Today's USA men's basketball thread.

[Samdari]

Is anyone watching this?

I am stuck at work - is anyone aware of a web-centric way to keep up with this contest's progress?

[rkmsuf]

8:00 pm espn

[Sharpieman]

And the USA sucks for some reason

[Samdari]

8:00 pm espn

Its on live at 2pm. ESPN has a baseball game from 7 to 10 pm.

[rkmsuf]

Its on live at 2pm. ESPN has a baseball game from 7 to 10 pm.

I guess USA Basketball should update their website then. Further evidence of a substandard product.

[fflix]

anyone have a score update?

[JonInMiddleGA]

***Spoiler WARNING***














USA 75 - Germany 74
0:15 left in the 2nd half

[JonInMiddleGA]

***Spoiler WARNING***














USA 75 - Germany 74
0:12 left in the 2nd half
Germany intentional fouling, sends Anthony to the line

[JonInMiddleGA]

***Spoiler WARNING***














FINAL: USA 80 - Germany 77
Anthony to the line, hits a pair with 0:12 left
Nowitzki hits a 3 with 0:03 left to tie
Iverson hits a 3 from just inside halfcourt at the buzzer for the win
U.S. players dogpile AI afterwards

[Comey]

What the hell was that angle with the shot live? You saw the crowd, and the ball pass through, and then you heard the announcer saying "And it's good!"

Great ending, but that cameraman screwed up big time.

[Neuqua]

Great job by ESPN to have the camera on the crowd so we could not see Iverson's game winner.

[HornedFrog Purple]

wasn't their feed

Dirk put in 32 against the USA.

[Huckleberry]

Embarrassing.

[Huckleberry]

dola for a little review:

The United States basketball team just dogpiled after needing a last second halfcourt shot to defeat a team that didn't even qualify for the Olympics.

[SunDevil]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/040804

Sports Guy Column

[Franklinnoble]

Pathetic. It would have been better if they had lost. Now they're going to think everything's OK.

[Alf]

Germany hasn't even qualified for the Olympics....

[kingfc22]

Was at work for this game. But it sounds like the US might have gotten away with one here and should not be THE favorite for the gold.

[pennywisesb]

Team USA is going to get a HUGE surprise come Olympic time.

[sooner333]

Team USA is going to get a HUGE surprise come Olympic time.

But I have no idea why it should be a surprise. I won't be surprised when the U.S. gets less than third place...not saying it will happen, but if it does, I will just be happy that in some parts of the world they play basketball the right way. If anything, this is just a commentary about how the NBA is more like And 1 Mix Tape than real basketball.

[rkmsuf]

Germany hasn't even qualified for the Olympics....

They just had beaten Italy so USA has improved!!!;)

[Easy Mac]

I think the US needs to drive more, I don't think I've seen AI, Marbury, or Wade drive to the hoop yet. If you watch Italy or Germany, their PG's were constantly driving to the hoop to set up jumpers or dish to a guy inside. The US needs to do more of this. I think the only impact players we have right now are Melo and Duncan. Melo is the only one who has consistently hit outside shots (although he forced too many after he got started making some), and Duncan can be a force inside, but he just doesn't seem comfortable with international lanes. They really need to work on their spacing on offense and not be content to just work the ball around the 3-point line so someone can take an off balanced shot. We're faster and more skilled, but they seem to scared to actually drive.

[Huckleberry]

I haven't seen the games, but is that because the international squads play good zone defense as opposed to the "we're tired and lazy let's fall into a zone for a little while" zone defense that lots of NBA teams use?

I ask because a couple of years back Syracuse, of course, ran a tremendous zone defense. TJ Ford was the only person I saw that could penetrate that zone once the postseason started. Their rotation, length, and positioning were outstanding. So is it a lack of effort by the Americans or good zones by the Europeans?

[Easy Mac]

both

[Arles]

Just an aside here. The Italy team the USA faced is not the Italy team that will be in the Olympics. It had a bunch of ringers in it that won't be on the team later. Also, the Germany team that failed to qualify is not the same as the one the US faced yesterday. There was an interesting article on how Brown setup a lot of these "practice games" to have some very good players and potentially be better than anyone the US faces in the Olympics to get their players worried and hustling.

That said, next time it would be better if the committee worried more about making a winning team (combination of shooting, size, scoring, defense and rebounding) than getting the best names that except (which often amount to SG-SF-PF types with nice scoring numbers and little defense/shooting).

[JonInMiddleGA]

http://sports.myway.com/news/08052004/v5582.html

"We've basically been trying to just pass, pass, pass to the point where we've been overpassing, because we're trying to play the right way, the way our coach wants to play," Stephon Marbury said. "But there has to - there's going to be - a break-off , where we're just going to have to take those shots that we normally take and make."

Marbury's comments appeared to be a telltale sign that the U.S. players still aren't on the same page with the coaches.

...

Many of the American players divulged Thursday they had little or no idea exactly who is playing for Serbia-Montenegro, or what schemes their upcoming opponent tends to favor.

"We've still got a lot to learn, but we're getting better," Dwyane Wade said. "We've got so much talent on this team, but we're not using that talent to the best of our abilities."

...

Like the Americans, the team from Serbia-Montenegro does not have its full complement of the country's best players. Among those sitting out are Peja Stojakovic of the Sacramento Kings, Marko Jaric of the Los Angeles Clippers, Darko Milicic of the Detroit Pistons and Vlade Divac of the Los Angeles Lakers.

But the Serbians have used their practice time and their years of familiarity with each other to bond into a cohesive unit, one that executes its plays to perfection, analyzes its opponents on film and in person, and pays attention to the message of its head coach, Zelimar Obradovic.

So ... anybody think this game might just be uglier than the loss to Italy?

[CraigSca]

You know, I sometimes wish this team (bunch of overpaid, traveling (as in the violation), poor-shooting, dunkmasters) was replaced with the Princeton basketball team circa early 1990s. I realize you're to coach to a team's strengths, but watching those Ivy League teams give the UCLAs and other "major program" basketball teams fits with their back-door plays and moving, ego-free, offense was a pleasure to watch.

The way our representative teams play the game now (and the NBA in general) is embarassing.

[bbor]

[QUOTE=Arles]. There was an interesting article on how Brown setup a lot of these "practice games" to have some very good players and potentially be better than anyone the US faces in the Olympics to get their players worried and hustling.QUOTE]

That sounds like a complete load of poo-poo IMHO.

[MrBug708]

We need to cut Carmelo and add Michael Redd and cut Marbury and add Paul Pierce. Probably need to get rid ofOkafor and put Wally on the team. That'll cure the outside shooting.

[ice4277]

Thinking back to when Brown first joined the Pistons, it took them a good few months to even get on the same page with a lot of what Brown was teaching. It worked in the end, obviously, but, given the short amount of time the team has together, I'm not sure it will work here. They may never get on the same page as the coaches.

[rkmsuf]

We need to cut Carmelo and add Michael Redd and cut Marbury and add Paul Pierce. Probably need to get rid ofOkafor and put Wally on the team. That'll cure the outside shooting.

They tried Paul Pierce once before and that didn't work out so well. Anthony is one of their only shooters and besides, they aren't going to start swapping players now. What you see is what you get.

[Samdari]

We need to cut Carmelo and add Michael Redd and cut Marbury and add Paul Pierce. Probably need to get rid ofOkafor and put Wally on the team. That'll cure the outside shooting.


He's, umm, been the best player on the team so for.