USA-Spain Review
In what was billed as a gold medal match preview, the United States dismantled Spain 119-82 on 8/16. It was Team USA’s highest point total of the tournament and the US also managed to score 30+ points in three out of four quarters.
The Americans shot 7-11 (63.6%) from 3-point land in the first half and ended up shooting 12-25 (48.0%) for the contest. They also went 19-24 (79.2%) from the free throw line while getting out rebounded 36-39 total and 8-14 on the offensive glass. But like I said at the start of things, if they shoot above 40% on threes and above 70% from the line nothing else they do or don’t do will matter.
Team USA proved to be much tougher than the Spaniards both mentally and physically. I mean we straight took it to the Spanish right from the opening tip and never let up. What made the domination even more impressive was that Kobe Bryant missed the majority of the first half with foul trouble.
No matter who plays the one constant for this US squad has been suffocating perimeter defense. The opposition flat out has trouble initiating their half court offensive sets. This strength has managed to mask our lack of size on the interior. Nice job by Coach K here.
On the other hand Spain did not seem ready to compete mentally at the start of the game. Whether they were tired, scared or whatever, something was off with them. To compound that they essentially quit early on in the second quarter.
The only Spanish guy that came to play was Felipe Reyes (19 points on 9-12 shooting & 8 rebounds). The rest of them evidently thought they were better than they really are. It seemed like they really thought they could play NBA style hoops and beat us at our own game. Uhhh, news flash Spaniards, nobody in the world can out-athletic or out one-on-one us. Sorry.
Elsewhere around the tournament…
> Australia eliminated Russia from medal contention 95-80. Andrew Bogut led the way for the Boomers scoring 22 points on 8-13 shooting while grabbing 8 rebounds. Andrei Kirilenko shot a disastrous 1-10 (including 0-5 from 3) to cap a disappointing tourney for the European Champs.
> Greece, Lithuania and Argentina all rolled and clinched spots in the medal round.
> In what turned out to be the game of the day China advanced to the medal round by beating Germany 59-55. The clinching shot was an 18-foot jumper by Yi Jianlian with :31 seconds to play. Yao Ming scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while Yi chipped in with 9 points 11 boards. Dirk Nowitzki (24 points & 17 rebounds) missed a 3 that would have tied it with :23 seconds to go in what will likely be his final international competition.
> Spain and Croatia also moved on to medal play while Iran and Angola joined the Russians and Germans on the outside looking in.
The Americans shot 7-11 (63.6%) from 3-point land in the first half and ended up shooting 12-25 (48.0%) for the contest. They also went 19-24 (79.2%) from the free throw line while getting out rebounded 36-39 total and 8-14 on the offensive glass. But like I said at the start of things, if they shoot above 40% on threes and above 70% from the line nothing else they do or don’t do will matter.
Team USA proved to be much tougher than the Spaniards both mentally and physically. I mean we straight took it to the Spanish right from the opening tip and never let up. What made the domination even more impressive was that Kobe Bryant missed the majority of the first half with foul trouble.
No matter who plays the one constant for this US squad has been suffocating perimeter defense. The opposition flat out has trouble initiating their half court offensive sets. This strength has managed to mask our lack of size on the interior. Nice job by Coach K here.
On the other hand Spain did not seem ready to compete mentally at the start of the game. Whether they were tired, scared or whatever, something was off with them. To compound that they essentially quit early on in the second quarter.
The only Spanish guy that came to play was Felipe Reyes (19 points on 9-12 shooting & 8 rebounds). The rest of them evidently thought they were better than they really are. It seemed like they really thought they could play NBA style hoops and beat us at our own game. Uhhh, news flash Spaniards, nobody in the world can out-athletic or out one-on-one us. Sorry.
Elsewhere around the tournament…
> Australia eliminated Russia from medal contention 95-80. Andrew Bogut led the way for the Boomers scoring 22 points on 8-13 shooting while grabbing 8 rebounds. Andrei Kirilenko shot a disastrous 1-10 (including 0-5 from 3) to cap a disappointing tourney for the European Champs.
> Greece, Lithuania and Argentina all rolled and clinched spots in the medal round.
> In what turned out to be the game of the day China advanced to the medal round by beating Germany 59-55. The clinching shot was an 18-foot jumper by Yi Jianlian with :31 seconds to play. Yao Ming scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while Yi chipped in with 9 points 11 boards. Dirk Nowitzki (24 points & 17 rebounds) missed a 3 that would have tied it with :23 seconds to go in what will likely be his final international competition.
> Spain and Croatia also moved on to medal play while Iran and Angola joined the Russians and Germans on the outside looking in.
posted by D$ at 10:19 AM
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