Congratulations Team USA!

Since the World Championship gold medal game was played during the second half of opening weekend NFL games I doubt anyone actually watched it. The game was competitive for about a half then Team USA pulled away as was their pattern throughout the tournament when challenged by a tough opponent.

Kevin Durant was sublime from start to finish averaging 22.8 points (3rd overall), 6.1 rebounds, 55.6% shooting from the field, 45.6% from three and 91.2% from the line. There aren’t really enough superlatives to describe how well he played. He scored within the flow of the offense and made a bunch of huge momentum busting shots when the other team was about to go on a run.

Kudos also need to go out to Lamar Odom, who was easily was the USA’s most underrated player. He averaged 7.7 rebounds (5th overall) and was outmatched size and strength wise almost every game, but still managed to be effective in his role as starting center.

As good as KD was I’m not sure we win the gold medal without Russell Westbrook’s energy and athleticism. Every time he checked into a game he made things happen immediately and swung the momentum in our direction. He was flat out the most athletic player in the entire tourney, and no foreign team had anyone to even remotely match up with him.

The main reason I’m writing this blog though is that what this team accomplished is flying largely under the radar…and I’m not sure why? In the final game we beat a team with two legit NBA scorers in Hedo Turkoglu (Suns) & Ersan Ilyasova (Bucks) AND two NBA 7-footers in Omer Asik (Bulls) & Semih Erden (Celtics) AND we did it on their home court in front of a raucous pro-Turkey crowd. I know it’s not the Olympics, but our big men were Odom, Kevin Love and Tyson Chandler…that’s it…and we still won. We somehow managed to overcome no consistent scoring threat other than Durant as well.

All I’m saying is this group of players and Coach Mike Krzyzewski deserve a lot more credit than they are receiving for bringing home our first World Championship gold since 1994. However no one deserves more recognition for America’s current success than Executive Director Jerry Colangelo. He has systematically changed the entire culture of USA basketball; just look at the list of accomplishments since he took over in 2005.

> The USA men’s national teams have compiled a 49-1 record in international play and have now won 36 consecutive games.

> The USA men’s national teams, current defending Olympic and World champions, are 35-1 in FIBA or FIBA Americas competitions and 14-0 in exhibition play since 2006.

> The American men for the first time in international basketball history are currently the reigning champs in every age level competition, including the FIBA U19 & FIBA U17 world championships, and the FIBA Americas U18 & FIBA Americas U16 championships.

USA Basketball Men's National Team Finish / Record
2010 FIBA World Championship Team 1st / 9-0
2008 Olympic Team 1st / 8-0
2007 FIBA Americas Championship Team 1st / 10-0

USA Basketball Men's Junior National Teams Finish / Record
2010 FIBA U17 World Championship Team 1st / 8-0
2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship Team 1st / 5-0
2009 FIBA U19 World Championship Team 1st / 9-0
2009 FIBA Americas U16 Championship Team 1st / 5-0

I know most people think “That’s how it’s supposed to be,” but those people also forget that not too long ago it was nowhere near that good. Since basketball is now clearly the second most popular sport behind soccer world wide it’s time to start appreciating our complete and utter dominance at all levels. Because the reality is it won’t last forever.

USA-Lithuania Preview

Back on 8/21 Team USA beat Lithuania 77-61 in a friendly played in Madrid. What was most noteworthy about the game, besides it being Rajon Rondo’s last with the team, was that America only scored seven points in the first quarter…and looked terrible doing it. We recovered OK and beat Spain the next day, but the Lithuania game set off alarm bells inside the national team and had a lot of people worried.

Fast Forward to Saturday (9 AM Pacific on ESPN Classic) and Lithuania is rolling after an upset of Argentina. Linas Kleiza (current Raptor) is their #1 scoring option at 19.1 points per game (6th overall in the tournament). Fortunately Team USA has plenty of guys that know how to defend him starting with Andre Iguodala. Robertas Javtokas is their center and next best player. He was drafted by the Spurs in 2001 and was on his way to the NBA before a horrible motorcycle crash in 2002 robbed him of his once impressive athleticism. Renaldas Seibutis (former Mav) is the only other guy I’m even remotely familiar with but he’s a bench player for them these days.

I have to say I was expecting to be facing Argentina here and am not all that worried about Lithuania. Coach Mike Krzyzewski will certainly use the lackluster friendly performance to keep the team sharp. Then you combine that with it being the semifinals and I think you’ll see the red, white and blue ready to play from the opening tip.

