I’m going to go right ahead and ruin the surprise: Team USA wins. 119-82. The much-touted match-up turned out to be a rout. Let’s try impressions from the squad, player by player, saving overall comments for last:
- Jason Kidd: our starting point guard. It’s not just opposing teams that are ignoring him, even his own teammates are pretending he’s not on the floor if another player brings up the ball. Interestingly enough, he’s starting the 2nd. Our lead steadily decreases. Once CP comes back in for Kidd, that lead balloons again. Shock. Midway through the 3rd, he takes and makes his first shot of the Olympics. How long before the press is countering attacks on his offensive game by saying he’s yet to miss in this tourney and is now 1255-0 in international play?
- Kobe Bryant: our starting shooting guard. Not much on offense so far, but he’s continued his excellent defense. The Chinese call him “Little Flying Warrior.” He picks up his 3rd foul in the mid 2nd, and I’m glad the announcers commented on exactly what I was thinking: these international refs are inexplicably calling touch fouls on some plays and ignoring blatant hacks on others (I’m not writing this post in order, and I’ve already chronicled several examples of this below.) In the second half, he continues to be inconsistent on the offensive end.
- Lebron James: our starting small forward. The announcers are touting his defense because last game he made a few isolated spectacular plays; so far he’s got two steals to his credit that other players actually tipped free. His fast breaks are a mind-boggling mix of opposing players too scared to stand in front of him and take the charge and refs too awestruck to call his obvious pushes, elbows, and charges. Case in point, he just clotheslined some guy and somehow drew a foul on him. Oh well, he’s on our team for now. Too much trash talking, though, and the refs give him a warning to cut it out; I guess they don’t call techs in the international game. Okay, check that. They just gave Spain’s Reyes a technical, which awards two shots, the ball, and counts as a personal foul. So what was it they gave LBJ just a minute ago? Strange. Collins and Breen don’t care to explain the difference. He made a lot of noise in the first half, but hasn’t done much in the second. Although, to be fair, he’s made several good passes so far.
- Carmelo Anthony: our starting power forward. Another quiet game, but not many mistakes, and he’s hit a couple 3s early. He’s starting to fit well into the offense, realizing that Kobe/Wade and Lebron are the focuses of the offensive, and taking what he’s getting. Unfortunately, he picks up his third foul midway through the 2nd. He’s come out on fire in the 3rd, knocking down 2 quick 3s on feeds from Lebron. He might have created more damage, but sat a lot in the 4th when the game was in hand.
- Dwight Howard: our starting center. Several nice rebounds and jams, but a couple stupid fouls; and damn if these international players don’t know how to sell the fouls (unless they’re guarding LBJ, apparently). You’d think he would be schooling the Gasol brothers, but not so much. Howard is a beast in the NBA. Is there something in the international game that is slowing him down? It might be that Coach K seems to be running the offense through the 2-4 positions.
- Chris Paul: the first point guard off the bench. The announcers are talking about how the team has improved their pick and roll defense; you have to wonder if CP, master of that move himself, has kept his mouth shut on how to defend it. Shortly after he came into the game, Spain put in 17-year-old Ricky Rubio; the announcers reveal CP is one of his idols. Now Lebron is out; instantly CP starts moving the ball better on USA’s offensive sets, and the team has built its biggest lead yet. Wow, he somehow just intercepted an alley-oop meant for Spain’s center, and then through it Drew-Brees-style to Wade at the other end of the court for an easy 2. That didn’t even make sense. Despite the harm it might do to the Hornets’ season, I say Team USA should keep him on the floor for the rest of the tournament until the Chinese give him a nickname. Anyway, in a game where we’re in foul trouble, CP continues to pick up fouls against defenders that have no idea how to stop him within the confines of the rules. Wow, Rubio is fast, when CP switched off him on a pick play, he stopped dead and exploded past Prince and drew the foul. Damn, then a one-handed alley-oop from Rubio at the 3 point line, followed by forcing CP into a travel. Fuck, this kid is 17. Ah, there we go, CP drives at Rubio, and gives him a nice head fake to draw the foul just under the rim; CP’s been at the line all half. His first play in the 2nd half is a steal from Navarro and a coast to coast drive for 2. He drives again on the next drive. He’s unstoppable. Nice alley-oop on the drive in the 4th to Howard; CP seems to be the only one to know how to use him. More steals and fast break passes, and half-court alley-oop tosses that should be astounding the world; for New Orleans fans, it’s just another day in the office for the world’s greatest player.
