Pre-Olympic Games

[guest301]

Spain destroyed Latvia today 107-55. They are destroying teams with fundamental half-court offense and defense, not running up the score with steals and fast-breaks (a la Team USA). I think Spain had exactly one fast break the entire game.

I have never seen a better passing team than Spain. They also run NBA offensive sets, full of curls and alley oops, always with perfect spacing. Very impressive.

Where are you watching all these games? Are you following some feed of the internet or do you have some hard to get sports channel to watch this? I would love to catch some of these international pre-olympic games. You mostly have me convinced that Spain should be the favorite. ESPN is covering a USA game tommorrow morning I believe.Edited by: guest301

 

[Guest]

Does Marc Gasol play? Is he good?

 

[guest301]

He does play and his NBA team(Grizzlies?) are excited to have him from what I hear. Don't know his stats but they should be easy enough to look up on the internet. He's seen as a tougher and bigger version of his brother with less of the offensive skillset of Pau Gasol but much better defensively and nastier.

 

[Guest]

G301: I have been scouring the internet, and found a couple nice sources. You can watch all of the Spanish games, from the original Channel 6 Spanish broadcast, live or later, here: www.justin.tv/lasexta6
Here is where you can find the daily internet feeds for whatever else:
www.myp2pforum.eu/nba-basketball/
I don't know much about how it works, but somebody will post a thread of feeds from live broadcasts around the world.

Nevada: Yes, he is a huge part of their success, and is very skilled down low. From the handful of games I have seen, he is a post-up player, a strong finisher, and makes some amazing passes.He is built much thicker than his brother, making Pau look small next to him.

 

[guest301]

Thanks 89Glory. That's some serious scouring of the internet.

 

[Guest]

Ha, thanks, it took a lot of effort to even find results, as the American press doesn't give a darn about international results. I resorted to searching in Spanish, and I hit paydirt!

I would like to find more info on the Greek squad, which I consider a major threat to the Americans, but I can't read much Greek, so I am a bit out of luck...

 

[Guest]

Australia over Angola, 81-78
Argentina over Serbia, 75-60

Wow, Andrew Bogut played like a man among boys, scoring 32 on 72% shooting, with 11 rebounds, to power Australia to victory over Angola. The next highest scorer for the Aussies had 9.

Argentina was able to handle Serbia comfortably.Ginobili and Nocioni led the balanced Argentine attack.

Friday's title game will be a nice preview of Olympic competition, matching the future Group A competitors, Australia vs Argentina.

 

[Guest]

USA over Turkey, 114-82

USA whipped up on Turkey this morning as well. Turkey did not have NBA players Hedo Turkoglu or Mehmet Okur, but the team is noted for its height.Team USA's pressure defense and fast break buried them in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

 

[guest301]

No Hedo and no Okur, If I didn't have to work this morning that would have taken all my interest out of even watching the game. No chance without those guys and not much chance with them.

 

[Guest]

In their first warmup since the qualifying tourney, Germany beat Finland today, 78-67.

Dirk and Kaman did not play beyond the mid-point of the third quarter. Wasn't really a blow out, but coach just never put them back in.

Kaman led all scorers with 13 points on 7 shots, despite playing less than 17 minutes. Dirk played less than 20 minutes total, putting in 11 points.

 

[Guest]

I agree G301, this was a pushover game for them. I didn't see it either, but giving up 82 is not a good sign. Tomorrow they will finally get some real competition, from Lithuania, followed by Russia and Australia. If they can destroy those guys, that will prove something.

 

[guest301]

Got a three day weekend coming up and so I hope to catch all of those games you just referred to. You posted about actually doing a internet search in Spanish to find a link to some of these games. You are certainly a serious fan. You have no excuse not to speak Greek however.

You got to work on that. Barack Obama would be ashamed of you. He recently said that he was embarrassed by Americans who visit overseas and only speak the english language. So you got to pull your own weight 89Glory and live up to his high standards.