Kevin Durant has to keep it going and be as selfish as possible when the game slows down and Chauncey Billups continuing to be hot from long range would be huge. Our bench has devolved into Russell Westbrook and Eric Gordon only, so Rudy Gay and/or Kevin Love returning to form would be nice too. I think Team USA wins easily as long as they defend the 3-point line, play smart half court offense and gang rebound.

USA-Russia Preview

With Spain getting ousted today the World Championships have truly begun in earnest. At this point I don’t really think Team USA needs a wake up call, but if they do, that was certainly it. Make no mistake about it; this Russian team coached by American expatriate David Blatt can beat us if we don’t play a smart and intense brand of ball.

After watching the New Zealand game what worries me most is Russia’s size. Starting center Sasha Kaun (future Cav) is 6’11 and his backup Timofey Mozgov (current Knick) is 7’1. Combined those two have averaged 24 points and 10 rebounds in the tournament. Then there is starting PF Andrey Vorontsevich (6’9) who is a bruiser with enough skill to hit a 3-point shot. Quite frankly the USA can’t match their size and toughness unless Coach Mike Krzyzewski radically alters his rotation (which isn’t happening), and even then I doubt we’d have enough beef to contain them.

The Russians like to utilize their size to play more of a power game than most other European squads, but they do have some perimeter people to worry about too. The first is swingman Sergey Monya (former Blazer). Andre Iguodala’s sole responsibility will be to shut Monya down, which really Iggy should have no problem doing. The next player is PG Anton Ponkrashov. He’s not a great athlete but is one of those pesky Euro PG’s that knows how to play (high BBIQ) and can hit open 3-pointers. It’s imperative that whoever defends Ponkrashov stays in front of him and does not gamble.

For Team USA to be successful they need to get something…anything…from Tyson Chandler. While not very burly the human foul/complaint machine MUST earn his keep by providing solid minutes defending either Kaun or Mozgov. The next area the team needs to focus on is two-fold. First they can not fall behind early, and second they need to be patient on offense and not turn the ball over. The last thing America needs is for Kevin Durant to go off, and I mean big time. Luis Scola just dropped 37 on Brazil and Linas Kleiza 30 on China. It’s time for the cream to rise to the top and that means you KD.

Yes, I just called Durant out and demanded no less than 30 from him.

I expect this game to be far tighter than most experts do. In fact I’m predicting a nail biter that goes down to the last possession with the Durantula making a three to win it. If we do lose try and remember that Russia is playing without their three best players (Andrei Kirilenko, J.R. Holden & Viktor Khryapa) too, so no griping about our B-Team losing to theirs.

OK?

Good.

World Championship Update

It’s time to switch gears from Phish back to basketball and get ready for what should be an exciting NBA season. I was still on tour when Team USA started up their training but I have managed to watch all three World Championship games thus far plus a few of the friendlies leading up to the tournament.

Here’s my take on the state of affairs…

This team plays hard and really hustles. It’s not above them if they have to out work the opposition to get the win. This attitude has led them to be able to pretty much out-athletic everyone they face and is the main reason I like watching them play.

USA has the best #1 scoring option in entire tournament in Kevin Durant as well as the best #2 option in Derrick Rose. Chauncey Billups plays the Jason Kidd veteran leader role and Andre Iguodala is the team’s defensive stopper. The bench has also been good with Rudy Gay providing instant offense, Russell Westbrook energy and insane athleticism, Eric Gordon shooting and Kevin Love rebounding.

Now to the bad; we are really, really small across the front line as Tiago Splitter showed in the Brazil game. Lamar Odom is NOT a staring center in ANY league. He just doesn’t have the beef to bang with the big boys possession after possession. Tyson Chandler flat out plays like he has no clue what a foul is and can’t make a shot from anywhere on the court. Which leaves Love as our best option to defend big men, and the fact that I even typed that says a lot.

We also are inconsistent from the 3-point line (as usual), but our biggest problem by far is turnovers. This team needs to embrace the old John Wooden axiom of “Be quick, but don’t hurry.” This especially applies to Iguodala, Rose and Gordon. This version of Team USA also takes far too many quick/bad shots early in the shot clock. There’s nothing wrong with pushing the ball, backing it out and running some half court offense.

If we can keep our turnovers down and not get killed in the paint we will be in every game regardless of our shooting/offense. But make no mistake; we will be tested in the knockout round and probably more than once if we make it to the gold medal game.

And just for the record, Splitter and Ricky Rubio (Spain) are NBA ready right now.