ShackO
08-23-2006, 07:37 PM
Anyone watching???
I have watched a few but honestly watching China was BORING and SLO was not much better up till Miller got in the game..........lol
@ least they made a game of it......
Team USA narrowly avoids embarrassment (http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/5898722)
Uh-oh. Team USA's come-from-behind 94-85 win over Italy was nearly a repeat of the embarrassment in Athens and the humiliation in Indianapolis.
The Italians are a good, but not a great, ball club. Their defense is subpar, their three-point shooting erratic, and overall they're not incredibly quick. Still, their patience, physicality, and relentless hustle were almost enough to upend the Americans.
Let's take our usual look at the balance between the pluses and minuses:
# After getting repeatedly burned when their super-aggressive ball-attacking defense resulted in more open shots for Team Italy than turnovers for Team USA, coach Mike Krzyzewski and his staff made a heady halftime adjustment. Instead of gambling on rips and steals, the focus was switched to playing contain defense on Italy's guards. This allowed the defenders to challenge the three-point shooters, and also to avoid being routinely victimized by ball penetration.
# At the same time, the weak-side guards and wings stayed at home on defense and avoided being sucked into the paint.
Carmelo Anthony broke the Team USA scoring record with 35 points against Italy. (Jesse D. Garrabrant / Getty Images)
# Team USA likewise tightened up its protection of the defensive boards.
# As the Italians gradually succumbed to the waves of fresh bodies that USA brought off the bench, the Americans dramatically forced the tempo by having a guard (or wing) run out as soon as their man unloosed a long-range bomb. The resulting defensive rebounds and long passes produced many of Team USA's breakaway dunks.
# Credit Coach K for getting maximum results from his substitutions. By the third quarter, Italy's starters were so weary that their screens were increasingly passive, and the cutters lacked the energy to make sharp, slashing moves.
# All in all, Coach K and his staff made several outstanding half-time adjustments.
# Anthony simply took over the offense, thereby demonstrating that he's the go-to guy that every championship team requires.
# Dwyane Wade likewise rose to the occasion.
# Against the slo-mo Italian defense, Chris Paul was able to drive, draw, and pass at will (although he was often sloppy with the ball). Italy was also unable to adequately defend any screen/roll that involved Elton Brand.
# The Americans maintained their focus, kept their complaints to themselves, and refused to be distracted by the usual quota of bizarre calls.
Now for the accumulated debits:
# Since the very first possession was an isolation for LeBron James (he missed a turn-around jumper), it was clear that Team USA's game plan was designed to have selected players go one-on-one against Italy's mano-a-mano defense. In a total of 22 iso situations, the Americans scored 27 points — that's 1.25 points per possession, which is 0.15 better than the average in the NBA, but not good enough in top-flight international competition. D-Wade and Anthony had the best production here, the former with 10 points in 7 isolations, and the latter producing 12 points in 7 isos.
# Because of this highly individualistic tactic, the other players were barely involved in the offense. Having too many players spectating at one end of the court usually saps both their aggression and their concentration at the other end. That's why Italy snatched so many offensive rebounds in the first half, ran themselves into fast-break advantages, and rescued so many loose balls.
# On those occasions when Italy was able to freely move the ball and create advantageous angles for dribble-penetrations, the Americans were easily beaten to the hoop.
# Subtract, Anthony's 5-7 shooting from beyond the arc, and the team's perimeter shooting amounted to only 6-15. Good, but not good enough to overcome the crafty zone defenses the Americans will face in the quarterfinals.
# The Americans seemed overly offended whenever they were crudely bumped and banged by Italy's bigs.
Anthony's hot hand, Coach K's (and his staff's) savvy adjustments, and Team USA's incredible depth were the deciding factors. Even so, the victory against a young Team Italy had too many scary moments.
Whether the unfolding of this game was a necessary wake-up call, or a sign of Team's USA's ultimate vulnerability will be resolved soon enough.
Charley Rosen is FOXSports.com's NBA analyst and author of 13 books about hoops, the current one being "The pivotal season, How the 1971-72 L.A. Lakers changed the NBA."
