I LOVE IT...
The USA players play as if nothing can stop them just the way they look the way the fake their opponents its great to watch.
They also look so professional
They are way to more superior to China its kidna funny
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I LOVE IT...
The USA players play as if nothing can stop them just the way they look the way the fake their opponents its great to watch.
They also look so professional
They are way to more superior to China its kidna funny
Now that USA-China is over, post your analysis on the current state of Team USA, both in regard to how they did in that game as well as what you liked about what you saw, what you didn't, what they need to improve upon, what can't be fixed at this point, etc.
Chris Kaman is the best American center. :rockon:
The game would've been much closer if the FIBA refs called the numerous traveling calls on James and Wade. I guess even in international ball they're giving an extra step to the Americans. Pathetic.
USA didn't play the best game but it was enough to demolish China.
well its not over for those of us on the west coast, in fact it doesnt even start for another half an hour
but thanks for the spoiler :rolleyes:
Paul disrupts the offense, and forces the issue way too much. In short, he does not deserve to be on the team.
USA thought they could coast through this game early on, and paid for it by having a 20-16 first quarter. Lack of three point shooting (where the heck was Redd?) and excellent three point shooting from China gave USA a disappointing 12 point lead at the half. Yao was not giving the ball a lot, though he went 6/6 at the FT line in the end.
USA turned up the defence, started showboating again, and China just collapsed, and started stupid turnovers and stopped shooting jumpers, shooting runners and wild shots instead.
It's truly worrying that the current USA team is carrying the same attitude as the old teams, like 1992, but this isn't 1992, and there are even teams with all of their starters being in or was in the NBA. USA can turn it on when they want to, but I jsut wonder how they will react when they find themselves in a deficiet.
It was a good tough match, even though China was losing by 30 in the end. Howard got blocked (twice!) Team USa did their usual flurry of alley-oops and dunks. China was going tough on them though, so props to them.
[QUOTE=demons2005]Paul disrupts the offense, and forces the issue way too much. In short, he does not deserve to be on the team.[/QUOTE]
He also gambles on literally every trip down the other side of the ball. I thought Wade/Bron gambled too much but jesus christ with Paul? It's alright to want to get it going in transistion(it's this teams strength) but good lord you have to play some showing of set defense.
[quote=demons2005]Paul disrupts the offense, and forces the issue way too much. In short, he does not deserve to be on the team.[/quote]
What are you talking about? Paul had 6 assists with no turnovers this game.
What more needs to be said? I am sure people will look at the score and the flashy dunks and say Team USA is back.
I prefer to look at:
1) The fact that we continue to overplay and gamble on defense. I recall one instance where Wade lunged for a pass that was easily caught by a Chinese player, then Wade trying to jump back to steal it again, only to commit a foul. This is not intelligent basketball. It will only hurt us, especially when we play teams like Greece, Spain, Argentina who have excellent guard play.
2) Almost non-existant half court offense?
3) USA "bigs" repeatedly being worked under the post by Chinese players.
4) Howard exposing his true self? Dude has absolutely zero post game. Absolutely none. Struggled to post up, struggled to get shots off, stymied by the zone, etc.
5) Atrocious defense? I couldn't even count how many open looks Chinese players got. The only reason they missed them was because they are so damn poorly conditioned. Again, playing this kind of perimeter defense will allow better teams to kill us from 3.
Those long shots should be reserved for michael red/williams and paul, everybody else needs to pound the Ball inside. Like dwayne and the "Iron man" Lebron were doing..
[QUOTE=Godfather]What are you talking about? Paul had 6 assists with no turnovers this game.[/QUOTE]
He had at least 3 though only 1 was recorded. he is forcing the action like crazy while the team is much better with ball movement.
And he may have looked very good defensively but that was because of the AWFUL chinese PG. He is the biggest liability on the floor and frankly he is a danger to our medal chances
The individual difference between both teams was way too big to call it a game....not really an indication for the rest of the tournament imo. I still need to see how they match up against the better teams. Aside from the first quarter China played pathetic. And Michael Redd needs more minutes, he's the only guy out there who can actually shoot the ball.
Too much streetball. This team runs ZERO plays and the only inside scores are in transition off steals. They don't defend the 3 either.
I would add Tayshaun to the starting lineup cos Kobe, Bron, Wade and Melo are all playing a bit selfish right now. There is no passing unless it's on the break.
Kidd/Deron
Kobe
Tayshaun
Bron
Dwight
CP3
Wade
Melo/Redd
Boozer
Bosh
D-Wade would continue to be first off the bench and Redd would still be the designated shooter
LeBron Rocked!:cheers:
<-- ISH poster from Hong Kong, CHINA.
just finished watching the game between China and USA...
the result turned out as expected...
I believe the Chinese team could have done much better..
Chinese National Team
1, the coach is an idiot.
