Team USA destroys Germany, the summer’s best and worst signings, and can Usain Bolt play ball?
Carlos Boozer (photo. Jeffery Salter)There aren’t many X’s-and-O’s to break down from Team USA’s 49-point inward teeth-kicking of Team Germany. In short, the U.S. played the role of DeNiro and Peschi in GoodFellas, while Dirk and his guys were Billy Batts; it was just a savage beating. Carmelo put Team USA on the board before Dwight Howard had come back to earth following the tip-off, and they were up 8-0 before anyone knew what was going on. The score was 20-3 at one point, and by then it was playground mode: one time Chris Paul tossed an alley-oop near the rim and D-Wade and LeBron fought for it in mid-air, with ‘Bron (naturally) getting a bit higher and getting the layup … When was the last time Kobe missed two dunks in one game? At least his threes were falling this time around. Kobe (13 pts) stuck three triples, while LeBron (18 pts) hit four. Team USA made a solid 42% from deep — plus one from Jason Kidd — even though Michael Redd went 0-for-4 … One benefit of getting Chris Kaman for the German team was that guys like Dwight wouldn’t slap up 22-10 stat lines on them anymore, right? At least Kaman (6 pts, 4 rebs) didn’t allow Deron Williams (9 pts, 5 asts) to put him on a poster. D-Will’s been on a mission to create his own Vince Carter moment in Beijing, but Kaman hacked him to ensure he wasn’t gonna be Fred Weis 2K8 … Previewing the USA/Germany game, we assumed this would be an opportunity for Coach K to give guys like Carlos Boozer, Tayshaun Prince and Redd a lot of minutes. While Tay got more burn than usual — which he definitely earned during the Spain game — Booz only saw 10 minutes against his birth country, while Redd played 13 minutes … Dirk finished with 14 points and eight boards. Afterwards he said he was done playing international ball “for a couple of years” after reaching his goal of playing in the Olympics. Dirk just turned 30 and his NBA championship window is closing fast in Dallas, so that makes sense … Next up for Team USA in the medal round is Australia, who gave the U.S. all it could handle in a pre-Olympic exhibition without Andrew Bogut (ankle). The big man is back and healthy now, and he and the Boomers just destroyed a good Lithuania squad in their last pool play game. Australia has a few decent big men aside from Bogut, so Dwight and Chris Bosh will have the spotlight on them to step up to the plate … One head-to-head to look out for: CP vs. Patty Mills. Remember when CP said after the Spain game that he, D-Will and Kidd took the challenge against Ricky Rubio personally because the kid had gotten so much hype beforehand? Well, CP’s been hearing everyone say ever since the first Australia/USA game game that Mills (St. Mary’s College) gave him the business. He’ll be dead set on shutting them up … Yesterday we went all-access in and around the Wukesong Indoor Stadium, a.k.a. the building where both Team USA’s (men and women) have been destroying the comp. Needless to say, Wukesong puts a lot of NBA arenas to shame … Monday’s best individual hoop performance at the Games belonged to Luis Scola, who dropped 37 points on Russia as the defending gold medalists Argentina cruised into the medal round. Pau Gasol put up 31 and nine boards in Spain’s blowout of Angola … With almost every big name having gone off the board (J.R. Smith and Delonte West are two of the remaining notables), we broke down the best and worst NBA free agent signings of 2008. The Sixers obviously scored big with Elton Brand, and the Clips made a statement with the Baron Davis signing, but on the other side of things, we still don’t get why L.A. would take the chance on Ricky Davis or why Emeka Okafor was worth upwards of $70 million … Meanwhile, the Clips re-signed Paul Davis yesterday. Before the Marcus Camby trade, Davis was about to eff around and end up being L.A.’s opening night starter at power forward. Of course if you put Paul’s heart into Tim Thomas‘ body, there’d be no question Tim would be the main guy … Have you seen the T’wolves new uniforms yet? We caught our first glimpse at the NBA Rookie Photo Shoot a few weeks ago, but weren’t allowed to show them until now. Minnesota’s old unis weren’t bad, and while these ones are nice, it seems more like a facelift to move away from the Kevin Garnett era than anything else … During yesterday’s Olympic 200-meter qualifying rounds, announcer Ato Boldon joked that Usain Bolt (6-foot-5) could be on the Redeem Team since he is so unusually tall for a sprinter. We looked it up, and while Bolt was a star at cricket and fast bowling (whatever that is) as a kid in Jamaica, there’s no record of him playing basketball. Bolt could obviously fly down the court, though, he’s graceful and athletic, and we’re assuming he’d have crazy hops. We’d at least like to see “Lightning” run in practice with a team who plays an up-and-down style and see what he can do. On that note, did you see the photos of Michael Phelps hanging out with Team USA? That guy could obviously run fives all day long without getting tired, but he looked like a bony (albeit tall) 16-year-old fan standing next to guys like Kobe … We’re out like Dirk …
August 19th, 2008 at 6:45 am
josh says:
Go Boomers!! Pat Mills is legit and if we can rain triples like the Lithuania game we could be a hope.
August 19th, 2008 at 6:45 am
sans says:
tim thomas has no heart. So much talent and nothing to do with it…
August 19th, 2008 at 7:33 am
fReSh says:
bolt said in an interview that he regularry plays ball every sunday with his friends……..Jamaican Basketball needs U USAIN!
