USA Basketball Vs. Argentina!
 

Did I do better this time??

Game starts in 45 minutes, who's watching?

I'll bet more than soccer.

@ work, but I'll be happy to hear updates.

Is this one on delay, too?

;)

The one thing that really kills the olympics for me is the time zone issues...

sigh...

Wait til '08 in China. You'll be watching events on Tuesday morning live Monday night in the USA. That'll be confusing.

ugh!

Argentina is looking strong today.

where's that play by play link?

eurosport.com

its not looking good :(

http://www.eurosport.com/home/pages/...Mtc86792.shtml

I'd say "it's not looking good" as well but why do that when I can quote eurosport?

Argentina-USA 20:05 Ooh, Oberto misses both free throws, but the lead is still 13. At present, the US couldn't hit a cow's backside with a banjo.

Doomed.

It's a game.

It's not a game.

Maaann, USA likes turning it over a lot.

What do Europeans know about banjos? I mean, the legend is, they know plenty about "hitting" a cow's backside, but with a banjo?

I watched a few minutes of it early, while the US was doing OK. I found the fouls called to be stunningly disparate. The US got called for things were there was no contact, yet the Argentinians could bump and hack without anything being called.

If that's what the refereeing has been like the whole tourney, I'd pull the team off the court and go home. It looked *very* biased.

Come on USA

5 point game at halftime.

I think the rest of us are at the end.

Don't interrupt him. He's all over it.

Doesn't look good... this could be it...

Way to foul, USA

Well, the important thing is that the American team had fun.

heh, that cracked me up.

Good.. maybe, in at least just a little bit, basketball will go back to a five man game instead of five one on ones.

I didn't like the way the scoring was. The US deserved more for some of those shots. I mean look at the beautiful arc on some of those. They were hosed by the judges.

I keep hearing this, and it just baffles me. Do you really think that in the grand scheme of things, these guys care about these results so much that they're going to come back home and completely change the way basketball is played in the NBA, when they can still makes millions and win championships the way they're doing it now? Where's the league's motivation? They're still making money on this "bad" style of ball, and to the extent more and more Europeans make the jump to the NBA, the international competition for the US team is probably a Godsend - gets people more interested and knowledgeable about international players.

I jus think the embarrassment of one tournament failure a year is more than offset by dollars and rings the other 51 weeks of the year. I know where my priorities would be - winning a professional championship and making as much money possible for my family. I don't think these guys are any different.

That'll learn 'em for next time. We should just send ALL forwards over to Beijing. I mean, who needs guards anyway?

*puking icon goes here*

I watched the same part of the game. The officiating in this one, as with all the Olympic games, was subpar. But this game's officiating sucked in both directions. I liked it when Iverson plowed into 2 defenders on a break and then whined about not drawing a foul when he should have been called for an offensive foul.

The idea is that the NBA will fix things, not the players. They won't be winning championships or making all that money once travels, handchecks, shoves, carrying, etc. start getting called in the NBA unless they change their games.

People wanted them to lose not to change the players, but to change the selection process so those selfish 1 v. 1ers don't make the team in the first place..

Someone just told me the final through AIM. BASTARD!

I was still in the 3rd quarter.

Oh, well. cubs are on anyways. GO CUBS!1!

I'm in agreement here. This is not as big a deal as people make it out to be. I heard someone said the US team should live in shame. Come on. Those other teams have some good players and the US constructed a team without shooters. Seems pretty simple.

Heck US baseball didn't even make the Olympics and baseball still exists in the same form.

What they call inside is an absolute joke in international play. I can't believe this is what people want the NBA game to become.

The US team should live in shame while the players who didn't even bother to go take no critisism? You can say what you want about team USA's players regarding their skill or lack thereof, but they did go and IMO played the best they could. They simply arent good defenders or shooters and that wasnt going to change in a few weeks.

I don't think anyone should live in shame. If we are going to send rookies and B talent this is about where they should finish. I don't have a problem with it...baseball does this.

I think you guys are missing a key contribution of the International game.

Did you see that final minute? It FLEW by! There were no fouls!

Hell, if a team is within 12 in the NBA, you can still go get another soda and nachos in the final minute. I was rather surprised at how the team gave up (for lack of a better term), and was quite content to just end it.

-John

That's because in International ball, most of those guys at that point need to go take a smoke. They can't have the last minute take 20 minutes.

Touche, rk. Touche.

This is the sentiment I've read more often than yours - which has still been cited as an issue, of course, but overall, the idea that the NBA is flawed, needs correcting, and this tournament will be the "wakeup call":


And I ask again, what's the NBA's motivation for changing the game? Short-term, surely nothing. It would make the game awful. You can't just teach 30-year olds how to shoot. Long-term...why change when they're making loads of money the way it is? The supposed shame of losing once a year in an international tournament is not going to cause the NBA to radically change the way the game is played.

There is no motivation for the NBA to change the game - but isn't there motivation for a coach/players to approach this game with a team concept and maybe win a championship?

And I can't believe you consider interior play in the NBA good basketball. It doesn't take skill to run over someone or to shove them in the back with your forearm.

Heh, MeBron just said that in the locker room the U.S. players weren't disappointed. "Disappointment is a strong word," he said. He claims they were more shocked.

And some folks wonder why a lot of people aren't pulling for the team? Heck, not many of us were shocked that they lost...the shock in this case comes from arrogance. While they're busy being shocked that they could possibly lose, the rest of us will be dissapointed in the team for them.

I wonder if there were any black guys on the Argentina team...

Not sure, but there were a ton of Argentines. And possibly one descendent of a Nazi. :)

Why? Because the Pistons won it one year, when the Lakers and Bulls won it for the last decade?

And I still dont really by this. The Pistons were not a good shooting team. They won with defense (plus there) and driving to the basket and getting fouled. They still played NBA ball with NBA rules like the other 28 teams. They just did it better than everyone else this past season.

First, the team has several superstars. Second, those rookies had been hyped for whole year and actually made significant contribution to their team. I agree the team is not the top of the line, but, they're definitelly much better than average in NBA. So, if the argument of we're not sending our best players still there, sorry, NBA doesn't have anything to be proud of. The world already catch up.

http://www.latinbasket.com/arg/nt.asp

Nope. Not a single black player.

Riddle me that, Mr. Whitlock...

People wanted them to lose not to change the players, but to change the selection process so those selfish 1 v. 1ers don't make the team in the first place..


"This is the sentiment I've read more often than yours - which has still been cited as an issue, of course, but overall, the idea that the NBA is flawed, needs correcting, and this tournament will be the "wakeup call":"

That presumes there's actually any NBA fans left. I can't stand the NBA, but I do care how our country performs in the Olympics. And there are players, US citizens, playing in the NBA that do have a basic grasp of the fundamentals of basketball and team play. It's just that they didn't get put on the team.

As long as I don't have to hear the term "Dream Team" anymore I'll be a very happy person.