THE TEAM USA THREAD (5-0, Argentina/Ginobili next)

I don't like the idea of Wade on the team.

I don't either. There are about 5-10 better players that could've been picked. They're settling for less with Wade.

Living in the US and earning $$$ in the US = must play for team USA.

i dont know what you guys are talking about. this usa team is very good. (although they're missing Amare) playing international ball allows team usa to sacrifice a lot size for speed and finesse. dwade had one bad season. I'm not really a big wade fan either but i could see how he fits well in coach K's offense. he has 5 diverse wingman he can play.

Living in the US and earning $$$ in the US = must play for team USA.

wtf?

I know right.

http://www.usabasketball.com/news.php?n ... redemption

BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THIS

TRAINING CAMP STARTED



SNUBS: Found on ESPN.COM




Gilbert Arenas: His bridges were burned in '06.

Shane Battier: Ankle surgery knocked out a Coach K favorite.

Mike Bibby: Didn't play in '06 or '07

Bruce Bowen: Like Arenas, complained too much after '06 cut.

Elton Brand: Still recovering from major Achilles injury.

Nick Collison: In the mix for 2010 and 2012.

Kevin Durant: Will practice against Team USA in Vegas with select team.

Kirk Hinrich: A fifth wheel behind point guard foursome listed above.

Antawn Jamison: Was on Japan team in '06, but played little.

Joe Johnson: Coach K loves him, but superfluous for an already-small roster.

Shawn Marion: Came up lame the last two summers. Might be an alternate.

Brad Miller: Like Jamison, went to Japan but didn't play much.

Mike Miller: The weak link on the '07 team.

Adam Morrison: Recovering from torn knee ligament.

Greg Oden: Recovering from microfracture surgery.

Lamar Odom: Didn't play in '06 or '07. Could be an alternate

Paul Pierce: Finals MVP also squeezed out by not playing in '06 and '07.

J.J. Redick: Only on roster as option for 2010 and 2012.

Luke Ridnour: Battling Redick for 33rd man status.

Last edited by Air Zoom Kobe I on Wed Jul 02, 2008 2:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/olybb/new ... id=3467851


Battier, Chandler, Durant, Johnson, and Mike Miller are the alternates


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MORE COMING LATER

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We have three candidates for strangest thing we saw on Friday: A referee smoking a cigarette at halftime, Sarunas Jasikevicius looking like he had never played the game of basketball before and Chris Paul throwing down a dunk late in the fourth quarter.

Well, check that.

Paul has dunked before, which everyone on Team USA was quick to remind Dwight Howard of, since he was the guy Paul dunked over during a Hornets-Magic game a couple years back.

The other two items, however, were true rarities, and Kobe Bryant's shutting down of Jasikevicius was one of the biggest eye-openers, as Team USA handled Lithuania with relative ease in a 120-84 victory that wrapped up the Macau portion of its pre-Olympic tour.

"That's what I'm here to do," said Bryant, who gave himself a new nickname: "The Doberman."

There was pretty much nothing but a long, long list of positives for Team USA in this 36-point stomping, so let's just go ahead and rattle off a few:

• Dwyane Wade again looked like the Wade of two years ago, punctuating a 7-for-9, 21-point performance with yet another powerful windmill dunk late in the fourth quarter that had his teammates jumping off the bench and roaring in admiration.

"He's back. That's all I can tell you, he's back," Carmelo Anthony said.

• Howard got going on offense early after getting a pep talk during the morning shootaround from assistant coach Nate McMillan, scoring 10 of his 17 points in the best first quarter the Americans have played among their three warmup games, thus far.

• Michael Redd busting Lithuania's zone by knocking down four 3-pointers and scoring 16 points in just 14 minutes, his shot clicking so well that LeBron James took to yelling "bang bang" every time the left-hander fired away.

• Carlos Boozer even getting in on the fun with a steal -- one of 16 the Americans had -- and breakaway dunk late in the game. "I used to do that a lot in high school and college, not so much in the pros," Boozer said.

As a group, the Americans also handled Lithuania's one surge with aplomb. After Lithuania knocked down three 3-pointers to open the second half and cut what had been a 19-point deficit down to single digits, 61-52, Team USA used a 14-6 run early in the third quarter to put the game out of reach.

"We weren't expecting it, but they made a run and we kept our composure and buckled down defensively and opened the game up," Anthony said.

The best piece of defensive work was performed by Bryant, who was all over Jasikevicius the same way he was against Leandro Barbosa of Brazil last summer during the Tournament of the Americas. The box score listed just three turnovers for the former member of the Pacers and Warriors, but the count on press row was more like seven or eight.

This is the same Jasikevicius who burned the Americans four years ago in Athens by burying seven 3-pointers and scoring 28 points in an opening-round victory over the U.S. And although it has only been four years since then, so thorough was the job Bryant did on Jasikevicius, he made him look like a player 10 years past his prime.