August 19th, 2008 at 7:53 am
M Intellect says:
Fast bowling is a part of cricket. Like Free-throw shooting is in basketball.
August 19th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Steve Nash says:
Great all we (the Boomers) need is a fired up CP3
August 19th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Flying-Aussie-Dutchman says:
Lets go Booooomers!!
August 19th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Borgs says:
What fast bowling is is an inherently more difficult, physically taxing, and largely unrewarding discipline than is pitching in baseball. It’s the basic equivalent of delivering an unending succession of fast balls on the bounce, only, with a straight arm, following a twenty or so metre run-up. Half those guys can barely walk not long after their careers are finished, constantly dogged by knee, ankle, shoulder, and, usually the most crippling, back problems.
I imagine Bolt would’ve been a promising cricketing talent, but, like so many young Carribeans, has diverted his attention to a more popular, lucrative, and certainly forgiving athletic pursuit. Clearly, it’s paying off for him, while West Indies cricket, so dominant in the seventies and eighties, continues to its natural demise. It’s a good thing Bolt made the choice he did and is where he is, and not buried in some cricketing backwater, hidden from the eyes of the world. He’s spectacular viewing.
August 19th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Luigi says:
Usain Bolt could be like Willie Gault in the NFL..Fast but No Hands. haha but this aint football..he could be the fastbreak cherry picker person. that outruns everybody [even AI] for a uncontested layup.
August 19th, 2008 at 8:53 am
justice says:
The jamaicas basketball program will need jesus, muhammed and budda to ever make it anywhere…they suck seriously…but they are becoming a power house in soccer and track
August 19th, 2008 at 9:02 am
GEE...I'm da pappy! says:
For real I more see Bolt in the NFL sort of getting his Rand Moss on. I think he is an inch taller than Moss.
LOL Kobe and LeBron was at the volleyball games getting it in as fans. That was cool to see.
They should allow countries to have as many squads as they can put out for basketball (I know another insane idea).
Say like the USA had 3 teams we would have a chance of getting Gold, Silver and Bronze.
I know it’s not like an individual sport where that could happen but I would love to see something like that. Imagine Team USA 1 going against 2 for the gold and say like Team 3 going against another country for Bronze.
Anyway I wish Scola would drop 37 in a Rockets game sometime.
I am still looking for “that” play with Team USA. I know the Wade to Kobe alley oop was the one so far. I am still lookin for “that” ill poster though. Hopefully Deron will get it done, but I see Wade probably creating it or LeBron before any of the rest.
How bout Mike Redd goin in for his interview to be on Team USA, excused himself and came back in a suit. That is wanting to get on!
Wonder what Melo had on, prolly a jumpsuit or saggy jeans and a t-shirt.
Props to the USA ladies too, they are just straight doing evvvveryone else! Easy too.
August 19th, 2008 at 9:10 am
schoops says:
Germany was just awful.
The Boston Globe says that Coach K won’t be with Team USA for the next olympics. That’s good bad, he was just getting the hang of how to solidify a shorter rotation.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:00 am
doc says:
@josh-Only hope yall have is if our whole 12 gets killed before the game starts,and then you still gotta hope they dont let us bring the select team because they would crown the shit out of yall to.Yall keep bringing up a good game yall had against Lithuania but the reality of the situation is we aint nothing like them dudes and you guys need to be getting ready for this thrashing.Go Boomers-That 7th place game will be a hell of a contest.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:09 am
doc says:
Love the rah rah attitude though.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Dagomar says:
Are Kobe and Lebron good friends now or something? They seem to be inseperable at these Olympic events . . . .
August 19th, 2008 at 11:00 am
goonther says:
@ dime
you guys heard anything about the cavs picking up david lee from the kicks or any of thier other bigs? ‘ya boys over on cavalier attitude seem to think so, but ive scoured and come up with nada - and i trust you guys a more …. whats the word
August 19th, 2008 at 11:18 am
schoops says:
Kobe n Lebron seem to be the two players on team USA that are trying to get the absolute most out of the olympics. They’ve been at all kinds of events at different venues there. It’s nice seeing athletes really getting into the olympic spirit. Lot different then the more aloof 2004 that just stayed on their boat the entire time. Also doesn’t hurt that those two are loaded and can get any ticket they want.
August 19th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Skeeter McGee says:
@schoops
I completely agree. When I saw how much LeBron and Kobe were cheering for Phelps’ last event (the 400M Medley Relay) I felt all warm inside. Just kidding about the last part, but you get what I mean. I think Kobe loves it more because people had doubts about us as far as winning gold and knowing how much of a competitor Mamba is, I think he wants the biggest stage in the world to be his platform for showing we’re back…
August 19th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Skeeter McGee says:
And Doc,
Aussies are good for kangaroos, boomerangs (spell check?), and surfing. Maybe cricket, but that doesn’t count. And they serve as nice toilet paper after we s*** on them…
August 19th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
K_Digital says:
Does anyone happen to know what time/channel the Redeem Team vs Australia game is on Wednesday??
August 19th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Busta says:
Redeem Team? pppffffffffff, your lot still need to learn some respect for other balling countries….as for “fast bowling” Udain Bolt played “cricket” the one sport you yanks totally suck at…
I’m out like Team Ego……;-)
GO AUSSIES!
Busta