Men's Olympic Basketball (Rio) - Gold!

[Troublemaker]

I thought about just continuing in the other thread but decided maybe a fresh start will change USA's mojo on defense. (These are the decisions that will win or lose gold, obviously). Also, if you're going to label a thread "group stage," it will seem like a broken promise not to start a different thread for knockout.

Wednesday is going to be an awesome day of basketball. Kind of like a Thursday/Friday of a conference tournament.

The games and times (Eastern time):

10:00am - Australia vs Lithuania - Two teams with size. Valanciunas vs Bogut could get bloody.

1:30pm - Spain vs France - Probably the premiere European rivalry at the moment. At the 2014 FIBA World Cup, France knocked Spain out of the tournament in Spain. Then, at the 2015 EuroBasket, Spain returned the favor by booting France from the tournament in France. This could be considered a rubber match on neutral South American soil.

5:45pm - USA vs Argentina - Can USA work through its defensive problems? Oh, while trying to put out to pasture Argentina's Golden Generation in front of an arena packed with delirious Argentinian fans?

9:15pm - Croatia vs Serbia - The Yugoslavian rivals go at it.

All of these games are intriguing to me, from either a matchup standpoint or storyline.

[Troublemaker]

I would love to know what is really going on behind the scenes. What baffles me is the reported lack of practice, and the ongoing decision to hold film sessions and walk-throughs rather than get on the court. Despite the lack of results on the court, I don't think K suddenly lost his ability to read a room. All of the non-game stuff has to be deliberate.

In all my reading of K's approach to team building, he always focuses on the team taking ownership with the holy grail being a scenario where he can sit back and watch as the team basically coaches itself...think Shane leading huddles as a senior, etc. He always describes the Team USA guys as being so far advanced of the college kids in professionalism, accountability, self-motivation, etc. All I can think is that he's trying to depend on them to take ownership, with, I am sure, more than a few cues from him.

As far as offensive and defensive schemes, I scratch my head...we'll see.

This guy knows the FIBA game as well as any and I think his sentiment is what has us all frustrated:

Fran Fraschilla ‏@franfraschilla 23h23 hours ago Stamford, CT
In my heart, still think @usabasketball can win next three games by 20+ if they are locked in. Were cruising past Serbia & France & let down

Here's a good video breakdown of USA vs Serbia that outlines all our weaknesses in stark detail
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq4c0cnEJ00#action=share

That's a tremendous video breakdown, BillyDat. Thanks for posting.

A question came up in the other thread as to how these NBA players were having trouble guarding pick-n-roll. IMO, it's because some of these teams like Serbia are tremendous at stringing together different actions ("continuity offense") so that the PnR occurs somewhere in the middle of a sequence, with the previous actions moving the defense and getting it out of position. In the NBA, very often you'll see the PnR as the first action. Lebron/Harden/etc brings the ball down the court, a big man comes out to set the screen and the floor is spaced by the other 3 teammates who are shooters. When you have a talented playmaker like Lebron or Harden running it, it's still deadly effective and will collapse the defense and initiate kick-swing-swing passing. But that's a different experience defensively than what the players are encountering now.

Nonetheless, it's not like Team USA didn't encounter continuity offenses in previous competitions. I think they need to put more quickness on the court and give their better and smarter defensive players more minutes. For example, on that play (9:40) where Teodosic made the blind pass, the PnR was preceded by a cut from the baseline to receive the pass, immediately into a handoff to Teodosic, and Jokic perfectly times a flip of the screen to free Teodosic for the drive. The person who had the best reaction to what was happening was Draymond, and he would've chased down Teodosic for the block except that Teodosic has brilliant vision, saw him coming, and was able to deliver the blind kickout pass on a string.

[Indoor66]

I have checked the Comcast (South Florida) listings and cannot find anything except the Women's game at the 5:00 forward time slot. Anyone have any info on the Men's game telecast?

[JasonEvans]

I have checked the Comcast (South Florida) listings and cannot find anything except the Women's game at the 5:00 forward time slot. Anyone have any info on the Men's game telecast?

Well, you can always watch it on line here: http://stream.nbcolympics.com/mens-basketball-quarterfinals-game-3

It will also be on NBCSN (NBC Sports Network). It may or may not be part of your cable package, depending on where you live.

I just realized... you are aware that the men don't play until tomorrow, right? The women play today and the guys play Wednesday.

-Jason "I've watched via the NBC online stream and the quality is excellent" Evans

[Troublemaker]

I have checked the Comcast (South Florida) listings and cannot find anything except the Women's game at the 5:00 forward time slot. Anyone have any info on the Men's game telecast?

You can search Comcast Xfinity tv listings here (http://tvgo.xfinity.com/tv-listings) to see if you have NBCSN. Change to your zip code. It might be channel 448, but depends on your zip code and package.

[kAzE]

Draymond definitely deserves more playing time. He's been by the far the best defensive big man thus far. Boogie should probably be out of the rotation until he decides to put in some effort on D.

Hopefully Klay's light bulb is permanently switched on, and the entire team locks it in on the defensive end. I think they will. The nature of the knockout round ought to put the fear of God into the minds of these NBA stars, and we know what these guys are capable of when they are playing their best.

[Indoor66]

Well, you can always watch it on line here: http://stream.nbcolympics.com/mens-basketball-quarterfinals-game-3

It will also be on NBCSN (NBC Sports Network). It may or may not be part of your cable package, depending on where you live.

I just realized... you are aware that the men don't play until tomorrow, right? The women play today and the guys play Wednesday.

-Jason "I've watched via the NBC online stream and the quality is excellent" Evans

That will explain why I only found the women's listing! :o:mad::p:cool:

[Jeffrey]

That will explain why I only found the women's listing!

Geez, I haven't mucked up that badly all day. Clearly, I'm overdue.

[Indoor66]

Geez, I haven't mucked up that badly all day. Clearly, I'm overdue.

Thanks a lot! /sarc off/ :mad::o:cool:

[superdave]

Draymond definitely deserves more playing time. He's been by the far the best defensive big man thus far. Boogie should probably be out of the rotation until he decides to put in some effort on D.

Hopefully Klay's light bulb is permanently switched on, and the entire team locks it in on the defensive end. I think they will. The nature of the knockout round ought to put the fear of God into the minds of these NBA stars, and we know what these guys are capable of when they are playing their best.

To be fair to Boogie, he has played hard and well. He is just not cut out to guard a pick n roll 30 feet out. He is probably going to get big minutes against big dudes like Marc Gasol, but not Serbia.

Boogie and Deandre are shooting 68% and 80% from the field. KD is shooting 60%. Let's get those guys more shots (ahem, Kyrie, Melo)

This team needs some attitude. Some game face. I would love to see that come from Melo and Draymond. Get this team roaring and things will flow.

[sagegrouse]

Assuming the US wins. The semis are on Friday.

The winner of our sub-bracket will play Croatia, Serbia, Lithuania or Australia in the finals. The two medal games are on Sunday.

BTW, my working assumption is that the scheduling of Olympic events is heavily influenced (or maybe set) by NBC, which surely is paying far more for coverage than any other media outlet.

[TKG]

That's a tremendous video breakdown, BillyDat. Thanks for posting.

A question came up in the other thread as to how these NBA players were having trouble guarding pick-n-roll. IMO, it's because some of these teams like Serbia are tremendous at stringing together different actions ("continuity offense") so that the PnR occurs somewhere in the middle of a sequence, with the previous actions moving the defense and getting it out of position. In the NBA, very often you'll see the PnR as the first action. Lebron/Harden/etc brings the ball down the court, a big man comes out to set the screen and the floor is spaced by the other 3 teammates who are shooters. When you have a talented playmaker like Lebron or Harden running it, it's still deadly effective and will collapse the defense and initiate kick-swing-swing passing. But that's a different experience defensively than what the players are encountering now.

Nonetheless, it's not like Team USA didn't encounter continuity offenses in previous competitions. I think they need to put more quickness on the court and give their better and smarter defensive players more minutes. For example, on that play (9:40) where Teodosic made the blind pass, the PnR was preceded by a cut from the baseline to receive the pass, immediately into a handoff to Teodosic, and Jokic perfectly times a flip of the screen to free Teodosic for the drive. The person who had the best reaction to what was happening was Draymond, and he would've chased down Teodosic for the block except that Teodosic has brilliant vision, saw him coming, and was able to deliver the blind kickout pass on a string.

During the game with Serbia, Doug Collins mentioned that K had cancelled practice for the next day to concentrate with the team on film study. Given the struggles on D wouldn't it make sense to spend time in practice focusing on defending the PnR and keeping up with ball movement?

I mean I know we are talking about "practice". We are taking about "practice". Not a game. "Practice."

[SCMatt33]

Assuming the US wins. The semis are on Friday.

The winner of our sub-bracket will play Croatia, Serbia, Lithuania or Australia in the finals. The two medal games are on Sunday.

BTW, my working assumption is that the scheduling of Olympic events is heavily influenced (or maybe set) by NBC, which surely is paying far more for coverage than any other media outlet.

While I'm sure NBC got what they wanted for the US, it's not like other big countries got screwed. Spain and France get to tip at 6:30 PM Central European Time. Australia tips at 11 PM on the Australian east coast and 9 PM on the less populated west coast, which given that these games are halfway across the globe seems pretty good. Even Lithuania doesn't have it that bad with a 4 PM tip. The only ones who really got screwed were Croatia and Serbia who tip at the wee hours of the morning over in Europe.

[kAzE]

To be fair to Boogie, he has played hard and well. He is just not cut out to guard a pick n roll 30 feet out. He is probably going to get big minutes against big dudes like Marc Gasol, but not Serbia.

Boogie and Deandre are shooting 68% and 80% from the field. KD is shooting 60%. Let's get those guys more shots (ahem, Kyrie, Melo)

This team needs some attitude. Some game face. I would love to see that come from Melo and Draymond. Get this team roaring and things will flow.

Which Boogie are you watching? The one I've been watching is lazy and constantly out of position on defense. Teams are game planning their offense around how to exploit Boogie. I wish I were joking. He's been THAT bad. He and DJ are shooting mostly layups and dunks, so if they weren't shooting above 60%, they'd be doing it wrong.

On the other hand, Melo and Kyrie have been carrying this team on offense, because our offense has been stagnant and they've been relied upon to create and hit crazy difficult shots with the shot clock running down.

I agree with you on Draymond's attitude being a positive catalyst for this team. Draymond actually takes pride in his defense, and I think his example would be good for the rest of the team. Coach K just needs to figure out how to incorporate his talents into the offensive game plan. I think he is the leader that this team needs, but doesn't have a strong enough voice because of his limited role. If I were to criticize Coach K at all, it would be that he hasn't yet figured out how to unleash Draymond, who I think could be an extremely effective FIBA player if used correctly.

[Billy Dat]

I agree with you on Draymond's attitude being a positive catalyst for this team. Draymond actually takes pride in his defense, and I think his example would be good for the rest of the team. Coach K just needs to figure out how to incorporate his talents into the offensive game plan. I think he is the leader that this team needs, but doesn't have a strong enough voice because of his limited role. If I were to criticize Coach K at all, it would be that he hasn't yet figured out how to unleash Draymond, who I think could be an extremely effective FIBA player if used correctly.

If K sees Amile as the Draymond of this coming year's Duke team, I guess that means a lot of minutes for Bolden and Jeter? SMH.

I honestly think we'll take care of Argentina pretty easily. They are looking old and slow, still dangerous, but not great. I think Spain will beat France. Spain, unlike the other countries that were good in the middle of the last decade, has a younger core that's really good...Rubio, Mirotic, Llull, Claver, a next age level cohort in the young 30s...Rudy and Rodriguez, and then the older stalwarts....Pau, Navarro, Calderon (who is barely playing). The shook off those early weird losses and close games and have hit their stride throttling LTU and easily handling Argentina. If we meet them in the semis, it will be rough.

[superdave]

Which Boogie are you watching? The one I've been watching is lazy and constantly out of position on defense. Teams are game planning their offense around how to exploit Boogie. I wish I were joking. He's been THAT bad. He and DJ are shooting mostly layups and dunks, so if they weren't shooting above 60%, they'd be doing it wrong.

On the other hand, Melo and Kyrie have been carrying this team on offense, because our offense has been stagnant and they've been relied upon to create and hit crazy difficult shots with the shot clock running down.

I agree with you on Draymond's attitude being a positive catalyst for this team. Draymond actually takes pride in his defense, and I think his example would be good for the rest of the team. Coach K just needs to figure out how to incorporate his talents into the offensive game plan. I think he is the leader that this team needs, but doesn't have a strong enough voice because of his limited role. If I were to criticize Coach K at all, it would be that he hasn't yet figured out how to unleash Draymond, who I think could be an extremely effective FIBA player if used correctly.


I have seen Boogie out there working hard, crashing the boards. I just think he's like Jahlil - he cannot guard the pick n roll. Too big, too slow. Not a skill on his resume. The problem is that makes him a bad fit against a lot of these Olympic teams.

As for Melo and Kyrie, they have been taking a lot of shots because the rest of the offense is not functioning properly. They can break down their defender and get a shot off when everything else falls apart. The thing is with no ball movement, everything is falling apart. It would be nice to get out of bailout offense and into some sets. That probably needs to start with Kyrie as the PG and Melo as the veteran leader.

[Troublemaker]

During the game with Serbia, Doug Collins mentioned that K had cancelled practice for the next day to concentrate with the team on film study. Given the struggles on D wouldn't it make sense to spend time in practice focusing on defending the PnR and keeping up with ball movement?

I mean I know we are talking about "practice". We are taking about "practice". Not a game. "Practice."

I don't think we know enough to criticize this. Maybe he thought Monday's practice hours were better spent huddling with coaches. Maybe from previous experience, he knows these NBA players have dead legs from the season and need these days off. Maybe from previous experience, these professionals accomplish a lot with film study. Maybe something else.


Just my 2 cents, but I think we should be careful about trashing Coach K's coaching on our public message boards. You never know who is reading them, and we are in some pretty important recruiting battles.

I agree about "trashing" but constructive criticism has always been allowed here. If recruiting came down to message board behavior, Duke is sitting pretty if DBR is compared with others.

[CDu]

I have seen Boogie out there working hard, crashing the boards. I just think he's like Jahlil - he cannot guard the pick n roll. Too big, too slow. Not a skill on his resume. The problem is that makes him a bad fit against a lot of these Olympic teams.

As for Melo and Kyrie, they have been taking a lot of shots because the rest of the offense is not functioning properly. They can break down their defender and get a shot off when everything else falls apart. The thing is with no ball movement, everything is falling apart. It would be nice to get out of bailout offense and into some sets. That probably needs to start with Kyrie as the PG and Melo as the veteran leader.

Yeah, both Cousins and Jordan are really bad fits in handling the high ball screens. That is one area in which we really miss Davis and Faried. Those guys were highly mobile bigs. The lack of mobility of our bigs and the frequent lack of great defensive perimeter players has been exposed in these last few games.

It is a bit weird that the staff hasn't gone to the better, more versatile defenders (guys like Butler and Green) more. It would seem like getting Green more time at C and Butler/Durant/George more time at PF would be a good move. We would instantly be more agile at the bigs positions and better equipped to handle screens. Of course, that doesn't address the issue that the team lacks ballhandlers. Durant and Thompson are great players but get a lot of their value as shooters. Only Irving and Lowry are ballhandlers, and the staff isn't playing those guys together. Instead, we seem to be throwing a PG, a C, and three interchangeable parts on the wings. The result has been a lot of iso ball. Still relatively effective, but given the defensive flaws it really eliminates our margin for error.

[Jeffrey]

Only Irving and Lowry are ballhandlers, and the staff isn't playing those guys together. Instead, we seem to be throwing a PG, a C, and three interchangeable parts on the wings. The result has been a lot of iso ball.

Shouldn't we play DeRozan with Lowry given we're getting iso ball from guys who have not played much together?

