“If That Had Been Spain, The U.S. Would Have Lost by 20″
Dwyane Wade (photo. Mannion)That quote came from ESPN’s Chris Sheridan’s analysis of Team USA’s showing against Australia – a scathing look at a team he described as a “flawed, overconfident team.”
From his article:
Porous defense, inside and outside. Abysmal 3-point shooting. Bad free-throw shooting. Sloppiness with the ball. Even a never-before-seen inability to contend with speed. Backup Aussie point guard Paddy Mills was a blur, the fastest player I’ve seen since Allen Iverson was a rookie. He plays Division I ball in the U.S. for St. Mary’s (Calif.), where he just finished his freshman season, and he told ESPN.com he has run 400 meters in 49 seconds.
“I was concerned after the last game that they were already in Beijing,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said of the team’s mental state. “They’ll be OK, but obviously this was not a good performance.”The truly stunning thing about the Americans’ 87-76 victory was that it came against an Australian team that didn’t even have its best player, since Andrew Bogut sat out to rest a sprained right ankle. The Boomers, as they’re known Down Under, are setting their sights merely on making it into the medal round, with no illusions about where they stand in the worldwide pecking order — somewhere between sixth and eighth, nowhere near the likes of Spain, Argentina and Greece, the three teams who will wake up Wednesday morning with a heightened sense of hope after seeing how the U.S. team struggled in its final pre-Olympic tune-up.
And then later:
Before we look at the numbers, let’s make sure to highlight the biggest weakness on display: Team USA’s defense was just plain awful, with Australia spreading the floor, moving the ball and repeatedly finding itself able to score on uncontested shots from both inside and beyond the 3-point line. Even when the inside shots were contested, they were too often being contested by a player several inches shorter.
Remember last summer when Mexico scored 100 against Team USA in the Tournament of the Americas and the players shrugged it off as nothing? Well, it wasn’t nothing. It was a sign that too often they are beaten for open looks, and they should have taken it as a warning sign.
“I think a lot of teams get intimidated by that team, but basketball around the world is getting stronger. On paper they are [a lock], but I don’t know,” Australia’s Chris Anstey said. “I don’t think they’ve been a lock for the last eight years. That’s nothing against them, that’s just a credit to everyone else around the world. Every now and again, some people are going to catch up.
A sub-par performance by Team USA in those exhibition games isn’t all that surprising. They played pretty well in the games leading up to the run with Australia, they’ve traveled a ton, and of course it’s only natural to be looking ahead to the games that really count right? The issues dealing with the speed and athleticism of perimeter players like Patty Mills is clearly a concern though, as is their continued inability to close out on other team’s shooters (something we’ve seen throughout the exhibition games).
You have to think they’ll be more locked in once the tournament starts, and the Australia game will serve as a wakeup call, but Coach K still has to feel pretty uneasy heading into next week.
Source: ESPN.com
August 6th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Tha Boddy says:
I’ll say it like this…All this extra passing and flashy passes on the break will have to calm down by about 50%. It looks good but hey they turn the ball over about half the time so the POT will have to be realized earlier than later. Another thing is the whole fastbreak every missed shot will be corrected. Like in a post from yesterday the elite teams will concede rebounds in order to put USA in halfcourt offense and shop the fastbreak all together. Micheal Redd is good but a healthy Gilbert Arenas is by far better. When Redd can’t get his 3’s to go in he is worthless on the court while Agent Zero can still slash wit the best of them or shoot over the rest of them… Agent Zero DMV hero!!!
August 6th, 2008 at 11:47 am
word says:
honestly, being a realist, there really is a less than .01% chance the U.S. will not win gold, they got this on lock no matter how bad they play. Seriously, they won all 4 games by 20 or 30. They got it made.
August 6th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Dime Magazine says:
they won by 9 yesterday and looked like trash. Australia is pretty good but Sheridan is right, an elite team would have buried them.
August 6th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Celts Fan says:
Whether we looked past them or not, that small of a W should be a wake-up call and should, at the very least, get Coach K riding them harder in practice, and grounding them a bit to get them refocused.
To be fair though, my guess is they were thinking about their date w/ China on Saturday. This is like the last game of the preseason. After almost 3 years, the Olympics are almost here (the ONLY thing they’ve been targeting and the only thing they can win to officially reclaim our title as best ballers in the world.) It’s only human to look ahead. If this was actually during the Olympics, I’d be much more worried. They’ll be fine.
