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Bull . Pippen and Jordan were great perimeter defenders. They could hold their own against Durant.
In the end, the frontcourt would score at well. Robinson, Ewing, Malone, Barkley. Enough said.
2012 Team is too quick for the 1992 team. Also Durant will have a field day of 3's.
Bull . Pippen and Jordan were great perimeter defenders. They could hold their own against Durant.
In the end, the frontcourt would score at well. Robinson, Ewing, Malone, Barkley. Enough said.
And the worst argument is thinking that since the current team faces better compe ion, it means they would have a chance against the Dream Team. The Dream Team would smash the other current teams.
Malone or Barkley would be guarding Durant I believe due to the matchups. Unless they them on Lebron. If they do, Lebron would have a field day.
They would equally punish Lebron or Durant in the paint. Not to mention what the centers would do.
Plus, the Dream Team could go small as well with Pippen, Jordan, Drexler, Magic, etc.
This team had two close games, one vs Lithuania another the finals vs Spain. Long gone are the times when the US could blow out every team. That being said, the dream team had superior talent and with equivalent training would have won easily vs the actual team.
the number of bull calls each team got might be equal, but the impact not when US squad is deep as vs. espana who only have 5-6 NBA-caliber players. remove the best 5 guys off US squad and the rest would still dominate the tournament, but if spain's best 5 are removed they're even tier than china maybe.
revisionist history
I still think 92 > 12, but not as much as people suggest.
They weren't better. Durant alone makes a huge difference there, as well as the general maturity of the team being better, especially Lebron. He was exactly whatever this team needed him to be, whether a rebounder, defender, post scorer, junk scorer, shooter, etc... everytime the team needed something (especially clutch buckets), he provided it at will.
The only reason they match up better is because they had Howard. Unfortunately for this team, he was hurt at the time.
Point was, ty officiating was not in favor of Spain. They got a lot of calls their way too. Don't act like it was one sided.
, Shaq should've been there instead of Laettner
I don't think Jordan could. Reason being, Wade in my opinion is the 2nd best 2guard defender of all time and he was basically wearing durants jersey every time he guarded him, played the most perfect defense you could possibly play and durant simply shot right over the top of him.
Now pippen..he would be the toughest matchup durant has ever had to face. I'm fairly certain he could make him work for his shots.
this years DT, lacks inside presence and they had trouble once foul trouble got into play...
chandler, love, davis...lmao
i think if marc hadn't got his 4th personal foul since as early as the 2nd quarter we wouldn't have seen such garbage like reyes playing that much time imho. the calls themselves didn't favor neither side but spain suffered more damage from ty officiating which's obvious when their best battlers had to play most of the 2nd half carrying 3-4 personal fouls each. with the depth US had they could even play hack-a-shaq and still end up winning
you know we ain't criticizing them refs for some random bull calls, but the fact that they blew the whistle way too often tbh.
This years team was better when they went small. Exploited more matchups. Incredibly quick and good from outside.
Bill Simmon's take:
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/...ympic-mega-bag
Q: Why haven't you taken the time to sit down and thoroughly dissect the chances of the 2012 Olympic team beating the 1992 team? Isn't it tempting? Kobe vs. Jordan, LeBron vs. everyone else, even the two college kids and who impacted the team more! I need someone with real basketball knowledge to tackle this, not talking heads.
— Melvin, Boston
SG: Melvin, your effective guilt trip shamed me into a response. 1992 vs. 2012 … hmmmmm … sounds like the perfect topic for our second Dr. Jack Breakdown of the month!
WHICH TEAM WAS MICHAEL JORDAN ON?