[Neals384]

Shouldn't we play DeRozan with Lowry given we're getting iso ball from guys who have not played much together?

Ive seen enough of DeR. In 4th Q yesterday he had a foul, two turnovers and two missed three pointers.

[gurufrisbee]

Weird attacks on Boogie. No, his defense isn't good, but it's been every bit as good as DeAndre's. He's blocking almost the exact same number of shot, rebounding as well, and leaving his guy wide open less (don't believe it - watch the tape of the France game - almost every point Lauvergne scored was when Jordan was supposed to be guarding him). Boogie is also WAY better on offense. He gets called for too many offensive fouls, but he can actually post up, is racking up a lot of assists, and is a legit threat on that end. And I really have never liked him - poor sports from Kentucky rank low with me - but to be fair he has been well better than Jordan (and Draymond, who has been almost Barnes level useless).

[BD80]

Weird attacks on Boogie. ... to be fair he has been well better than Jordan (and Draymond, who has been almost Barnes level useless).

Whew!

I was wondering if anyone else had watched the same games I had!

I admit that I have seen less than half the total game time thus far, but what I have seen from Green has been totally unimpressive.

[bluedevilsince72]

I hate to say it, but I HATE watching TEAM USA play and I am very frustrated with the effort level that Coach K is letting them play with. I have to vent before my head explodes.

Here are my main reasons:
1. Demarcus Cousins' laziness. If anyone has any video of him getting in a defensive stance, please send it to me. He is constantly out of position and late reacting to plays. Watching his laziness at basketball breakdown on youtube is embarrassing. If 4 guys are busting their butts playing defense and 1 guy is lazy, you cant stop these solid Olympic teams.
2. Transition Defense - I have never seen a group of guys show so little effort in getting back on defense. These international guys can play. Show some pride and hustle back!
3. Rarely crashing the offensive boards. Our number 1 weapon is our individual ability to create shots and when we have an off game, team usa better get some off boards. I know the stats say we have got some O boards but team USA should be getting a lot more. Watching 4 guys stand on the perimeter when a shot goes up is making me crazy.
4. Offensively, We are never going to have the type of flowing offenses these other Olympic teams have but we can at least try to set a few solid screens away from the ball. Watching guys lazily set screens with no toughness, creates no good shots for guys.

There will be a game in knockout play where the USA shoots poorly. How do you win when you shoot poorly? You have to hustle and get a lot of offensive boards, get stops on the defensive end by getting back defensively 5v5, and fighting and helping in half court defense.

Does anyone out there really think the USA can do those things based on what we've seen the past week?

If they have a poor shooting game vs Argentina, it could get ugly. As the pressure increases big time in knock out play, I worry those USA shots may stop falling. If K decides to continue with Demarcus, Genobili is going to destroy him in pick and role offense.

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

Wow. This board is in mid-season form!

[Bluedog]

cant stop these solid Olympic teams...These international guys can play....
4. Offensively, We are never going to have the type of flowing offenses these other Olympic teams have but we can at least try...

Somehow we are so inferior to all these other teams yet are the only undefeated team in the tournament !! :)

Yes, anything can happen in a single elimination tournament. But all these teams have weaknesses and they'll be asking themselves how they're going to possibly stop the US and its athleticism.

[Troublemaker]

Re: Draymond, I suspect we'll get to see about him tomorrow. Because of matchups against Argentina, I can envision him playing 20+ minutes. (Against Australia, Serbia, and France, he only played 13, 13, and 6 minutes). Hopefully he plays well in an expanded opportunity, and hopefully Coach trusts him going forward.

[dukelifer]

Re: Draymond, I suspect we'll get to see about him tomorrow. Because of matchups against Argentina, I can envision him playing 20+ minutes. (Against Australia, Serbia, and France, he only played 13, 13, and 6 minutes). Hopefully he plays well in an expanded opportunity, and hopefully Coach trusts him going forward.

For me this team is not going to win it unless someone steps up and becomes the emotional leader on the team. Lebron is always a leader on every team and that is probably his greatest strength as a player. Teams are better because he assumes that role. Who is that guy on this team? Green is a very good NBA player because his teammates allow him to be their emotional leader. If this team looks to Green to be their emotional leader then he will be important going forward. If not - Green will be just average. Kyrie is going to have to step up and K is probably having that conversation right now. I don't see a natural leader on this team and without that it is hard to win a championship. Any player on the other teams is capable of going off and we all know that good teams can play out of their heads on a given night. Talent can only take you so far.

[budwom]

I had expected better defense from a Tom Thibodeau coached team...maybe today?

[arnie]

I had expected better defense from a Tom Thibodeau coached team...maybe today?

Don't have link, but DeCock in N&O can't understand why K not playing Barnes. Guess these clowns have to stretch a bit to criticize K.

[Troublemaker]

The quarterfinals lines, for those interested:

Australia -4 vs Lithuania: The Boomers are getting some respect now. The battles inside (Bogut/Baynes vs Valanciunas/Sabonis) will be fun, but the game will probably be decided by Mills and Delly harassing and outplaying their Lithuanian counterparts.

Spain -3.5 vs France: From a USA perspective, I'll be rooting for France despite the recent close call. Spain has given much better USA teams fits in the past. Everyone remembers the two gold medal games, but there was also a 1-point win against them in an exhibition in 2010 (http://www.sbnation.com/2010/8/22/1636527/usa-spain-exhibition-final-86-85-durant-block-rose/in/1400463). I'm also hoping USA will play better in possible rematches against France, Serbia, or Australia. Hopefully a second look at a team and knowing what to expect improves performance.

USA -22.5 vs Argentina

Serbia -5 vs Croatia: Serbia's superior point guard play and guard depth will probably be the difference, but it should be an intense, fun game, whatever the result.

[Jeffrey]

USA -22.5 vs Argentina


IMO, that's a lot of points for this USA team to give Argentina. History tells me that means bet on USA.

[fraggler]

Refs letting Australia get away with some really garbage physicality. I really want to like them, but man they toe the line. Lithuania is letting it get to them, though some really bad unforced turnovers are also hurting them.

[JasonEvans]

Refs letting Australia get away with some really garbage physicality. I really want to like them, but man they toe the line. Lithuania is letting it get to them, though some really bad unforced turnovers are also hurting them.

Aussies are winning by 25 entering the 4th quarter. I think we know one of our semi-finalists.

[WiJoe]

The quarterfinals lines, for those interested:

Australia -4 vs Lithuania: The Boomers are getting some respect now. The battles inside (Bogut/Baynes vs Valanciunas/Sabonis) will be fun, but the game will probably be decided by Mills and Delly harassing and outplaying their Lithuanian counterparts.

Spain -3.5 vs France: From a USA perspective, I'll be rooting for France despite the recent close call. Spain has given much better USA teams fits in the past. Everyone remembers the two gold medal games, but there was also a 1-point win against them in an exhibition in 2010 (http://www.sbnation.com/2010/8/22/1636527/usa-spain-exhibition-final-86-85-durant-block-rose/in/1400463). I'm also hoping USA will play better in possible rematches against France, Serbia, or Australia. Hopefully a second look at a team and knowing what to expect improves performance.

USA -22.5 vs Argentina

Serbia -5 vs Croatia: Serbia's superior point guard play and guard depth will probably be the difference, but it should be an intense, fun game, whatever the result.

Where are you getting theses lines? Can't seem to find 'em anywhere (obviously not looking in right place).

[Billy Dat]

Refs letting Australia get away with some really garbage physicality. I really want to like them, but man they toe the line. Lithuania is letting it get to them, though some really bad unforced turnovers are also hurting them.

Blowout - despite the criticism of our team, perhaps the most impressive win of the olympics to date is our win over Australia.

[NashvilleDevil]

Refs letting Australia get away with some really garbage physicality. I really want to like them, but man they toe the line. Lithuania is letting it get to them, though some really bad unforced turnovers are also hurting them.

US let the Aussie's physical play get to them as well. I hope they have learned their lesson for the medal round.

[MChambers]

Blowout - despite the criticism of our team, perhaps the most impressive win of the olympics to date is our win over Australia.

I must spread the love around, or else I'd spork you.

[Troublemaker]

Where are you getting theses lines? Can't seem to find 'em anywhere (obviously not looking in right place).

Oddschecker (http://www.oddschecker.com/olympics/basketball/olympic-basketball-mens) will list the lines for all the popular London books. Click on the matchup, then on "Point Spread".

If that's two more clicks than you want to endure and you don't care about seeing many different books at once, then just see what Pinnacle (https://www.pinnacle.com/en/odds/match/basketball/olympics/olympic-basketball-matches-q) is listing.

[Troublemaker]

Coach K, in the France postgame presser (http://www.usab.com/news-events/news/2016/08/moly-vs-fra-quotes.aspx), said this:


But the fact that we’re getting better offensively is a huge plus, because I think we can make proper adjustments defensively to get better. And obviously we’re going to have to play better defense, there’s no question about that.

Make it happen, Coach! It's now or never.

[NSDukeFan]

Blowout - despite the criticism of our team, perhaps the most impressive win of the olympics to date is our win over Australia.

Isn't that because Australia didn't want to show everything in the preliminaries and took it easy? 😉

[richardjackson199]

Re: Draymond, I suspect we'll get to see about him tomorrow. Because of matchups against Argentina, I can envision him playing 20+ minutes. (Against Australia, Serbia, and France, he only played 13, 13, and 6 minutes). Hopefully he plays well in an expanded opportunity, and hopefully Coach trusts him going forward.

I respectfully disagree that more Draymond is the answer. Just my 2 cents - it's certainly debatable. When we played this Argentina team in exhibition, Cousins had a monster game with 15 rebounds and 14 points in 16 minutes. Argentina had no answer for Cousins. It seemed like anytime US missed a shot Boogie cleaned up the boards and put it back in. Or he and Jordan would limit Argentina to 1 shot. That is how we blew them out (not with hot shooting). By contrast, Green had 3 rebounds and 3 points in about 12 minutes vs. Argentina. Green shot 1/6 that game and has had horrible shooting efficiency for this team through 10 games.

Green does some things well, but I don't think he has earned more minutes with his play. Through all 10 of our games, our coaches have clearly and deliberately tried stretches of the small ball death lineup with Green (often near the end of games we were winning by blowout). Almost without fail, it has not worked well at all. Teams would go on runs against this lineup and cut into the lead. The international teams seem to score much more readily on us when we don't have good rim protection provided by Boogie or Jordan.

For whatever reason, Green has not been playing well for this team. He has not been ostracized (like Barnes) by the coaches. He has been averaging about 13 minutes a game. In that 13 minutes, Green has been averaging 1.4 turnovers a game or 0.11 Turnovers a minute played. Others are turning it over too often as well. Boogie's turnover rate is a bit higher than Draymond at 0.12 turnovers a minute played (or about 2 turnovers a game in his 16.6 minutes a game). But Boogie has shown the ability to be a beast in the post (like he was against Argentina), especially when he stays out of foul trouble. Green just hasn't shown me much of anything on this team, and he has gotten opportunities (I realize 10 games is a small sample size, but this team doesn't have Steph and it isn't Golden State).

Boogie and Jordan have given Team USA outstanding rebounding, rim protection (hard to measure because shots can be altered or not taken without getting blocks), and much better shooting efficiency. Jordan has played well for this team. (If anybody is interested for comparison Jordan has 0.076 turnovers a minute or 1.2 turnovers a game in his 15.8 minutes a game, so better than Green despite being a worse ball handler). I think Boogie and Jordan's quality size and athleticism in the post gives team USA a clear advantage over our competition. By contrast, these international teams have shown that they just do small ball with ball movement better than we do because of their years of familiarity playing together.

I like the idea of imposing our will on them rather than trying to adjust to small ball. Nothing looked broken when we played Argentina the first time, so I wouldn't change anything to fix it.

I also like DeRozan, and he has usually been a very efficient player for this team who helps us win the free throw battle. He did have a very rough stretch of poor play in the 4th quarter against France, but he's been much better than that overall.

I love Coach K's platoon system. The second lineup has a nice defensive pit bull intensity. This team also has shown excellent camaraderie, a credit to the players and coaches.

I'm going to trust whatever the coaches want to do with lineups and schemes. The offensive ball movement looked better against France. I have no doubt they can work on better defense in the elimination games. If Draymond or Barnes or anyone else is in the lineup I'll be cheering for them. I don't care who gets the job done as long as we represent the US well and win!

[richardjackson199]

Now it's time to take care of business and beat Argentina. We need to be ready for anything from their Golden Generation's swan song in front of their home fans. They would love to explode like Kobe in his last game. We need to try to jump on them early and take the crowd out of it. We need to NOT look ahead to Spain or even think about how they are playing right now.

[dukelifer]

Now it's time to take care of business and beat Argentina. We need to be ready for anything from their Golden Generation's swan song in front of their home fans. They would love to explode like Kobe in his last game. We need to try to jump on them early and take the crowd out of it. We need to NOT look ahead to Spain or even think about how they are playing right now.

Another blowout with Spain having no problems with France. Spain is always a tough opponent but first things first.

[Troublemaker]

The international teams seem to score much more readily on us when we don't have good rim protection provided by Boogie or Jordan.

First of all, Draymond is actually a very good rim protector. Don't be fooled by his size. The reason he's a top-5 defender in the NBA and can play center is because he can BOTH switch onto smaller defenders AND defend the rim at a high level despite his size. He's a freak in that regard. Secondly, Boogie and Jordan have barely done any rim protection in these Olympics (although I think Jordan has the edge and prefer him to Boogie at center). And I'm not just looking for blocks.

That said, playing Draymond more is only one of about a dozen adjustments Coach K could attempt. Maybe none of them would work, and maybe what's needed now is patience instead; perhaps everything will start clicking by Friday when the semifinals take place. But IF the defense continues to struggle, I do hope he tries something. If he tries, say, a zone and the opponent picks that apart worse than the man-to-man, then fine. At least an attempt was made. I'm not really married to any single possible adjustment; I just want to see something different tried if things continue poorly on defense. If I had to pick a single favorite adjustment, it'd be to bench Carmelo and play Durant at the 4, a better position for him defensively (and offensively) and then pair Durant with a defensive SF like Butler or George. But like I said, it doesn't have to be that. If the defense continues to struggle, just try something.

[dukelifer]

Catching a replay of Spain vs France. Spain is a very good team. Mirotic is a rising star in the NBA capable of huge games and can play inside and out. He makes them very difficult to play. The rest of Spain is a bunch of fundamentally sound players who can shoot and pass. Gasol still is savvy and can hit his throws. Very hard team to guard.

[richardjackson199]

Catching a replay of Spain vs France. Spain is a very good team. Mirotic is a rising star in the NBA capable of huge games and can play inside and out. He makes them very difficult to play. The rest of Spain is a bunch of fundamentally sound players who can shoot and pass. Gasol still is savvy and can hit his throws. Very hard team to guard.

Yep - it's clear now why Spain took Mirotic over Serge Ibaka. Olympic rules are they could only take one of these two "naturalized" players on their team.

[pfrduke]

DeAndre for Boogie in the starting lineup. Hopefully it helps the D.

[CDu]

Yep - it's clear now why Spain took Mirotic over Serge Ibaka. Olympic rules are they could only take one of these two "naturalized" players on their team.

They didn't take Mirotic over Ibaka. Ibaka declined to participate.

[dukelifer]

DeAndre for Boogie in the starting lineup. Hopefully it helps the D.

Getting killed early and not even close

[mattman91]

can we maybe get a chat going? I already have the Zima...

[dukelifer]

can we maybe get a chat going? I already have the Zima...

Why are they shooting 3's. They are bigger!

[pfrduke]

DeAndre for Boogie decidedly did not help.

[dukelifer]

DeAndre for Boogie decidedly did not help.

Coach K finally listened to me and put in George ;)

[flyingdutchdevil]

USA soooooooo much better with Paul and Kyle in. Kyrie getting smoked on D

[Troublemaker]

2 fouls on Melo have been a blessing, too.