- Dwyane Wade: the first shooting guard off the bench. He came in early when Kobe got in foul trouble. He continues to be aggressive on defense and explosive to the rim. The only thing that seems to stop him is Coach K putting him on the bench. If anyone were to ask which player has been dominant in this tourney, the only name that sticks out is Wade’s.
- Tayshaun Prince: the first small forward off the bench, though with the substitution what it is, he’s about the last person to play the position. Nonetheless, we see an early sighting of him at the start of the 2nd. He scores quick and may be one of “zone-buster” guys; next play is an alley-oop to James. With his lanky form, he’s been stifling on defense, really making the most of Kobe sitting so much. No sightings in the 3rd, though, with Kobe back on the floor. He does make it in in the 4th, though.
- Carlos Boozer: the first power forward off the bench, kind of. He’s the 11th guy to enter the game, and actually comes into to play the 5 near the end of the 2nd. He’s subsequently boxed out from every rebound by taller Spanish players. I don’t blame him; I blame the coach for putting him in this situation. You have to love his quiet work ethic and hard work, nonetheless. Here’s a prediction: he will get garbage time in the 4th. At the 5. Ha. Call me Nostradamus.
- Chris Bosh: the first center off the bench. Somewhat quiet today. In reviewing this post at halftime, I actually don’t have anything else to say about him. Bummer. He’s getting plenty of time in the second half, and is all over the place; how a guy that big has such hustle is incredible.
- Deron Williams: the second point guard off the bench, but comes in at the 2, sending our actual 2 to the 3, and our 3 to the 4. I hate Coach K. A couple sets in a row he brings it down instead of CP: on one his strong pass goes up to a quick 3 miss with no one under the rim and the other is a throw away. I think D-Will’s a tremendous baller, and is probably one of the guys affected by a lack of minutes and a constantly changing role (1, 2, or maybe even 3…)
- Michael Redd: the second shooting guard off the bench, the 12th player to see action overall. Interesting that before this ever happens, the announcers are criticizing the U.S. for not catching and shooting against the zone. Something, perhaps, Redd is comfortable with? He finally makes it in at the end of the 3rd. He catches and shoots. He also gets some garbage time in the 4th. Not much to write home about.
Despite all my griping, this was a stellar game. But here’s a note to Coach K: your starting line-up should be CP, Wade, Kobe, Boozer, and Bosh; with D-Will, Lebron, ‘Melo, and Howard off the bench; and mostly sitting Prince, Redd, and Kidd. That’s just my two cents, plenty would disagree. I think what few would argue with, though, is that CP and Wade should both be starting. That said, you really can’t go wrong with almost any line-up when you have this caliber of talent. What I really wish is that Coach K would be more consistent. I wonder if he will be in the Medal round?
It seems like we get flashes of brilliance from several guys, but if they had longer to get in a groove and establish their rhythms with their teammates, I think we’d see an even more effective American squad. We’re doing well, but I think we could be even better. Which is scary, as we’re already winning games by 20+ points.
Cp played really well tonight, his best game so far. Rubio is good but still has a lot of work before he becomes a top five pick in my opinion… but he will be a starter in nba sooner or later.
Wade has been really impressive, ‘Melo looks bored and not very interested.
Paul – Played a great game.. he doesn’t have as many chances to wow everyone as he gets in a Hornets game, but he takes advantages of the chances he does get. One of his passes looked like it was headed to absolutely no one and was going to fall out of bounds and then suddenly Howard (I think.. don’t remember) stuffs it in. Its cliche at this point… but spectacular court vision on Paul’s part.
D-Will was very solid, Kidd was Kidd…. didn’t add much but didn’t hurt much either. It was kind of funny how that fast break basically finally forced him to take an easy layup. But, based on his other recent performances (first round vs the Hornets), him not shooting anything other than a wide open layup is a good thing.
