Team USA

Actually, I watched the whole thing. USA has a 13 point lead and it got down to 2 in the 4th quarter with the Americans making some stupid plays, were getting out-rebounded, and making bad shots. Kobe's 4 pt play was what kept them in front the rest of the way.

Thats a very inaccurate statement. Here's UNC's successes in Olympic Basketball.

1964 (Tokyo): Larry Brown, who later coached USA in 2004, was a member of the USA team that defeated the Soviet Union, to win gold.

1968 (Mexico City): Charlie Scott, a member of the gold medalists who defeated Yugoslavia.

1976 (Montreal): Walter Davis, Phil Ford, Tom LaGarde, Mitch Kupchak all members of the gold medalists who were coached by Dean Smith. The USA went undefeated in the competition.

1984 (Los Angeles): Michael Jordan and Sam Perkins were members of the gold medal winners that defeated Spain for the gold.

1992 (Barcelona): Michael Jordan returned to the USA roster as a member of The Dream Team that revolutionized Olympic Basketball.

2000 (Sydney): Vince Carter was the man responsible for one of the greatest dunks of all time....Literally leaping over France's 7'2" center, Frederic Weis in the gold medal game that the USA won.

 

No. Why would I given that I've already explained my lack of interest? I just think the basketball team has gotten disproportionate coverage and I honestly got sick of hearing about them on ESPN and such. Michael Phelps did something historic, but the U.S. basketball team only did something it's accomplished in 13 out of the 17 Olympic tournaments. Whoopee.

You're the first person I've heard describe it that way. Again, I didn't watch it, but the coverage I saw and read seemed to suggest that the U.S. almost choked.

 

Must not be looking very hard, here's an exerpt from the first source I checked, Chris Sheridan on the front page of ESPN.

Anyone who thinks we almost choked has no respect for the game Spain played today. A subpar effort or a lesser US team would have lost easily today. I don't know how you can be a basketball fan and see our effort today as a choke. I couldn't be prouder of the US effort today.

 

I don't read Chris Sheridan because he's a dumbass. If you have a problem with Sportscenter characterizing it as a near-fuckup, call them and complain.

 

I don't really give a shit what Sportscenter says, I usually only turn them on to find out who the best athlete of the last 25 years was or what the best sportstown in america is.

 

Of course. More money internationally in basketball than volleyball or swimming. No one cares about those sports in non Olympic years.

There was an article about the NBA starting a business, with it's own stores and such selling apparrel, in China, and that its net worth was already in the billions. Kobe, not Yao, is the most popular player in China. Soccer is still the king around the world, but no sport I can think of is growing like basketball.

Stayed up and watched it myself last night (much easier to do on the west coast, and I'd just come in from the gaslamp in SD).

Spain has a good team, and they are quite a bit bigger than the USA, so it was no suprise to me that they had a rebounding edge. We were having trouble keeping their point guard in front of us, Paul and Williams were having their worst games of the tourney. But Kobe and Wade came through in the clutch.

Disagree about the shots. USA shot the lights out of the ball, which is a good thing the way the defense went to sleep. We would not have won otherwise.

 

As unimpressed as I was with Ricky Rubio in the first US game and the China game (the two other Spain games I saw,) he played his ass off last night. Can't wait to see him in the league in a couple of years. Also, Rudy Fernandez caught absolute smoke and fire holy shit. They did really well without Jose Caulderon too, I don't know if he would have made the difference but it likely would have been another guard we couldn't stop. Our D was slow tonight but we did make a few plays. I think Spain was playing extra-chippy trying to get into our skin, I didn't really appreciate how physical the game was in parts.

It was one of the most competetive basketball games I've seen though, great win for US Basketball. Nothing less than our 'A' effort is enough anymore. Doug Collins made a good point though how the US team is a lot younger than most of the other medal contenders. Spain is pretty young as well, but Argentina and Greece should have basically whole new rosters in London. Some teams that have had success against Team USA are getting really old and will have to switch up. The main thing international teams have had over us is their time spent playing together.

If we can keep our program rolling and neutralize that advantage, there's no reason we can't continue winning golds like the US used to. But we're not handed the medals like the old days for sure, those days are over. Basketball is just a game like soccer where a lesser team can come out on top on any given day.


edit: Bill Walton just called it one of the best international games ever, I'm in good company with him and Coach K. Watching the SC coverage it doesn't appear to me to be painting it as a near-choke. Not sure where you saw that unless they changed their whole coverage. We didn't choke just because Spain played an amazing offensive game. That's just not an accurate analysis, period.


edit2: That's not to say this is a better story than Men's Volleyball or a handful of other amazing stories in the Olympics. US winning doesn't change that that's what they were supposed to do. It's not going to be a victory that's remembered by anyone other than basketball fans.

 

Do they change out refs at halftime? Cause it was called two different games. Went from calling everything to calling nothing.


I liked the chippiness. Both teams played like it mattered.

 

Definitely both teams played like it mattered, that was what was so great about it. If it didn't matter to our guys, we would have lost.

I agree about the reffing, it made the game very frustrating in parts. I don't know how Kobe and LeBron got those two early fouls each and then Marc Gasol can just lumber around tossing Chris Bosh all over the place in the second half.

 

All I was saying was USA nearly let the game slip from them cause Spain was rolling offensively and had big time momentum. Making bad shots was a typo *(I meant to say they were missing bad shots) cause towards the end, they threw up some shots that left me scratching my head.

I agree they shot very well, but when the lead was 13 they could have turned up the heat and put the dagger through Spain's heart. Instead, turnovers and poor shot selection opened the door for the Spanish comeback.