Ever since he went out, we've maintained a 4:1 ratio of good:bad defenders. Durant is a plus defender at the 4, a minus defender at the 3.

[mattman91]

Why are they shooting 3's. They are bigger!

Bench Jah!?

[flyingdutchdevil]

I love this line up. No melo and no Irving is a huge plus for team USA right now

[Troublemaker]

Love this lineup. Just start them, haha. Props to Boogie, too -- he's played well.

[dukelifer]

I love this line up. No melo and no Irving is a huge plus for team USA right now

Yep. Defensive toughness out there

[mattman91]

USA soooooooo much better with Paul and Kyle in. Kyrie getting smoked on D

totally agree.

[mattman91]

George, Lowry, and Butler looking very solid on both sides. May be the best options for 1-3 positions.

[Troublemaker]

Did you guys see how short Kyrie and Melo's stint was when they came in?

Maintain a good ratio of good:bad defenders and you have a chance to play good defense.

[CDu]

Butler and Green really coming to play today. Also nice to see Durant on fire.

[dukelifer]

Did you guys see how short Kyrie and Melo's stint was when they came in?

Maintain a good ratio of good:bad defenders and you have a chance to play good defense.

Klay back to missing wide open shots- otherwise this would be a 30 pt lead

[flyingdutchdevil]

George, Lowry, and Butler looking very solid on both sides. May be the best options for 1-3 positions.

Couldn't agree more. Those three are just unstoppable on both ends of the floor.

Really like Lowry. Always a good defender but you really see the difference between him and Irving on D.

[CDu]

Did you guys see how short Kyrie and Melo's stint was when they came in?

Maintain a good ratio of good:bad defenders and you have a chance to play good defense.

Also no longer pairing those two with Cousins. It is Green or Jordan at C when those guys are in.

[dukelifer]

Horrible end to the half though

[CDu]

Couldn't agree more. Those three are just unstoppable on both ends of the floor.

Really like Lowry. Always a good defender but you really see the difference between him and Irving on D.

Yeah Lowry is just a bulldog out there. Irving is definitely more skilled offensively but Lowry just gets after it on the other end in a way that Irving doesn't.

[Duke79UNLV77]

Weak end to the half. Need to come out and show the killer instinct that was missing with leads the last 2 games. They had a prolonged +32 run. Don't let them back in the game!

[Duke79UNLV77]

Klay Thompson will always have France. Boy, he's been off otherwise.

[ChillinDuke]

Klay just hit the side of the backboard on a wide open three.

Shortly thereafter, followed that up with a nice fake to open himself again only to miss another wide open three.

C'mon guy.

- Chillin

[Duke79UNLV77]

Barnes has played a mistake-free game so far.

[dukelifer]

Barnes has played a mistake-free game so far.

That may end when USA is up 30 which is his time.

[dukelifer]

Another poor 4th quarter. Green has been awful.

[dukelifer]

The core of the great Argentina team on the floor to close it out and perhaps end their Olympic careers.

[dukelifer]

Argentina fans showing a ton of love

[Indoor66]

BARNES can't SHOOT!😉😂😎

[Tripping William]

The core of the great Argentina team on the floor to close it out and perhaps end their Olympic careers.

K with the heart-tap for Ginobili.

Bring on Spain!

[dukelifer]

K with the heart-tap for Ginobili.

Bring on Spain!

Definitely a better effort but Spain is a different animal. Limit Carmelo-play George- tell Klay he is playing France and hope Durant stays hot.

[Devilwin]

Just hope their fans just cheer and not sing... My ears are ringing with all that racket!:p

[jipops]

BARNES can't SHOOT!😉😂😎

To be fair, everyone not named Durant couldn't shoot today.

[jipops]

I only saw the 2nd half, but I thought we looked very sharp despite the poor perimeter shooting. We moved a lot better off the ball on defense. And there was good ball movement on the other end of the floor. I really liked how we went to Cousins. Hopefully the law of averages will have more 3's going in vs. Spain.

[DukeTrinity11]

KD when he is locked in is a sight of beauty to behold...I want to see him play this well in the biggest games (Games 6s and 7s in the NBA Playoffs, Olympics Finals, etc.) though since he has a reputation to be "soft" when it really matters.

[dukelifer]

I only saw the 2nd half, but I thought we looked very sharp despite the poor perimeter shooting. We moved a lot better off the ball on defense. And there was good ball movement on the other end of the floor. I really liked how we went to Cousins. Hopefully the law of averages will have more 3's going in vs. Spain.

Really need Klay to have another solid game. This team has yet to have multiple players shoot lights out.

[richardjackson199]

They didn't take Mirotic over Ibaka. Ibaka declined to participate.

You are right. The article says Ibaka said he did not want to play.

http://olympics.nbcsports.com/2016/06/27/serge-ibaka-olympics-spain-roster-nikola-mirotic/

But given that only 1 of Ibaka or Mirotic could play, I assumed that may have been Ibaka saving face after Spain decided they were going with Mirotic. It was also noted that Ibaka was one of the first 4 cuts since they could not take both Mirotic and Ibaka (thankfully). That latter point was what I meant to emphasize to the board. So you're probably right about the way it went down.

I don't trust anything said by anybody from team Spain about not wanting to play.

Pau also made all those public comments about not wanting to play in Brazil, insinuating that other players from other countries shouldn't either due to the risks. But Pau ultimately found it in his heart to take the risks and play. Pau actually said this,"[Freezing sperm] is a measure of precaution that any doctor would recommend in these uncertain circumstances, just as they would say to use mosquito netting, ..."
As I posted previously, most any doctor would not recommend either of these measures for Olympic basketball team members.
Rest assured team Spain clearly remembers how close they came to gold in the last 2 Olympics, both denied by Team USA. They would love nothing more than some payback in Pau's last chance for gold. But they're not going to get it.

[gurufrisbee]

Well all the signs from the first five games clearly pointed this way, but this game emphatically slammed at home:

The only one deserving to start and get minutes at center is Cousins.

As expected, he is much better than Jordan on offense. (more points, more offensive rebounds, way more assists)

Unexpectedly, he's been every bit as good or better than Jordan on defense. (more blocks, same steals, actually tries - after an abysmal performance against France's back up center, somehow Jordan got the start today and Argentina went right at the rim and him and built a ten point lead before the finally benched him)

The only other option is Green and quite honestly right now the way he, Klay, and Barnes have performed I feel like the Cavs owe that whole Warriors group a lot of therapy because they all still look shell shocked and useless.


I also have to laugh at how it was discussed a lot here how Durant and Melo are the same guy - the 3/4 split jump shooter scorer who doesn't play defense and how it didn't really work to have them together because of this - and boom, Melo gets in foul trouble and Durant has a big game without him.

Bring on Spain! GO USA!

[bluedevilsince72]

I hope we don't get over confident after the Argentina win. Argentia may have been the worst defensive team still left in the tournament outside of the USA. Spain is going to put up a lot tougher fight.

I did like how Demarcus got less minutes and I hope he gets less vs Spain. He still got killed in the pick in roll. Spain is 100x better in the pick in roll than Argentina.

We barely beat Spain with Kobe and Lebron in K's first Olympics so this one worries me a lot. We have to shoot well because I don't think our defense will hold up. Melo and Kyrie are reaching Demarcus Cousin's level of poor defense. At least they score a ton.

I think a lot will depend on the officials. If they let everything go like they did in the Australia game, then the Spain game will be a lot tougher. The refs in the Argentina game called it a lot closer which helped the USA a great deal. We weren't afraid to drive and attack the rim.

[NashvilleDevil]

I hope we don't get over confident after the Argentina win. Argentia may have been the worst defensive team still left in the tournament outside of the USA. Spain is going to put up a lot tougher fight.

I did like how Demarcus got less minutes and I hope he gets less vs Spain. He still got killed in the pick in roll. Spain is 100x better in the pick in roll than Argentina.

We barely beat Spain with Kobe and Lebron in K's first Olympics so this one worries me a lot. We have to shoot well because I don't think our defense will hold up. Melo and Kyrie are reaching Demarcus Cousin's level of poor defense. At least they score a ton.

I think a lot will depend on the officials. If they let everything go like they did in the Australia game, then the Spain game will be a lot tougher. The refs in the Argentina game called it a lot closer which helped the USA a great deal. We weren't afraid to drive and attack the rim.

Did the Spainards not age? Yes they've played together and are tough but they are all older. If the US plays like they did today they will not have any issues on Friday. And of course you think this because you predicted the US would lose today or Friday.

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

I hope we don't get over confident after the Argentina win. Argentia may have been the worst defensive team still left in the tournament outside of the USA. Spain is going to put up a lot tougher fight.

I did like how Demarcus got less minutes and I hope he gets less vs Spain. He still got killed in the pick in roll. Spain is 100x better in the pick in roll than Argentina.

We barely beat Spain with Kobe and Lebron in K's first Olympics so this one worries me a lot. We have to shoot well because I don't think our defense will hold up. Melo and Kyrie are reaching Demarcus Cousin's level of poor defense. At least they score a ton.

I think a lot will depend on the officials. If they let everything go like they did in the Australia game, then the Spain game will be a lot tougher. The refs in the Argentina game called it a lot closer which helped the USA a great deal. We weren't afraid to drive and attack the rim.
So, you were unsatisfied with our close wins. Now you're unsatisfied with a blowout win. Do you just want a medium sized win?

Spain is a good team but they aren't a juggernaut. Hell, they found a way to lose twice in the group play round. I have faith K will continue to make the necessary adjustments. He did today and I am confident he will bring a winning game plan to the matchup with Spain.

[Saratoga2]

So, you were unsatisfied with our close wins. Now you're unsatisfied with a blowout win. Do you just want a medium sized win?

Spain is a good team but they aren't a juggernaut. Hell, they found a way to lose twice in the group play round. I have faith K will continue to make the necessary adjustments. He did today and I am confident he will bring a winning game plan to the matchup with Spain.

Our defensive adjustments, mainly changing players to enhance the defense was very effective. Some of the players in the 4th quarter were not solid with the ball. We still should be the favorites but have to guard the 3 point line and watch for the pick and roll and back cuts. It should be a more competitive match than Argentina.

[Indoor66]

This is DBR. There always a reason to be concerned about everything. Negativity is the usual word of the day. 😉😎

[Troublemaker]

Somewhat surprisingly, USA-Spain will be the early game on Friday.

The games and times (http://www.fiba.com/olympics/2016/all-games)(Eastern time):

2:30pm: USA vs Spain

6:00pm: Australia vs Serbia

[BD80]

This is DBR. There always a reason to be concerned about everything. Negativity is the usual word of the day. 😉😎

You are SOOOOO wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

[Troublemaker]

I expect USA-Spain to be a white-knuckle affair. I've thought about the alternative: "Hey wouldn't it be ironic/cute if this USA team finally puts away Spain convincingly in the medal rounds?"

While that is in the range of possibilities, I don't think we're going to be so lucky. Like I said, I expect a white-knuckle affair, and I'm going to start Happy Hour a bit early on Friday.

[dukelifer]

I hope we don't get over confident after the Argentina win. Argentia may have been the worst defensive team still left in the tournament outside of the USA. Spain is going to put up a lot tougher fight.

I did like how Demarcus got less minutes and I hope he gets less vs Spain. He still got killed in the pick in roll. Spain is 100x better in the pick in roll than Argentina.

We barely beat Spain with Kobe and Lebron in K's first Olympics so this one worries me a lot. We have to shoot well because I don't think our defense will hold up. Melo and Kyrie are reaching Demarcus Cousin's level of poor defense. At least they score a ton.

I think a lot will depend on the officials. If they let everything go like they did in the Australia game, then the Spain game will be a lot tougher. The refs in the Argentina game called it a lot closer which helped the USA a great deal. We weren't afraid to drive and attack the rim.

This team plays better when angry. They don't seem to have the personality to destroy teams. K needs to play George a lot and get Lowry in there at key moments. Kyrie will excel in winning time if the game is close down the stretch. USA will have a much easier time if Thompson shoots the ball well. USA will need to be focused to win this but they know it. K will have his semi-final motivational speech ready.

[kAzE]

It's pretty crazy how everyone is rushing to get on certain players' bandwagon all of a sudden after one game, with the "so-and-so is the best PG/C/etc. on the roster" talk.

Kyrie and Melo carried the team through the preliminary games, and now they are chopped liver because they didn't have a huge game in the quarterfinals?

You knew the old guard of this Argentina squad was going to come out and give it everything they had. It was going to the be last game they all play together, and those old guys are pretty good when they are fresh. Not surprise they came out firing. Did you think Ginobili and Scola were going to just lay down and surrender?

OF COURSE our bench torched their bench. Their bench is awful. Not a single NBA player on it. I'm not saying our bench doesn't deserve credit for what they did to blow the game open, but let's pump the brakes just a little.

I do think George was the MVP of the game, and I agree that when he and Lowry are in the game, our perimeter defense improves dramatically, but I don't get the sudden Cousins hype. Cousins came in against an Argentina front line whose tallest guy is 6'9" and Scola was in foul trouble. It doesn't take rocket science to figure out why he had no problems scoring in the paint. I'm not that impressed . . . I need to see him do that against a real front court.

He's still the same guy who barely showed up against Venezuela, Australia, Serbia, or France! Even against Argentina's puny front line, he still only grabbed 2 boards and picked up 3 fouls in his 14 minutes. He's still the team's #1 defensive liability and a foul machine who has only had 2 good games in the whole tournament. Coming off the bench is the right move for him.

[Billy Dat]

I expect USA-Spain to be a white-knuckle affair. I've thought about the alternative: "Hey wouldn't it be ironic/cute if this USA team finally puts away Spain convincingly in the medal rounds?"

While that is in the range of possibilities, I don't think we're going to be so lucky. Like I said, I expect a white-knuckle affair, and I'm going to start Happy Hour a bit early on Friday.

I do, too. Spain has been our primary rival during the K Team USA Era and it's fitting that we square off with this specific collection of players one last time.

The way yesterday's game started was a real head-scratcher...it was basically the same problems we've all been complaining about. Sadly, Kyrie was kind of the poster boy for those problems...their PG Campazzo was killing us, he wasn't hustling back on D, and he was ball stopping on offense. We will certainly need his ability to make tough shots at some point, but I don't feel like we are optimized when he is on the floor, and it kills me to say that.

Durant coming out slinging and setting a tone was big. That second unit's defense was legit. In some ways, I feel like if Melo doesn't hit his first few shots, then he should go and sit to let a better defender take his spot.

I feel like Draymond will play an important role tomorrow as a guy who can try and bother Pau - the heart and soul of the Spanish squad.

Kind of interesting that 3 of the 4 semi-finalists have come out of Pool A since Pool B was considered deeper.

[gurufrisbee]

It's pretty crazy how everyone is rushing to get on certain players' bandwagon all of a sudden after one game, with the "so-and-so is the best PG/C/etc. on the roster" talk.

Kyrie and Melo carried the team through the preliminary games, and now they are chopped liver because they didn't have a huge game in the quarterfinals?

You knew the old guard of this Argentina squad was going to come out and give it everything they had. It was going to the be last game they all play together, and those old guys are pretty good when they are fresh. Not surprise they came out firing. Did you think Ginobili and Scola were going to just lay down and surrender?

OF COURSE our bench torched their bench. Their bench is awful. Not a single NBA player on it. I'm not saying our bench doesn't deserve credit for what they did to blow the game open, but let's pump the brakes just a little.

I do think George was the MVP of the game, and I agree that when he and Lowry are in the game, our perimeter defense improves dramatically, but I don't get the sudden Cousins hype. Cousins came in against an Argentina front line whose tallest guy is 6'9" and Scola was in foul trouble. It doesn't take rocket science to figure out why he had no problems scoring in the paint. I'm not that impressed . . . I need to see him do that against a real front court.

