USA Basketball

[thejoker]

Will we finally win the Gold this year in Beijing?

[Flip]

Well we are the favorites, something like -330 and we should be too. But by watching 3 of the 4, I didn't watch today's game, "friendlies" I think it is easy to tell no matter how talented we are we could easily lose. We lack depth at our post positions. Howard, Bosh, and Boozer are the only true 4 or 5s we have and Boozer isn't all that tall and Bosh is pretty thin. This could be a huge problem when we play a team like Spain who has Pau and Marc Gasol. We were outrebounded in the first 3 games, I don't know about today's game. Also, can we finally guard the pick and roll? Greece killed us in the worlds 2 years ago with countless pick and rolls. I predict we win a couple of close games in the medal rounds and win the gold. It should be interesting and something I'm definitely going to go out of my way to try to watch.

[GFRR99]

so your saying that pau and marc gasol are better than the posts the US have? that was a really dumb comment that the US will have trouble with spain because of their posts.you said spains post will give US a "huge problem" ahaha. marc gasol is not an established player yet and didnt make the cut for a nba team and pau gasol is much skinnier and strong than chris bosh so i dont get your comparison what so ever. dwight howard would destroy pau and i would say that boozer and bosh would too.
there are other countries (not spain) who have a bunch of really tall players that could maybe out rebound the US but i still think howard, bosh, and boozer will out play every opponents post players.

[Flip]

so your saying that pau and marc gasol are better than the posts the US have?

Probably. I'm not just saying the US posts are poor, but we have no depth. We only have 3 posts and in all honesty none of the US posts skills mesh well FIBA rules.

that was a really dumb comment that the US will have trouble with spain because of their posts

Never said that.

you said spains post will give US a "huge problem" ahaha

No. I didn't

marc gasol is not an established player yet

How would you know? Marc Gasol has played 5 years in Spain's ACB League. He was league MVP this past year. He is more established than 90% of the other big men the olympics.

pau gasol is much skinnier and strong than chris bosh so i dont get your comparison what so ever

Pau Gasol is listed at 260, Chris Bosh is listed at 230.

Pau Gasol and Yao Ming are probably regarded as the two best posts in the world when playing under FIBA rules. In the last world tournament, won by Spain, Ming was the leading the scorer and Gasol was named MVP, not Lebron or Dwayne Wade. You need to understand that the team or teams with the most NBA players isn't always the best team. The last game we lost, which was to Greece, had ZERO NBA players!

[baseball18]

so your saying that pau and marc gasol are better than the posts the US have? that was a really dumb comment that the US will have trouble with spain because of their posts.you said spains post will give US a "huge problem" ahaha. marc gasol is not an established player yet and didnt make the cut for a nba team and pau gasol is much skinnier and strong than chris bosh so i dont get your comparison what so ever. dwight howard would destroy pau and i would say that boozer and bosh would too.
there are other countries (not spain) who have a bunch of really tall players that could maybe out rebound the US but i still think howard, bosh, and boozer will out play every opponents post players.

Have you not watched this US team the last several years? Post play is one of the reasons they haven't won a gold since 2000... They have no post depth and Spain and Argentina do. In 2004 Duncan and Stoudemire were outplayed down-low and isn't Duncan one of the best big men in the world? Our post play has been out played and manned since we were humiliated in the 2002 World Championships. What happens if Howard or someone gets injured? Foul trouble? Then what? Spain will give us trouble inside because of their defense, strength, and depth... Please know what you are talking about before you attack someone else GFRR

[thejoker]

so your saying that pau and marc gasol are better than the posts the US have? that was a really dumb comment that the US will have trouble with spain because of their posts.you said spains post will give US a "huge problem" ahaha. marc gasol is not an established player yet and didnt make the cut for a nba team and pau gasol is much skinnier and strong than chris bosh so i dont get your comparison what so ever. dwight howard would destroy pau and i would say that boozer and bosh would too.
there are other countries (not spain) who have a bunch of really tall players that could maybe out rebound the US but i still think howard, bosh, and boozer will out play every opponents post players.

Have you not watched this US team the last several years? Post play is one of the reasons they haven't won a gold since 2000... They have no post depth and Spain and Argentina do. In 2004 Duncan and Stoudemire were outplayed down-low and isn't Duncan one of the best big men in the world? Our post play has been out played and manned since we were humiliated in the 2002 World Championships. What happens if Howard or someone gets injured? Foul trouble? Then what? Spain will give us trouble inside because of their defense, strength, and depth... Please know what you are talking about before you attack someone else GFRR

However, our biggest setback so far in these games seems to be three-point shooting.