2, the PGs made too many silly plays. dribbling for 20 secs and then decide to drive to the hoop all by themselves... throwing bad pass, bad shots...
3, Yao only touched the ball down low for couple of times... his teammates could not give him the ball.
4, Sun Yue should be the ball handler from the very beginning of the game.. he protects the ball well, able to drive and dish...
5, Wang Zhizhi didn't play enuf mins.
next game vs Spain... i still think they can compete with the top teams in the world....
GO CHINA!
Team USA needs to improve the technique of it's defenders when they "show" on ball screens. They keep having guys play the ball horizontal instead of vertical and teams like Greece and Spain will make it rain on them like Fat Joe and Lil Wayne.
The ball pressure on defense was sub par. They got away with it because China has some of the weakest ball handlers in the tournament. Against the elite national teams that won't cut it.
Zone offense needs work. Every time China went zone the USA response was feed LeBron James on a flash cut to the high post and then just stand around in in a 1-3-1 and wait for China to make a mistake. No one cut to the short corner or moved around at all. Not going to cut it against stronger teams.
What a blowout. But good for team USA, this was a pretty decent start.
Best player of the game was probably Wade (as much as it pains me to say that) but he was near perfect. Jason Kidd was useless. 0 pts 0 assists 1 reb...:ohwell: What's the point of having him as our starting PG?
Hey Jason816, your 2nd point is way too long. I can sum it up in 3 words: PG was shyt. :lol
Kobe should be benched for his own good..
sad but true...
[QUOTE=Resurrection]The game would've been much closer if the FIBA refs called the numerous traveling calls on James and Wade. I guess even in international ball they're giving an extra step to the Americans. Pathetic.[/QUOTE]
true...
[QUOTE=jamal99]true...[/QUOTE]
Maybe, but they miss it with every team. Spain does it, Argentina practically lives by it.
[QUOTE=hawks150]I LOVE IT...
The USA players play as if nothing can stop them just the way they look the way the fake their opponents its great to watch.
They also look so professional
They are way to more superior to China its kidna funny[/QUOTE]
Given recent history, playing with arrogance is not a good thing, it make you underestimate your opponent. Playing with Confidence is fine, but team USA has real weaknesses that they better be aware of.
And yes, they are much better than China, which probably won't even make out of the preliminary round. Not a huge achievement.
[quote=hawks150]I LOVE IT...
The USA players play as if nothing can stop them just the way they look the way the fake their opponents its great to watch.
They also look so professional
They are way to more superior to China its kidna funny[/quote]
How does that make them arrogant...?
[QUOTE=steve]Maybe, but they miss it with every team. Spain does it, Argentina practically lives by it.[/QUOTE]
Manu always travel in the NBA , and in the FIBA Competition.
The USA coaching staff remains thoroughly unimpressive and ignorant because:
1) No balance
2) J-Kidd shouldn't be "grandfathered" in as a starter, even international teams just know to play off him
3) Chris Bosh, with his outside shot and passing ability, is the best big and should be the starting center. Howard should come off the bench as energy and defensive specialist.
4) Poor recognition or willingness to change to combat other teams strategies.
[quote=Jimmy2k8]Kobe should be benched for his own good..[/quote]
Off one bad shooting game in which his team still put up a blowout win? Fault Kobe when the team loses not when they win. LeBron and Wade on the other hand were absolutley amazing. Did you guys know Wade didn't miss a single shot? That is 7/7 from the field and 5/5 from the FT line. :pimp:
Start Chris Bosh at Power Foward.
1. He has shot 100 percent in four games now.
2. He played only 13 minutes last night, and was the leading rebounder. He shot 100 percent from the field, and scored only four less points then Dwight, who played 20 minutes.
3. Melo, once again, played like ****.
4. Having Chris Bosh start at PF, will let him help Dwight rebound, and allow Team USA to have arguably the fastest and most mobile PF in the Olympics. We all know he can score, and he has been nothing but consistent these Olympics.
[QUOTE=Godfather]Off one bad shooting game in which his team still put up a blowout win? Fault Kobe when the team loses not when they win. LeBron and Wade on the other hand were absolutley amazing. [B][SIZE="5"]Did you guys know Wade didn't miss a single shot? That is 7/7 from the field and 5/5 from the FT line. [/SIZE][/B]:pimp:[/QUOTE]
Damn, talk about efficiency. :bowdown: :bowdown:
Man, for the first game, they looked good!!
I am sure that Team USA was a nervous, being the first game an all. We have really nothing to worry about the rest of the way. We have inside and outside. Our 3 pt shooting has to get better, but again, it was the first game, so the shooting will get better.
Defense. We shut down Team China in the 3rd quarter. They could not do anything.
People keep talking about Spain and Greece. Bring them on, we got something for them.