"He had a great game against us a few years ago, and he was real brash about it, trash talking and things of that nature. So it's my responsibility to bring it to him," Bryant said. "He reminded me of it, so we sicced the Doberman on him."

Bryant took the lead role, but the other American starters helped out on traps and used their quick hands to force Jasikevicius into miscue after miscue -- with a couple of missed shots thrown in -- as they sprinted out to a 24-5 lead. Bryant had the last five points in that opening run, recovering after losing his balance to knock down a bank shot from the elbow, then nailing a long 3 as Lithuania went to a zone -- something Canada and Turkey hadn't done in the Americans' first two exhibitions.

It was 31-15 after one quarter, and Howard had a fast-break dunk off a made basket after receiving a baseball pass ahead of the field -- another rarity, but something Team USA had done repeatedly the previous night against Turkey -- as the lead grew to 56-39 at halftime. (At which point, for the first time while witnessing hundreds upon hundreds of basketball games over the years, I witnessed a referee taking a smoke break on the arena loading dock. One USA Basketball employee was dying to take a photograph of it, then thought better of it, realizing that the referee might just hold it against the Americans if he works any of their games down the road.)

The Americans then held off the Lithuanians' surge, and Wade took over the offense by scoring 15 of his 19 points in just seven minutes of second-half playing time to end whatever suspense had briefly arisen.

"We were pleased with our intensity," team director Jerry Colangelo said. "We played what we felt was pretty good defense, everyone who was on the court played while, and it's a matter of getting out there and feeling you can beat whoever you're playing. They're focused, they really are."

So the month of August has begun with Team USA looking extremely gold-medal worthy, but there are still 23 more days before those gold medals will be handed out.

A lot can happen between now and then, and the mental and physical fatigue that usually sets in at the end of a 36-day trip is still a factor that could come into play three weeks down the road.

But for now, this version of Team USA appears to be morphing from a strong favorite to a prohibitive favorite as we count down the days -- only five of 'em to go -- until the Americans get to Beijing, where they'll open Olympic play against Yao Ming and the Chinese National Team on Aug. 10.

Next up is a friendly against the defending European champion, Russia, on Sunday in Shanghai (3 a.m. ET, ESPN2, ESPN360.com), followed two nights later by a match against Australia.

No word yet on whether Bryant will be assigned to guard the best player on each of those teams -- big men Andrei Kirilenko and Andrew Bogut. But there's no doubting the fact that the Doberman is up to the challenge, and as Boozer said as he stepped into the service elevator leading to the team bus: "Kobe can stop anybody."

With the way Wade is playing, not to mention James (another coolly efficient 7-for-9 shooting night for 15 points), the backup backcourt tandem of Paul and Deron Williams (six points and seven assists apiece), and the way the Americans have made the correct adjustments when their pick-and-roll defense has been faulty, it's all looking good right now.

Real good.

did wade gain weight?

well... at least it's good to see him back playing well.

did wade gain weight?

I'd say he definitely has, & it all looks like muscle

Austrailia has a prettty good basketball team, they only lost to the US by 11

Yeah it was a pretty good effort considering Bogut was sidelined. Probably the best game the Boomers have ever had against a US team.

USA wins getting smaller and smaller each game. went from like 60 against canada to just 10 against Australia.

Yeah it was a pretty good effort considering Bogut was sidelined. Probably the best game the Boomers have ever had against a US team.

The game in Athens wasn't bad either. We were leading up until third quarter I think. They needed Bron and Wade to step up to help them win. I believe last night, Chris Paul and Wade had to step up to put the Boomers away.

I would rank this Aussie team as one of the best we've had in a while!

Pretty much. Of course, you have to wonder if a little bit of boredom hasn't set in with Team USA, once they got their act together and took the lead they didn't give it up though it did come within four.

to aussies..

how many nba players do aus got? amazing how this team came so close to beating usa.

anyways it seems like this year's usa team is carrying more expectations than teams of last few years, so anything other than perfect record would be a disater.

Only one currently on an NBA roster (Bogut) and he wasn't playing.

Patrick Mills was awesome to watch...

Does he have a place in the NBA though?

I think he could be a special player in the NBA. If theres a place for Allen Iverson, Tony Parker, Chris Paul, there could be a place for Mills if he's good enough.

His height is going to work against him but he's got a lot of heart the way he drives to the basket and I'd say he's got the talent to make it. I wouldn't be so bold as to suggest he'll be a top prospect but I think he stands a good chance to be drafted and hopefully make an impact somewhere.

how many nba players do aus got? amazing how this team came so close to beating usa.

anyways it seems like this year's usa team is carrying more expectations than teams of last few years, so anything other than perfect record would be a disater.

The game with Australia is hopefully a wake up call, because they can't play that way against Spain or Argentina

anyone know where i can watch olympic games on internet?

try http://channelsurfing.net/
if you dont live in the US use http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/ and look up new york to see when it shows

anyone know where i can watch olympic games on internet?

Probably justin tv or www.myp2p.eu