Let's have more of this!! Team USA wins nail-biter vs Greece

[frudi_x]

well, Lithuania just beat the US team by 94:90.
can't say i'm surprised as Lithuania are my favorites to win the gold [img]smile.gif[/img] .

[johnny]

It's ridiculous, that's what it is. The American players should be deeply ashamed of themselves. And let's bury the term "dreamteam" once and for all. Chokeartists is more appropriate in their case.

[Gangrell]

Johnny, it seems like you're taking offense to this like it was your team that lost. The name Dream Team faded away when the 92' Olympics ended, everyone knows it and after this year, our basketball team surely won't wear it.

[Memnoch]

Originally posted by Gangrell: Johnny, it seems like you're taking offense to this like it was your team that lost. The name Dream Team faded away when the 92' Olympics ended, everyone knows it and after this year, our basketball team surely won't wear it.

Johnny's just disappointed, he's a big NBA fan, like I used to be until I got sick of the playground ball, the endless dunking, the showboating by 20-yo kids who started to get paid millions of $$$ and so started to think they were 500% better than they really were.

Bring back the days of the REAL superstars - Magic, Michael and Larry...

[Memnoch]

Originally posted by johnny: quote: Originally posted by Memnoch: Actually Johnny, I've been less than impressed at Coach Brown's continual attempts to slag off his team and try and distance himself from each fiasco...surely as coach he has command accountability?

He's known as someone who can deal with big ego's, yes. I didn't read anything about what you said, but that's because olympic basketball hardly gets any attention overhere, but i must say i'm surprised, it doesn't sound like coach Brown. Sounds to me if he doesn't like his job at the moment. [/QUOTE]Here's what I was talking about:


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Brown isn't perfect, either

By Adrian Wojnarowski
Special to ESPN.com


ATHENS, Greece -- The biggest ego in the United States basketball locker room stayed true to his character, with Larry Brown bringing that old college and pro act to the Olympic Games. He is planning his getaway, selling out those above and below him, spreading the blame for this U.S. basketball disaster to the executives above and players below.

The Travelin' Man is running again, running out on his bosses, his players, and setting the stage for his own absolution when his legacy leaves him without the coaching gold medal to hang with his NBA and NCAA championships. He's the best coach on the planet, but owning a selfish streak to rival his prodigious basketball genius.

In the wake of the 77-71 victory over Greece on Tuesday, the Travelin' Man had on his running shoes, blaming the officiating, the NBA and USA Basketball executives that picked his team, his players' unwillingness to assume complementary roles and the sad state of American shooting.

Brown has started on a calculated campaign to disavow himself of blame when the U.S. fails to win the gold medal. If they lose, he has successfully established that he had nothing to do with it. Yet, if they do, well, then we'll all celebrate the genius of the great Larry Brown, the earnest pupil of Dean Smith beating back the odds and teaching those wayward pros how to play the "right way" for the red, white and blue.

When asked about shortening his bench and using few players in the rotation, Brown said, "Other teams accept it a lot better than our team would. We've got to be really careful when selecting our team. To find role players in our environment is the way to go, but not the way we've been making teams."

His players' commitment?

"We're trying to entertain sometimes rather than play."

Bad shot selection?

"I think that was the first comment I made to our team, without trying to be too offensive."

International officiating?

"Unpredictable."

His message is clear: I'm flying solo for the U.S. of A.

Listen, he makes valid points. But that's not the issue. It is useless for him to sit there now and just rip everyone and everything when he's been hired to do a job. This isn't his fiefdom with an NBA franchise; it's the United States Olympic men's basketball team. The sacrifice he's asking his players to make for the greater cause is one he won't do himself. Sometimes, you've got to stand there and take the hits. Sometimes, you've got to protect your people. He won't do it. USA Basketball is getting killed for this team, and Brown just piled on with the rest of the country.

All these U.S. players America wants to call malcontents and uninterested don't come close to comparing with Brown. He's the biggest headcase of them all.

This wasn't the time for his self-serving, This Won't Be My Fault When We Lose speeches. This is his way of pushing back from the table, excusing himself and leaving everyone else with the bill. The United States has never been so desperate for a unifying voice, so desperate for a leader to rise in the chaos.

If Brown is so frustrated with the willingness of pros to take complementary roles, perhaps he should've worked harder to talk his two championship Pistons, Richard Hamilton and Ben Wallace, into honoring invitations to the Games. Hamilton is the master of working away from the ball, the jump shooter, which is so vital for international basketball. Wallace is the perfect insurance to make sure the U.S. isn't exposed inside when "the unpredictable officiating" has Tim Duncan on the bench with fouls.

Most of the roster had been met with his approval. He was without a vote, but a powerbroker in the process. The biggest mistake the committee made was choosing Emeka Okafor of Connecticut as the final man on the roster, when Milwaukee sharp shooter Michael Redd was needed to combat these zone defenses that have led to the United States missing 38 of 45 3-pointers in its first two Olympic games. There was no need to bring that team GPA up, when they could've used some 3-point shooting.

The coach's campaign for absolution started before the victory over Greece, in the hours after the pounding Puerto Rico delivered to the U.S. Hey, Brown was saying, I can't coach effort. One member of the USA Basketball executive committee, Rod Thorn, wasn't directly responding to Brown's words but said, "I was there, and effort wasn't a problem against Puerto Rico. We just didn't make any shots."

He was right, too.

Between now and the next U.S. game with Australia on Thursday (7:30 a.m. ET), Brown needs to understand the Americans won't win the gold medal unless he plays the second-best player on the U.S., LeBron James, bigger and better minutes.