The original Dream Team featured the greatest basketball player of all time at his absolute mega-apex. To be clear, "mega-apex" isn't a word. You can't have a mega-apex. In the summer of 1992, however, Jordan was experiencing a mega-apex. Nobody has ever been better at basketball than Michael Jordan in 1992 — he submitted the rich man's version of the year LeBron just wrapped up (right down to the hardware). He also happened to be homicidally compe ive, quite possibly the most ruthless athlete in the history of team sports. Jordan loved beating people so much that he couldn't stop doing it. He had to beat people at everything: golf, poker, half-court shots, even whose bag came out first in baggage claim.
So if we're having a hypothetical "1992 vs. 2012" conversation, that means we're convening the Dream Team in August of 1992 and telling them, "Hey, fellas? We just built you a time machine. We're traveling 20 years into the future so you can play America's 2012 team — these guys are really good; more than a few people even think they can beat you guys."
That's when 1992 Michael tries to fight off a sarcastic smirk and says, "Really? I'd love to hear more. Tell me a little about these guys."
"Well, they have someone named LeBron who's the best basketball player since you. They have someone named Durant who's an even better shooter than Bird in his prime. They have a guy named Kobe who's probably the best 2-guard since you — he's near the end of his career, though. Their point guards are really good. They have incredible outside shooting — the 3-point line is too short for them. And they're extremely athletic."
That's when Michael says, "Sounds interesting. Who are their centers?"
"Well, that's their weak spot — they don't really have any centers. They don't have a low-post game at all. Or anyone to protect the rim. They basically play small ball and shoot 3s."
And that's when Michael starts laughing, asks for directions to the time machine, and wonders aloud if his golf clubs will make it through time travel. So much for our Dr. Jack Breakdown.
(Important note: Had Dwight Howard played this summer, you might have been able to coerce me into a "1992 vs. 2012" discussion. But after watching Pau Gasol pick open the 2012 team's small-ball scab with a shrimp fork for two hours, it's just not happening — we can't waste 6,000 words wondering if Tyson Chandler, Kevin Love, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron could have handled Barkley, Malone, Robinson and Ewing down low, much less if their teammates could have slowed down Jordan and Scottie during the most devastating two-way peak of their alliance. The 1992 team wasn't losing to a gimmick like small ball. And 1992 MJ wasn't losing, period. Let's just move on before I get pissy.)
After what the Gasol brothers did to Team USA, there's no way in they could do anything at all about Barkley/Malone/Ewing/Robinson. Jordan wouldn't even need to score, he and Pippen would just need to lockdown LeBron/Durant. And if they just focus all their energy on defense, they absolutely would do it. Durant is still soft and still folds like a pussy against a physical defender, so with Pippen on him, he's shut down. Jordan on LeBron would be tougher, MJ couldn't shut him down but he could at least limit his effectiveness. The only advantage the 2012 team has is at point guard.
It wouldn't be a blood bath but the 92 team probably would win by 15-20 points
You are a
Eat me
Jordan would consistently get eaten alive by guys like Clyde, Nique, and Penny, yet somehow he is supposed to be counted on to contain Lebron? And Pippen is supposed to shut down Durant, when Durant on this team gets basically all of his shots off of kickouts and off of screens? Physical defense hurts Durant, but not as much as it used to, and he is playing a very different style of ball with this team. He's not counted on to do much else than hit 3s and score in transition, both of which he is magnificent at. And these are the only two legit perimeter defenders that the 92 team had.
Let's be real here...
92 > 12, but it's not a domination by any means. Each team has one extreme advantage over the other. 1992 has interior domination on both sides of the ball, while 2012 has perimeter domination on both sides of the ball.
92 can just pound it inside and score without a ton of trouble, while 12 can just move the ball well or drive and kick and they have a wide open three almost any time they want, and basically everyone on the team can hit 3s exceedingly well, except Chandler and Davis.
I think Pippen would be on Lebron.
But the inside domination of 92 is much greater than the perimeter advantage of 2012.
The difference in the two teams is the bench.
In a 7 game series, LeBron would need to stay on the court the whole time to have a chance.
I wonder how David or Charles would have fared vs LB
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