[balla45]

so your saying that pau and marc gasol are better than the posts the US have? that was a really dumb comment that the US will have trouble with spain because of their posts.you said spains post will give US a "huge problem" ahaha. marc gasol is not an established player yet and didnt make the cut for a nba team and pau gasol is much skinnier and strong than chris bosh so i dont get your comparison what so ever. dwight howard would destroy pau and i would say that boozer and bosh would too.
there are other countries (not spain) who have a bunch of really tall players that could maybe out rebound the US but i still think howard, bosh, and boozer will out play every opponents post players.

Have you not watched this US team the last several years? Post play is one of the reasons they haven't won a gold since 2000... They have no post depth and Spain and Argentina do. In 2004 Duncan and Stoudemire were outplayed down-low and isn't Duncan one of the best big men in the world? Our post play has been out played and manned since we were humiliated in the 2002 World Championships. What happens if Howard or someone gets injured? Foul trouble? Then what? Spain will give us trouble inside because of their defense, strength, and depth... Please know what you are talking about before you attack someone else GFRR

Spain doesn't really have post depth. They have the brothers but then nothing after that. Duncan's game doesn't fit international basketball like Howard's does, because Howard simply overpowers his defender, while Duncan tries to use jump hooks and jump shots instead of just dunking. The chance of Howard getting injured is almost 0, as he has never missed an NBA game.

The reason the USA will win the gold is because they have the 3 best players in the world on their team. The only reason I could see Spain making it a game is that Spain has excellent guard play.

[Flip]

Duncan's game doesn't fit international basketball like Howard's does...

I think just the opposite. Duncan's game is more fitted for international basketball because its harder to overpower your opponent because you start farther from the basket and you face more zones. The bests posts for international game imo are posts who are skilled passers and those which can step out and shoot. Think Arvydas Sabonis.

Dwight Howard is a great fit for the US team though because he's the type of player who doesn't need plays run for him. He's more of player who is going get most of his looks when his teammates find him sitting under the rim, lobs and offensive put backs.

[balla45]

Duncan's game doesn't fit international basketball like Howard's does...

I think just the opposite. Duncan's game is more fitted for international basketball because its harder to overpower your opponent because you start farther from the basket and you face more zones. The bests posts for international game imo are posts who are skilled passers and those which can step out and shoot. Think Arvydas Sabonis.

Dwight Howard is a great fit for the US team though because he's the type of player who doesn't need plays run for him. He's more of player who is going get most of his looks when his teammates find him sitting under the rim, lobs and offensive put backs.

Yea, that is a good point actually. Like they were saying during the Angola game, all Dwight does is catch and dunk.

[baseball18]

so your saying that pau and marc gasol are better than the posts the US have? that was a really dumb comment that the US will have trouble with spain because of their posts.you said spains post will give US a "huge problem" ahaha. marc gasol is not an established player yet and didnt make the cut for a nba team and pau gasol is much skinnier and strong than chris bosh so i dont get your comparison what so ever. dwight howard would destroy pau and i would say that boozer and bosh would too.
there are other countries (not spain) who have a bunch of really tall players that could maybe out rebound the US but i still think howard, bosh, and boozer will out play every opponents post players.

Have you not watched this US team the last several years? Post play is one of the reasons they haven't won a gold since 2000... They have no post depth and Spain and Argentina do. In 2004 Duncan and Stoudemire were outplayed down-low and isn't Duncan one of the best big men in the world? Our post play has been out played and manned since we were humiliated in the 2002 World Championships. What happens if Howard or someone gets injured? Foul trouble? Then what? Spain will give us trouble inside because of their defense, strength, and depth... Please know what you are talking about before you attack someone else GFRR

Spain doesn't really have post depth. They have the brothers but then nothing after that. Duncan's game doesn't fit international basketball like Howard's does, because Howard simply overpowers his defender, while Duncan tries to use jump hooks and jump shots instead of just dunking. The chance of Howard getting injured is almost 0, as he has never missed an NBA game.

The reason the USA will win the gold is because they have the 3 best players in the world on their team. The only reason I could see Spain making it a game is that Spain has excellent guard play.

What about Boozer? He;s been injured plenty of times and I am pretty sure Chris Bosh has been injured before.

