USA-Greece Review

Team USA passed their first test with flying colors hammering Greece into submission with suffocating defense and electrifying athleticism. The final score was 92-69, but that doesn’t indicate how close the game was for 1.5 quarters.

The Americans came out nervous and were pressing way too much on offense. There was no ball movement and too much one-on-one play. To make matters worse the Greeks were breaking down our defense at will creating easy looks all over the place. Not only was Greece completely controlling the tempo, but the referees were also giving them every single call. (This was the first game I’ve seen where the refs displayed a blatant bias against Team USA.)

Needless to say I was very nervous during that portion of the contest.

Then all of a sudden the American’s defensive intensity picked up mid-way through the 2nd quarter with the unit of Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh. Wade led the charge on offense and Bosh shored up the interior defense.

The Greeks quit before the end of the second quarter and ended up committing 13 turnovers and shooting 0-7 from three in the first half. They didn’t even make their first 3-pointer until the 8 minute mark of the 3rd quarter. Coach K called off the dogs with 6 minutes to go in the 4th quarter and even practiced some zone D down the stretch.

There’s no doubt that D Wade has been Team USA’s MVP and best player thus far. He’s shooting 76% from the field and averaging 18.3 points (both are the tournament bests). It’s also become clear to me that CB4 is our best big man, both offensively and defensively.

LeBron James was unusually quiet until very late in the first half, but still ended up with 13 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 blocks (all team highs except points). Kobe Bryant probably played his best game of the Olympics, but he’s still forcing his offense too much for my liking. That said the “Doberman” did hold Vassilis Spanoulis to 4-13 shooting including 0-5 from three.

Jason Kidd is a complete and utter waste of space on this club. I’m sorry, but it’s true. You can’t tell me that CP3 or D Wil couldn’t start the 1st and 3rd quarters as effectively as he does.

As for our team stats, they once again were below par in the three categories I keep harping on. We shot 7-20 (35.0%) from distance, 13-23 (56.5%) from the line and lost the battle of the offensive glass 11-14. That brings our tournament totals to 29.2% (dead last), 64.4% (2nd to last) and 27-41 (tied for 2nd to last) respectively.

The main I did like though was that Coach K went to an eight-man rotation (I’m not including token starter Kidd) in a serious game.

PG – D Wil/CP3
SG – Kobe/Wade
SF – Bron/Kobe
PF – Melo/Bron
C – Dwight Howard/Bosh

If K can stick to that and we avoid injuries I really like our chances.

Elsewhere around the tournament…

> Spain, Australia, China and Argentina won by 13, 38, 17 and 24 respectively.

> Lithuania beat European Champion Russia by 7 (86-79). In that Eastern Block tilt the Russians missed 15 of 37 free throws, with Andrei Kirilenko missing 9 (although AK did tally 17 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 6 steals and 3 blocks – all of which led his team except points) and J.R. Holden missing 4.

This sets up a HUGE game in Group A on 8/16 between Russia and Australia where the winner will likely advance to medal play and the loser will almost certainly be sent packing. Germany and China also face each other on 8/16 under the exact same circumstances in Group B.