Melo was great – the above poster said he looked bored, but maybe that’s a good thing because he knocked down a couple threes early on and helped USA get in a rhythm.
Wade – Simply amazing. Whatever repuation or prestige he’s lost in the time between the 2006 Finals and now is being speedily restored.
Lebron – Pretty spectacular as well, him, Wade, Kobe and Paul have been smothering people on the defensive end… although you are right the commentators may have been laying it on a bit thick as far as Lebron is concerned.
As for Coach K.. I think it’s a bit unfair to criticize his methods too much when we go in and dominate a talented team like Spain. That said, the rotations do seem a bit… er, muddled.
Oh and I’m surprised you didn’t talk more about Tayshaun’s nice shooting.. he was raining em down. Hope he gets a lot of playing time in the games ahead.
Has anybody heard of Pargo going to Moscow? That suckss.
Yeah. Pargo’s going to Dynamo Moscow. I liked him when he was here, but he was a tad inconsistent. I think the team is convinced Mike James can back up CP just fine.
We paid mopet’s twin(posey) too much money, Why Why Why? i’m upset.
In response to Didier: Everyone knows Posey is probably overpaid… but it doesn’t matter, because we all know he will be valuable and will bolster the production of the bench. Overpaying players is just something you have to do sometimes… And Mo Pete’s twin? C’mon. I like Peterson… but since when has he been known as one of the league’s premier defenders? That’s right, never.
With Posey we now have an incredible amount of versatility at the 2 and 3 positions… that’s nothing to scoff at.
I think a really good comment was made earlier this year about James Posey, and I wish I remember who said it. But they said that someone would overpay for Posey, but if he was the guy who pushed them over the top and made them Champions, can you really say that’s overpaying? That’s my take on Posey.
I liked pargo he was inconsistant but, no ofense, what role player isn’t? I believe he was a good ballhandler and relief for CP… streaky yes. I guess i thought he wasn’t going to leave. I rather have Pargo than M.James. Posey ull do well in NOLA, but if we didn’t have to pay him so much we could have kept pargo. Mike James is a spot up shooter not quite like pargo ball handling skills. i dunno i’ll miss pargo.
I hope that international play wont mess up nba’s role players. Josh childress, janearo pargo there gone, they’ll probably be starters in Europe. I heard that FIBA is going to change there lanes to rectangles and add 2.5 feet to the 3pt line. thats my rant
James posey and Morris petersons stats are almost ver batem both the same height same age everything 3pt% Steals MPG TO. I guess two is better than one. I just hope he’s not still high from comming off a championship run and not looking to party in N.O. and be caught with his pants down. He as with all the hornets got work to do this upcomming season.
Stats don’t always tell the whole story… even in a stat-heavy sport like Basketball. In particular, defense is hard to measure statistically. You can measure steals and blocks, yes, but not much else. Defensive pressure… how well a player defends other players and forces bad shots or rattles the offensive scheme… these things aren’t tallied, Posey is known for this to a greater extent than Peterson is. He’s also able to play the 2, 3 and even 4 positions… whereas Peterson generally stays at the 2.
But if you do want to look at stats… Posey does have some key advantages over Peterson – as a defensive rebounder (look at drpg, and also look at defreb% – considerably higher than Petersons) and as a general contributer, particularly defensively, to his team’s wins (look at win shares and defensive win shares, he has about 2x as many as Peterson in his career).
And the most important advantage Posey has over Peterson is that he’s proven himself to be a big-time performer in big-time games… and he
And I wouldn’t worry about Posey “looking to party in NO.” His DUI notwithstanding… he’s known as a committed, passionate and hard-working player.
PS – I’m not knocking Peterson. He’s a great player and I’m quite glad to have both of these guys on the team. And in regards to Pargo… he was a shoot-first guard too, a lot like Mike James… not a spectacular ballhandler or playmaker. I’m not too worried about losing Pargo, but we’ll have to wait and see whether James can be an adequate backup or not.
to-shay
The only difference in the Spain game and all the game prior for Carmelo is that his shot actually fell. He still looks inactive and D-Wade should be starting in his spot.