i don't understand how you could not think that. The 2006 Rockets beat the 2006 Clippers twice in February - were they a better team than the clippers overall, or just on those two nights? Not a hard question to answer.
There is nobody to blame for this loss There's alot of angry US basketball fans here wondering how such a talented team could have lost. Everybody wants to blame someone for this loss: the coaches, the players on the team, the selection committee, some players who chose not to be on the team. To all of those people, WAKE UP. There's no one to blame for this loss. How can you expect a team that got thrown together for a month, to overcome another team that's been together for 5 years? Especially when the 1st team is playing by the 2nd team's rules. I like the makeup and effort of this US team much more than the 2002 WC team and the 2004 Olympic team. The 2002 WC team was just embarrasing, the 2004 team was built wrong. This year's team had more hustle guys and shooters than both of the previous teams. USA basketball and US basketball fans should take this defeat (and the blowout that's about to happen vs. Argentina) as a lesson. Don't expect everything to be all right for the 2008 Olympics with the insertion of Kobe Bryant and Tracy Mcgrady (Are they really going to be much better than Lebron and Wade?). The world has caught up and USA basketball needs a better effort than 3 weeks of practice in Las Vegas.
I don't know about an Argentinian blowout, Team USA is still gonna get the bronze. One thing about us yanks, we hate to lose. That's why we've retooled, reshaped, reorganized to continue out most sacred tradition...winning! The next round of qualifiers will be scary. I don't think we need to simply add Kobe or Tracy, but better understand who needs to be shooting the longball. Mike Miller have Battier range. Hinrich can stroke it. But not enough was there because out captains don't know how to steer in international waters. Winning in the NBA is difficult, as the on/off Spurs. Change the rules, change the opponents, change your teammates, and the difficulty rating jump to 11! The world is ready to see the USA fail consistantly, but it won't happen. Team USA will learn from the mistakes, learn how to play together, and learn how to win together...all the way to a gold Medal in 2008!
I don't know if the official story is that T-Mac has declined the invitation or that he was not invited at all, but either way he's not going to be at the Olympics or any international competition.
Well, I don't think Papadopoulos is getting that much(Can't be sure though, Russians have been paying crazy amounts lately). It sounds more like Papaloukas' contract. I think all remaining 3 teams could potentially win vs USA. That doesn't make USA a lesser team. In a game someone has to lose, and these teams weren't in the final four, undefeated for no reason. I too beleive, you're finally doing something right in order to come on top of BB, even if the current team isn't all about experience, but athletism and youth rather. Argentina-Spain was a very close game and Spain got lucky(which is an element of winners of course). I thought Arg. would go to the final, but in any case they're a tough opponent, but Team USA usually displays calmness after a major defeat, and they'll be somewhat devasted cause they wanted the gold and lost by only 1 point. Still it's a difficult game and they still might have incentive, cause it's vs USA. Spain is a good team. It doesn't matter if Gasol plays, it's only one game and none goes to the final to just lose. We'll have to see how the match goes. It could be an interesting game to watch. Both teams know each other well(for the gold game).
Can't win them all, but man, it sure does suck...I feel the team is a lot better than in years past, so I expect a stronger showing in the Olympics... Over a 7 game playoff, the USA team would win...Law of averages...time to prepare and just learning your opponent...The USA team has way too much talent...
Everybody can lose. It doesn't matter for what reason, they just will. I doubt there will ever be a team with a 82-0 Record in the NBA. For the same reason, it's always possible(excluding the original 2 dream teams)a USA team will lose. Maybe it's up to them, maybe it's up to the opponent. Sometimes it will be on crucial games. The problem with most USA teams losing, is that they refuse to accept defeat, and think it gives other teams hope to disqaulify them from games which eventually happens anyway. You can benefit from defeat, cause it helps you understand what you're doing wrong, if you'll let it. Especially in friendly games. but like I say in another thread, you're doing things well this time. I'd suggest molding the youth and talent of this team with 1-2 experienced players, that you can rely on when needs arise, but it's your team and you prolly know better what's good for you. Surprising as it may sound, things mentioned, like 3-pointers, aren't Greece's game for instance. We play against zone by passing the ball to our bigmen more, most of the time, so not having that, doesn't mean you don't have scoring solutions. Of course this game was the exception, but if you play vs USA, you have to do things differently than usual. Most of you guys reactions are like soccer in Greece; you get a new coach, the team might experience some early loses and the solution is to kick him out, were teams that trust the coaches in fully developing their system, often get titles and play well. Things are not working that well for you lately, internationally. Instead of panicking by consecutive defeats, you could trust the guys that try to fix things for you. If you fail by 2008, you can try again, other solutions didn't work either, after all.
This is not the first time we were surprised. Yes the FIBA rules are different - but they are different for everyone. Unless we have world play off with NBA rules- there is always enough room to find excuses. What if Team USA beat Greece soundly? would we saw out Team Mastered FIBA rules or would we say this a Dream Team! It is sports, sometimes things happen that are not expected. That is why it is fun. Alteast this should make us humble when we participate for olympics- maybe we could play for honor of this country than count the prospective licensing fees for shoe sales!
Look at it this way: During the playoffs, if a team wins the first game of a series, are you always going to predict that they will win the entire series? Of course not.
We don't need a DREAM team, we need a balanced team, and one that understands how to beat a zone defense. The NBA is not conducive towards winning on the international level. DD
Yao was still damned effective. If you try hard enough you can get the low post game going in international basketball. It is harder but not impossible.
The one thing that will always haunt the USA squad is the lack of shooters. We can stack the team with a bunch of scorers all we want, it won't work. We need shooters to counter what the Europeans -- and other teams like Argentina -- like to do. American-born players, for the most part, suck at shooting the ball from a distance, I don't why but that has been the hallmark of the current generation of NBAers: they lack sound fundamentals...not the requisite skills. It has been an ongoing trend, which has led to the numerous rule changes over the past few years to help bring scoring up, as well as overall team shooting %. International ball rewards good shooters more than anything else, that's why it will be pretty damn difficult for us to win short of stacking the team with the Ray Allens and Michael Redds around a couple of scorers (i.e. Lebron, Kobe, Wade, etc); of course, we don't have many of those to choose from...
as long as NBA refs continuously rewards players who drive blindlessly into the paint and bailing them out with free throws, team USA will always lack 3point shooters to compete.
