Olympic Basketball - Australia Thread

[roywhite]

I always liked "Don't take something for granite" as opposed to "for granted"

Anyway, did the hard fouls continue in the 2nd half? I had to check out at halftime.

Yep, there were some "bonafied" hard fouls.

[BD80]

Good catch. Intensive purposes is one of my favorites. I find it more amusing than grating. ...

How about Melo in the Rocky Mountain News article linked by DBR:

"After '04, we were at the lowest point as far as USA Basketball was concerned," Anthony said. "We were at the bottom for us."

But Anthony can sense a "360-degree turnaround" is at hand.

Reminds me of a Texas Aggie joke.

At least he isn't amphibious.

[Wander]

I may be watching the games with Duke blue tinted glasses, but Chris Paul has to be the worst player in the main rotation. Other than the one or two alley-oop passes, all I see is him throwing away wild passes, missing jumpers badly, and bad decisions on D. Compared to him Deron Williams looks very poised and mature, and he's only 1 year older than Paul. After watching the last 4 games, I'd even go with Kidd over Paul. I think he's had maybe 1 good game (Greece? I can't remember which one).

Are they just grooming him for the next Olympics? I know he was a last-minute addition, so maybe he's just not used to the system? Am I missing some off-the-ball plays completely?

Chris Paul has been the best of our three point guards (overall, not today). And if I remember correctly, he played his best game against Spain, our best opponent.

[mgtr]

Yep, there were some "bonafied" hard fouls.

Viola!

[hc5duke]

Reminds me of a Texas Aggie joke.

At least he isn't amphibious.

I think the 360 degree quote was in reference to Jason Kidd's old quote back when he was with the Mavericks (the first time around)

[hc5duke]

Viola!

Ugh! All these grammatical/spelling errors are mind-bottling!

[ArnieMc]

Viola!

You mean "wallah" don't you. Also, we need a dominate big man.

[Atlanta Duke]

New York Times praises Lebron and seems to be taking some shots at Kobe

Even with his hot second-half shooting, Bryant still has not quite bought into Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s team mantra of taking “U.S.A. shots.” It’s been a subtle way for Krzyzewski to preach to his players that the shots they take in N.B.A. team may not necessarily be the best ones for this team.

It is hard to criticize the play of the national team. It has won its six games here by an average of 32 points. But when the offense has stagnated, as in the first quarter Wednesday, when Australia trailed by just 25-24, it has typically been with Bryant forcing shots. Is that trying to find pimples on the Mona Lisa? Perhaps. But the numbers will show just how much better and more consistent James has played. ...

Thanks largely to James’s contributions, the Americans are very likely to be pleased at where they end up in this tournament. No one more than James. Not counting last summer’s FIBA Tournament of the Americas, he has not won a title since he was a high school senior in Ohio.

“This means a lot more to me than anything,” James said. “Representing my country and being out here playing against some of the best athletes in the world, this is big.”

And he has played like winning the gold is bigger than he is.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/sp...=1&oref=slogin

[devildownunder]

Chris Paul has been the best of our three point guards (overall, not today). And if I remember correctly, he played his best game against Spain, our best opponent.

Among our point guards. I have been disappointed that he seems to be the third man in the rotation. It has been somewhat of a surprise to me that the "lead guard" style of d-will and d-wade has been more effective (just by my casual observation) than the more classic PG styles of Kidd and Paul. I wouldn't say any of the four have played poorly but I think our efficiency has gone up enough to be noticeable when wade and williams have been in. There could be numerous reasons for this. I think one of them is the fact that lbj is playing a lot of point forward. And btw, his attacking of the paint has been a trump card for the US so far.

[devildownunder]

I don't know if any other Duke fans were thinking what I was thinking when they showed Andrew Gaze (sp) announcing for the Australian team. Every time I see the guy I remember him cutting Robert Brickie's legs out from under him in the Final Four against Seton Hall and for all intensive purposes ending his career.

