Championship of the Americas

Luis Scola 32 points for Argentina beat Brazil 80-75 in final in Argentina. Both qualified for Olympics. Didn't realize how big Scola's rep was the announcers were calling him an all-time international star.

Good game waaaay lighter than anything you'll see in nba or D1 college ball. Brazil had young white German and tan side of mixed guys. The dark NBA guys -- Nene, Barbosa and Sideshow Bob -- all wussed our for Brazil but they were still good with 19-20 year olds. Argentina has Scola, Manu, Carlos Delfino and Walter Herrmann who was good for the Bobcats then disappeared on the Pistons bench.

US didn't play because they won the Worlds last year. Would've been fun to get those out of shape NBA lockout artists down to a South American winter and see what they got.

It was fun to watch this tournament, I'm personally hoping Scola will also to continue to shine in the NBA when the league returns. He's been a borderline all-star for a while now.

Also, "Sideshow Bob" as you refer to Anderson Varejao as, is actually Portuguese descent, so he's not really "dark".

Scola is very underrated in the NBA, but in the International scene, he's a superstar!

Argentina's win is extraordinary considering how old that squad is, with an average age of 32-33 years. Carlos Delfino was the only player under 30 (29 years old). This is a fitting end to Argentina's GOLDEN basketball generation, which began as far back as 1999. They also won the 2001 FIBA Americas Gold, which led to an international breakthrough in beating NBA-led Team USA in the 2002 FIBA Worlds. Their continued mastery of Team USA culminated in their greatest triumph, the 2004 Olympic Gold medal. Argentina will need to rebuild after the 2012 Olympics, but no question they've left a lasting impression on the basketball map.

Walnut237 said:

It was fun to watch this tournament, I'm personally hoping Scola will also to continue to shine in the NBA when the league returns. He's been a borderline all-star for a while now.

Also, "Sideshow Bob" as you refer to Anderson Varejao as, is actually Portuguese descent, so he's not really "dark".

Click to expand...

Ask folk in New England how "white" the Portugese are! I guess I can't get past the hair, because it doesn't look like that without some African or Hebrew in you.