Official Olympic Basketball Thread
 

Yeah, we needed one of these "official" ones. I'm watching USA kick Serbia's ass right now. Good Times.

S&M would kill the US if Peja played

I dont think so, Germany had Dirk and it was a pretty close game

It would probably be the samething if they had Peja

lol, had no idea Dirk was from there.

........what?

Dirk is from Germany, I brought him becuase it would be like the samething if Peja played today

Serbia and Germany aren't a comparision. The FIBA ranked Serbia #1 without Peja who is by far the best player in the country.

what??

I said, I had no idea Dirk was from there

You had no idea Dirk was from Germany?

lol

yes. lol, I should of put the "I" in front of had I guess.

USA smoked them today though

USA only beat Germany by 3 points, I don't think with Peja it would have made a difference. It's like USA beat Serbia by 4 points or something.

I didn't watch today's game.

One player can really make a difference though, like next year if Kobe misses a game and the Lakers lose by 15 Kobe clearly could've been the difference in the game just because he is the center of the team/ballhog.

Nah I just got confused because when you said "there" I thought you ment Serbia

lol, I was watching ESPN this morning and they said had this video package on how they should give a call to all those "Streetball" guys and make them go to the Olympics. It was pretty funny. How many traveling calls you think those guys would get?

What they should do is send the Pistons since they're the best team and they have been playing together all year and have the best chemistry

That's what I said in Wadding's thread :y:

We either should have sent:
C Shaq
C Dampier
P Duncan
P Garnett
F Marion
F Malone
W LeBron
W Vince
W Kobe
G Allen
PG Kidd
PG Bibby

(or something of the nature)

or else

Okafor, LeBron, Amare, Carmelo, Jameer, Gordon, Wade, Ford, Childress, guy from Arizona, Deng (if he is american)

or something like that

Wow, what a fuckin joke. Can someone make a god dam jumper please. Terrible.

<font size="2" color="#2d5980" face="trebuchet ms">LOL this is rediculous, waaay too many ballhogs on the US</font>

There not even hitting the fuckin rim at times. WTF?

Wow ridiculous

Its just not a good team, there is no shooters. Too many slashers/cutters and guys who play inside. All their guards are guys who drive and dish. Basically the entire team is guys who drive to the hole except for a few of the "big men."

Its too bad all the best players turned down invites, pretty retarded. I don't get why they wouldn't want to come, injury excuse is bullshit since they play basketball everyday anyways. Don't want to give up there summers? Give me a break, you play basketball for a living.

<font size="2" color="#2d5980" face="trebuchet ms">If the starting 5 was Wallace, Wallace, Hamilton, Billups, and Prince these games wouldn't even be close</font>

Duncan is the only one doing good. The US can't play half court basketball. Most of their points come on transition. And forget about 3 point shooting. My god.

Coming back, but they can't buy a 3 if there life depended on it.

That would never happen though, The Pistons probably wouldn't want to have to play an entire full year of basketball or something

Even though I am sure the play everyday anyways :-\

<font color=goldenrod>:rofl: @ US jobbing to Puerto Rico</font>

I was reading an article (I forget by whom) that put this pretty succinctly.

He said something to the effect of "The reason USA Basketball has struggled is that the teams have recently been made up entirely of slashers. The Pistons proved in the NBA Finals this year that a good zone defense will take away even the best players' cutting ability."

This is absolutely true. Add to that the fact that the international teams play together far more frequently than any USA Basketball team, and you have the reason why USA struggles so badly.

I have been rooting against the US in basketball this whole time. All we are is just a shitty street ball team, everything is based around the sexy passing and lay up/dunks. Why would they ever put Stephon Marbury on this team, and why would they play him? They need a real point guard, I don't care if Marbury scores more, they need a guy who can set up the game. They don't even have a center. It's a good thing KG showed that he can do some winning in the playoffs last year or else he probably would have been sucked into this team of guys who can't win.

^ On that note, who would all of you put on the team?

I'll post mine after a bit of research.