He's still the same guy who barely showed up against Venezuela, Australia, Serbia, or France! Even against Argentina's puny front line, he still only grabbed 2 boards and picked up 3 fouls in his 14 minutes. He's still the team's #1 defensive liability and a foul machine who has only had 2 good games in the whole tournament. Coming off the bench is the right move for him.

George was terrific and the MVP of the game for sure. I want to see lots more of him the next two games.

I think Melo is still important, but I don't think he and Durant make a good option together.

Kyrie is definitely still key to this team and our best PG.

Cousins should not be coming off the bench only because he has been head and shoulders better than any other USA center options. His defense should be well behind Jordan and Green but in Rio it's been just as good or better. And his offense has been much better. I'd love for him to come off the bench because some other option at center was playing better than him - but in these games that has not even been close to the reality.

[kAzE]

George was terrific and the MVP of the game for sure. I want to see lots more of him the next two games.

I think Melo is still important, but I don't think he and Durant make a good option together.

Kyrie is definitely still key to this team and our best PG.

Cousins should not be coming off the bench only because he has been head and shoulders better than any other USA center options. His defense should be well behind Jordan and Green but in Rio it's been just as good or better. And his offense has been much better. I'd love for him to come off the bench because some other option at center was playing better than him - but in these games that has not even been close to the reality.

What are you talking about? He had a decent game against China, and 15 points with not much else against Argentina. Other than that, he's averaged about 5 points, 2 turnovers, and 5 fouls a game. And he's been ATROCIOUS defensively. Slow, apathetic, and lazy. You can't put Kyrie, Melo, and Cousins in the same starting lineup unless you just want to get torched by every decent offensive team. It's not possible. The Kyrie/Cousins pick and roll defense is free points for the other team.

Coach K moved Cousins to the bench for a reason, and I imagine he will stay there for the remainder of the tournament, as he should. As a reserve, he won't be as big of an issue defensively, since Lowry/George/Butler/DeRozan can cover more ground on defense than the starters, he can be the focal point of the 2nd unit's offense, and he can score on other team's back up big men.

[CDu]

What are you talking about? He had a decent game against China, and 15 points with not much else against Argentina. Other than that, he's averaged about 5 points, 4 turnovers, and 5 fouls a game. And he's been ATROCIOUS defensively. Slow, apathetic, and lazy. You can't put Kyrie, Melo, and Cousins in the same starting lineup unless you just want to get torched by every decent offensive team. It's not possible. The Kyrie/Cousins pick and roll defense is free points for the other team. Coach K moved Cousins to the bench for a reason, and I imagine he will stay there for the remainder of the tournament, as he should.

Yeah, there was a very specific change in strategy in the Argentina game. When Irving and/or Melo were/was in, Cousins was not.

Agree too that Melo and Durant just don't pair well together. They are both best at PF in the international game. They need to pair those guys with bulldogs like George and Butler, who also make things happen off the ball.

[bluedevilsince72]

So, you were unsatisfied with our close wins. Now you're unsatisfied with a blowout win. Do you just want a medium sized win?

Spain is a good team but they aren't a juggernaut. Hell, they found a way to lose twice in the group play round. I have faith K will continue to make the necessary adjustments. He did today and I am confident he will bring a winning game plan to the matchup with Spain.

I was unsatisfied with the early round games for sure. Laziness everywhere on defense, not getting back, no hustle. Only won with defense.

The Argentina game was a great game. We actually hustled more on defense. All I was saying was that Argentina was really bad and couldn't expose our defensive weaknesses. Their lack of a big man was a perfect matchup for Cousins. He still plays no defense. I like Cousins in the 2nd group because the athletes and the good defenders around him in the 2nd unit can cover up his terrible defense.

Team USA has to continue to improve on defense to beat Spain. The beginning lapses and laziness to start the game and to end the game will result in a loss to Spain.

[richardjackson199]

I've mentioned feeling bad for the lack of appreciation Team USA men's basketball gets. Cowherd compared winning Olympic gold to getting a People's Choice Award while an NBA championship would be the Oscar. But after seeing some video, I realized the unfair criticism is much worse than that. Our players are getting just eviscerated by guys like Stephen A Smith on First Take. And I think it could be a distraction affecting their play. If you haven't, you should see some of these videos to see how bad it is.
First, Smith takes an answer to a question from Melo completely out of context and just blasts him. And he does this right after Carmelo scores 31 on Australia and becomes USA men's basketball all time leading scorer. Carmelo is just ripped on national TV by a reporter he considers a friend at a moment when Carmelo should be celebrated for a great accomplishment. This is unbelievable - he suggests that if Carmelo wins a gold he should throw it in the Hudson river.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFiaj9C3hJo

I might think, Carmelo doesn't pay attention to that stuff. Yes he does. We find out that he was so upset Friday night that after the Serbia game he called Smith to tell him how insulted he was. Most would agree Serbia was not our finest performance, and Melo was clearly distracted.

Smith's halfhearted "apology" - "I meant every damn word I said but I should have called him first:"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2hb7Six6YQ

Melo was not the only one distracted by this. Deandre Jordan tried to have Melo's back and made a similar comment. So Smith just ripped him - suggesting that is why he is not an all star and does not deserve to be an all star - because he cares too much about pursuing Olympic gold:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7dUDldMmG4

After getting ridiculed by Smith and having his loyalty to Clippers teammates and coaches publicly questioned, Jordan then had a lousy start against Argentina and didn't look like the same player he has been for this team.

Mark Stein felt the need to clarify that he initiated the question and Smith took Melo's response out of context:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxGZN09ZHs8

It just blows my mind that our Olympic basketball team is being treated this way by the US sports media. This is the thanks they get. By contrast Argentina fans are singing louder than I've ever heard a crowd in appreciation while their team is getting blown out by 25 points. Spain and other world opponents are quite formidable and all-in behind their players to win this cherished gold. And after a guy scores 31 leading a comeback against a ferocious Australia team to become the Olympics all time leading scorer, his accomplishment is just defecated on by one of ESPN's most famous broadcasters. (Needless to say I will never again watch First Take.)

Nevermind the fact that not only does playing in the Olympics not tire out these players for the regular season, it's statistically significant that it improves their performance the next season:

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/playing-for-team-usa-doesnt-hurt-nba-stars-the-next-season/

Coach K has worked so hard to try to build a successful Team USA program with the best NBA players. This kind of crap is not only working to ruin it, the very players who do show up to play are being ridiculed rather than celebrated. I just hope they know that true Americans do value this gold medal, their accomplishments, and we could not be cheering harder for them. I also hope they are able to disconnect from these distractions and focus 100%. That is easier said than done when someone upsets you that much on national TV. They are going to need absolute focus to win a gold medal that they and their true fans can cherish forever.

[dukelifer]

I've mentioned feeling bad for the lack of appreciation Team USA men's basketball gets. Cowherd compared winning Olympic gold to getting a People's Choice Award while an NBA championship would be the Oscar. But after seeing some video, I realized the unfair criticism is much worse than that. Our players are getting just eviscerated by guys like Stephen A Smith on First Take. And I think it could be a distraction affecting their play. If you haven't, you should see some of these videos to see how bad it is.
First, Smith takes an answer to a question from Melo completely out of context and just blasts him. And he does this right after Carmelo scores 31 on Australia and becomes USA men's basketball all time leading scorer. Carmelo is just ripped on national TV by a reporter he considers a friend at a moment when Carmelo should be celebrated for a great accomplishment. This is unbelievable - he suggests that if Carmelo wins a gold he should throw it in the Hudson river.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFiaj9C3hJo

I might think, Carmelo doesn't pay attention to that stuff. Yes he does. We find out that he was so upset Friday night that after the Serbia game he called Smith to tell him how insulted he was. Most would agree Serbia was not our finest performance, and Melo was clearly distracted.

Smith's halfhearted "apology" - "I meant every damn word I said but I should have called him first:"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2hb7Six6YQ

Melo was not the only one distracted by this. Deandre Jordan tried to have Melo's back and made a similar comment. So Smith just ripped him - suggesting that is why he is not an all star and does not deserve to be an all star - because he cares too much about pursuing Olympic gold:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7dUDldMmG4

After getting ridiculed by Smith and having his loyalty to Clippers teammates and coaches publicly questioned, Jordan then had a lousy start against Argentina and didn't look like the same player he has been for this team.

Mark Stein felt the need to clarify that he initiated the question and Smith took Melo's response out of context:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxGZN09ZHs8

It just blows my mind that our Olympic basketball team is being treated this way by the US sports media. This is the thanks they get. By contrast Argentina fans are singing louder than I've ever heard a crowd in appreciation while their team is getting blown out by 25 points. Spain and other world opponents are quite formidable and all-in behind their players to win this cherished gold. And after a guy scores 31 leading a comeback against a ferocious Australia team to become the Olympics all time leading scorer, his accomplishment is just defecated on by one of ESPN's most famous broadcasters. (Needless to say I will never again watch First Take.)

Nevermind the fact that not only does playing in the Olympics not tire out these players for the regular season, it's statistically significant that it improves their performance the next season:

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/playing-for-team-usa-doesnt-hurt-nba-stars-the-next-season/

Coach K has worked so hard to try to build a successful Team USA program with the best NBA players. This kind of crap is not only working to ruin it, the very players who do show up to play are being ridiculed rather than celebrated. I just hope they know that true Americans do value this gold medal, their accomplishments, and we could not be cheering harder for them. I also hope they are able to disconnect from these distractions and focus 100%. They are going to need it to win a gold medal that they and their true fans can cherish forever.

This is the one sport in which it probably makes no sense to play in the Olympics anymore. The USA team is not a team. They have almost never played together as a unit - involves different rules- and folks expect that they can play D like a team of players who have been together for many years? Why should players subject themselves to that type of media criticism? They are expected to dominate and anything short is a failure. If you want to showcase players- play 2 on 2. That would be fun- probably does not require players to have a lot of time together and would be something that does not compete with an NBA championship.

[bluedevilsince72]

I've mentioned feeling bad for the lack of appreciation Team USA men's basketball gets. Cowherd compared winning Olympic gold to getting a People's Choice Award while an NBA championship would be the Oscar. But after seeing some video, I realized the unfair criticism is much worse than that. Our players are getting just eviscerated by guys like Stephen A Smith on First Take. And I think it could be a distraction affecting their play. If you haven't, you should see some of these videos to see how bad it is.
First, Smith takes an answer to a question from Melo completely out of context and just blasts him. And he does this right after Carmelo scores 31 on Australia and becomes USA men's basketball all time leading scorer. Carmelo is just ripped on national TV by a reporter he considers a friend at a moment when Carmelo should be celebrated for a great accomplishment. This is unbelievable - he suggests that if Carmelo wins a gold he should throw it in the Hudson river.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFiaj9C3hJo

I might think, Carmelo doesn't pay attention to that stuff. Yes he does. We find out that he was so upset Friday night that after the Serbia game he called Smith to tell him how insulted he was. Most would agree Serbia was not our finest performance, and Melo was clearly distracted.

Smith's halfhearted "apology" - "I meant every damn word I said but I should have called him first:"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2hb7Six6YQ

Melo was not the only one distracted by this. Deandre Jordan tried to have Melo's back and made a similar comment. So Smith just ripped him - suggesting that is why he is not an all star and does not deserve to be an all star - because he cares too much about pursuing Olympic gold:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7dUDldMmG4

After getting ridiculed by Smith and having his loyalty to Clippers teammates and coaches publicly questioned, Jordan then had a lousy start against Argentina and didn't look like the same player he has been for this team.

Mark Stein felt the need to clarify that he initiated the question and Smith took Melo's response out of context:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxGZN09ZHs8

It just blows my mind that our Olympic basketball team is being treated this way by the US sports media. This is the thanks they get. By contrast Argentina fans are singing louder than I've ever heard a crowd in appreciation while their team is getting blown out by 25 points. Spain and other world opponents are quite formidable and all-in behind their players to win this cherished gold. And after a guy scores 31 leading a comeback against a ferocious Australia team to become the Olympics all time leading scorer, his accomplishment is just defecated on by one of ESPN's most famous broadcasters. (Needless to say I will never again watch First Take.)

Nevermind the fact that not only does playing in the Olympics not tire out these players for the regular season, it's statistically significant that it improves their performance the next season:

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/playing-for-team-usa-doesnt-hurt-nba-stars-the-next-season/

Coach K has worked so hard to try to build a successful Team USA program with the best NBA players. This kind of crap is not only working to ruin it, the very players who do show up to play are being ridiculed rather than celebrated. I just hope they know that true Americans do value this gold medal, their accomplishments, and we could not be cheering harder for them. I also hope they are able to disconnect from these distractions and focus 100%. That is easier said than done when someone upsets you that much on national TV. They are going to need absolute focus to win a gold medal that they and their true fans can cherish forever.

If Team USA players are dumb enough to be affected by a MORON like Steven A Smith, they deserve to lose. "A lion does not concern himself with the opinion of a sheep."

[MarkD83]

It was pointed out in the other thread that the demise of our past Olympic teams which ended in the 2004 disaster started with the best players not wanting to play. Over the top criticism by sports writers about the relative importance of gold medals va nba championships is the first step towards better players not wanting to play in the olympics. We can criticize how the players play because they have the opportunity to show that they can get better. Putting doubts in their minds about whether it is worth playing at all is part of what will cause the us to have another 2004 moment. So when the next 2004 moment occurs remember to give partial blame to Cowherd and Stephen A Smith.

[mkirsh]

It was pointed out in the other thread that the demise of our past Olympic teams which ended in the 2004 disaster started with the best players not wanting to play. Over the top criticism by sports writers about the relative importance of gold medals va nba championships is the first step towards better players not wanting to play in the olympics. We can criticize how the players play because they have the opportunity to show that they can get better. Putting doubts in their minds about whether it is worth playing at all is part of what will cause the us to have another 2004 moment. So when the next 2004 moment occurs remember to give partial blame to Cowherd and Stephen A Smith.

And when the best players start to skip the Olympics and the US takes home a bronze or doesn't medal, Steven A can then blast them for being selfish and not wanting to play for their country. It's a great gig getting to throw stones and never have to take accountability.

[Devilwin]

I don't see Spain giving us a nail biter. I feel we've turned the corner, and look for a double digit win, in the 14-20 point range.

[elvis14]

I don't see Spain giving us a nail biter. I feel we've turned the corner, and look for a double digit win, in the 14-20 point range.

My thought is that I just want to win. A gold medal won by 2 points is just as shiny as a gold medal won by 20. The reason I want to have a comfortable lead isn't because I feel like we have to win by 20 to label is a success but that with our defense, I want a comfortable lead so ensure that late run doesn't produce a loss. Think of 2010 and how we all held our breath watching Howard's shot sail towards the goal and BARELY miss. I don't want anyone to have a chance at that type of shot vs team USA.

[richardjackson199]

And when the best players start to skip the Olympics and the US takes home a bronze or doesn't medal, Steven A can then blast them for being selfish and not wanting to play for their country. It's a great gig getting to throw stones and never have to take accountability.

Or maybe if Team USA loses, Stephen A can have Calipari co-host First Take again so they can celebrate Coach K's failure.

The best players are already skipping the Olympics en masse, and due to several factors, Coach K and this group have their work cut out to win this gold. In one of the above videos I posted, Kellerman and Smith are ripping yet another Team USA player Kevin Durant, suggesting his quote reflects his "beta" personality. But Kellerman points out that Team USA 2016 only has 1 player (Durant) who finished in top 5 voting for NBA MVP whereas Team USA 2012 (which had a tough time with Spain) had all 5 top 5 players. Team USA 2004 who lost 3 games had only 2 of the top 11 players in MVP voting that year.

So you're right - not attracting the best available NBA players historically equates to failing to win gold and even failing to consistently beat the competition. Add in the distractions, and this team could have a recipe for failure.

But they have one big difference from 2004 - Coach K. It will be tough, but I believe they will succeed and earn gold.

