Team USA Says No Breakdowns This Time

[duncan228]

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/t...019-guys-world

Team USA says no breakdowns this time
A lack of cohesiveness led to a 5-3 record and a bronze medal in 2008.
By Janis Carr

LAS VEGAS -- Carlos Boozer's bronze medal from the 2004 Olympics sits in prominently a trophy case, a permanent and patriotic reminder of his play in Athens.

"I'm proud to have represented my country," he said this week after one of Team USA's practices.

The medal also serves as a painful souvenir from the United States' disappointing showing at the 2004 Games, where they were beaten by Argentina in the semifinal, before settling for the bronze with a victory against Lithuania.

Worse, the Americans finished with a 5-3 record. In the previous 12 years when NBA stars were allowed to compete in the Olympics, they hadn't dropped a game.

That's the reason four players have returned to Team USA. They want to erase the bitter taste left by 2004 and their less-than-desirable showing in the 2006 World Championships.

They want to show the world they are not a fractured group of over-paid prima donnas who can't handle the physicality of the international game or play defense.

"We left a lot of unfinished business in Athens and China and Japan, and throughout the whole world. We left a lot of unfinished business," Carmelo Anthony said. "I told everybody I wanted to come back. Had to come back and redeem myself."

Several factors led to the dismal showing. The most glaring was how overconfident and disconnected the Americans were in Athens. The '04 group was led by Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan and Lamar Odom.

"It was very comical. You had to shake your head," said Dwyane Wade, a non-starter on the '04 team. "Everybody on that team was a good individual player, but when you put it together, it didn't work. It was like a bad mix of food.

"From the first team to the second team, there was no commitment. We weren't rooting for each other. We were fighting against each other because everybody wanted to play. I was fighting for five minutes a game.

"I loved all the guys on the team, but it just wasn't the right combination for an Olympic team. Now I look at the team we have, I look at the mix. Look at everything we are doing. We are getting along so well.

"I think it's because we understand we need each other to make this work. It's not going to be five guys. It's going to be 12 guys who are going to get this done."

Take a poll and you'll find the same at ude from LeBron James to Tayshaun Prince to Kobe Bryant to Michael Redd. They believe in the "all for one" philosophy.

"I didn't play much (in '04), but I saw what happened," James said. "We didn't play well enough to win. It's not going to be new to me, but different because I'm so much a part of this team now."

Much of that cohesiveness has been a byproduct of the players' three-year commitment they made when they signed on to play in the Olympics. While it hasn't all be successful (U.S. lost to Greece in the '06 World Championships semifinals), the team has shown it is a force again in international basketball.

"If we stay committed the way we are now, on Aug. 25, we'll have that gold medal," Anthony said. "We've still got that bitter taste in our mouth. It's been four years that we've had to wait for this opportunity, and I've never seen a group of guys this excited about going over there and playing basketball."

US BEATS CANADA, 120-65

Jay Triano, coach of the Canadian National basketball team, figured the only way his team could beat Team USA is if Coach Mike Krzyzewski got lost.

“I was hoping Mike wouldn’t find his way to the arena,” Triano said.

No chance of that happening. In turn, the Canadians didn’t have a chance against the Americans, who ran away with a 120-65 exhibition victory Friday in front of a sold out Thomas & Mack crowd of 18,498.

The game was the first for Team USA in a long string of games leading up to the 2008 Olympics. Team USA is stockpiled with talent and walloped the Canadians, who failed to qualify for the Beijing Games.

Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Carlos Boozer each scored 20 points, while Kobe Bryant had 15.

[DaDakota]

Well, they are talking the talk, let's see if they are walking the walk.

There are several teams that can beat the USA......at the Olympics, the problem with US basketball is that so many of the players play an individual game, whereas the team concept is more prevelent in the rest of the world.

Teams that are dangerous in a one game setting.

1. Argentina
2. Spain
3. Greece

Any one of those 3 can beat the USA in a one game match.....

I think the US is the favorite, but it would not be surprising to see them fall short again.

DD

[21_Blessings]

I think the US is the favorite, but it would not be surprising to see them fall short again.

DD

This is the best olympic squad since 96. They are going to steamroll.

[Trainwreck2100]

This is the best olympic squad since 96. They are going to steamroll.