I have watched a few but honestly watching China was BORING and SLO was not much better up till Miller got in the game..........lol
@ least they made a game of it......
Team USA narrowly avoids embarrassment (http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/5898722)
Uh-oh. Team USA's come-from-behind 94-85 win over Italy was nearly a repeat of the embarrassment in Athens and the humiliation in Indianapolis.
The Italians are a good, but not a great, ball club. Their defense is subpar, their three-point shooting erratic, and overall they're not incredibly quick. Still, their patience, physicality, and relentless hustle were almost enough to upend the Americans.
Let's take our usual look at the balance between the pluses and minuses:
# After getting repeatedly burned when their super-aggressive ball-attacking defense resulted in more open shots for Team Italy than turnovers for Team USA, coach Mike Krzyzewski and his staff made a heady halftime adjustment. Instead of gambling on rips and steals, the focus was switched to playing contain defense on Italy's guards. This allowed the defenders to challenge the three-point shooters, and also to avoid being routinely victimized by ball penetration.
# At the same time, the weak-side guards and wings stayed at home on defense and avoided being sucked into the paint.
Carmelo Anthony broke the Team USA scoring record with 35 points against Italy. (Jesse D. Garrabrant / Getty Images)
# Team USA likewise tightened up its protection of the defensive boards.
# As the Italians gradually succumbed to the waves of fresh bodies that USA brought off the bench, the Americans dramatically forced the tempo by having a guard (or wing) run out as soon as their man unloosed a long-range bomb. The resulting defensive rebounds and long passes produced many of Team USA's breakaway dunks.
# Credit Coach K for getting maximum results from his substitutions. By the third quarter, Italy's starters were so weary that their screens were increasingly passive, and the cutters lacked the energy to make sharp, slashing moves.
# All in all, Coach K and his staff made several outstanding half-time adjustments.
# Anthony simply took over the offense, thereby demonstrating that he's the go-to guy that every championship team requires.
# Dwyane Wade likewise rose to the occasion.
# Against the slo-mo Italian defense, Chris Paul was able to drive, draw, and pass at will (although he was often sloppy with the ball). Italy was also unable to adequately defend any screen/roll that involved Elton Brand.
# The Americans maintained their focus, kept their complaints to themselves, and refused to be distracted by the usual quota of bizarre calls.
Now for the accumulated debits:
# Since the very first possession was an isolation for LeBron James (he missed a turn-around jumper), it was clear that Team USA's game plan was designed to have selected players go one-on-one against Italy's mano-a-mano defense. In a total of 22 iso situations, the Americans scored 27 points — that's 1.25 points per possession, which is 0.15 better than the average in the NBA, but not good enough in top-flight international competition. D-Wade and Anthony had the best production here, the former with 10 points in 7 isolations, and the latter producing 12 points in 7 isos.
# Because of this highly individualistic tactic, the other players were barely involved in the offense. Having too many players spectating at one end of the court usually saps both their aggression and their concentration at the other end. That's why Italy snatched so many offensive rebounds in the first half, ran themselves into fast-break advantages, and rescued so many loose balls.
# On those occasions when Italy was able to freely move the ball and create advantageous angles for dribble-penetrations, the Americans were easily beaten to the hoop.
# Subtract, Anthony's 5-7 shooting from beyond the arc, and the team's perimeter shooting amounted to only 6-15. Good, but not good enough to overcome the crafty zone defenses the Americans will face in the quarterfinals.
# The Americans seemed overly offended whenever they were crudely bumped and banged by Italy's bigs.
Anthony's hot hand, Coach K's (and his staff's) savvy adjustments, and Team USA's incredible depth were the deciding factors. Even so, the victory against a young Team Italy had too many scary moments.
Whether the unfolding of this game was a necessary wake-up call, or a sign of Team's USA's ultimate vulnerability will be resolved soon enough.
Charley Rosen is FOXSports.com's NBA analyst and author of 13 books about hoops, the current one being "The pivotal season, How the 1971-72 L.A. Lakers changed the NBA."