Team USA 97, Angola 76: Instant Analysis
Hold this…Why Team USA won: Defense, Dwight and Da King. The Americans harassed Angola’s guards from end-to-end, causing a ton of turnovers, forcing bad shots (too many threes) and spiking a lot of the good shots. Dwight Howard was beasting the shorter Angolan defenders trying to hold him, and LeBron was bouncing all over the place like he was hopped up on Kool-Aid packets — ‘Bron would be standing on the block during free throw attempts like a wide receiver about to take off on a route, and that right-to-left hand dunk he had in the first half was just filthy.
Why Angola lost: Despite what their coach said, you can’t accuse Angola’s players of not believing they could win the game. They hung in there for a good portion of the first half, didn’t fold in the second, and generally out-hustled the U.S. But the Angolans were too reliant on jacking three-pointers, didn’t have the size to handle LeBron and ‘Melo, let alone Dwight Howard, and didn’t really have anyone who could penetrate and create shots closer to the rim.
Looking ahead: Team USA’s first real test will be Thursday’s much-anticipated game against Greece, who of course beat the U.S. in the ‘06 World Championship. After losing their Olympic opener to Spain the other day, the Greeks blew out Dirk Nowitzki and the Germans earlier this morning. Ex-Houston Rockets guard Vassilis Spanoulis is their best player, and he’s on a roll, having dropped 23 points on Germany. The Greeks excel at everything that has plagued Team USA in recent years — they have a chemistry and familiarity with each other that maybe no other team in the world can match, they run the pick-and-roll like they all grew up watching John Stockton and Karl Malone tapes, they’ll knock down outside shots, and Sofoklis “Baby Shaq” Schortsanitis is a tricky wide load of a big man who can grab boards and will get guys like Howard and Boozer in foul trouble. Team USA will be in for a battle, and if today’s easy W causes them to lose some of their edge, don’t be shocked if Greece steals one.
August 12th, 2008 at 9:53 am
fallinup says:
Bring on the Greeks.
August 12th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Young Lebron 23 says:
While Team USA’s defense was impressive they gave Angola too many open shots and they won by only 21 points?
August 12th, 2008 at 10:25 am
Sam I Am says:
Screw the Greeks…
Bring it on…I got money saying its a 15-23 point win.
August 12th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Logan Light says:
I was surprised that USA ‘only’ won by 21 myself… They let Angola take a ridiculous amount of open shots in the second half while USA was trying to force the fast break.
The D was pretty stifling though and D Wade yet again proved that he is playing like a mad man.
Play of the game? Hands down goes to LeBron’s SWAT in the first half. Amazing.
LL
August 12th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Maren says:
It would appear that the people playing the best are the guys who have been playing FIBA ball the longest. That is apart from Carmelo of course.
August 12th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Ashlov says:
D-Wade is going to open a can of Tzatziki sauce whoop-ass on Greece. Flash has a chip on his shoulder, and knowing him, he’s going to go insane on both Greece and Spain.
August 12th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Mohawk says:
Kobe is stuggling with the whole FIBA shorter three point line thing.
August 12th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Arno says:
The greeks lost Dikoudis and Papadopoulos and they are struggling inside. If the US team attacks the rim and feed Howard, it should be easy. But they won’t get many TO by hussling the Greek guards like they got against China or Angola. Papaloukas, Diamantidis, Zizis and spanoulis are too good.
August 12th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Dagomar says:
Hey is there anywhere we can see the recap online?
August 12th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Big V says:
Greece is about to get it greek-style.
August 12th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Jason says:
I have been looking forward to the Greece game for months! Go USA!
August 12th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
D.H. says:
Sure the US played down to Angola quite a bit, however, there is no point in killing themselves on D and putting a 50 piece nugget on the Angol’s head when its just qualifying. Just like in other sports, the US should be saving their energy and magic for the games that really count; not some joke of a qualifying game as against the Angolians.
August 12th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
S-SiN says:
their chemistry is mythic. also mind ya’ll none of the greeks ran for 82+ nba grinders this year…
August 12th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Chaos says:
US been beating the snot outta angola for years and everyone…including the coach knows that they couldnt win against them on the US worse night. US could relax for a moment and save their energy for greece…and baby “rib” shack aint that impressive. i think he would end up being another mike sweetney, tractor traylor type in the nba cuz he conditioning sucks.
and that damn shorter three point line is killin me. my niece would overshoot on that court
August 12th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
HT says:
Man the USA’s defens will be the breadwinner this tournament, however those clowns need to get there shooting right, I can se why melo and kobe aren’t hitting they are used to longer three’s and they are to strong for the ball
August 12th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Taj says:
These guys are great players & don’t get me wrong I want to see them win the gold but I will GUARANTEE a loss in the next two games(Greece & Spain … it think)Their play has gotten worse as since the tournament started, Cant hit free throws, 3’s and are getting outrebounded!!!! How can that happen?? These guys should be trouncing teams at every oppurtunity and it’s the Olympics!!! What more motivation do you need to redeem yourself! They need to blow Greece away by 40 for me to get back on the bandwagon, because as of now I got one foot hangin out!
August 12th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
doc says:
@Taj They play has gotten worse since it started.They played 2 fucking games relax.Dime the Greeks will steal what? Maybe a pass or 2 but thats about it.They about to get they asses handed to them.And I feel sorry for these so called bomb squads everybody else got.Because Kobe been off the first 2 games and we all know whats coming.At least I hope nobody on here is retarded and can figure what Im getting at.
August 12th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Homeless J says:
what the hell is an Angola. it sounds like some kind of skin disease. “look at dude over there, he looks like he has the angola”
August 12th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
justin says:
I love how the kobe lovers are defending his horrible shooting by saying the 3 point line is too short. Kobe was shooting 5 feet behind the line on half of those shots so please come up with a better excuse than that. Lebron and Wade are really making Kobe look ordinary on the offensive end. I will give Kobe credit for his d. He has been on lockdown mode the entire summer.
August 12th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
guitar hero says:
@Homeless J: Angola is a former Portuguese colony in Africa(independent since mid 70’s). Please don’t act like you’re the damn center of the Universe, it’s ridiculous.
August 13th, 2008 at 1:21 am
Jon says:
I wouldn’t get too caught up in the margin of victory. US was up by over 30 by the end of the 3rd. If they really wanted a 40+ margin, they probably could have got it, but that wasn’t really necessary
August 13th, 2008 at 1:25 am
Jon says:
p.s. what is a problem though is that a college coach will probably be a little timid about getting in the pro players’ faces for sloppy play and not boxing out.
I remember the 1980 hockey team once had to stay on the floor and do suicides after a sloppy win, and that mentality led to gold.