USA Dreamteam vs Aust. Boomers

[Salty]

haha I know, did you see that Aussie girl who got silver in the hurdles. Her interview afterwards was just priceless!

[CutMeMick]

The Aus were suppose to be competative the US just played well...

[amat]

Any one of the 12 man team can dominate any given game. I'm happy to see the US playing the best defense of maybe any basketball team in history if you think about it, they've dropped the all star game mentality. Not much analysis here, America is far, far, far and away the best basketball team in the world and I don't anticipate any rough patches from here. Larry Brown must be hiding in a hole right now.

[Dizaster]

The US team is playing great indeed... They Kobe and L.J. are absolutely killing it as expected.. But the whole team plays well together, and there are as many brilliant assists as there are individual efforts, and it's keeping on top of the competition..


Australia did well to stay with him pretty much until 30 seconds before half time when they were only 5 points behind.... After that it was all the US... And that's just it, Australia was playing at 100% and was able to stay in it within 5 points, but as soon as they dropped off even 10% and the US poot the foot down a bit, it blew out to 20 points in about 3 minutes, and didn't come down from 30 points much after that...


I can't see any other team in the world keeping up with them for a full game.. They could match effort for a quarter or 2, but it's still a big gap between the US and any other team......


I didn't see that Interview Salty with the silver medalist, but I think I heard her on the radio and she sounded like a top chick so annoyed I missed it now... Have you been watching much of the rest of the olympics?? I was hoping to see a lot of weightlifting but I've only seen about 20 minutes of it which is annoying...

[Howlin Mad Missy]

someone remind me why professionals are allowed to compete?

[amat]

Who knows Missy? But isn't that for the better? Wouldn't you rather see the best in the world rather then worry about eligibility requirements?

The team is playing very well and is winning on defense and transition. I'm still fairly amazed that they haven't really figured things out from the half court yet but it's just not going to matter but if this team was to improve on one thing it would be the set offense.

Fiba is going to push the lines back here soon, I think that will create more space for the offenses and you'll see better teams from the half court here in the future. Amazing that they have no zone busters though but like I said at the beginning of this, any one player should be able to dominate and no team is as perfectly built as the US which just has no positional weaknesses and will need to be beaten as a team.

[Salty]

someone remind me why professionals are allowed to compete?

I think it's great for basketball, as it's the only tournament where the best players of each country compete against each other. Every other sport basically already has these tournaments (soccer has world cup, etc.), which is why the olympics need to be different. Hell if that were the case you'd have much higher times for swimming/ track and field, as the good ones all are pro's I would assume?

[Salty]

The US team is playing great indeed... They Kobe and L.J. are absolutely killing it as expected.. But the whole team plays well together, and there are as many brilliant assists as there are individual efforts, and it's keeping on top of the competition..


Australia did well to stay with him pretty much until 30 seconds before half time when they were only 5 points behind.... After that it was all the US... And that's just it, Australia was playing at 100% and was able to stay in it within 5 points, but as soon as they dropped off even 10% and the US poot the foot down a bit, it blew out to 20 points in about 3 minutes, and didn't come down from 30 points much after that...


I can't see any other team in the world keeping up with them for a full game.. They could match effort for a quarter or 2, but it's still a big gap between the US and any other team......


I didn't see that Interview Salty with the silver medalist, but I think I heard her on the radio and she sounded like a top chick so annoyed I missed it now... Have you been watching much of the rest of the olympics?? I was hoping to see a lot of weightlifting but I've only seen about 20 minutes of it which is annoying...

Yeah I have been watching a lot of it, I love watching sport fullstop so the olympics is like my dream television. Yeah there isn't much weightlifting on really only the highlights most of the time.

US dominated Argentina last night, although without there star Ginobli. I think the US look a lot better with Kidd out there running point against the zone. So much better ball movement with him and they just destroy it, not much you can do to stop them. The scary thing is Lebron had a bad night last night and they still killed them. I'm looking forward to the boxing gold medal matches, just hoping the scoring will be good for a change.

[amat]

I agree, I heard a lot of complete idiots on another board I'm going to slamming Team USA before these games for having Kidd at the starter and not Paul but they don't realize that this is an Olympic Team not an All Star team. Kidd is perfect for the international style of play as is Deron who is the PG of the future. Paul is an amazing player and imo the most talented point guard ever bar Magic. But when he's at his best, he has the ball in his hands more then anyone on the court and he needs his team to move with him and find lanes which is what the Hornets are so good at. Great energy player but Kidd and Williams are much better fits for the team because they don't have to be the number 1 guys on the court at all times and like you said provide that ball movement and floor spacing. Paul is a great energy player off the bench and I really like the chemistry him and Prince have worked up on the offensive end but when you have a team Lebron, Kobe, Melo and Howard, you don't need a 5'11 point guard to be the focal point of your offense and the one to make things happen.

[Salty]

I agree, I heard a lot of complete idiots on another board I'm going to slamming Team USA before these games for having Kidd at the starter and not Paul but they don't realize that this is an Olympic Team not an All Star team. Kidd is perfect for the international style of play as is Deron who is the PG of the future. Paul is an amazing player and imo the most talented point guard ever bar Magic. But when he's at his best, he has the ball in his hands more then anyone on the court and he needs his team to move with him and find lanes which is what the Hornets are so good at. Great energy player but Kidd and Williams are much better fits for the team because they don't have to be the number 1 guys on the court at all times and like you said provide that ball movement and floor spacing. Paul is a great energy player off the bench and I really like the chemistry him and Prince have worked up on the offensive end but when you have a team Lebron, Kobe, Melo and Howard, you don't need a 5'11 point guard to be the focal point of your offense and the one to make things happen.

Exactly it's a completely different game to NBA and the team needs to adjust accordingly. If they kept treating it as allstar games, they'd keep losing. But when they play as a team they are unstoppable. The only question on there D would be down low, teams have been getting some easy points on them.

[amat]

Eh, I have something on my midn. I wish the US never lost. Like ever, I wish they never would have lost in the last Olympics, it really just sucked. I like it better when the games weren't treated as competitive games but rather just showcases.

Then they go and let Carlos Arroyo slice and dice them, Carlos Arroyo.

This just seems cheapened by all that, I love basketball it is second only to boxing for me but I would rather just see the US smashing on people and that not be news but rather just what is expected. Of course it is still expected now but there is the possibility they could be beat and it just makes it less fun for me. It's not a nationalistic thing at all, wouldn't care if it was Cuba that was making it a mockery, just want to see that again but most likely never will we be able to see it again. I guess it's a good sign as the sport is becoming unbelievable internationally but it's just a bit sad.

De ja vu, whoa.