Several years later durring a Christmas break game my brother and I got tickets to see Duke play the Aussie's in Cameron. Sitting right under the basket we got to heckle him repeatedly, and I have no doubt we got under his skin. I loved Robert and often wonder what could have been if he hadn't gotten hurt. I have to say outside of UNC players, for me Gaze is one of Duke's foes I loathe the most. Great win for the USA team, great win for Duke. Loved the Boozer stare down with the game in hand. Go USA, Go Duke!

Gaze went off on Boozer over the staredown. He got on a rant about how this was the kind of arrogance that wins the US enemies etc. The play-by-play guy tried to reel him, talking about how much the Redeem Team has done to repair damaged PR. And Gaze did calm down eventually. It's interesting to be an expat during the Olympics. People are VERY sensitive.

[Wander]

I am a little curious why so many here think Deron Williams has been better than Chris Paul. I think Paul has been better. Not a ton better, but noticably better. I don't have a bunch of stats or anything, but just watching I've thought Paul has been great defensively - better than Williams. That defense is what does it for me.

[devildownunder]

I am a little curious why so many here think Deron Williams has been better than Chris Paul. I think Paul has been better. Not a ton better, but noticably better. I don't have a bunch of stats or anything, but just watching I've thought Paul has been great defensively - better than Williams. That defense is what does it for me.

my assessment has been largely based on offense. Williams seems much more under control to me. It's all based on casual observation, though. Next game I'll make it a point to focus on cp3's D.

[ice-9]

New York Times praises Lebron and seems to be taking some shots at Kobe

Even with his hot second-half shooting, Bryant still has not quite bought into Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s team mantra of taking “U.S.A. shots.” It’s been a subtle way for Krzyzewski to preach to his players that the shots they take in N.B.A. team may not necessarily be the best ones for this team.

It is hard to criticize the play of the national team. It has won its six games here by an average of 32 points. But when the offense has stagnated, as in the first quarter Wednesday, when Australia trailed by just 25-24, it has typically been with Bryant forcing shots. Is that trying to find pimples on the Mona Lisa? Perhaps. But the numbers will show just how much better and more consistent James has played. ...

Thanks largely to James’s contributions, the Americans are very likely to be pleased at where they end up in this tournament. No one more than James. Not counting last summer’s FIBA Tournament of the Americas, he has not won a title since he was a high school senior in Ohio.

“This means a lot more to me than anything,” James said. “Representing my country and being out here playing against some of the best athletes in the world, this is big.”

And he has played like winning the gold is bigger than he is.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/sp...=1&oref=slogin

I wholly agree with the above excerpt. The USA offense stalled completely with Kobe forcing shots and missing them. Does he really need to shoot a contested three pointer with plenty of time left on the clock when there are so many other scoring options? Thankfully for Kobe he started making them in the second half, otherwise it would have been a dreadful game for him and might make team dynamics feel uncomfortable.

LeBron and Dwayne have the right mentality on offense. They shoot the jumper only when open, pass, or drive in with the aim of making the easy layup, creating the foul, or dishing to an open teammate. This is what Kobe needs to do to get into the flow of the offense...NOT take contested long distance shots.

[BD80]

This is funny:

Mike Krzyzewski sent Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh onto the floor. I think that has to be the quickest lineup in the history of the game, though to be fair, I haven’t seen the Jamaican national team. ...

The floor seemed to tilt. ...

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...53/1048/SPORTS

I can't imagine a faster lineup.

[gep]

my assessment has been largely based on offense. Williams seems much more under control to me. It's all based on casual observation, though. Next game I'll make it a point to focus on cp3's D.

Brief time-out please... why is Chris Paul referred to as CP3 or CP III? I don't think I remember seeing a reason...

[hc5duke]

Brief time-out please... why is Chris Paul referred to as CP3 or CP III? I don't think I remember seeing a reason...

I thought this was a pretty common thing? I guess it's the JLofication of the NBA... Of course, CP stands for child porn on 4chan so that's not the best initials...

[pfrduke]

Brief time-out please... why is Chris Paul referred to as CP3 or CP III? I don't think I remember seeing a reason...

His initials and his number - he wore 3 at Wake and w/ NO, although not w/ Team USA.

[gep]

thanks, guys...