TeamUSA

[VF21]

There hasn't been much (or any) discussion of men's basketball as yet, so I figured after this morning's close call it was as good a time as any to get one started.

Is TeamUSA coasting along, full of themselves and ripe for a major disappointment? You can't say they're playing to the level of their competition when they blow the Nigerian team off the court in the first quarter and end up winning by 83.

Can they play efficient and effective defense? Are they all offense?

 

[Trueblood]

There hasn't been much (or any) discussion of men's basketball as yet, so I figured after this morning's close call it was as good a time as any to get one started.

Is TeamUSA coasting along, full of themselves and ripe for a major disappointment? You can't say they're playing to the level of their competition when they blow the Nigerian team off the court in the first quarter and end up winning by 83.

Can they play efficient and effective defense? Are they all offense?

I'm glad that they got the wake up call because if they coast against a team like Spain or Argentina, they just might lose.

I think they got a tad big headed after the 83 point drubbing of Nigeria. They aren't as good as that score indicated. But they aren't as bad as a single digit victory over Lithuania would suggest either.

As far as defense is concerned, they are capable and will play great and effective defense assuming Davis and Chandler don't get into foul trouble. If they do, or get hurt, you've got Kevin Love as your center. That's bad. At least the 2010 team had Odom. While he's no center in the NBA, he seems to understand the offensive and defensive concepts behind playing center in international competition.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

I think the major problem is the lack of interior defense, frankly. I only caught the last 7 minutes of the game, but several times the Lithuanian team went to a pick-and-roll, got Chris Paul switched off on Darius Songaila, and dumped it down low to Darius. Easy basket, because our PF and C (LeBron and Durant at the time) don't have the instincts to rotate in and help. I'm not happy with the construction of the team because of the lack of defense/post players. It seems that the strategy to beat the U.S. is to go big, go to a half-court offense, defend the fast break and hope we miss our threes. It's not foolproof because if we're hot from outside we're unbeatable, but if we're cold (like most of today) we're vulnerable because we can't go down low for reliable scoring.

 

[Glenn]

So much for watching the Lithuania game.

 

[Trueblood]

So much for watching the Lithuania game.

We should add something like "Olympic spoiler alert" in the thread heading or something along those lines so that if someone doesn't want to know the score, they can just avoid the thread until the delayed version of the game is over.

 

[PurpleHaze]

Team USA only up 1 at half against Argentina. They were up only 2 after 1st Q. Horrible defense by USA, breakdowns all over the place, can't stop simple pick and rolls - worst of all failure to get back in transition over and over. Lithuania showed weakness in Team USA slacker D - and now Argentina exploiting it to possible upset. 2nd half will be interesting to say the least.

Finally, Team USA responds with very intense D out of the gate in 2nd half plus some very hot shooting to coast to easy victory over Argentina.

 

[VF21]

Very impressed with how Team USA kept their cool after the cheap shot to Carmelo. WTF???? I can't help but think the next time we play Argentina is gonna be ugly...and Nocioni really worries me.

 

[Dime Dropper]

What happened? Somehow I completely forgot the game was on and missed it. Nocioni cheap shot at Melo?

 

[Fear the Putin]

argentinians will play rough and won't get pushed around

it was a cheapshot, but expect them to really go at each other's throats if they meet again

 

[VF21]

What happened? Somehow I completely forgot the game was on and missed it. Nocioni cheap shot at Melo?

No, it was the youngster on the Argentina team who ran by Carmelo right after he (Melo) shot a three and punched him in the family jewels. It was right in front of Team USA coaches, who immediately jumped up to protest. Team USA handled it really well - I'm not sure of the international rules on bench-clearing brawls but this clearly could have led to one. I'm sure you can find a clip on YouTube.

I mentioned Nocioni only because I've seen him play in person and know he will not back down if one of his teammates is the target of some retaliatory love taps.

 

[Dime Dropper]

Ah, I see.

The way I see things going, USA will just blow by anyone they meet. Spain have been playing very poor. Russia are solid but can't see them troubling USA. Brazil have an outside chance (to my surprise, and only if they get past Argentina) but still... I just hope the final is competitive until the end to make for better viewing.

 

[UK_King]

Some extremely interesting calls going the way of Team USA in the first half of this match against OZ.

Whatever happens the only thing i will remember is James Harden getting crossed into the ground against Nigeria.

 

[Dime Dropper]

Very good 2nd half performance here for USA. I expect them to dismantle Spain with relative ease given that Spain are doing all they can not only to fit in to the "soft" European stereotype, but to enhance it. If they continue this way in the final, I hope they get destroyed.