USA-Greece Preview
Well this is it people, the first moment of truth for Team USA. Don’t get me wrong here, this is by no means do or die, but at the same time don’t think for a second that the Americans don’t want to win this one badly. (The game will be shown live on USA at 5:00 AM Pacific on 8/14.)
The Greeks took us out in the semifinals of the 2006 World Championships in Japan 101-95. In that game Greece ran an astonishing 42 pick & rolls en route to shooting 62.5% from the field and 71.1% on 2-point shots. And even though only six guys (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard & Chris Bosh) on that team are on this one, you can bet Coach K has everyone else on the revenge bandwagon.
Greece plays like the Bad Boys on defense crossed with Princeton on offense. What I mean by that is they like to get VERY physical on defense and try to take you out of your game…both mentally and physically. So throwing a random elbow, grabbing a jersey, taking hard fouls, etc. is not out of the question and should probably be expected.
Then on O they like to shoot lots of 3-pointers off pick & roll, pick & pop and drive & kick action. Basically everyone on their club can shoot the 3 more or less. They also possess three of the best point/combo guards in Europe (Vassilis Spanoulis, Dimitrios Diamantidis & Theo Papaloukas). Besides making them very deep/dangerous at the lead guard position, this allows the Greeks to control the tempo masterfully. They also will play all three at once with Papaloukas (their 6th man) sliding over to SF. The rest of their roster is filled with tough, hard-nosed role players that will do whatever it takes to get a win.
Besides making 3-pointers and free throws, it’s imperative that Team USA plays patient on offense and not panic if they fall behind. The reason being that Greece not only plays zone exclusively, but they also employ the “no lay up” rule. (Just ask Dirk Nowitzki who picked up a flagrant foul when he lost his cool against them Tuesday.) If we can somehow push the tempo that would also be very beneficial, but I think our fast break/highlight days are over.
On defense the Americans MUST limit the Greeks to one shot and one shot only. Giving Greece second or third opportunities is just asking to be beat. Our rotations must also be EXTREMLY crisp when we play man-to-man D because the Greeks will swing the ball around the perimeter to the open man with ninja-like precision. Coach K has already said that Kobe Bryant (under his “Doberman” persona) will be sicced on Spanoulis. Good luck Vassilis, you’ll need it.
A weird sidebar to this get together is that Greece tends to struggles against zone D, but Team USA generally has no idea how to play a bona fide zone. (I don’t expect them to try it out now either.)
This is going to be a true assessment of how far our national squad really has come. The Greeks are going to test our zone offense and team defense for the entire 40 minutes. There’s no doubt we *could* lose this game, but I’m going to go out on a limb and predict a monumental arse whipping. As Melo said, “We’ve been waiting two years for this and it WILL be a statement game.” I expect to see a laser-like focus right from start from the Americans with absolutely no let up of their intensity until the final whistle.
Now I do think this sets us up for a classic “let down” game on Saturday, but I’ll cover that in my Spain preview.
The Greeks took us out in the semifinals of the 2006 World Championships in Japan 101-95. In that game Greece ran an astonishing 42 pick & rolls en route to shooting 62.5% from the field and 71.1% on 2-point shots. And even though only six guys (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard & Chris Bosh) on that team are on this one, you can bet Coach K has everyone else on the revenge bandwagon.
Greece plays like the Bad Boys on defense crossed with Princeton on offense. What I mean by that is they like to get VERY physical on defense and try to take you out of your game…both mentally and physically. So throwing a random elbow, grabbing a jersey, taking hard fouls, etc. is not out of the question and should probably be expected.
Then on O they like to shoot lots of 3-pointers off pick & roll, pick & pop and drive & kick action. Basically everyone on their club can shoot the 3 more or less. They also possess three of the best point/combo guards in Europe (Vassilis Spanoulis, Dimitrios Diamantidis & Theo Papaloukas). Besides making them very deep/dangerous at the lead guard position, this allows the Greeks to control the tempo masterfully. They also will play all three at once with Papaloukas (their 6th man) sliding over to SF. The rest of their roster is filled with tough, hard-nosed role players that will do whatever it takes to get a win.
Besides making 3-pointers and free throws, it’s imperative that Team USA plays patient on offense and not panic if they fall behind. The reason being that Greece not only plays zone exclusively, but they also employ the “no lay up” rule. (Just ask Dirk Nowitzki who picked up a flagrant foul when he lost his cool against them Tuesday.) If we can somehow push the tempo that would also be very beneficial, but I think our fast break/highlight days are over.
On defense the Americans MUST limit the Greeks to one shot and one shot only. Giving Greece second or third opportunities is just asking to be beat. Our rotations must also be EXTREMLY crisp when we play man-to-man D because the Greeks will swing the ball around the perimeter to the open man with ninja-like precision. Coach K has already said that Kobe Bryant (under his “Doberman” persona) will be sicced on Spanoulis. Good luck Vassilis, you’ll need it.
A weird sidebar to this get together is that Greece tends to struggles against zone D, but Team USA generally has no idea how to play a bona fide zone. (I don’t expect them to try it out now either.)
This is going to be a true assessment of how far our national squad really has come. The Greeks are going to test our zone offense and team defense for the entire 40 minutes. There’s no doubt we *could* lose this game, but I’m going to go out on a limb and predict a monumental arse whipping. As Melo said, “We’ve been waiting two years for this and it WILL be a statement game.” I expect to see a laser-like focus right from start from the Americans with absolutely no let up of their intensity until the final whistle.
Now I do think this sets us up for a classic “let down” game on Saturday, but I’ll cover that in my Spain preview.
posted by D$ at 1:48 PM
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