt that this USA team will @ss-whopping any other national teams if playing under NBA rules but this is the FIBA World Champioship for god sake! The so-called talents of your players were restricted by the rules (but that apply to other players as well). You need excellent team work and ball movement to break the damn zone defense and the damn pick-and-rolls. Accept the outcome and practise hard to win the Olympics title 2 years later. Honestly I am very confident the same group of USA players, let them practise 2 more off-seasons playing against European teams, they could win the title in the Olympics. But for now, I'd say they won't even get a medal in this tournament.

 

True, nobody asked for 100 m sprint to be taken 4 out of 7. You fail one elimination you are gone. But if you are good, you still have chance in next one. If you lose all in a couple of years, you can't blame luck. No system is perfect, the prefix is that every team entering the tournement agrees the term, so they are playing at the same starting point, and facing the same odds. I am tired of this game 7 talk. Imagine, do you face more pressure in a game 7, where you already had 6 games behind you, and you are well prepared, or in a single most important game?

A tournement was never about who's the best all time, it's only about who does the best in this particular tournement, and that includes the system you are playing in.

You know what's wrong with this team? Three youngesters as team captains, that's what's wrong. Team captain doesn't have to be a superstar, but rather someone has enough experience good or bad; a vocal guy can rally the players or calm them down; a guy with personality, a guy with influences in locker room, and a guy other players look up to as a person. Age does matter.

 

This is the lovely part of NCAA and internal games.... in the elimination round, every game is the the game 7 of the playoff. How exciting. I wish NBA can cut its 82 regualy games and 7 playoff games in half, leaving half of the season for a elimination tornament.... that will be very exciting when every team has a chance to win....

 

Probably about the same number of people that picked the US to beat Lithuania for the Bronze (a Lithuania team that spanked them in group play) in 2004, which they did anyway.

 

Sounds like you are saying that these USA players are not playing in NBA at all.

 

huh?

so we actually need to ask other teams abide by OUR rules to show our superiority now?

sad times I guess...

 

V-Span looked great. I hope he can translate that to the NBA. If so, Rockets really got a steal in V-Span. He reminds me of Mario Elie. A hard-nose guy that just gets the job done. We need something like that on the Rox team.

Team USA has alot of individual players on the team. Lebron,Melo are know not to play team basketball. They are used to get all the calls in the NBA and all the hype. FIBA is just a different game than the NBA. It doesn't seem like our NBA players will ever adjust to that game. Guys like Bowen,Billups,Arenas would have made a big difference in this game. They would have played some defense which these guys could not do.

GO ROX!!!!

 

congratulations Greece.

Spanoulis - bring that A game you just displayed to the NBA.

USA, better luck next time. It will be interesting to see what kind of approach you guys take to selecting a team and coach for the 2008 olympics...

 

I don't know if it should be this way or not, but this is clearly how the Americans view it.

Let's be real...only one American player seemed to care the whole tournament - Carmelo.

D. Wade, Lebron, Joe Johnson, Elton Brand...we've all seen these guys play game in and game out in the NBA. What I saw last night, at least, was half-speed at best.

I'm not trying to make excuses for them...I think it's pathetic that they don't seem to care anymore. I've got a lot more respect for Carmelo now and and a lot less impressed with Lebron/Wade and the rest.

 

Ya, I gotta think we would have been a little better served to have Arenas out there right now(better shooter)...

This squad is young still - and they have to be because the commitment is for several years. Obviously this team hasn't yet matured(as a unit and in some cases individually) - and yes, they are simply not the best international team.

I hope David Stern starts taking steps to make the league more in line with international rules. The "true zone" thing for one would be a worthy addition to the league's rules but Stern is too scared to inhibit scoring trends(hence the no hand check rule that made Wade a finals MPV).

The real problem is this - US basketball is being run by a guy who is driven by the bottom line. He wants lots of scoring and flashy dunks and he has sacrificed the entire state of US basketball to do that. When you make that the focus of your league it's no wonder that kids immitate it, and young players come into the professional leagues(college & NBA) lacking the skills to hit the boring mid range shots or play lock down defense. I play basketball A LOT and I can tell you nearly every person under 30 I play with thinks defense means gambling to make the big block or steal. Forget staying in front of your man or preventing him from getting the ball... Our society values the guy who gets x blocks or steals rather than the guy who prevents his opponent from scoring.

We are just fundamentally at odds with the international game and I can't help but think Stern in an effort to make the league more profitable has further worsened the situation....