[SCMatt33]

I don't want anyone to have a chance at that type of shot vs team USA.

I'm sure Doug Collins would tell you that what you really don't want is for a team to have three shots at it!

[Billy Dat]

Or maybe if Team USA loses, Stephen A can have Calipari co-host First Take again so they can celebrate Coach K's failure.

The best players are already skipping the Olympics en masse, and due to several factors, Coach K and this group have their work cut out to win this gold. In one of the above video's I posted, Kellerman and Smith are ripping yet another Team USA player Kevin Durant for having a "beta" personality. But Kellerman points out that Team USA 2016 only has 1 player (Durant) who finished in top 5 voting for NBA MVP whereas Team USA 2012 (which had a tough time with Spain) had all 5 top 5 players. Team USA 2004 who lost 3 games had only 2 of the top 11 players in MVP voting that year.

So you're right - not attracting the best available NBA players historically equates to failing to win gold and even failing to consistently beat the competition. Add in the distractions, and this team could have a recipe for failure.

But they have one big difference from 2004 - Coach K. It will be tough, but I believe they will succeed and earn gold.

It's interesting how the relative boom/bust cycle for Team USA is about a decade.

1972 - loss, 1976 - win, 1980 - boycott, 1984 boycott, 1988 - loss (the boycotts extended this decade cycle because the best competition wasn't present)
1992 Dream Team - 2002 loss at Worlds - 2003 loss at Olympics
2006 - K Era Starts - 2016 will the best continue to say no?

Hopefully we can win, K rides off into the sunset as the coach, and he'll tackle the future structure with Colangelo and Popovich in a less visible role. The rhythm of these FIBA cycles is changing, they are moving the World Cup so it doesn't land the same year as the futbol World Cup so the next tournament is 2019 followed by the Olympics in 2020. How many guys will be willing to go 2 summers in a row?!? That original cohort of LBJ, Melo and Wade should be commended for playing 3 summers in a row - 2006 - 2008, but it will be interesting to see how they restructure things. It points to a whole slew of fresh faces for that run.

Keeping this thing going will be tricky, it'll be interesting to watch.

[MChambers]

My thought is that I just want to win. A gold medal won by 2 points is just as shiny as a gold medal won by 20. The reason I want to have a comfortable lead isn't because I feel like we have to win by 20 to label is a success but that with our defense, I want a comfortable lead so ensure that late run doesn't produce a loss. Think of 2010 and how we all held our breath watching Howard's shot sail towards the goal and BARELY miss. I don't want anyone to have a chance at that type of shot vs team USA.

Hayward, but yeah, I agree.

[elvis14]

Hayward, but yeah, I agree.

I just logged back on to correct that. It was Hayward who took the shot, it was Howard who flattened Singler and it was Big Z who was trying not to crap his pants.

Sorry about that.

[madscavenger]

So Stephen A. Smith didn't bring his A game. So what? Or did he?

[madscavenger]

................................................. it was Big Z who was trying not to crap his pants..................

He wasn't the only one!

[duke74]

So Stephen A. Smith didn't bring his A game. So what? Or did he?

That joker has no "A" game. He's one of those who, first off, misuse words constantly, and, secondly, believes "why use 5 words when you can use 25?".

A blowhard...that's it...

[Scorp4me]

So Stephen A. Smith didn't bring his A game. So what? Or did he?




Wrote a long post but scratch that. Spent a little more time seeing a few other videos of Stephen A Smith and decided he wasn't worth the effort. What a joke he is.

[Olympic Fan]

This whole recent media reaction (including the Stephen A. Smith blather) reminds me of the article Adrian Wojnarowski who for Yahoo after the US won the world cup in 2014.

We should remember that there is a strong segment of the NBA that hates the fact that pro players participate in international basketball and that they don't get anything out of it (not directly ... I would argue that they do get a lot of positive exposure for the sport, for their league and for their brand). They argue that international medals and trophies are meaningless ("the People's Choice Award") and that NBA stars shouldn't risk their health to play for USA Basketball. Those who believe that will do anything to belittle the accomplishments of Team USA, its players and its coach.

Rational or not, that sentiment is out there -- and while not quite a majority opinion in the NBA, it's still very strong.

[flyingdutchdevil]

This whole recent media reaction (including the Stephen A. Smith blather) reminds me of the article Adrian Wojnarowski who for Yahoo after the US won the world cup in 2014.

We should remember that there is a strong segment of the NBA that hates the fact that pro players participate in international basketball and that they don't get anything out of it (not directly ... I would argue that they do get a lot of positive exposure for the sport, for their league and for their brand). They argue that international medals and trophies are meaningless ("the People's Choice Award") and that NBA stars shouldn't risk their health to play for USA Basketball. Those who believe that will do anything to belittle the accomplishments of Team USA, its players and its coach.

Rational or not, that sentiment is out there -- and while not quite a majority opinion in the NBA, it's still very strong.

I think this is right, and I find it really, really, really funny that the mentality between playing for Team USA Basketball and playing for EVERY national soccer team in the World Cup/Euro Cup are so vastly different.

In the World Cup, 99% of the players who are healthy participate. It's an honor. It's hard work. You get paid peanuts (for nearly two month's work). It helps your image and your profile. It's the dream of every soccer star (they'd rather win a World Cup than a league or Champions League title).

In Olympic basketball/Basketball World Cup, ~80% of the players who are healthy participate (in 2008, that number was 100%. This year, maybe 75%?). It's an honor. It's hard work. You get paid nothing (for nearly a month and a half's work). It helps your image and your profile. It's kind of the dream of every basketball star (but not as great as winning an NBA title).

Now, the difference between soccer and basketball are extensive: one is a truly global sport, the other is professional played by only a true handful of countries but is globalizing quickly; one is dominated by one team, the other is dominated by roughly ~10 teams. And I think these two factors - that basketball is more US-centric and US-dominated, makes it hard for the best players to participate. The biggest reason why the best players in 2008 participated isn't Coach K and Colangelo - it's because the US embarrassed itself in the 2004 Olympics (if not for the 2004 Olympics, Coach K likely wouldn't have been hired). The US being so dominant has, ironically, led to the best players to not always want to play for Team USA. The "well, if I don't play, [xxx] player will play. If he doesn't, then [yyy] will play."

It will take a) basketball to become much more global and b) Team USA to become much less dominant to fix the participation issue.

[gurufrisbee]

What are you talking about? He had a decent game against China, and 15 points with not much else against Argentina. Other than that, he's averaged about 5 points, 2 turnovers, and 5 fouls a game. And he's been ATROCIOUS defensively. Slow, apathetic, and lazy. You can't put Kyrie, Melo, and Cousins in the same starting lineup unless you just want to get torched by every decent offensive team. It's not possible. The Kyrie/Cousins pick and roll defense is free points for the other team.

Coach K moved Cousins to the bench for a reason, and I imagine he will stay there for the remainder of the tournament, as he should. As a reserve, he won't be as big of an issue defensively, since Lowry/George/Butler/DeRozan can cover more ground on defense than the starters, he can be the focal point of the 2nd unit's offense, and he can score on other team's back up big men.

Sorry, but you aren't watching the games. Against Argentina, Cousins was the only center who even tried to play defense. Argentina started the game off going straight at Jordan and attacking the rim and built a ten point lead. Jordan did nothing. Cousins came in and blocked shots and gave an actual defensive presence in the middle - as well as offensive input. This followed the France game where Lauvergne came off the bench and got almost all his points when Jordan wasn't playing any defense on him at all. Once again, at least Cousins was working at and not getting torched the entire time. And against Australia Cousins had double the points and rebounds as Jordan in less than half the minutes.

No, I'm not a big Cousins fan. He did nothing against Venezuela (but it was a laughter) and had a bad game against Serbia but he is by far having a better Olympics than Jordan (and everyone not named Barnes is having a far better one than Green).

[Saratoga2]

This whole recent media reaction (including the Stephen A. Smith blather) reminds me of the article Adrian Wojnarowski who for Yahoo after the US won the world cup in 2014.

We should remember that there is a strong segment of the NBA that hates the fact that pro players participate in international basketball and that they don't get anything out of it (not directly ... I would argue that they do get a lot of positive exposure for the sport, for their league and for their brand). They argue that international medals and trophies are meaningless ("the People's Choice Award") and that NBA stars shouldn't risk their health to play for USA Basketball. Those who believe that will do anything to belittle the accomplishments of Team USA, its players and its coach.

Rational or not, that sentiment is out there -- and while not quite a majority opinion in the NBA, it's still very strong.

There are NBA players and ex-NBA players who are proud to play for their countries. Some in the US may feel privileged and avoid play but we have enough who do want to and will still put the best players on the floor. Yes, it is hard for the US team of individuals to come together and play by different rules but it sounds like people are building up an excuse should we get knocked off.

[kAzE]

Sorry, but you aren't watching the games. Against Argentina, Cousins was the only center who even tried to play defense. Argentina started the game off going straight at Jordan and attacking the rim and built a ten point lead. Jordan did nothing. Cousins came in and blocked shots and gave an actual defensive presence in the middle - as well as offensive input. This followed the France game where Lauvergne came off the bench and got almost all his points when Jordan wasn't playing any defense on him at all. Once again, at least Cousins was working at and not getting torched the entire time. And against Australia Cousins had double the points and rebounds as Jordan in less than half the minutes.

No, I'm not a big Cousins fan. He did nothing against Venezuela (but it was a laughter) and had a bad game against Serbia but he is by far having a better Olympics than Jordan (and everyone not named Barnes is having a far better one than Green).

Good Lord . . . I think you're the only person on the entire internet who thinks Cousins deserves more playing time. I wish the IOC hadn't taken down that Bballbreakdown video on YouTube that showed clip by clip how bad he's been on defense. Jordan is just a way better fit with the rest of the starters, as I already pointed out, and has an 8 year track record of being a WAY better defensive player than DeMarcus Cousins. I guess Jerry Colangelo should call you up, because Coach K and Tom Thibodeau brought him off the bench, so they clearly don't know how to coach.

[gurufrisbee]

Good Lord . . . I think you're the only person on the entire internet who thinks Cousins deserves more playing time. I wish the IOC hadn't taken down that Bballbreakdown video on YouTube that showed clip by clip how bad he's been on defense. Jordan is just a way better fit with the rest of the starters, as I already pointed out, and has an 8 year track record of being a WAY better defensive player than DeMarcus Cousins. I guess Jerry Colangelo should call you up, because Coach K and Tom Thibodeau brought him off the bench, so they clearly don't know how to coach.

Fine, just tell me which part of what I said was untrue:
* In Rio, Cousins is scoring more points than Jordan
* In Rio, they are rebounding the same (even though Jordan has actually played more minutes)
* In Rio, Cousins has more blocked shots than Jordan
* In Rio, they have the same number of steals (again, Cousins doing it in less time)
* In Rio, Cousins has more assists (almost three times as many)
* In the most recent game, with Jordan starting, Argentina went straight at the rim and raced to a ten point lead as Jordan did nothing defensively.
* In the game against France, back up center Lauvergne scored most of his points with Jordan was 'guarding' him (a loose term considering Jordan wasn't doing anything really).

I mean it's not as fun as completely making crap up like you did with saying Cousins was averaged five fouls a game, but it does have that extra benefit of being accurate and true.

[dukelifer]

Fine, just tell me which part of what I said was untrue:
* In Rio, Cousins is scoring more points than Jordan
* In Rio, they are rebounding the same (even though Jordan has actually played more minutes)
* In Rio, Cousins has more blocked shots than Jordan
* In Rio, they have the same number of steals (again, Cousins doing it in less time)
* In Rio, Cousins has more assists (almost three times as many)
* In the most recent game, with Jordan starting, Argentina went straight at the rim and raced to a ten point lead as Jordan did nothing defensively.
* In the game against France, back up center Lauvergne scored most of his points with Jordan was 'guarding' him (a loose term considering Jordan wasn't doing anything really).

I mean it's not as fun as completely making crap up like you did with saying Cousins was averaged five fouls a game, but it does have that extra benefit of being accurate and true.

I am not happy with either option but I would slightly lean Cousins- he is a better offensive player than Jordan and can hit free throws. His D is poor but he can be effective if he is focused. His emotions can get the better of him and lead to fouling and other issues. Tough call.

[bluedevilsince72]

Fine, just tell me which part of what I said was untrue:
* In Rio, Cousins is scoring more points than Jordan
* In Rio, they are rebounding the same (even though Jordan has actually played more minutes)
* In Rio, Cousins has more blocked shots than Jordan
* In Rio, they have the same number of steals (again, Cousins doing it in less time)
* In Rio, Cousins has more assists (almost three times as many)
* In the most recent game, with Jordan starting, Argentina went straight at the rim and raced to a ten point lead as Jordan did nothing defensively.
* In the game against France, back up center Lauvergne scored most of his points with Jordan was 'guarding' him (a loose term considering Jordan wasn't doing anything really).

I mean it's not as fun as completely making crap up like you did with saying Cousins was averaged five fouls a game, but it does have that extra benefit of being accurate and true.

Frisbee - the other guy is right. You are one of a few (outside of UK fans) who think Cousins should play more.

Team USA needs to improve their defense to win these remaining games. When Jordan has been in, his team has played much better defense (excluding the beginning of the Argentina game).

Scoring is totally not needed from the 5 position on this team. USA has the wings and PG to score enough points. We just need the 5 man to not mess up. Cousins turns the ball over WAY too much.

Blocking shots does not automatically mean you are playing good defense. In fact, the way Cousins goes for blocks is fake hustle more often than not. Since he is so lazy away from the ball, he is always rotating late he often has to fake go for steals and blocks.

Jordan hasn't been great either but he has been A LOT better than Cousins especially on defense. Cousins took advantage of Argentina's horrible bigs. If he does the same thing vs Gasol, I will shut up. But my guess is that Cousins gets destroyed by Spain and Australia's big in the remaining 2 games.

Hopefully, K reduces Cousins minutes again. We are going to need those minutes to Jordan and Green (if he can get his head out of his rear end).

[Kedsy]

Fine, just tell me which part of what I said was untrue:
* In Rio, Cousins is scoring more points than Jordan
* In Rio, they are rebounding the same (even though Jordan has actually played more minutes)
* In Rio, Cousins has more blocked shots than Jordan
* In Rio, they have the same number of steals (again, Cousins doing it in less time)
* In Rio, Cousins has more assists (almost three times as many)
* In the most recent game, with Jordan starting, Argentina went straight at the rim and raced to a ten point lead as Jordan did nothing defensively.
* In the game against France, back up center Lauvergne scored most of his points with Jordan was 'guarding' him (a loose term considering Jordan wasn't doing anything really).

I mean it's not as fun as completely making crap up like you did with saying Cousins was averaged five fouls a game, but it does have that extra benefit of being accurate and true.

I don't have a dog in this hunt, and I haven't looked at the Olympic stats, but comparing 6 games in Rio vs. 400+ games in the NBA seems kind of silly.

Over the past several years, Jordan has proven he's a better rebounder, a better shotblocker, and a better defensive player than Cousins. Cousins is a better offensive player than Jordan. Unless you have some legitimate reason why these things would be different in international play than they are in the NBA (and maybe you do and I just don't understand the reason), I can't fathom why you're even arguing the points.

[MarkD83]

Maybe the stater at the center position should be the one who historically has played the best defense vs Gasol.

[gurufrisbee]

I don't care who plays more or less, as long as the USA wins.

All I'm saying is that anyone who actually knows anything about basketball and has actually watched these six games knows that Cousins has played better than Jordan in Rio (and yes, that matters since it's what we're dealing with right now and with these teammates and in this style of basketball). Points, rebounds, blocks, steals, assists, the opposing players not scoring against you, the opposing teams not scoring against you - it's not even close really.

And if it takes starting Barnes at center and letting him play the whole game there, I'm fine with that for the USA to win and I trust Coach K. I'm just talking about the truth about what has actually happened.

