What Venezuela’s PG dreamed about last night…When the first possession of Team USA vs. Venezuela ended with Dwight Howard fumbling a rebound off his leg and out of bounds, how many of you had the “Oh no, not again” feeling in your gut? After that, though, it didn’t take long for reality to set in: even though the U.S. wasn’t at their best initially, Venezuela’s squad isn’t on their level. It took a minute for Team USA’s offense to catch up to the D, but once that happened, it was over … Kobe was clearly the best player on the floor on both ends. He got his buckets (14 pts) and hit his circus shots on offense, but his defense was the most impressive part of his game Tuesday; from tip-off he was picking up Venezuela’s point guard the moment he crossed halfcourt and making dude’s life a living hell. On one of the first plays of the game Kobe picked his man’s pocket and did a Rodman-like dive going after the loose ball. He was getting after it all night … The other day Austin was in Vegas and stopped by Team USA practice. (Read the recap right here.) During that session Dwight Howard couldn’t buy a jumper, and last night his shooting stroke looked awful, too. He missed like six free throws in a row in the first quarter. Dwight really has to get get that fixed if he wants to hit that elite level … Dwight had one sick play, though, where he and LeBron went up at the same time for a lob and Dwight snatched it from LeBron to finish with a dunk. And Dwight staring at his hand like Booker T after swatting one shot into the crowd was hilarious … Did you catch the exchange between Bill Walton and Mark Jones about haircuts? Walton was trying to figure out what to call Amare’s mohawk/fade, and said he didn’t know what a fade was. Mark was trying to school him, so they both decided to hit up a barbershop together. Then Mark dropped in a “Next time we’re doing a game in Miami we’ll go to Overtown.” Hold up, there: NO WAY Mark Jones kicks it in Overtown, one of the roughest spots in Miami. We’re not buying that for one second. Especially after Mark actually said “Keep your mind on your money and your money on your mind” once during the second half … Apparently Kobe has dropped 18 pounds since the season ended. It wasn’t as noticeable in person, but on TV he does look slimmer … Some of the guys on Venezuela’s squad were a mess. The chunky dude, No. 10, looked like someone who balls at your local gym that was good 10 years ago. And No. 12’s jumper was one of the ugliest we’ve seen this side of Ekene Ibekwe … Tyson Chandler is apparently on Emeka Okafor/Christian Laettner duty: he didn’t play in the first half despite the blowout … The three-point shooting wasn’t really a factor, but the U.S. wasn’t hitting until well into the second half when Mike Redd (17 pts) caught fire. We still think Coach K and them should have gone after Ray Allen. He was just in Vegas last week, too … Before Team USA’s game we caught some of Brazil/Canada. It started off with Sam Dalembert (who A-Train bumped into at a Vegas casino at 2 a.m. Tuesday) swatting everything Brazil put up in front of him, but in the process picking up two early fouls and having to sit for the rest of the first half. (BTW, did you know John Chaney is credited with being the coach who popularized that tactic of sitting a guy with two fouls?) When Dalembert (18 pts, 10 rebs, 2 blks) went out, the Brazilians had no reason to stay out of the paint, and with Leandro Barbosa getting out on the break so fast it looked like he was cherry-picking, they were up double-digits before Nene even entered the game off the bench … Canada actually has a talented group. In addition to the Dalembeast they’ve got lots of guys with major D-1 experience: Levon Kendall (Pitt), Andy Rautins (Syracuse), Denham Brown (UConn), Carl English (Hawaii), Olu Famitimi (Arkansas) and David Thomas (Michigan State) … Barbosa (30 pts) came out gunning. His first touch he jacked up a 25-footer. You can tell he’s got the green light to shoot whenever he wants, but usually he didn’t have to rely on jumpers ’cause he got so many buckets via creating his own fast break. Can you imagine next year if Phoenix can use Atlanta’s Lottery pick to get Kevin Love? That kid’s outlet passes with Barbosa and Marion getting out on the run? Call the cops … Andy Rautins was only in for a few minutes when he hurt his knee badly trying to keep up with Barbosa. Rautins, who is a key cog for Jimmy Boeheim’s squad this year, was on the ground screaming “Oh $#&%!” as soon as Leo blew past him on a cut to the rim and his knee buckled … Before that game, Mexico upset Puerto Rico. Carlos Arroyo couldn’t find his shot (0-for-10 FGs), and the Mexicans threw waves of mildly-talented but all-heart guys at them — it was like 12 Ed Najeras to break their will … How about Esteban Batista dropping 26 and 19 in Uruguay’s game against Panama? He’s still done nothing in the NBA … We’re out like competition …
August 23rd, 2007 at 1:32 am
jklli says:
pooopppppopopo
August 23rd, 2007 at 4:54 am
MobileOne says:
Rodman??? yeah right…
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:24 am
Amar says:
well, Shaq can’t hit free throws, but show me one guy who wouldn’t call him elite when he was at his peak? Additionally, Wilt couldn’t but free throws for his life . . .