Edited by: guest301

 

[Guest]

Too funny, G301! You made me laugh, because I had to figure out a few German words (made, missed, two pointer, three pointer, etc) watching the German play by play.

Today's results:
Argentina over Australia 95-91.
China righted the ship against Iran, 75-46.
Serbia bounced back to wipe out Angola, 99-62 to avoid the wooden spoon. The African country looks to be the weakest in the Olympics.

USA crushed Lithuania 120-84. They cut it to 9 in the 3rd quarter, but USA pulled away from there. The main weakness in the USA game continues to be the high number of fouls they pick up. USA outscored Lithuania 70-24 in the paint, meaning most of the USA points came on layups and dunks. They scored 33 on 3-pointers, so at most 17 points came from the mid-range game (do they count FTs as in-the-paint? because they scored 13 via FTs). That could be a problem when teams slap tight zones on them in the tournament.

Scola played like a monster against Australia, scoring 32 on 18 shots. Ginobili added 24 and Nocioni 20. Andrew Bogut inexplicably disappeared, scoring 4 in only 20 minutes of play. Edited by: 89Glory

 

[guest301]

Glad I made you laugh. Argentina vs Spain would make for a very interesting final. Most normal basketball fans are still under the assumption that the USA can just roll the basketball on the floor and crush everybody in the Olympics. The short term memory of the average sports fan is just amazing. The world is 90% caught up in talent and the superior European fundamentals, FIBA rules and that some of these teams are together longer will hopefully make up for the other 10%. I think Lithuania and Greece are still dangerous but have slipped a notch and Spain has improved drastically, Argentina is the same and Germany/Russia has a outside chance. Angola hasn't been the same since Charles Barkely elbowed one of their players in the 92 Olympics.

 

[Guest]

Lithuania barely got by Turkey today, 82-74, further highlighting Team Lithuania's downturn this Olympic cycle.

The media keep hyping USA's big victory over Lithuania as over a "medal contender" but that is driving in the rear-view mirror. Lithuania was once great, but are on a decline now.

They are clearly no threat to Team USA, repeatedly giving up fast break dunks as they turned the ball over with bad passes against USA pressure.

 

[Guest]

USA beats Russia, 89-68. Actually a very competitive game, but the Russians gave up too many turnovers that led to USA fastbreak dunks. Take away those easy baskets (19 points worth) and it is basically an even game.

Kirilenko played big against the Americans, and the main USA weakness continues to be fouls. L. James had 5, K. Bryant and D. Howard picked up four each, and AK-47 went to the line 12 times.

The other predicted USA weakness also showed up against the Russians: rebounding. USA was outrebounded for the game, and gave up 12 offensive rebounds, not a good sign for the smallish-US team as it prepares for all the teams with multiple 7-footers in group b.

The shine really came off LeBronze, as he shot only 4 of 9 FGs, 2 of 5 FTs, had 4 turnovers, and fouled out in 24 minutes.

Watching the game, my brother and I noticed the caste system in action on the US squad: the lightest skinned players are being buried on the end of the bench: J. Kidd, T. Prince, and C. Boozer.Too funny!

 

[Guest]

USA squeaks by the Aussies today 87-76. Australia did not even have their big man, Bogut, who sat out to rest his ankle.

The USA looked really bad. It was like 2004 all over again, with bad shooting and no team concept.

The more I watch, I am beginning to think the USA probably won't even medal.

 

[guest301]

If they don't medal, that would be a huge blow to the caste system and to all those huge egos that guys like Kobe, Lebron and Wade have. How would they live that down? I just hope there will be no major injuries to blame their demise on.

 

[Guest]

Oh yeah, I found out why Bogut had such a low scoring game against Argetina in only 20 minutes: he did not play the second half, taken out by that ankle injury. Australia is the surprise contender, my early dark horse, I do believe they are for real. I think they are the top candidate for the winners of Pool A (over the declining Argentina, Russia, and Lithuania).They were up on Argentina by high double digits when Bogut went out, and they were neck and neck with USA without him. I hope we get to see them play USA again, with Bogut at full strength!