The only thing that could mess us up, is ourselves. Right now, we have the best team players around.
Team USA!!!!!!
The defensive rotations still seem to be a problem but the run and gun game worked very well. There were times that Lebron, Wade, Kobe, Paul e.t.c were down at the other end 3 seconds after China scored or missed...they must continue with this and take it to the rest of the nations. It was a slow start as expected but once they relaxed they looked good enough.
It's the final 3 games to win is what matters.
[QUOTE=konex]Too much streetball. This team runs ZERO plays and the only inside scores are in transition off steals. They don't defend the 3 either.
I would add Tayshaun to the starting lineup cos Kobe, Bron, Wade and Melo are all playing a bit selfish right now. There is no passing unless it's on the break.
Kidd/Deron
Kobe
Tayshaun
Bron
Dwight
CP3
Wade
Melo/Redd
Boozer
Bosh
D-Wade would continue to be first off the bench and Redd would still be the designated shooter[/QUOTE]
I don't know if I'd call it street ball considering coach K. is the coach and his Dukies play a similar style of spread offense
[QUOTE=Allstar24]What a blowout. But good for team USA, this was a pretty decent start.
Best player of the game was probably Wade (as much as it pains me to say that) but he was near perfect. Jason Kidd was useless. 0 pts 0 assists 1 reb...:ohwell: What's the point of having him as our starting PG?[/QUOTE]
Kidd makes alot of hockey assists, passes that lead to the scoring pass
Firstly that was a pretty good game to watch.
Now the USA has thier first taste of the olympics and they shouldn't feel too complacent about beating China. I feel they played well, but had no offesive plays so I'm not going to comment on thier offense. I watched the Lithuania game and the US had not very good defense imo. They had a much improved defensive game today. I thought they played a zone well enough for it to do its job. Yes in the 1st half the Chinese were seriously on fire, and tbh that was the stadium adrenaline, the second half obviously improved for the US. the zone constantly pushed the Chinese to crap 3pt shots. There were a few times (when they decided to actually give the ball to yao) that inside worked a bit. This China team failed due to a lack of maturity and thier leader not being 100%. All in all the defense was improved.
After the Lithuania game I was shocked by the lack of offesive rebounding by the US, but this game they picked it up which impresed me seeing as the Chinese were a very tall team.
The USA still need to be tested against a decent team who play a solid inside-outside game and who will test the USA's half-court set to the nth degree.
This game showed you guys what can happen if a fiba team gets thier shooting on, which maybe a factor once again in these games.
all in all I was more impressed by the US than the previous game I saw:applause:
This is dangerous... very dangerous. If the U.S. keeps a team like China in the game like they did in the first half, things could be very very difficult. After watching the China game, I went over to nbc.com and watched the Greece-Spain game (tape), and realized that those teams are more scrappy, athletic, and faster than China. Not saying it's any crazy revelation, but the Americans should not (and I don't think they are) celebrate over this one blowout. Granted it was against the home crowd's team, but they have a long way to go.
Poor perimeter shooting is still our biggest issue IMO. Given our athleticism and playmaking ability running set plays in the halfcourt isn't much of a necessity AS LONG AS we have zone busters. But whatever happened to 'Melo and Kobe's shot? Where's everybody else? Why doesn't Michael Redd see the floor much? These guys struggled to shoot in the exhibition games and are still struggling. Against a team that can take care of the ball we're going to have difficulty scoring - which is the biggest reason why we lost in '02, '04 and '06.
today i was most impressed with LeBron and Wade. and Yao too, even if he didn't get a lot of touches, he was battling.
but i was the least impressed with Dwight Howard, what happened to ya man, you're getting swatted down low for trying to do left hand lay-ups. and people call him the Next Shaq, please.
i agree with everybody else, we must improve our outside shooting.
[QUOTE=AppleNader]2) Almost non-existant half court offense?[/quote]
100% agreed. Everyone was standing around the perimeter in the half-court. No cutters whatsoever, unless it was a fast break situation. This will come back to haunt. With a few basic plays and ball movement, no other team in the tournament is athletically gifted enough to stay with the American team.
[quote]5) Atrocious defense? I couldn't even count how many open looks Chinese players got. The only reason they missed them was because they are so damn poorly conditioned. Again, playing this kind of perimeter defense will allow better teams to kill us from 3.[/QUOTE]
Agreed again. Very poor perimeter defense. If a good shooting guard gets hot later in the tournament, there'll be trouble, because teams like Spain and Argentina certainly know how to milk the hot hand.
One other major factor is the undeclared leadership contention between Kobe and LeBron. This is supposed to be Kobe's team, but anyone with eyes can attest to the fact that LeBron is the most indispensable player. In fact, you could replace Kobe with any of the top 5 - 6 SGs and get essentially the same thing. He's not bringing any thing "special", but LeBron is.