August 6th, 2008 at 11:58 am
JayTea says:
This just highlights what you see in the L all season long. The deal is that these guys won’t play D won’t make the effort to close out on the shooter, won’t work through screens etc… and they look ok in the L cause all other dudes are doing the same. Now come into some play against teams that practice the fundamentals and all that showboat stuff aint gonna play…
August 6th, 2008 at 11:59 am
shake&bake says:
You have to think they were playing down to the level of their opponent, which isn’t good at all by any means, but it is also common (especially since Bogut was out). Hopefully they learned their lesson and put on a show at the Olympics. USA!!!
August 6th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Daily boy says:
They know that they will have to live with the same of having 5 of the best players in the world on one team and couldn’t pull it off. So I think they need to quit listening to the media and play soild basketball & they’ll be good.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Daily boy says:
They know that they will have to live with the shame of having 5 of the best players in the world on one team and couldn’t pull it off. So I think they need to quit listening to the media and play soild basketball & they’ll be good.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Celts Fan says:
maybe all the traveling’s caught up w/ them too? who knows, either way, I don’t anticipate any more lapses of concentration now that the next time the ball’s in play, it won’t be a tuneup, won’t be a Tournament of the Americas, it’ll finally be the Olympics.
predictions:
Gold: US
Silver: Spain
Bronze: Argentina
August 6th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Celts Fan says:
*BUT the days of us blowing out everyone are over. They will have to earn the gold. I see Spain giving them a really tough game…
August 6th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
M23 says:
Patty Mills is a blur…but theres this one kid about 15 who lives about 30 minutes away from me, and you cant even see the ball when when hes dribbling. If you got his highlights and played them in slow-motion then they would look like normal speed…
from here on out it’s going to get tough for team usa…i wouldnt be suprised if they won some games by single digits or maybe even lost one.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Michorizo says:
Kobe will have Gasol traded back to Memphis if Spain wins.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Mike says:
It seemed like the US played like the game was an All-Star game (i.e. a lot of high risk flashy passes, trying to force alley-oops, and little defense). It was just an exhibition and they were probably trying to get all the fans excited.
Hopefully, the team will treat the Olympic tournament a little more serious.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
jz_smoove says:
i dont foresee redeem team blowing out a lot of others in the olympics this year but they are so locked on they will win gold. they have the two best players in the world. these twoalso have the most to gain( or lose) in the marketing race globally (especially in china). btw, do you really think kobe and lebron are here merely for the olympic satisfaction of winning old? you know you aint no fool, $$$ talks and that what they will get in the end of it all they just need to work for it.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
jz_smoove says:
…satisfaction of winning gold…
August 6th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
d says:
The defense cannot rotate fast enough. There are always three point shooters open and they never get out fast enough to challenge the shooter. The Australia game highlighted this problem, whereas vs. Turkey and Lithuania, the shooters just weren’t knocking down the shots.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
YOUNGFED says:
Dime and ESPN needs to stop with the overseas Dik Ridin’. I mean seriously where’s yall patriotism at. They’ve been smashing everybody and yall still hatin’, it’s like yall wanna see us lose.
Quote of The Day:
“Those who wanna see others loose are often losers themselves.” – YOUNGFED
August 6th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Spliff 2 My Lou says:
In the 2004 olympic games Spain cruised through the opening rounds 5-0 but lost in the first bracket game. The were out. The finished seventh. Once you get to the brackets its one and done. All it takes is one bad game.
Of course USA should win but they have to step it up big time. They won’t beat Spain or Greece playing like they did against Australia.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
YOUNGFED says:
Can’t wait till we play Spain and put the Smash on them and silience the haters.
August 6th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Chaos says:
man, you gotta look at this as what it is, an exhibition game. they started that because they prolly needed to get all that out anyway. not too mention Team USA saw what the weakness was and now they can fix it. if the other countries think they can use that weakness now, they are mistaken because Coach K will come up with a solution to that weakness and run the world off the court
August 6th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Chaos says:
it was a tune up game and now they know what to tune up
August 6th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Meica says:
Two points: one, they won by eleven points (that has to count for something, let’s remember in normal game of basketball that’s quite a margin to win by, and two, has anyone seen an NBA preseason game or an NFL preseason game? Coaches routinely admit to not playing to their teams strengths, to putting their teams in tough situations to not only try and conceal some of their gameplan, but also to see how the team holds up under pressure. Take that Hall of Fame game that happened between the Colts and the ‘Skins the other day—Indianapolis onside kicked their opening kickoff! Preseason/Exhibition games are not the best way to tell who’s who and what’s what from a team.
Chaos (#20.) does a good job of explaining why teams would do this. You want to see what you need to work on and what weaknesses you have. It must have been a slow news day at the ol’e ESPN.
