48 MOH: Argentina is golden

[Mel_13]

by Jesse Blanchard

The Argentine crowd danced and sang as the players rejoiced on the court, soaking in another moment in the sun, and in all probability the last golden moment for its Golden Generation.

Sunday night’s FIBA Americas Championship Final between Brazil and Argentina was not a final look at Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola, Andres Nocioni, and Fabricio Oberto together under their national colors, but it was a final hero’s sendoff. A moment to bask in the home crowd before the team makes what will be one last run in next year’s London Olympics.....

http://www.48minutesofhell.com/argentina-is-golden

[DAF86]

I loved it, thanks.

[Dex]

Nice article. I hope they are able to get the Golden Generation back together and healthy for one more run in the Olympics (though this was probably Oberto's last run). Would even love to see them put up a good fight against the Americans again.

Thanks primarily to following Ginobili (and later, Oberto and Scola), Argentina has definitely become one of my favorite NTs. I won't ever cheer against the good ol' USA, but Argentina runs a solid second and are definitely one of my favorite teams to watch. The way they spread the floor, cut the to the basket, hit the open man...sometimes it almost seems like they have six guys on the floor.

[The Great Fantastic]

I actually cheered for these guys in '04. They played the right way and fought for everything without ever feeling entitled. This go 'round, I actually wanted Brazil to win because the Argentinean team complained too much. It seemed that they believed they didn't have to put all effort forth and felt entitled. Kind of disappointed seeing as their hunger was one of their best qualities.

Don't get me wrong, I still love the players. It's just a shame when any team let's what they deem as unfair officiating get in their heads. Just go out and win.

They still did but it wasn't against the stiffest competition.

[Dex]

I actually cheered for these guys in '04. They played the right way and fought for everything without ever feeling entitled. This go 'round, I actually wanted Brazil to win because the Argentinean team complained too much. It seemed that they believed they didn't have to put all effort forth and felt entitled. Kind of disappointed seeing as their hunger was one of their best qualities.

Don't get me wrong, I still love the players. It's just a shame when any team let's what they deem as unfair officiating get in their heads. Just go out and win.

They still did but it wasn't against the stiffest competition.

Yeah, I expected them to look a lot more unbeatable than they really did. Both Puerto Rico and Brazil really took good shots at them, and I think caught the Argentines a little off guard. As the favorites of the tournament, I think they kind of expected to show up and win it on star power, which I agree...seems very unlike the Argies.

Perhaps age has finally caught up with that NT; if it weren't for Scola going bananas, could have been a very different ending for them. They were able to pull it together when they needed to, but I don't think an effort like that beats the US.

[ElNono]

I think there's a couple of reasons why it cost them so much to finish this tournament.

1) They had two retired guys (Oberto, Sanchez) that just came back for this tournament without playing ball for 6 months or longer, and they all played a fairly prominent role (both played in the Gold medal game, and throughout most games).

2) The Nocioni injury. He's as much of the heart of the team as everyone else is, and he was having a good tournament until the injury.

3) They played like 10 games in 12 days. They started running teams out of the gym, including beating Puerto Rico by something like 20 points. But by the end those legs are not what they used to be. At some point in the gold medal game I thought they were running on fumes.

All in all, I'm frankly surprised they could pull it off. It was good to watch some basketball with some familiar faces too.

[ElNono]

:lol if you're at home with 9,000 fans behind you and you don't try to influence the refs, then you're just a fool. Of course they bitched.

[ElNono]

Nocioni's ankle after the sprain:

http://www.imagengratis.org/images/beakj.jpg

This dude actually went out there with that ankle and tried to play against Puerto Rico :lol

[The Great Fantastic]

:lol if you're at home with 9,000 fans behind you and you don't try to influence the refs, then you're just a fool. Of course they bitched.

I disagree. All teams try to influence the refs to a certain degree. Argentina did it to their detriment. Not getting back on defense and letting it effect their game. I believe that is foolish.