[kAzE]

Fine, just tell me which part of what I said was untrue:
* In Rio, Cousins is scoring more points than Jordan
* In Rio, they are rebounding the same (even though Jordan has actually played more minutes)
* In Rio, Cousins has more blocked shots than Jordan
* In Rio, they have the same number of steals (again, Cousins doing it in less time)
* In Rio, Cousins has more assists (almost three times as many)
* In the most recent game, with Jordan starting, Argentina went straight at the rim and raced to a ten point lead as Jordan did nothing defensively.
* In the game against France, back up center Lauvergne scored most of his points with Jordan was 'guarding' him (a loose term considering Jordan wasn't doing anything really).

I mean it's not as fun as completely making crap up like you did with saying Cousins was averaged five fouls a game, but it does have that extra benefit of being accurate and true.

It doesn't matter how many points he scores if he and Kyrie's pick and roll defense gives up free points.

Look, I'm not trying to say Cousins is a horrible player. I'll be the first guy to tell you he's one of the most talented players in the league, but he's a head case. It really hurts his game.

I stand by the opinion that he's a better fit with the 2nd group. When Boogie doesn't get the ball (KD, Kyrie, and Klay jacking up shots), he starts playing lazy defense, but in the 2nd unit, he can be the focal point of the offense, and starts trying harder.

[dukelifer]

Maybe the stater at the center position should be the one who historically has played the best defense vs Gasol.

That would likely be Jordan who knows him well.

[richardjackson199]

Maybe the stater at the center position should be the one who historically has played the best defense vs Gasol.

I agree with this, but I don't know who that would be. Boogie and Jordan both have shown that they can give us good rim protection and cause different problems for opposing teams. I trust whatever the coaches do with lineups. But I actually like the idea of starting Jordan vs Gasol (even though starting him didn't work so well vs. Argentina because nobody could stop Campazzo's floaters those first 5 minutes). I think Boogie has been a beast for the most part with team USA. I like starting Jordan because I don't want Boogie to pick up a couple really early fouls which seems to frustrate him and lower his performance from there. I thought Boogie was a monster off the bench vs. Argentina (and vs. Serbia in 2014 FIBA World Cup championship when we got off to a brief rough start but then exploded to score 129 points).

Lots of folks seem to favor the small ball Green lineup vs. Spain. I'm down with whatever works, I just have not been impressed with Green at the 5 on this team. Hopefully he and Klay will bring their best performances vs. Spain.

No excuses here because none will be needed Saratoga. We're taking Spain down. Coach K doesn't believe in excuses either:
"Winning is not about rationalizing and making excuses. Being a winner is about defeating rationalization and having no excuses." -Mike Krzyzewski

I just wish the media would show our players some measure of appreciation for their commitment and accomplishments with USA basketball. Haters gonna hate, so we'll celebrate them either way.

[richardjackson199]

Or we could start Draymond at the 5 to kick Pau in the gnads. If he gets frustrated Green could tell him no worries, he's good - he froze his sperm.

(Kidding obviously.)

[Troublemaker]

Thoughts on some posts above:


Tough to say who would do the best job against Pau. In general, it's easier to predict how a big man will defend pick-n-roll than postups. I've seen some of the league's best shotblockers have trouble guarding crafty postscorers like Pau. Jordan might do the best job, but it could also be Cousins or Green. Also, in FIBA play, Pau is actually a good 3-pt shooter. And a good defender because things are more compact and he doesn't have to deal with defensive 3 seconds, so his length shows up around the rim more often. Pau is a FIBA monster and if he's not the best big man on the court tomorrow, that would be huge for the USA.
After a good game, I'm inclined to stick with the same starters and rotation. Also, irrespective of how you would rank USA's centers, it makes more sense to play Cousins with the defensive lineup. The better perimeter defense helps covers his flaws, and if they are struggling to score, he can hopefully boost that with inside scoring. Boogie was very good against Argentina.
The Argentinians, at this point in their careers, are a notch below the three teams we struggled with. And definitely a notch below Spain. We still played well against them, but yes, I'd agree that performance doesn't hold much predictive value for Spain.
I'm not as of yet worried about NBA players committing to play for the national team going forward. Especially the Olympics. It's still such a special event and an honor to be an Olympian. That's why it's important to allow them to have days off to go see the events, play beach volleyball, etc and bond. By all accounts, the players enjoy themselves and the friendships they form. Durant and Jordan are saying they would be in each other's weddings. Durant signed with Golden St in large part because of the Team USA relationships he formed with Iggy and Curry. The rumor was that Lebron-to-Miami was first hatched during the 2008 Olympics. Finally, the stats are pretty convincing that Team USA players improve more after playing on the national team, even if that comes down to correlation more than causation.
Agreed that I just want to win the gold medal. A 1-pt win tomorrow and a 1-pt win on Sunday would be terrific.

[richardjackson199]

I hope Gasol is ok, but the cynic in me does not believe for a minute that due to a calf injury he may not play (or won't be able to play effectively). It could be gamesmanship. Coach K isn't fooled either. He has been hearing that sort of thing before a big Duke-UNC game back to the Dean Smith days.

Expect the guy to play 100% and play out of his mind. Pau is shooting over 56% from 3, over 50% from the field, averaging over 17 points a game, and he and Mirotic are averaging over 30 points a game. Gameplanning how to stop Pau in Pick and Roll is crucial for the US. Plus Spain just throttled a very good France team without as much help from Pau.

Does anybody really think Pau will just sit out to make sure his injury does not worsen and to improve his financial value to the Spurs who are paying him? I'm sure we will plan for not a chance. Maybe he has a calf injury or maybe he has no injury at all.

As well as Spain has recently been dominating good competition, the US knows going in we need our absolute best effort for this game. Spain knows we know that, and could be trying to lower our guard. But it won't work on K.

We're going to bring it.

[rsvman]

The worrisome thing to me is the effective pick-and-roll and back-door cuts, because it seems to me that those strengths of Spain correlate almost exactly with the precise weaknesses of the USA team's defense. I am hoping for some improvement in D against the pick-and-roll, especially, and also that we will fire on all cylinders on the offensive end.

I agree with the concept, at this point, that a win is a win. Would I like for the USA to win by double-digits? Absolutely. Would I take a one-point win? Heck yes!

[dukelifer]

I hope Gasol is ok, but the cynic in me does not believe for a minute that due to a calf injury he may not play (or won't be able to play effectively). It could be gamesmanship. Coach K isn't fooled either. He has been hearing that sort of thing before a big Duke-UNC game back to the Dean Smith days.

Expect the guy to play 100% and play out of his mind. Pau is shooting over 56% from 3, over 50% from the field, averaging over 17 points a game, and he and Mirotic are averaging over 30 points a game. Gameplanning how to stop Pau in Pick and Roll is crucial for the US. Plus Spain just throttled a very good France team without as much help from Pau.

Does anybody really think Pau will just sit out to make sure his injury does not worsen and to improve his financial value to the Spurs who are paying him? I'm sure we will plan for not a chance. Maybe he has a calf injury or maybe he has no injury at all.

As well as Spain has recently been dominating good competition, the US knows going in we need our absolute best effort for this game. Spain knows we know that, and could be trying to lower our guard. But it won't work on K.

We're going to bring it.

Pau is probably nursing an injury but he will play-this is his last chance to win a gold medal- unless they just put him on the team for the next Olympics. We will see how effective he is but he will play- no doubt.

[richardjackson199]

"He is not well, I can not say for sure that he is going to play," Scariolo said, as translated by Eurohoops. "We continue with his treatments and the truth is that we needed him right now. We hope his condition to evolve well and at least be ready to help as much as he can his teammates in the game."

If Pau was really not well but maybe going to play at limited capacity, why would you announce and tell the USA that with plenty of time before the game and while our coaches are preparing our gameplan?

Who knows, but assume he will play at 100%.

[fraggler]

"He is not well, I can not say for sure that he is going to play," Scariolo said, as translated by Eurohoops. "We continue with his treatments and the truth is that we needed him right now. We hope his condition to evolve well and at least be ready to help as much as he can his teammates in the game."

If Pau was really not well but maybe going to play at limited capacity, why would you announce and tell the USA that with plenty of time before the game and while our coaches are preparing our gameplan?

Who knows, but assume he will play at 100%.

Yeah, seems like the classic "gamesmanship" that some of the other teams like to try, like dogging it in the earlier rounds to get a better draw (ie avoid the US til the medal round). I agree that he will 100% play, and probably very well as he always does in FIBA play.

[Ichabod Drain]

Surprise surprise. Gasol has been cleared to play.

[phaedrus]

Surprise surprise. Gasol has been cleared to play.

And Spain's coach was reportedly spotted conferring with Roy Williams just outside the Olympic Village. They agreed Spain would not take any timeouts no matter how large a run the U.S. is on.

[Troublemaker]

Both of these semifinal games are silver medal games, as in the winner will leave Rio with at least that much.

And I agree with the front page article; I can't envision Croatia beating Australia today, either.

The lines for today:

USA -12 vs Spain

Australia -4.5 vs Serbia: Australia has definitely gained a lot of respect over the course of this competition. In the first matchup between these two teams in group play, the Aussies came into the game as 5-pt underdogs and now it's almost flipped. I'd recommend Serbia play a SF like Kalinic at the 4 to cause problems for Baynes and Anderson.

[David Bunkley]

Fine, just tell me which part of what I said was untrue:
* In Rio, Cousins is scoring more points than Jordan
* In Rio, they are rebounding the same (even though Jordan has actually played more minutes)
* In Rio, Cousins has more blocked shots than Jordan
* In Rio, they have the same number of steals (again, Cousins doing it in less time)
* In Rio, Cousins has more assists (almost three times as many)
* In the most recent game, with Jordan starting, Argentina went straight at the rim and raced to a ten point lead as Jordan did nothing defensively.
* In the game against France, back up center Lauvergne scored most of his points with Jordan was 'guarding' him (a loose term considering Jordan wasn't doing anything really).

I mean it's not as fun as completely making crap up like you did with saying Cousins was averaged five fouls a game, but it does have that extra benefit of being accurate and true.

Those stats are great and paint a great picture for playing Cousins more, but I think the issue has to do less with the individual and more with the groupings.

For example:

If you start Cousins, then you basically have 3 minus defenders (Cousins, Kyrie, Melo), 1 plus defender (Klay), and one neutral defender (KD). Not exactly a defensive juggernaut and (probably most importantly), none of those guys talk on defense, except for maybe Klay.

If you start Jordan, then you have 2 minus defenders (Melo, Kyrie), 2 plus defenders (Jordan, Klay), and one neutral defender (KD). Unlike Cousins, Jordan seems more inclined to communicate on defense.

A good thing about the second lineup is that is also brings Cousins off the bench surrounded by better perimeter defenders (Lowry, George, Butler) than he has as a starter.

To me, the biggest things to watch will be our second unit and Draymond's energy - we'll need both to win today.

Just my two cents.

#GODUKE
#GOUSA

[Troublemaker]

I wonder if USA is going to end up switching on defense as much against Spain as we did against Argentina, where it looked like to me we switched everything except for side ball screens (which we forced to the sideline as usual). Argentina lends itself to switching because even if you end up with Scola posting up on Jimmy Butler, it's not that bad a matchup at all. That said, I think we should continue switching frequently to deal with Spain's ball movement and player movement. I think the choice is between dealing with some mismatches here and there on switches OR giving up wide open layups and threes because our defenders run into off-ball screens and lose their man in traffic.

[SilkyJ]

I don't have a dog in this hunt, and I haven't looked at the Olympic stats, but comparing 6 games in Rio vs. 400+ games in the NBA seems kind of silly.

Over the past several years, Jordan has proven he's a better rebounder, a better shotblocker, and a better defensive player than Cousins. Cousins is a better offensive player than Jordan. Unless you have some legitimate reason why these things would be different in international play than they are in the NBA (and maybe you do and I just don't understand the reason), I can't fathom why you're even arguing the points.

Lots of folks struggle when trying to adjust to the int'l game, and I believe this is DeAndre's first go round in int'l competition (unless he played ages ago in HS), whereas Cousins has been involved with Team USA for a while now and has an int'l tournament championship under his belt. The reverse is true as well--Melo just seems to thrive in the int'l game. As it relates to this discussion of Jordan vs Cousins, I struggle with the right answer. Jordan is clearly the better defensive player in general, but its not like either has been a world beater down low like I would have hoped. Against Argentina, Cousins and the 2nd unit (usually playing with KD) was MUCH better than the first unit in the first half, but they were also going against some of Argentina's b-unit. Still, the defensive effort they showed from the late first quarter to late 2nd quarter was awesome. It definitely seemed like our best lineup was Lowry, George, Butler/Green, KD, Cousins.

To be honest, this team is really green when it comes to int'l play and I think that showed during group play. We are playing all-nba caliber players all over the floor and beating France and Serbia by 3 points?! Really? Paul George's comments about Australia are case and point--he called it dirty play, but Luke Longley was right, that's just int'l basketball. Its more physical and you aren't going to get a lot of calls you normally would (not to mention the refereeing is spotty), but this is George's first int'l competition so he's just not used to it yet.

I'm glad they figured it out against Argentina, b/c we looked really really vulnerable in group play. I'm not worried about Spain tonight, but I'd be worried about facing Serbia again on Sunday. We need to focus on getting our best defensive unit out there and let KD carry the offense.

[madscavenger]

Apologize if this has already been asked and answered, but is there a live stream available for today's and (of course) subsequent games?

[richardjackson199]

Those stats are great and paint a great picture for playing Cousins more, but I think the issue has to do less with the individual and more with the groupings.

For example:

If you start Cousins, then you basically have 3 minus defenders (Cousins, Kyrie, Melo), 1 plus defender (Klay), and one neutral defender (KD). Not exactly a defensive juggernaut and (probably most importantly), none of those guys talk on defense, except for maybe Klay.

If you start Jordan, then you have 2 minus defenders (Melo, Kyrie), 2 plus defenders (Jordan, Klay), and one neutral defender (KD). Unlike Cousins, Jordan seems more inclined to communicate on defense.

A good thing about the second lineup is that is also brings Cousins off the bench surrounded by better perimeter defenders (Lowry, George, Butler) than he has as a starter.

To me, the biggest things to watch will be our second unit and Draymond's energy - we'll need both to win today.

Just my two cents.

#GODUKE
#GOUSA

Another reason for starting Jordan over Cousins is that the 4 quarters are not strategically equal given their skillset. Let's assume Jordan starts helping Cousins not get into any early foul trouble and frustration. Then let's assume that in the 4th quarter our coaches decide they want a bigger, rim-protecting center in the game for crunch time. A Cousins (not plagued by foul trouble) here would also have the advantage of being a good free throw shooter. A fourth quarter Jordan, by contrast, could be fouled by hack-a-Jordan to steal extra possessions in a close game. So I like starting Jordan for lots of reasons mentioned above in the thread, but we'll see.

Should be fun.

[Troublemaker]

Apologize if this has already been asked and answered, but is there a live stream available for today's and (of course) subsequent games?

Here you go, for USA-Spain: http://stream.nbcolympics.com/mens-basketball-semifinals-game-1

I assume for Australia-Serbia, you just change the "1" at the end of the URL to a "2"

[phaedrus]

And I agree with the front page article; I can't envision Croatia beating Australia today, either.



I'd go further. I can't see any former Yugoslav republic beating Australia today - only Serbia has a fighting chance.

[Troublemaker]

Klay hitting his shots today would change the game. Because of his quick release, the 6'7" Klay is basically always going to be open while guarded by the 6'4" Llull for Klay's flatfooted catch-and-shoot. Llull can cause USA a lot of headaches because he might be the quickest player on the court. Maybe Klay can force Spain to use Rudy, who is a great defender, on him and bench Llull. Klay obviously needs to remain confident in his shot. His worst play against Argentina was when he passed on an open corner 3, surprising his teammates, leading to a turnover.

