Andre Iguodala should fit in nicely with Nuggets

Andre Iguodala should fit in nicely with Nuggets

The Nuggets, you may have heard, like to run. They push the basketball in transition at every opportunity. Iguodala should fit right in with his rebounding, speed and hustle. Sebastian Pruiti is a D-League assistant coach and blogs about intricate basketball stats. He wrote that 18.1 percent of Denver’s possessions last season were in transition, tops in the league and that Denver had the third-highest offensive efficiency in transition. Iguodala gets out on the break and gets the ball in the basket. In situations in which he wasn’t handling the ball in transition, he shot 79.2 percent last season.

JaVale McGee knows the guy’s game. The Nuggets center, acquired from the Washington Wizards last season, had often battled Iguodala in the Eastern Conference.

“He’s just a real good addition to the team — and he’s definitely a defensive threat,” McGee said. “And he’s very athletic. It’s good to have more defensive-minded people on the team, because you can score a lot of points but you have to also be able to defend.”

— Reported by Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post

Russia beats Argentina to win Olympic bronze

Alexei Shved scored 25 points — 13 in the fourth quarter — and Russia won its first medal in Olympic men’s basketball with an 81-77 win on Sunday over Argentina, whose players angrily confronted the referees after the final horn following a wild scramble in the closing seconds.

Andrei Kirilenko added 20 points and Vitaliy Fridzon 19 for Russia, which finished ninth at the Beijing Games four years ago.

Manu Ginobili scored 21 and Andres Nocioni 16 for Argentina, which was looking to add another bronze to its Olympic collection after winning one in China and gold eight years ago in Athens.

Fridzon’s layup with 5.2 seconds left sealed it for Russia, which came away with the ball after it changed hands several times near midcourt. When the game ended, several Argentine players surrounded referees Bill Kennedy, Jose Carrion and Juan Arteaga in protest and guard Pablo Prigioni kicked an electronic clock off the scorer’s table…

Down by six points early in the second quarter, Russia reeled off 12 straight points to open a 33-27 lead. Shved made a 3-pointer to start the run and Kirilenko, who will also being playing with the Timberwolves next season, capped the spurt with a jumper.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Full coverage of Olympic basketball is here.

Age limit unlikely for 2016 Olympic basketball games

NBA commissioner David Stern’s push to see an age limit of 23 for the men’s Olympic basketball tournament is losing steam.

At least when it comes to the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

FIBA chief Patrick Baumann, secretary general of the sport’s international governing body, said Saturday: “My feeling is that we will not be proposing a 23 age limit for the 2016 Olympic Games.”

“The NBA has come up with the idea to go with under 23 and at the same time to promote younger athletes,” Baumann said. “And also to make a (distinction) between the (new) World Cup and the Olympic Games (by making only the World Cup open to NBA players of all ages).

“From FIBA’s perspective, we understand the perspective from USA Basketball and the NBA,” Baumann continued. “I’m not sure (we) necessarily have the same idea, but we understand the owners’ concerns.”

— Reported by Marc Stein of ESPN.com