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:07 am
djKianoosh says:
it was shocking, and embarrassing for puerto rico, to lose to mexico. my wife, who’s from the island, said about the mexicans, “i thought they only played soccer”. i thought PR was supposed to have good guards, but they got flustered all game long and couldn’t handle the pressure and the heart that mexico played with.
as a sixers fan, i hoped to see something good from dalembert. Even though he had a decent stat line, I only saw glimpses and bursts of good play, but he still makes too many mental mistakes and seems like he’s not there sometimes.
team USA looked QUICK. is it me or is Kobe on a mission defensively? he’s by far their best player. Redd’s got a nice stroke. he’ll be very valuable. Carmelo needs to finish better. Still, why can’t they find a spot for AI on this team?
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:21 am
DOC says:
you was listening to Walton too much Chandler got in in the first half. He block a shot.
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:44 am
Cass says:
isn’t that what we always get from Sam though? he’ll pull out a few great plays that make you think he’s coming around, but then he’ll be nonexistent the rest of the game. i will say though, i respect that he really wanted to play in this tournament - it can only help him. and it looks like he’s put in some time in the weight room this summer.
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:45 am
frenchy says:
I don’t think it’s that they can’t find a spot for AI, but rather, they don’t want him on the team. I remember a couple years ago that when they did initial invites to team USA, AI wasn’t invited, which caused a huge ruckus…and Jerry C was interviewed during a game/half saying that “Yes, AI is a great player, but he’s too much of a ’shoot first’ PG” and that’s not what they were looking for, they have enough talent to score, they wanted pure PG’s like J-kidd who will look to distribute the ball first.
Right or wrong?…i’m not saying they made the right decision, but they do have some validity in their point.
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:50 am
buckets says:
yo is ther some site online i can watch these games at??im outta the country and i only get espn en vivo…its ass
sportscenter comes on in english once a day at 9 AM
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:18 am
Shawn says:
Kobe is not human!
http://www.squidoo.com/kobebryantdunk
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:34 am
Bust Jlaze says:
Yo, I’m sayin…there’s NOTHING MORE they can do to improve this roster…I mean, c’mon…J-Kidd, Kobe, Bron-Bron, Melo…throw whatever other guys you want on there and there’s NO REASON YOU CAN’T WIN. If they can’t win with these guys, then you might as well forget it.
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:48 am
João says:
The USA team did the right thing yesterday, they play D. Thats all they have to do, play D and go out in the fast break. No one can keep with the USA when they do that. Period. About Brazil, as a Brazilian, I must say that we play very bad yesterday, and that team plus Varejão and Baby have a lot of future. If Brazil dont qualified I will be #@#% mad ,,,
August 23rd, 2007 at 11:02 am
Austin Burton says:
@Amar — Dwight isn’t/won’t be as physically dominant as Shaq is/was, so he can’t afford to not make his free throws. As you saw in the Detroit series, if he doesn’t make teams respect from the line, he can’t just overpower everyone like Shaq.
August 23rd, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Danilo says:
Keep an eye on Tiago Splitter, from Brazil, and see the real steal Spurs got on draft night!
August 23rd, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Bron42 says:
well at one point shaq was a slim magic himself who just dunked everything, until he devolped a pump fake and started murdering the shawn bradleys of the world. AND shaq had a way better supporting cast at this point. He had penny and some vets like nick anderson and dennis scott. Dwights second best option is butter fingers nelson and hedo, so of course vet teams like detroit or just gonna focus on him, what, are they gonna take time to double team kenyon dooling or trevor ariza?
August 23rd, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Tre says:
Nolan Richardson is coaching Mexico. Does that make sense that they went through “40 minutes of HELL”???
August 23rd, 2007 at 1:03 pm
João says:
Hey, DH average in his first 3 years 12ppg/10reb/1.7blk - 15ppg/12.5reb/1.4blk - 17ppg/12.3reb/1.9blk,
Shaq average in his first 3 years 20ppg/13reb/3.0blk - 25ppg/12reb/2.0blk - 25ppg/10reb/1.2blk …
So, hey, they are not on the same page ,,, Including to that, the others centers in the league, to see who have the biggest competition, Shaq against Ewing, Olajuwon, Robinson, Smiths, Brad D., and a lot of guys that I cant remenber right now ,,, In that dance competition last year in the ASG, you can see Shaq and DH side by side, and DH looks like a little boy near Shaq.
August 23rd, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Tom Toronto says:
Damn, Barbosa is so fast he literally broke Rautins’ ankles, or knee, close enough.
PS - Even with the D1 experience, it’s still makes me laugh that the coach’s son is on the team. It’s like we play in the little leagues or something.
As for team USA, I have to agree with Bust, there’s no need to debate the lineup choice. The second line on Team USA is better than most team’s first, and their first line is just ridiculous. If they can’t get the gold, it’s not because the individuals on the roster can’t ball. And personally, I don’t want to see Dwight Howard shoot jumpers, I want to see him cram on everybody, all the time. The man is a monster, have you seen the width of his shoulders? Dude has to go through hallways sideways
August 23rd, 2007 at 2:43 pm
djKianoosh says:
got it. AI not a pass first PG. that’s ok. but if one of their 2 guards get hurt AI is the first guy I’d bring in.
comments about DHo are right. all we want from him is to cram it down people’s throats.
nolan richardson must be a hell of a coach. he got that mexican team playing well with some pretty atypical looking playas.