That 96 squad would anally pillage this one

[DaDakota]

This is the best olympic squad since 96. They are going to steamroll.

The rest of the world is a LOT better than they were in '96.

Basketball has truly become a global game.

In a one game scenario those 3 teams I mentioned are perfectly capable of beating the USA....the problem with the USA as I mentioned is their inability to play a full TEAM game.

Other national teams play together, and for each other...it is the same reason that the USA's Ryder cup team keeps getting spanked.....too much individualism and not enough team.

DD

[duncan228]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports...6sullivan.html

Plenty of weapons for Coach K, Team USA
Tim Sullivan

LAS VEGAS – If Mike Krzyzewski has a worry, it is how to handle a windfall.

With billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett occupying courtside seats at the Thomas & Mack Center, it was the head coach of America's Olympic basketball team who experienced an embarrassment of riches last night.

In its last tuneup before China, Krzyzewski's Team USA trampled Canada 120-65, dominating so completely and playing so cohesively that Coach K was hard-pressed to identify any pressing issues.
The best he could come up with at the end of the exhibition game was the need to revise his rotations in anticipation of the return of sore-ankled LeBron James.

This, fellow countrymen, is what is known as a good problem to have.

“We're on the same page,” Krzyzewski said. “It's just (a matter of) how well you are on the same page . . . By the time we get to the (Olympic) medal round, we should be – unless we get hurt – very good.”

Based on last night's sample, Team USA is already very good and appears bound for greatness. Though it will surely face sterner tests than Canada could supply, the Redeem Team has more talent than its recent predecessors, more quickness, more discipline and a much better idea of what it is about.

The 2004 team that consistently exasperated coach Larry Brown in Athens was like a bunch of callow kids trying to cram for a final exam. The team Krzyzewski and Jerry Colangelo have built is more mature, better blended, better grounded and still capable of getting airborne.

If Krzyzewski can manage to find some minutes for James, the gold medal ought to be a given. Even without James, you'd have to like Team USA's chances.

“You could see it unravel very quickly,” Canadian coach Leo Rautins said last night. “One or two plays here or there, a couple of threes, a dunk, and all of a sudden the game has changed dramatically. It just tells how quick and how talented they are. You can't make any mistakes at all . . .

“The talent they put on the floor, their quickness, nobody has that.”

With James confined to a cheerleader's role last night, Krzyzewski had the luxury of including Dwyane Wade in his starting lineup. Shut down with 21 games remaining in the NBA season because of lingering knee problems, Wade had not played a meaningful game since March.

Yet he quickly dispelled any concerns about his long layoff by scoring 20 points in 18 minutes and making three steals.

The last of these, a midcourt strip of Canada's Carl English, resulted in a breakaway, a windmill dunk and moved Team USA into triple figures with 7:25 remaining in regulation. If Wade's solo slam made only a modest difference on the stat sheet, it emphatically underscored the dazzling depth at Krzyzewski's disposal.

“We see it every day in practice and you saw it tonight – that he's back,” point guard Chris Paul said of Wade. “When he's aggressive like that, we're a dangerous team.”

Krzyzewski says he will subs ute less as the games mean more, but he has enviable depth everywhere except in the post. (Tim Duncan declined a second Olympic tour of duty; Kevin Garnett couldn't be bothered.)

Paul and Deron Williams, ostensibly the backup point guards behind Jason Kidd, combined for 23 points and 13 assists last night. Michael Redd, the three-point specialist the 2004 team never found, made six of his eight attempts behind the international arc.

The biggest difference between this team and recent U.S. representation, though, is not personnel, but preparation. Insisting on multiyear commitments rather than trying to put a team together on the fly, Colangelo and Krzyzewski have built a solid program out of what had been flimsy patchwork.

“Two years ago (at the World Championships), we didn't X-and-0,” Krzyzewski said. “We didn't have time.”

Four years ago, in Athens, Team USA sometimes played as if it had never seen a pick-and-roll or played help defense. Now, Krzyzewski hopes, his players have worked together long enough to defend the pick-and-roll “by five guys instead of by two.”

Under the right conditions, Team USA could still get beat, but it is no longer likely to get ambushed.

