Sofoklis Schortsanitis is a manchild. Will be interesting to see how Team USA matches up with him.
Sofoklis Schortsanitis is a manchild. Will be interesting to see how Team USA matches up with him.
Nothing that has been exhibited thus far convinces me that this is somehow not going to be an absolute dog fight to the end. Sure the Greeks don't have the same kind of individual talent, but they are a true team with both an offensive and defensive system that is highly effective, disruptive, and frustrating to match.
So far we've seen several flaws/aspects of the Amercian game in the Olympics that plays right into the Greeks' hands.
1. We've been horrible from 3 pt.
2. We still get lost guarding a back cut or pick and roll.
3. We still cannot hit a decent ft percentage.
4. Greece is a very, very, very good TEAM.
Remember 2006? This was the story then as well. So to say we're going to just run away with this by 25 is based on absolutely nothing. Our main strength is scoring off turnovers which basically generates our entire offense. Greece runs a very precise offense that is not at all conducive to throwing the ball away. Go back and look at all the other games (if you happen to have them on DVR) and compare how many points are scored off fastbreaks and how many are scored in half court sets. Still think we'll win by 25? This is one of the toughest match-ups we face mostly because the style of play is something our guys have not shown a comfort level with.
Points 1-3 can certainly change, #4 will not. I just hope we win, I don't care what the margin is - that is meaningless. It's time to get off the Dream Team mindset b/c those days are long, long gone. It's a level playing field now. If we're able to somehow impose our style of play then we should be ok, but if this stays a half court game for the entire 40 minutes, then we're looking at a serious nail-biter.
Sorry this has been brought up before, but 8am EDT means on the west coast we'll watch it 3 hours delayed at 8am PDT, correct? Is the online coverage also 3 hours delayed?
--added later--
Now I'm told it's 5am on USA... guess I'll wake up and see if it's on at 5am...
I guess I just don't understand this sense of confidence, and I worry it's misplaced. How is anything you say above different from 2002, 2004, or 2006? In all those years, we lost. Did we choke each time?
LIsten, I'm usually one of the most cautiously optimistic guys out there. I'm the guy reminding posters that beating the 16 seed is not guaranteed. I always show tremendous respect to any opponent and I never like to guarantee victory or have a sense that the team I am rooting for will definitely win even in games where people expect the team I'm rooting for to dominate.
But the bottom line is in terms of pure talent, the U.S. is simply superior to every team. Obviously the U.S. can still lose. 1 seeds have lost to 13 seeds. 15 seeds have beaten two seeds. UCONN's talent advantage compared to say George Mason was probably comparable to the U.S.'s advantage over most other teams. The U.S. still needs to show tremendous respect to their opponents. As a fan, I am still nervous before each game and know that the U.S. can lose. Just like I am nervous when a 1 seeded Duke goes up against an 8 or 9 seeded team in the tournament.
But just because you can lose does not mean that when you do lose its not a choke or at the very least, a failure and tremendous disappointment. The U.S. has too much talent and coaching ability to not win this tournament. I suppose since the rules are international that could put a dent in my argument but I just look at the U.S. and I look at Spain and I don't see why the U.S. shouldn't win.
It'll be really interesting to see how Spanoulis performs. He is a very VERY difficult player to play defense against. "Crafty" really is the best way to describe him. He finds angles to get off good shots inside the arc and has a killer stroke from distance on top of that. Plus, he is a great creator. This is a true test for Kobe as the designated defensive specialist on the team.
Here in Richmond, it is on at 8AM EST, but that's the replay. I would think that the replay for you would be at the same time, 8AM PAC TIME. It's on here, live at 2 AM, so I am staying up to watch. For you, I guess it would only be 11PM, so you should stay up and watch.
Anyone else gonna catch the game live?
Stay up if you like; Angola---China is at 2:30 AM EDT, but the USA---Greece is at 8:00 AM EDT live, and yes, USA would have it on at 5:00 AM Pacific DT.
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer...edule?discId=7
There are several sources for programming info, and this link is to the ESPN site.
I'll be up! Interesting link. My sources, which include a commercial that I just saw an hour ago, plus NBC's official press kit/schedule, say that USA vs. Greece is on live at 2:00 AM (scroll to the bottom of page 25, it's a huge PDF).
http://www.nbcumv.com/special/S__Pre...ent_080208.pdf
It does appear that other schedules are claiming that the game is actually live 6 hours later. I guess I'll find out soon enough.
I give up. I'm going to leave my cat in front of the TV with my HD Olympic channel on, and hopefully he'll come wake me when the game starts--whether it's 2 or 8.
A movie is not about what it's about; it's about how it's about it.
---Roger Ebert
Some questions cannot be answered
Who’s gonna bury who
We need a love like Johnny, Johnny and June
---Over the Rhine
early reffing is atrocius... the intentional on Kobe was a joke!!
The officiating in the Olympics is interesting, to say the least.
The USA guys are switching on every screen out on the perimeter, which is something we see with Duke all the time. I'm still not sold on the screen-roll defense down low, and our offense doesn't look great against the Greek zone.