[Turk]

People are forgetting how green this USA 2016 team is; I was surprised to learn it's the first Olympics for 10 of the 12 players.

I agree with trying to answer the Boogie vs. DeAndre question by evaluating the matchup with their opponents. If Pau decides to not just set picks but also operate out of the high post, getting the ball and passing to corner shooters or knocking down foul-line jumpers, I am worried that both USA centers will get burned coming out there to guard him.

Because USA 2016 is essentially a new team, The other big adjustment is how to play switches. FIBA officiating seems to allow screeners the use of all full-contact MMA moves to prevent an opponent from getting over, under, or through a pick. (I haven't see Klay get hit with a folding chair, so the refs haven't gotten too loose yet). Given USA's defensive struggles, I would want to avoid switches if I could, go under screens, try to make Spain settle for 3 pointers, and adjust if someone gets hot. I am thinking Spain's guards will not worry at all about any USA traps or pressure outside the arc, and in fact will probably welcome it.

[madscavenger]

Here you go, for USA-Spain: http://stream.nbcolympics.com/mens-basketball-semifinals-game-1

I assume for Australia-Serbia, you just change the "1" at the end of the URL to a "2"


Thanks........................mad

[MChambers]

And Spain's coach was reportedly spotted conferring with Roy Williams just outside the Olympic Village. They agreed Spain would not take any timeouts no matter how large a run the U.S. is on.

So of course Gasol has 7 of Spain's first 9 points.

[dukelifer]

Good opening quarter for US. Gasol is a handful- one legged or not.

[dukelifer]

Spain mucking it up- USA settling for jumpers and now a close game.

[CDu]

People are forgetting how green this team is; I was surprised to learn it's the first Olympics for 10 of the 12 players.

Yes, but Cousins, Thompson, Irving, and DeRozan all played in the World Championships. The level of competition is the same if not higher in the World Championships, as the Olympics is viewed a bit lower than the World Championships overseas. So really half the team has sufficient experience in this kind of environment.

And beyond that, Green played in the World University Games in 2011 and Jordan played in the U-19 games in 2007. So only Butler, George, and Lowry lack any international experience. Obviously Green's and Jordan's experiences aren't on the same level, but they at least have familiarity with the rules, the style of play, and the quality of officiating. Only Butler, George, and Lowry lack international experience among the players who actually play.

I think the bigger issue is that we don't have experience together, and that the team doesn't have great fitting parts for the international game. Moreover, it has taken a while for the staff to figure out the best lineup combinations. Our lack of familiarity with one another and perhaps with the team's defensive concepts have made us look really sloppy out there at times. And offensively, we have very few ballhandlers. And the ballhandlers we do have are more iso players than guys geared towards continuity offensively. We lack guys who are great off the ball, and we don't have on-ball guys who are great at creating for others. So on offense we tend to look disconnected.

Basically, we've torched the two overmatched opponents in China and Venezuela. We torched the Argentinians because they tried to go more iso against us with less off-ball movement (and they are old and slow). And against the teams with coordinated offensive approaches, we struggled to win. Basically, we aren't winning on organization and scheme. We are winning by overwhelming teams with our individual skill and athleticism. And occasionally the more organized teams are giving us a run for it.

[bluedevilsince72]

I don't care who plays more or less, as long as the USA wins.

All I'm saying is that anyone who actually knows anything about basketball and has actually watched these six games knows that Cousins has played better than Jordan in Rio (and yes, that matters since it's what we're dealing with right now and with these teammates and in this style of basketball). Points, rebounds, blocks, steals, assists, the opposing players not scoring against you, the opposing teams not scoring against you - it's not even close really.

And if it takes starting Barnes at center and letting him play the whole game there, I'm fine with that for the USA to win and I trust Coach K. I'm just talking about the truth about what has actually happened.

Frisbee - you understand you are making a subjective argument? There is no "truth". Unless I missed a decree from the basketball gods in the latest newsletter.

[duke4ever19]

Technical fouls being called everywhere. The teams must have some colorful language with the refs, because there's nothing I can see besides the possible banter.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Klay Thompson heard you.

Now if only Melo can listen to you...

[Troublemaker]

3 fouls on Durant is key and scary. He needs to be VERY careful from here on out.

Paul George (6 min) needs more playing time in place of Carmelo (12 min). Period.

[dukelifer]

Great Klay today. USA needed every one of his 17 points. Except for a late- and important 3- Anthony is struggling. Durant in foul trouble. USA will need to earn this win.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Coach K's loyalty to Melo isn't helping Team USA. YOU HAVE PAUL GEORGE ON THE BENCH!!!!!

[ChillinDuke]

AFAIC, any debate between Boogie v Jordan has been authoritatively silenced by this game.

You may all continue debating to your hearts' content.

- Chillin

[flyingdutchdevil]

AFAIC, any debate between Boogie v Jordan has been authoritatively silenced by this game.

You may all continue debating to your hearts' content.

- Chillin

I love Jordan. I really do. He looks like one of few players out there having so much fun. That's what I want to see.

[pfrduke]

Klay and DeAndre have been the difference in this one. Jordan is playing with a level of energy and activity that was often missing in earlier games.

[Troublemaker]

Yes, DeAndre Jordan is a good defender and rebounder, lol.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Yes, DeAndre Jordan is a good defender and rebounder, lol.

An okay shotblocker though...

[Troublemaker]

Carmelo in the finishing lineup is annoying. I hope he makes his shots because in every other aspect...

[pfrduke]

Carmelo in the finishing lineup is annoying. I hope he makes his shots because in every other aspect...

Yeah, I like the Lowry-Thompson-George-Durant-Jordan lineup better than the starting (and now finishing) lineup. The small drop-off on offense is, I think, more than made up for by the large improvement in defense.

[tbyers11]

Haters gonna hate, but that was the right call on the offensive foul on the drive by Spain.

Multiple offensive rebounds key on the next trip before the Durant floater pretty much puts the nail in the coffin

[CDu]

Holy moly! The refs actually got the "driving player extends his off arm and hits the defender on the layup" foul call correct. Like 99% of the time that goes as a no foul or a defensive foul. But they got it right and called Spain's guard for the foul when he hit Jordan in the face on the layup.

[kAzE]

Yes, DeAndre Jordan is a good defender and rebounder, lol.

Hey, let's give Boogie a little credit. He is by far the best fouler on the team.

[tbyers11]

Well, that fouling the 3 point shooter after turning the ball over approach wasn't the best play.

Survive and advance.

I was only able to watch the last 5 minutes, but to win relatively easily when the boxscore makes it look like only Klay was shooting well seems to be a good sign

[moonpie23]

whew.........could we be a little less willing to throw the game away in the final 5 min?

ugh

[pfrduke]

Once again, not necessarily pretty - are we going to have any game this tournament where Klay, Kyrie, Durant, and Melo are all shooting well? - but we got the job done. In addition to Klay and DeAndre, I thought Lowry did a fantastic job off the bench steadying the second unit.

[Troublemaker]

Overall, a good game by USA.

Even though the final margin wasn't the largest, this was the easiest win over Spain in the Coach K era (except for a group play win in 2008 when Spain was probably holding back.)

We were in control for most of the second half and were never really threatened in the 4th quarter.

We played good defense against Spain! Yay! Good job players and staff.

[pfrduke]

As an aside, I'm amused by the announcers constantly talking about key players the other national teams are missing, but they don't do that with the US. Doug Collins was just observing how impressive Spain's performance was given that they had no Marc Gasol and no Serge Ibaka, yet the US is expected to be the US even without LeBron, Steph, Davis, Westbrook, Leonard, Paul, Harden, Griffin, etc.

[TKG]

Always nice to win but..... Hard to get warm and fuzzy about this team.... Let Spain back in the game is the fourth quarter with the empty possessions due to knucklehead plays..... But as long as they win.....

[SCMatt33]

Overall, a good game by USA.

Even though the final margin wasn't the largest, this was the easiest win over Spain in the Coach K era (except for a group play win in 2008 when Spain was probably holding back.)

We were in control for most of the second half and were never really threatened in the 4th quarter.

We played good defense against Spain! Yay! Good job players and staff.

You go back and look at the play by play and are amazed how little Spain truly threatened the lead. It felt like one of those game where the US missed a bunch of chances to blow it open and Spain missed a bunch of chances to put some legit pressure on the US. Spain got the lead to 5 once in the third quarter and the US immediately scored on the other end. Outside of that, the final margin was a close as it got. Even in the first half, outside the first three possessions, Spain only had the ball on their hands with a chance to tie once, when they were down 3 after hitting the technical free throw and got possession.

Hard to complain about a game in which we never trailed. This second game will be much more relaxing now.

[NashvilleDevil]

Always nice to win but.... Hard to get warm and fuzzy about this team... Let Spain back in the game is the fourth quarter with the empty possessions due to knucklehead plays.... But as long as they win....

Really? Was never worried in the 4th quarter.

[TKG]

Really? Was never worried in the 4th quarter.

I have been worried since 1980!

[madscavenger]

But was it the 4th quarter of 1980?

[moonpie23]

knuckleheaded plays indeed.......

ally oops for show when strategy should prevail......


survive and advance...

[subzero02]

Does anyone know what channel will feature Australia and serbia?

[TKG]

Does anyone know what channel will feature Australia and serbia?

CNBC

[sagegrouse]

Does anyone know what channel will feature Australia and serbia?

CNBC -- channel 355 on DirecTV

[TKG]

In post game interviews, when asked about preparing for the the gold medal game, both Thomson and Jordan said they would approach it as a game 7. My worry shifted into overdrive.

[subzero02]

CNBC -- channel 355 on DirecTV

Thanks... that's what I found online but I was losing faith.

[dukelifer]

Always nice to win but.... Hard to get warm and fuzzy about this team... Let Spain back in the game is the fourth quarter with the empty possessions due to knucklehead plays.... But as long as they win....

Spain is a quality, experienced team. Gasol was a monster and gave Spain a chance. USA used their depth and superior athleticism to gain advantage. Jordan had an excellent game as did Thompson. I expected a close game- but USA did what they had to. Lots of unforced turnovers. That is one of the issues with this team. Not a fan of Durant handling the ball. Need to clean that up.

[richardjackson199]

Yeah, seems like the classic "gamesmanship" that some of the other teams like to try, like dogging it in the earlier rounds to get a better draw (ie avoid the US til the medal round). I agree that he will 100% play, and probably very well as he always does in FIBA play.

It's like in poker when a fish intentionally feeds you gift-wrapped info that he's weak, you better expect and prepare for a monster. I think Gasol's leg is ok.

Our defense (especially Jordan) won the game.
Obviously 4 fouls with that technical on Mirotic killed Spain.
Nice call on Klay, Troublemaker.
Melo hasn't been the same since Australia. If we play them again hopefully that is the time he decides to hit for another 31. But yeah I like George out there better than Melo. Spain was a tough matchup for Cousins, but he has done a nice job trying to control his emotions throughout international play.
I actually thought Irving had a nice steady game for the most part. Of course Lowry has been awesome.
Favorite lineup: Irving, Klay, George, Durant, and Jordan.
Let's keep up this great defense! Gold medal - let's get it! (yeah I'm pumped)

[pfrduke]

10 points in 13+ minutes for the Aussie offense - they're going to have some work to do.

[OldPhiKap]

When is the next game?

[pfrduke]

The gold medal game is at 2:30 ET on Sunday. The Australia-Serbia game is at halftime and the Serbs are up by 21, with the Boomers scoring just 14 points.

[Troublemaker]

The gold medal game is at 2:30 ET on Sunday. The Australia-Serbia game is at halftime and the Serbs are up by 21, with the Boomers scoring just 14 points.

5 points in Q1, then 9 points in Q2. At least they're improving.

Man, mad props to Coach Dordevic of Serbia. They have scouted/gameplanned the crap out of the Aussies.

[CDu]

Serbia up big at the half, 35-14. Australia playing really poorly after playing a bit over their heads to this point in the tourney.

Still not sure what to make of Serbia's group play results (were they tanking or just bad?) but they are dialed in so far.

It is international bball, and big runs can happen. But it looks like it will take a monster run by Australia or a monster flop by Serbia for the Serbs not to advance.

[subzero02]

Australia needs to start hitting from outside or this game is over. 14 points in the first half.

[subzero02]

Serbia can flat out ball and their confidence level couldn't be much higher...

[Troublemaker]

One quarter to go, but with Serbia up 28, it's looking like another great result for this rising program on the world stage.

Silver at the 2014 FIBA World Championships

Silver at the 2016 Olympics.

[Troublemaker]

Serbia up big at the half, 35-14. Australia playing really poorly after playing a bit over their heads to this point in the tourney.

Still not sure what to make of Serbia's group play results (were they tanking or just bad?) but they are dialed in so far.

I think they were legitimately playing poorly (or at least sub-optimum) through 3.25 games. Then, they found themselves against the USA and have played very well ever since, with Coach Dordevic shortening to a 8.5-man rotation, cutting out some detritus and enlarging Jokic's role and giving Teodosic more minutes, allowing him to lead the team and trusting that team defense can cover for his deficiencies in that area.

Good moves.

[Troublemaker]

One quarter to go, but with Serbia up 28, it's looking like another great result for this rising program on the world stage.

Silver at the 2014 FIBA World Championships

Silver at the 2016 Olympics.

I meant to say AT LEAST, of course.

Although I AM pretty confident about Sunday.

[TKG]

Mills 1-9 from three. Boomer against us. Sparkler against Serbia.

[CDu]

I think they were legitimately playing poorly (or at least sub-optimum) through 3.25 games. Then, they found themselves against the USA and have played very well ever since, with Coach Dordevic shortening to a 8.5-man rotation, cutting out some detritus and enlarging Jokic's role and giving Teodosic more minutes, allowing him to lead the team and trusting that team defense can cover for his deficiencies in that area.

Good moves.

It is specifically the increase in minutes for Teodosic and Jokic that has me wondering about tanking. It isn't like those two are surprise stories. Jokic averaged 10 and 7 last year as an NBA rookie, and Teodosic has long been an international star including at the 2014 games. Yet those guys were playing sparingly and/or as reserves early on.

The team also definitely shot poorly as well in group play, so maybe it was just fluky. But the group play rotations were... odd.

Still, they did what they had to do in the knockout rounds, and finally played up to their pre-tourney billing.

Kudos to Australia. They gritted, grabbed, and occasionally shot their way above expectations in typical Aussie fashion. They probably played over their heads in doing as well as they did, but they did well. And of course they still stand a puncher's chance at a medal against Spain.

I am hopeful that matchup #2 against Serbia fares better for us than matchup #1, as that would be a stressful final. I am hopeful that, seeing the finish line, the US squad will shine.

[gurufrisbee]

Haven't seen the game yet as I was out all day with my family going into Seattle and doing big city fun stuff, but I did just see the box score and an extremely rude private message sent to me and I am glad to see that Jordan apparently finally played worthy of more time at center and even more happy to see the USA won.

[Newton_14]

Yeah, I like the Lowry-Thompson-George-Durant-Jordan lineup better than the starting (and now finishing) lineup. The small drop-off on offense is, I think, more than made up for by the large improvement in defense.

Totally agree. I think they would be much better with Kevin Durant at the 4 and Paul George at the 3. K is loyal to a fault to his Seniors though, so Melo is going to be a starter and finisher. :)

If I were granted one wish, I would have Coangelo and K, along with the assistants install motion style "USA offense", where the core principles of the offense are ran by all USA Teams from the teenager teams to the Men's teams in the Worlds and Olympics. That way, players who had come up through the ranks playing on the teenager teams, Men's Select Teams, would know the core offense when they played on the Worlds/Olympics Teams, such that they would be comfortable running it, even if that group/mix of guys had not played together very much. A pipe dream I suppose. The ISO, standing around, and one guy making something happen on his own just irks me. I think Coangelo and K along with all the many assistants have done a really good job with the USA System they have built. I just think it could be expounded upon and be even better.