I posted something up there ^^^, but I think i'll make a few changes:

C Shaq
C Dampier
P Duncan
P Garnett
F Artest
F Malone
W LeBron
W Vince
W Kobe
G Allen
PG Kidd
PG Bibby

Starting: Kidd, Kobe, Garnett, Duncan, Shaq with Artest first off the bench.

I think Cassell would be a good point guard to have on this team because he doesn't demand a lot of attention and is a good shooter, whatever though. Also, I kind of made that up off my head, so I easilly could have missed someone blatant.

Here's my team (reserves in parentheses):

Point Guard - Jason Kidd (Baron Davis and Sam Cassell)
Shooting Guard - Kobe Bryant (Tracy McGrady and Ray Allen)
Small Forward - Kevin Garnett (Shawn Marion)
Power Forward - Tim Duncan (Jermaine O'Neal)
Center - Shaquille O'Neal (Ben Wallace)

Marbury isn't a true point guard? He is always tops every year in the league in assists. Kidd is about the only upgrade over Marbury. Cassell? He basically the same player as Marbury, maybe shoots a little better, but overall isn't as good.

Team USAs problem is the shooters, they can't hit a jump shot for some reason. It's ridiculous, all these guys do is play basketball. How can they not hit open jump shots?

Because nobody shoots jump shots anymore. The entire NBA is made up of guys who either throw up three-pointers, park outside the lane waiting for a pass, or try to create their own shots by driving.

The art of the pull-up shooter is alive and well internationally, but nobody in the States plays that way anymore.

Marbury is the typical street baller, he plays for himself, and that is why he will never win in the NBA.

LOL what

Loopydate, I think I like your lineup more than mine, I forgot about Ben Wallace. The only thing is I would put Artest in there instead of either Marion or T-Mac.

LOL USA lost? damn I missed it.From time to time I hear these stupid reporters call it a new 'Dream Team' fuckin idiots , this team is light years from the '92 squad.

I'm glad they lost, but i'm sure they could care less since they make a lot more than anyone anywhere else.

Which is why he's always ranked highly in assist in spite of usually not having a solid shooting team behind him right?

He's sure doing a stand up job manning the point over in Athens.

Yeah, I saw your team after I posted mine and was thinking "I should have put Artest on there instead of Marion."

The reason I put Marion on there in the first place is that he's a decent shooter, but having Artest's defense (especially pairing him with Wallace in the front court) would be more beneficial.

Marion puts up really good fantasy numbers, but he just doesn't seem like the player to win a championship IMO.

Here's who I would put out there:

Centers
Shaq
Ben Wallace
Brad Miller

Power Forwards
Duncan
KG
Jermaine O'Neal

Small Forwards
Artest
Kobe

Shooting Guards
Mcgrady
Ray Allen or Michael Redd

Point Guards
Kidd
Bibby

Kobe couldn't play the 3, trot out the Matrix, and start KG at the 3.

Also, since I figger this is the Olympic Basketball thread, that the USA women would stomp the USA men easily.

I really like the make up of the women's team. Staley and Leslie have been playiong together on USA teams since 1989, with Swoopes on teams since 96. Plus, Tina Thompson who plays with Swoopes during the WNBA season...not to mention Yolanda Griffiths and the younger supporting cast (Swin Cash, DT, and Sueeeeeeeee BIRD CALL! [aka my girls :love:])

I think Kobe could definitely play 3 in International Play. Maybe not NBA. I just hate Marion. The way he shoots the ball is so damn ugly. Did you see him airball against Puerto Rico. ughhhhhh. :nono:

Its not his fault everybody else can't hit open jumpers :wtf:

Hes passing the ball fine but then you got guys like Richard Jefferson hitting the side of the backboard :|

Agreed, most of team USA hasn't hit their open looks, that's not Steph's fault. He cuts, making the D drop in on him, and he kicks it out to the open guy, he does his job.

I still can't believe how bad USA got beat by porta rico.

U.S. up by Four against Greece. FK'N Shit.

U.S.A. is killing Greece on the Full Court Game. They have to play a fast paced game against these teams and not let them set up for plays. That's there whole game; set up plays.