No big man in the USA fits international play. The USA post play is more of actually "posting up" and playing inside. A lot of foreign centers play outside, they can shoot from all over, they don't let you get inside on defense and they push everything outside. Post play internationally is more finesse and a lot of them work the 3 point line in. If you ask me Duncan's play fits more internationally than Howard's. It is more about shooting and working the wings and outside then hammering it down low like in the US.

And Spain has plenty of post depth. Pau is better than Bosh and Boozer. Then there's the other Gasol, Garbajosa, and Felipe Reyes are legit posts as well. Atleast they have depth inside unlike the US.

[Flip]

Even though it hasn't kept him out of any games Howard did fracture his sternum against the Pistons in the playoffs. And I'm not positive, but I think he missed some practice time with team USA because of the injury.

[thejoker]

Duncan's game doesn't fit international basketball like Howard's does...

I think just the opposite. Duncan's game is more fitted for international basketball because its harder to overpower your opponent because you start farther from the basket and you face more zones. The bests posts for international game imo are posts who are skilled passers and those which can step out and shoot. Think Arvydas Sabonis.

Dwight Howard is a great fit for the US team though because he's the type of player who doesn't need plays run for him. He's more of player who is going get most of his looks when his teammates find him sitting under the rim, lobs and offensive put backs.

Yea, that is a good point actually. Like they were saying during the Angola game, all Dwight does is catch and dunk.

Yeah, but if you're that good at it, you don't need to do much more

[balla45]

Duncan's game doesn't fit international basketball like Howard's does...

I think just the opposite. Duncan's game is more fitted for international basketball because its harder to overpower your opponent because you start farther from the basket and you face more zones. The bests posts for international game imo are posts who are skilled passers and those which can step out and shoot. Think Arvydas Sabonis.

Dwight Howard is a great fit for the US team though because he's the type of player who doesn't need plays run for him. He's more of player who is going get most of his looks when his teammates find him sitting under the rim, lobs and offensive put backs.

Yea, that is a good point actually. Like they were saying during the Angola game, all Dwight does is catch and dunk.

Yeah, but if you're that good at it, you don't need to do much more

Agreed.

[thejoker]

What do you think about the Greece game coming up tomorrow

[Flip]

Toughest game for the US in the olympics thus far. I think our struggles behind the 3-point line will continue and if we lose we'll probably blame our struggles at the foul line. Saying that US still wins by 8.

Greece just pounded Germany and held Dirk to 13 and Kaman to 4. So they can play some defense.

[thejoker]

USA - 92
Greece - 69

Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade led with 18 apiece

[Flip]

Awesome game!
US played great defense which allowed them to get out and run. The alley oop from Dwayne Wade to Kobe was the play of olympics for the US so far. The posts played very well. Bosh even held up pretty well against that guy that maybe had 80-100lb on him. One thing I liked was they actually had a rotation and they didn't play everyone until the game was in hand.

[stoaxc2004]

Awesome game!
US played great defense which allowed them to get out and run. The alley oop from Dwayne Wade to Kobe was the play of olympics for the US so far. The posts played very well. Bosh even held up pretty well against that guy that maybe had 80-100lb on him. One thing I liked was they actually had a rotation and they didn't play everyone until the game was in hand.

The Wade to Bryant alley-oop was the play of the whole Olympics!! Wade's intensity in the 1st half (especially the 2nd Quarter) was the turning-point for the US!!

[baseball18]

I think their defense is what really set the tone. It provided them some easy points off turnovers and got them into their transition game.

[stoaxc2004]

They totally dominated Spain today 119-82! So now the only team that seems to have a shot (and its a slight one) to beat them would be Argentina!!

[thejoker]

They totally dominated Spain today 119-82! So now the only team that seems to have a shot (and its a slight one) to beat them would be Argentina!!

So much for not being able to defend the Gasols.


Also, US shot 12-25 from 3-point land.

[Flip]

If the US plays as well as they did this morning nobody has a chance.

[thejoker]

If the US plays as well as they did this morning nobody has a chance.

Just as long as they continue to keep their heads on straight

[stoaxc2004]

Another game today where the US basketball team dominated their opponents! 106-57 over Germany!!

Their 1st game of the Medal Round will be a match-up against Australia; who happened to be the only team that the US has played while in China that has lost by less than 20 points!!

GO USA BASKETBALL!!

[thejoker]

US beat the Aussies this morning 116-85

Andrew Bogut had just 4 points from the Australians.

The "Redeem Team" out-rebounded their opponents 57-20


On to the semifinals vs. Argentina on Friday