Gutty, tough win today. I was very worried about this game and glad to get it behind us. One more to go!

And screw Stephen A and the other haters... winning a gold medal in the Olympics is one of the highest achievements there is for an athlete, be it an individual medal or a team medal.

[gurufrisbee]

I have now seen the replay. I have zero problem saying now that Jordan has a fair case for being the starter at center now (though Gasol did torch him directly more than Boogie today and Cousins got really screwed on a couple of those foul calls, but that back to back offensive board jam and block on Gasol in the 3rd have me fine with Jordan - heck, we might even want him shooting those technical foul free throws instead of Melo). That wasn't the case going in to this game and that still is true. But it doesn't really matter - as long as we get another gold medal! GO USA!

[Troublemaker]

The Gold-Medal and Bronze-Medal games will take place on Sunday at these times (Eastern time):


10:30am - Bronze-Medal Game: Spain -7 vs Australia on channel NBCSN


2:45pm - Gold-Medal Game: USA -14 vs Serbia​ on channel NBC


Note the different channels for each game. The Gold-Medal Game makes it to NBC.

[Indoor66]

To save us all time, will someone please summarize all the reasons that the U.S. will not win Sunday so that we can all save band width? :o:cool:

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

To save us all time, will someone please summarize all the reasons that the U.S. will not win Sunday so that we can all save band width? :o:cool:

If they do win, it will be a meaningless and unfulfilling one point victory.

[dukelifer]

To save us all time, will someone please summarize all the reasons that the U.S. will not win Sunday so that we can all save band width? :o:cool:

Can't let Jokic score at will. My guess is that K will make that the focus.

[Billy Dat]

As ugly as it was with all the technicals, fouls and generally choppy play, the W over Spain was huge and a real accomplishment for this highly examined collection of US players known as Team USA.

On the eve of the gold medal game, they are who they are in that the offense will never be flowing, they will make bad decisions and turnovers when they could be salting a game away, but now we know they have another gear on defense, and just in time!

DeAndre Jordan, as many have written, probably played the best big game game of his entire basketball career. He was basically the next gear on defense.

Kyle Lowry was, too, and the two of them gave us a hard edge feel on that end of the court.

We needed all of Klay's key 3s...all came at big moments.

The fact that they got that offensive foul on Rodriguez's and 1 which would have cut the lead to 6 or 5 was the biggest surprise of the tournament.

Very proud of these guys after that effort. I didn't see Serbia v Australia but on the brink of gold, I see us playing very tomorrow and winning!

[TKG]

I am worried. That should cover me until game time.

[budwom]

Carmelo needs to step up his game, or he needs to sit more. I can understand shots not falling, but many of his passes were lazy, he was just totally out of sync....

[flyingdutchdevil]

Carmelo needs to step up his game, or he needs to sit more. I can understand shots not falling, but many of his passes were lazy, he was just totally out of sync...

Wouldn't playing another PF be a wiser choice instead of having Melo out there? This isn't Melo's fault; he's just doing as he's told. And if he isn't succeeding, pull him out. That isn't being done by the coaching staff.

IMO, the coaching staff has managed Melo veeeeeery poorly.

[Troublemaker]

Wouldn't playing another PF be a wiser choice instead of having Melo out there? This isn't Melo's fault; he's just doing as he's told. And if he isn't succeeding, pull him out. That isn't being done by the coaching staff.

IMO, the coaching staff has managed Melo veeeeeery poorly.

Well, Melo should be abusing his matchup much more than he has been, aside from the Australia game. So, I do think he could shoulder some blame for average offensive play. He's only shooting 37% on twos and is a ball-stopper.

That said, because of Melo's defensive issues, I definitely would put Durant at the 4 and play George in place of Melo much more often. Keeping Melo as the starter AND finisher is really the only thing left that is annoying me much. (Know-it-all coach potato that I am.) Technically, if I weren't a Duke fan, I would probably prefer to give Lowry more minutes than Kyrie but I have to admit my bias allows me to be okay with Kyrie starting and playing as much as he has despite his terrible defense. Also, Serbia's weakest starter is at PF so hopefully even if Melo isn't hitting his shots tomorrow, he won't be killing USA with his play. If Milan Macvan is somehow outplaying Melo, it should hopefully be a quick yank.

[budwom]

Wouldn't playing another PF be a wiser choice instead of having Melo out there? This isn't Melo's fault; he's just doing as he's told. And if he isn't succeeding, pull him out. That isn't being done by the coaching staff.

IMO, the coaching staff has managed Melo veeeeeery poorly.

I can only think that K hopes he'll pull out of the slump, and perhaps he will...but it didn't happen yesterday. Maybe we see more of the defensive stalwarts vs Serbia...

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Wouldn't playing another PF be a wiser choice instead of having Melo out there? This isn't Melo's fault; he's just doing as he's told. And if he isn't succeeding, pull him out. That isn't being done by the coaching staff.

IMO, the coaching staff has managed Melo veeeeeery poorly.

Yes. So incredibly poorly that they have no chance of winning the gold medal.

Wait...

[gurufrisbee]

It's got to be a little tough because what we've seen in Rio is not really consistent with what several of these guys have usually done (wild inconsistency from game to game for Klay and Durant and Melo, disappearing from Green, the very spotty play from both centers, etc.) and when this group has some questionable roster construction due to all the guys who bailed and has had relatively short time to get used to each other. I feel like Coach K and staff has still been working to find the best line up and combinations the entire time now. They've done well enough to make the gold medal game, but I'm sure there are going to be some long lasting questions for Pop and everyone after this about roster construction and getting commitments well in advance that players hold to and possibly even some about maybe taking two starting five's from existing NBA teams and using them (not that you can find a lot of them anyways with five Americans).

[moonpie23]

USA also seemed to forget that the euros crash the offensive glass on EVERY shot......too many put backs or rebounds while usa was just watching and waiting on the ball to fall of the rim, or go in..

[TKG]

In an effort to speed up the game, wonder if the US picks up end line to end line; perhaps using Lowery and George as on the ball defenders? Last game against Serbia we allowed them to set up their offense and get in a rhythm. Need to take that away and make Serbia uncomfortable. Lowery might be more important to our success tomorrow than Kyrie.

[MarkD83]

To save us all time, will someone please summarize all the reasons that the U.S. will not win Sunday so that we can all save band width? :o:cool:

1. The USA only beat Australia by 10 and Serbia won by more than 20 so the USA will lose
2. The USA players have not practiced or played together enough while the Serbian players have played together for the past 50 years
3. If the Serbian players played in the NBA they would all be allstars and have rings unlike the USA players
4. The fiba basketball is not the right size s and USA players have not adjusted
5. The fiba game is only 40 minutes and USA players are only good in a 48 min game
6. The USA team has no depth or height at the positions where Serbia is 6 deep
7. The USA team is coached by college coaches who are obviously worse than nba coaches just look at what happened in 2004
8. No team could possibly win 70+ games in a row. The law of averages is against the USA
9. Stephen A and Cowherd said this is a worthless tournament so the team plans to fly home tonight after they vandalize a gas station
10. The players have all contracted the zika virus

[Indoor66]

1. The USA only beat Australia by 10 and Serbia won by more than 20 so the USA will lose
2. The USA players have not practiced or played together enough while the Serbian players have played together for the past 50 years
3. If the Serbian players played in the NBA they would all be allstars and have rings unlike the USA players
4. The fiba basketball is not the right size s and USA players have not adjusted
5. The fiba game is only 40 minutes and USA players are only good in a 48 min game
6. The USA team has no depth or height at the positions where Serbia is 6 deep
7. The USA team is coached by college coaches who are obviously worse than nba coaches just look at what happened in 2004
8. No team could possibly win 70+ games in a row. The law of averages is against the USA
9. Stephen A and Cowherd said this is a worthless tournament so the team plans to fly home tonight after they vandalize a gas station
10. The players have all contracted the zika virus

Thank you. Very concise. ;):cool:

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Thank you. Very concise. ;):cool:

I hear the Serbians are cowards.

(Not really)

[TKG]

I hear the Serbians are cowards. )

You Hope!

[MarkD83]

I forgot one. The USA women are better.

[OldPhiKap]

1. The USA only beat Australia by 10 and Serbia won by more than 20 so the USA will lose
2. The USA players have not practiced or played together enough while the Serbian players have played together for the past 50 years
3. If the Serbian players played in the NBA they would all be allstars and have rings unlike the USA players
4. The fiba basketball is not the right size s and USA players have not adjusted
5. The fiba game is only 40 minutes and USA players are only good in a 48 min game
6. The USA team has no depth or height at the positions where Serbia is 6 deep
7. The USA team is coached by college coaches who are obviously worse than nba coaches just look at what happened in 2004
8. No team could possibly win 70+ games in a row. The law of averages is against the USA
9. Stephen A and Cowherd said this is a worthless tournament so the team plans to fly home tonight after they vandalize a gas station
10. The players have all contracted the zika virus

11. Harrison Barnes is our best player and our best hope, but the coach won't play him enough minutes because his rotations suck.

[NashvilleDevil]

11. Harrison Barnes is our best player and our best hope, but the coach won't play him enough minutes because his rotations suck.

12. Coach cannot develop big men.

[Tripping William]

12. Coach cannot develop big men.

13. Team USA hasn't played a true non-conference road game, or any true road game for that matter.

[OldPhiKap]

12. Coach cannot develop big men.


13. Team USA hasn't played a true non-conference road game.

14. US had a weak, hand-made draw to get them to the final. Now they finally meet a real team.

[Tripping William]

14. US had a weak, hand-made draw to get them to the final. Now they finally meet a real team.

15. Carmelo Anthony's poor nutrition. He's had way too many Jabari bars. :rolleyes:

[OldPhiKap]

Having said all this -- we have a tough game ahead of us.

[Furniture]

15. Carmelo Anthony's poor nutrition. He's had way too many Jabari bars. :rolleyes:

16. The US team gets all the calls...wait. Is that good or bad?

[mr. synellinden]

Hadn't seen this posted yet. If it has, sorry for duplicating.

Coach K calls it quits after reviving US NBA lineup
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/coach-k-calls-quits-reviving-us-nba-lineup-161114995--nba.html/?.gg_forward=true&chromeless=1

[mr. synellinden]

Another one to enjoy.

http://www.espn.com/olympics/basketball/story/_/id/17356879/olympics-2016-kobe-bryant-coach-k-brought-pride-being-american-back-team-usa

How lucky are we as Duke fans to have this man leading our basketball program? The universal respect and admiration from NBA superstars is remarkable. Look at the quotes from Durant and Cousins, for example.

[Indoor66]

Hadn't seen this posted yet. If it has, sorry for duplicating.

Coach K calls it quits after reviving US NBA lineup
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/coach-k-calls-quits-reviving-us-nba-lineup-161114995--nba.html/?.gg_forward=true&chromeless=1

Now he can use the old Gipper speech for this game. That will cure all ills! :cool:

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Another one to enjoy.

http://www.espn.com/olympics/basketball/story/_/id/17356879/olympics-2016-kobe-bryant-coach-k-brought-pride-being-american-back-team-usa

How lucky are we as Duke fans to have this man leading our basketball program? The universal respect and admiration from NBA superstars is remarkable. Look at the quotes from Durant and Cousins, for example.

Great article. Hope the Duke assistants are forwarding that one to recruits!

[budwom]

If the U.S. wins today, I expect K to be making a few strategic phone calls after the game...(or texts or whatever one does these days...maybe a nice posting on FacePlant?)

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Nice piece on our fellas keeping an eye on the store...
http://es.pn/2aWghTs

[Troublemaker]

2:45pm - Gold-Medal Game: USA -14 vs Serbia​ on channel NBC

Having said all this -- we have a tough game ahead of us.

We have a tough opponent ahead of us but maybe not a tough game.

I think USA will benefit a lot from seeing Serbia a second time, just like how Serbia was ready for Australia's backdoor cuts and physicality the second time around. While it's true that Serbia also gets a second look at USA, I would think the more talented team, with less experience playing together, and less experience seeing continuity offenses, will benefit much more from the second meeting. I think today, Serbia's ball movement won't get USA out of position defensively as much, and we roll.

Current spread seems to be ~15, which is much lower than the 23.5 going into the first meeting with Serbia. That's a huge adjustment, similar to how Australia went from 5-pt underdogs to Serbia in the first meeting to 5-pt favorites in the second meeting, which was probably an over-adjustment. I think USA covers. And may cover both numbers.

But like I've written previously, a 1-pt win and a gold medal would be terrific if I'm wrong.

[moonpie23]

money qoutes:

"I hate to say it [as a Kentucky guy]," Cousins offered, "but I really have enjoyed playin' for K."

Said Durant: "We were taught not to like Duke. I grew up in Maryland, so they used to always play each other, so we hated Duke. And I didn't think that was my style of play, just from hearing from everybody [what Krzyzewski] was like.

"But once I got to play [for] him, I was like, 'Wow, I should have looked at Duke a little bit more than I did. ... He literally told me one time, I think it was 2010 [at the worlds in Turkey], he was like, 'Don't pass the ball.' And I was like, 'All right, cool, that's the way I want to play.'"

yeah...... MY coach K....

[TKG]

money qoutes:

"I hate to say it [as a Kentucky guy]," Cousins offered, "but I really have enjoyed playin' for K."

Said Durant: "We were taught not to like Duke. I grew up in Maryland, so they used to always play each other, so we hated Duke. And I didn't think that was my style of play, just from hearing from everybody [what Krzyzewski] was like.

"But once I got to play [for] him, I was like, 'Wow, I should have looked at Duke a little bit more than I did. ... He literally told me one time, I think it was 2010 [at the worlds in Turkey], he was like, 'Don't pass the ball.' And I was like, 'All right, cool, that's the way I want to play.'"

yeah... MY coach K...

Two thoughts:
1) Big Blue Nation has probably disowned Boogie.
2) Think these two quotes make their way into our recruiting pitch?

[Troublemaker]

Really good bronze-medal game here, coming down the stretch. Neither team has been able to stop each other since Bogut fouled out in Q3.

It went from defensive slugfest to a shootout.

[mattman91]

Ausies totally robbed there.

[duke4ever19]

The Aussies just got hosed on that call.

The ref was anticipating a foul and so he called one. I feel bad for Patty Mills. That's a no-call in the NBA, but FIBA ball is . . . different.

[Troublemaker]

Ausies totally robbed there.

Yeah, really questionable blocking foul called on Mills to send Rodriguez to the line for the tying and go-ahead free throws. I wish he had missed the second one because this game deserved overtime.

Aussies played great but still have NEVER medaled in either the Olympics or FIBA World Championships. It's become sort of a curse for them.

[Troublemaker]

Marc Stein ‏@ESPNSteinLine (https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine) 24m24 minutes ago (https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/status/767425234060181504)
Kyrie Irving bidding to join LeBron (2012), Pippen ('92/'96) & MJ ('92) as the only Team USAers to win gold in the same year as an NBA title

[TKG]

Hardly an auspicious beginning....

[Duke79UNLV77]

Too many careless turnovers

[dukelifer]

Hardly an auspicious beginning...

Will be a ball game. Playing into Serbias hands by settling for jumpers

[Troublemaker]

Will be a ball game. Playing into Serbias hands by settling for jumpers

Yeah, agreed. Serbia's defense has been a surprise (plus USA isn't running great offense).

Unlike the first game with Serbia, and unlike the 2014 final, this is looking to be a grind-it-out defensive game.

[Duke79UNLV77]

6 turnovers, bad fg and ft percentage, and we're up. Hope we can go on a run.

[dukelifer]

Yeah, agreed. Serbia's defense has been a surprise (plus USA isn't running great offense).

Unlike the first game with Serbia, and unlike the 2014 final, this is looking to be a grind-it-out defensive game.

Paul George is so important to this team. Hope he plays the whole game!