Lebron had a great game and I felt he kept USA in it when Greece made those runs at the end of the 2nd and 3rd. Jefferson really sucks and Brown needs to replace him in the starting lineup. Carmelo sucked too. But at least the game was fun to watch. Much better than blowouts every game.

Olympic Basketball: Lithuania Guard Shoots Down U.S.




ATHENS (Reuters) - The United States crashed to its second defeat in the Olympic men's basketball tournament Saturday when a late shooting spree by Sarunas Jasikevicius propelled Lithuania to a 94-90 victory.

The Americans, winners of the last three Olympic tournaments, must beat Angola Monday to ensure they reach the quarterfinals this time. The Angolans have so far failed to win a game at the Athens Olympics.

The United States suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Puerto Rico in their opening game in Athens.

"I'm disappointed to say the least. But I think we're getting better except for a bit of a meltdown in the fourth quarter," said U.S. coach Larry Brown.

Once held in awe by the rest of the basketball world, the once invincible Americans -- with a match record of 109-2 heading into the Games -- seem ripe for the taking.

"There was an awe when playing the Americans maybe 17 or 18 years ago, but a lot of countries have caught up," Jasikevicius said after his shooting spree in the last three minutes set his team up to win Group B at the tournament.

UNBEATEN LITHUANIA

Overlooked by the NBA after graduating from the University of Maryland, Jasikevicius scored 11 of his team's last 12 points to bring it from a point down to three up before unbeaten Lithuania closed the game with another free throw.

"We beat a great basketball team. Emotionally, it's great, but in theory it doesn't help much. We have to win in the quarterfinals. But (the victory) is nice, I won't lie to you about that," said the Lithuanian point guard.

The Americans were up by three with two minutes and 47 seconds left when Jasikevicius hit a three-pointer while being fouled by Lamar Odom to put his team on track for victory at 85-84. He then hit another to extend the lead to four before Richard Jefferson, battling a horrendous shooting slump, hit his second three of the game. Continued ... <!-- article text ends -->


http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml...toryID=6036046

ahahahaha :rofl:

:lol:

They aren't running the right offense for the team they have, they should be running the Princeton Offense or something that takes advantage of USA's ability to fast break, jam, and go to the hole.

However you put it, they lost... again.

I hate to say it, but Larry Brown's coaching has been horrible. What the hell is Marbury doing playing so many minutes when he can't hit a shot and gets burned on D? What a joke.

Bad team chemistry?

The main thing is they can't hit an outside shot to save their lives. They needed to stock up on good 3-point shooters and free throw shooters and they didn't do that.

Thanks for putting up the whole article Your Hero :mad: Couldn't have just said they lost, could ya. Yeah, they lost, but hey, they played a great game today and this is a good sign for the Quater Finals on Monday. Not sure who they play yet though.

If they play this way every game, they'll medal for sure.

They'll most likely win the gold anyway. It's just fun to poke at you guys. Kinda like people poke at us when it's about hockey.

I wouldn't worry not many countries outside the US care about Basketball anyway. :D

The last time I watched Olympic Basketball was Barcelona, man America were good that year.

Actually basketball is pretty big in Eastern Europe

*countries that matter

;)

So if you guys had to pick a starting lineup out of these group of guys, who would you put out there?

Current Starting Lineup/Who I would replace them with

C- Duncan
F- Odom
F- Jefferson
G- Marbury (replace with Lebron)
G- Iverson

C Okafor
F Duncan
F Odom
G James
G Wade

Ok I've only seen the second halves of 3 U.S games but have they hit a 3 point shot the entire time?

Yeah that team was something special, i doubt team USA will esemble one quite as good again

They shot 3-21 one game I think, so that's three tres.

Finally USA beat the shit out of a team today. I think Angola. Didn't see the game because it was 1st day of classes and I had to attend.

Congrats to USA for an easy victory finally. And also congrats to China for making the quarterfinals finally. Maybe hiring Del Harris was smart. :p

Angola is supposed to be the worst team in the tournament though, isn't it? I read that they are supposed to be good in 10 years or so, that could be crazy, but they don't have a player over 6'10 this year.

Angola went 0-5, getting outscored by 100 points in the process. Easily the worst team of the bunch.