“We've got a lot of different lineups to try, and a lot of different things to iron out,” Deron Williams said. “We're just trying to get better as a team and jell more.”

So far, so good. Very good, in fact.

“Watch us,” Williams said. “I know we're bringing back that gold medal.”

[duncan228]

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn...c.php?t=438472

Point well made: Team USA needs gifted guards
Mike DeCourcy

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- You could view it as overkill: Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, Deron Williams. That's a lot of point guards for one 12-man basketball team.

There are some items in sports, though, you want in quan y: pitching, pass rushers, trips to the Maui Invitational and tall magicians who can manufacture possibilities on the court where none seems to exist.

Kidd started for the United States senior national team in Friday's pre-Olympic execution -- I mean, exhibition -- of Canada at the Thomas & Mack Center. Paul replaced him and Williams joined Paul in the backcourt for most of that time, and their chemistry ignited the run that culminated in a 120-65 victory.

Asking whether coach Mike Krzyzewski can make use of all three is like asking whether I'd like to have dinner with Jennifer Anniston, Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Love-Hewitt.

The U.S. is making up for so many pointless Olympics. The recent history of American basketball has been one of too often leaving the truly gifted point guards at home -- and returning with a medal no one really wants.

In 1988, there was not a single elite point guard on the roster and thus no reason to be surprised at the bronze result. In 2004 Stephon Marbury and his crew struck bronze again. The problem has been the same at the junior levels, also.

This approach would be the equivalent of sending Rex Grossman to an Olympic football compe ion. (Which the U.S. might win, anyway, since hardly anyone else plays the game).

The one advantage American basketball always has enjoyed over the rest of the world is the creative point guard. The game was invented here, and then Bob Cousy reinvented it, and then Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas and John Stockton and Gary Payton reinvented the reinvention.

Until Tony Parker came along, there never had been a point guard from beyond these shores who could gain admission to the club of the heavy-hitting point guards -- and even he is more a wizard at opening scoring opportunities for himself. Playing with Tim Duncan, Parker never has averaged seven assists. That's a good half for Paul.

So nearly as important as the decision to form a true national team program instead of just a quadrennial pickup team was the move to ensure this team is led by the best candidates at the game's most important position.

Kidd is the starter and the definitive team leader. He did not take a shot, did not score and did not pass for an assist in this game, but he's enough of a veteran to know facing Canada was only the start of a long process in building toward the Beijing Games.

There is an exciting dynamic when Paul and Williams play together. They combined for 25 points, 13 assists and 9-of-13 shooting. Each one did a great job creating room for shooter Michael Redd and delivering passes that allowed him to pull the trigger quickly; Redd made 6-of-8 from 3-point range and scored 20 points. The two point guards' play together largely was responsible for an overwhelming U.S. surge in the decisive second quarter.

"Either one of them can bring the ball up, and either one of them can pressure the ball," Krzyzewski said. "The intelligence of your team is at the highest level when you have two guys like that on the court at the same time.

"I was just telling them that needs to be a strength of our team. When the two of them are in together, we can pick up a little bit better, try to wear some people down."

Krzyewski said he prefers to think of his team as having excellent guard play, rather than point guard play, because there'll be so many minutes when Paul and Williams play in tandem.

No, we're going to stick with point guard.

It's taken too long for this to become a priority for U.S. basketball.

No reason to give it up now.

[DaDakota]

Canada did not make the Olympics.

DD

[Mavs<Spurs]

Now, they are playing as a time. So, I believe that you are taking a weakness of the 04 team and applying it to the current team.

This team is getting to know each other and playing together more and had made a commitment to the team. They had already improved by 06 and hadn't been playing together as much.


So, you underestimate this team.

The 96 team was not as good as the 92 team, the best team we ever fielded. This team is at least as good as the 96 team. In 96, we could still get away with individual star players with talent who didn't have a team concept and weren't accustomed to playing together. This team doesn't have that weakness and thus would beat them.


The FIBA rules favor the international teams. The international teams play together a little more than we have, but we have played enough together that it won't hurt us.

We can defend the pick and roll better.

And in 06 we lost 1 game by 5 points. And we improved since then.


You yourself admit that if we played best 4 of 7, the US team would win almost certainly.