August 6th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Meica says:
I’m sorry they won by nine points, which is different, but I wonder how ESPN would have reacted had the team played harder and someone got injured.
Meaningless game, remember.
August 6th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
bballinca says:
@ Youngfed if you want to be qoute of the day at least spell looser right, loser.
BTW we may have the best players in the world but not neccessarily the best team.
August 6th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
d says:
@ Youngfed
Patriotism is not ignorance. There are glaring problems with team USA. I think everyone on this site wants to see us bring back Gold, but it’s clear that the divide between international play and US play has closed in the last 14 years. So it’s an obvious concern. Despite how many sick highlights show up on ESPN it’s a problem that these are all super-star players on our teams. If you watch the other teams they’re much more focused on team ball, which definitely isn’t always the case with Team USA. When they decide to move the ball around, they look unstoppable, but there are times when all of them can turn into certified CHUCKERS.
And if you’ve been watching the warm-up games you can see these problems. Teams like Spain, Greece, and Argentina have legit talent and are a threat.
Team USA’s defense is atrocious.
Patriotism does not ignore glaring weaknesses. It looks to improve and it sees black, white, and gray. It reflects intelligently upon things. You gotta lose the “you’re either with us or against us mentality.” In this day and age the most important thing is being objective.
August 6th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Luigi says:
oh boii. im scared now
August 6th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Russ says:
Tired of people making excuses. We should be murking people. Period. A wake up call? Are you serious? How many times can we use that before it doesn’t work anymore? Wasn’t not winning for the past 8 years or so enough of a wake up call? Same problems exist. Too much one on one. Poor perimeter defense. And we STILL can’t shoot.
August 6th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Allan says:
USA will be fine, let us put our trust on the coaching staff and the players but I agree those turn overs need to be curbed man! They are killing the team’s spirit everytime a botched play happens. I also suggest that they practice their free throws because by making 90% of their shots during the aussie game they could have padded their lead to 20 instead of 11.
August 6th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
word says:
usa will get gold, theres really no doubting that
August 6th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
HeadKicker B says:
Team USA is a very good team. The problem is that they rely heavily on their superior athleticism and their team offense is not as efficient as most knowledgeable basketball fans would like it to be. Maybe they looked past the Boomers, maybe they were a bit jetlagged (although the Boomers traveled too). I just think it is ignorant to assume they’ll win because they are team USA. The thing is other teams look at the lack of team offense as a weakness, the high pressure *gambling* defense as a weakness and they are not intimidated because they see weaknesses. This gives them confidence.
Word, I hope your right about the Gold medal but I have the feeling you guaranteed the Patriots would win the Super Bowl.
August 6th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
doc says:
I dont get how the Aussies cant hang with Argentina and them and they was up 19 on them the other day.It sounds like US media just need some stories to write and make it interesting.Since when was losing a game by 11 not getting your ass whipped.They bullshitted throught he game ready for the real ones to start and won by 11.To a team the ULTRA ELITE UNBEATABLE Argentina beat by 4.Spain Argentina,Greece,They all will get beat down by the BEST TEAM In THE WORLD.If they played Spain they would’ve lost by 20.I wonder if they write that bullshit in Spain when they lose to Russia or some random team we beat down already.
August 6th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
doc says:
We got all these weaknesses and aint lose yet.Americans aint shit.I see why people hate us.We are the top notch haters in the world.They should all go play for 1 of them African teams since thats where they from anyway so they dont get shitted on by their fans after W’s.I bet they would cheer a 11 point win by this team over there.
August 6th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
doc says:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xz69y_1er-match-de-drobinson-au-csp-33-sport
August 6th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
kb24! says:
A win is a win. STUPID.
August 6th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
frankie says:
I want the US to win, but part of me wants them to lose just so doc will finally shut up. He’s probably been making the same comments to people that doubt our national team for the last few years (when we haven’t won jack, btw, doc, in case you missed that).
August 6th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
GEE...when we conspire to conceive says:
I am on some Akunna Matatta (however you spell it) stuff lol.
No worries.
USA ain’t losing this year period.
Somebody gone say something if they win by 30 or 1. Either way they gonna win. As I said the main battle will be for Silver. Now that is up for grabs.
August 6th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
doc says:
@frankie-When they take that L you waiting for I’ll fall back,but you wishing on a star homie.
August 7th, 2008 at 1:21 am
frankie says:
Yea, that makes sense. Be like Carmelo 4 years ago. “We guarantee a win! Unless we lose.” Very logical.