The U.S. has to play undefeated Spain in the quarters on Thursday.

Angola is playing Serbia tomorrow for last place.

Lol, wasn't Serbia and Montenegro supposed to be the #2 team going into this?

#1*

Australia is going to win the basketball gold medal....

Women's basketball that is.

Nah, our Women's team is actually done right...you're in trouble :p

Katie Smith comin' atcha!

Look what I found today

The United States have dominated Olympic basketball since the first tournament in 1936, winning 109 matches and losing only two.

That was written before these Olympics BTW. Some record.

Well, they did it. Shoddy officiating on both sides of the ball. Marbury drops a new Men's point record for the US team with 31..he just took over..6 3pters made (also a USA men's record) Here we come Semifinals.

Also, by my count, Carmelo played 35 secs, had one rebound and 3 points.

YEAH. WHAT. Just beat the suppossed best team in the Olympics. I guess all they really needed was to play together for a little while. Pissed that I missed the 4th cause I had class. If they play the next two games like today, it's going to be tough to beat us.

Well Pau Gasol isn't half as good as Tim Duncan, so of course if we played together we should have beat them. For the media to claim any other team has more talent than the US is lame, if they can put it together they are still clearly the best team out there. Now just to put it together.

(Note: That wasn't a rant on Loose Cannon, I am referring to the media)

I hate these refs BTW. Everything is a foul with these guys.

A huge travesty is Melo only getting 35 seconds at the end of the 1st half and the announcers claiming that Odom is a better post player than Amare.

LOL, I just read BROWN and Spain's coach got into it at the end of the game. What happend?

Brown called a T.O. and the Spanish coach got all offended because he thought Brown was rubbing his face in the Spainish team losing or some shit. He almost walked off the court without shaking hands, it was a great show of sportsmanship :roll:

I saw the story on ESPN.com but didn't really care, and after reading DaveWaddings results, I'm glad I didn't read it on the site.

The thing is, though, they're calling the game the way the NBA used to call it. I was watching an old Pistons/Lakers game from '90 on ESPN Classic, and the referees were calling traveling! And they whistled Isiah for a foul when he used his off arm to hook around somebody (Scott?) so he could drive. NBA referees are pussies now. The international refs still call fouls, which I think is great.

Well why the hell was that TO called anyway?

TO doesn't play basketball sillies!

The game shouldn't be decided on fouls though. I think calling more fouls is more pussy then not calling them often. It's an aggressive game and guys will get bounced around. Fouls just make the game that less exciting. Just let them go. Not prision rules or anything though.

And Wadding, I read on Yahoo that Marbury tied Barkley's record, not break it. Don't know who's right.

I thought I read that he broke it?

He did :y: Just read it again. My fault.

Thats why the americans are losing, if Marbury's shooting doesn't show up then they are stuck because he is a terrible PG who doesn't know how to play unless he is shooting. And if his shooting does show up then they can probably coast

I called him a bad point guard up there and everyone bitched at me because of his assist numbers. I'm glad somebody agrees with me :y:

Also, I haven't been playing real close attention, but Dwayne Wade isn't doing real hot is he? I hope people don't hold him to those crazy expectations for next year with Shaq, he's so young and isn't as good as Kobe at this point. He will someday be really good, but I think people are setting pretty high standards for him in his sophomore year.

Wow, Could Spain's coach be any more of a sore loser? I know everyone hates USA, but do me a favor and shut the fuck up. He was complaining about the ref's using NBA rules for calls, he said USA doesn't even deserve to be in the medal round cause they lost two games, he said Spain was the stronger team. Well your teams been playing together for god knows how long and the US has been playing together for a couple of weeks. He also said the public mostly supported Spain because they were the stronger team. Yeah, ok buddy. It's not like the Olympics are in Europe or anything.

I dunno the Greeks have been a bit funny with the Americans to be honest. They were booing one of the sprinters the other night, might have been called Williams or something the commentators reckon he fancies himself as a comedian.

Oh yeah and when you live next to these Europeans day in day out you can start complaining about them :mad:

Like I said up there...he showed great sportsmanship.