For all the groaning over the eroding fundamentals of American players, James has a complete and compelling game of shooting, passing and poise. The ball needs to get into James' hands, and out of Stephon Marbury's. Brown didn't stay in his news conference long enough to answer a question about his unwillingness to play James extended minutes, but then, that didn't serve his own interests.

He ripped the construction of his roster, ripped his players, and his message had been delivered. This has nothing to do with me. Unless we win, of course.

They're struggling with selfishness on the Olympic team and struggling to share the ball, the stage and the pursuit of glory in these Games. And it all starts with Larry Brown, no matter how fast he's trying to run from this team, no matter how obsessed he's become with self-preservation.

The Travelin' Man is plotting one more escape, one more end-run out of a job. Larry Brown is with the U.S., all the way: Win or win. Just like old times.

Adrian Wojnarowski is a columnist for The Record and a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at ESPNWoj8@aol.com.

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[Memnoch]

And more:

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From Bob Kravitz
NBA stars don't inspire fear anymore



Lithuania's Sarunas Jasikevicius celebrates his team's victory. Lithuania is unbeaten; the United States falls to 2-2. -- Jamie Squire / Getty Images


August 22, 2004


ATHENS, Greece -- Give the U.S. basketball team some credit. At least now it's losing to independent countries such as Lithuania. As opposed to U.S. territories like Puerto Rico.

That's progress, isn't it?

This time, the Americans lost to Lithuania and a point guard named Sarunas Jasikevicius, which is actually Lithuanian for "Oscar Schmidt." The guy went absolutely Reggie Miller on the U.S. team -- notice, no more Dream Team references -- scoring nine points in a 1:09 stretch late in his team's 94-90 victory Saturday night.

But that wasn't the ultimate insult.

This was:

"We beat the States," said Jasikevicius, who played his college ball at Maryland and now plays for BC Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel. "So what?"

So what?

That's what it's come to for American basketball. Now the Lithuanians are not only beating them, but expecting to beat them. What's worse, after the game, the Lithuanian coach and his players were bemoaning how poorly they played, especially in the first half. So not only are the Americans losing to former Soviet republics -- who's next? Latvia? -- but they're losing to them when they're playing their "B" game.

"It's like a different feeling going to the game," Jasikevicius said. "The guys on the bus were prepared for a regular game. That's what's changed."

The truth? The Americans just don't get it. And they're not going to find it between now and the gold medal game, not unless Rick Mount sends along some shooting tapes. Worse yet, they're becoming delusional, making excuses where there are none to be found.

"We let the referee take the game out of our control," Carlos Boozer said. "We're better than that team. We showed everyone we should have won that game."

Uh . . . really?

"They got like five, six calls in a row down the stretch," Richard Jefferson said. "We can't let the officials get us out of our game."

Yep, it was the 1972 game against the Soviets all over again.

Give us a break.

There's no ready explanation for failing to defend the basic high pick-and-roll. How many times did Lithuania not only run that play, but hit the open 3-pointer when the Americans failed to step out and cover?

"I was surprised I got to the same spot three times in a row," Jasikevicius said. "We basically ran the same play every time."

Once again, the NBA stars got beat by a team that has just one NBA player. Against Puerto Rico, it was Carlos Arroyo. With Lithuania, it was Darius Songaila, and he was in foul trouble all night.

The player who really beat them, Jasikevicius, can't get a sniff of an NBA contract, not a minimum deal, not a 10-day contract, nothing. But he's got game.

International game.

He showed that four years ago, when he nearly led Lithuania to an upset of the Americans in Sydney. In that game, his desperation 3-pointer missed at the end. In this game, he couldn't miss.

"In international ball, he's as good as they get," U.S. coach Larry Brown said. "But there's a lot of players who do well in international ball who struggle in our league."

When Jasikevicius was asked about his lack of NBA opportunities, he showed nary a trace of bitterness.

"Thirty teams don't think I'm good enough to play in the league," Jasikevicius said. "So they must know what they're doing."

When the media chuckled, Jasikevicius stepped in to clarify himself.

"No, I'm serious," he said. "If they all feel the same way, they must be right."

Meanwhile, Brown keeps doing what he's been doing: backpedaling and distancing himself from the growing disaster that is this 2004 Olympic team. Nobody questions his merits as one of the greatest coaches the game has ever known, but there is reason to look at his rotations here and wonder if Isiah Thomas isn't pulling the strings.

One night, LeBron James is changing the entire emotional trajectory. The next night, he gets five minutes.

Really, if this group stops playing hard for Brown, it's easy to understand why. He's been feeding them to the media wolves after every game, and he has acted like a substitute teacher who's been conscripted to baby-sit a bunch of unruly brats.

Go ahead and trash these players all you want, but for the most part, they've played hard. At least they made the Olympic commitment; a lot of their counterparts begged out, saying they had more important things to do.

Like flossing.

It's not their fault USA Basketball forgot to put some shooters on the roster.

The good news -- sort of -- is the Americans were placed in the easy bracket, so they already have advanced to the medal round. The bad news -- sort of -- is they will get a lower seed, and likely will face someone like Argentina or Spain in that quarterfinal.

Lose that, and the Americans go home without a medal.

There would be some consolation, though: At least now, they would be losing to more populous countries. Which is a start.

Bob Kravitz is a sports columnist for The Indianapolis Star. Call him at (317) 444-6643 or e-mail bob.kravitz@indystar.com .

Source: Click here


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[Davros]

LOL - thanks for posting that article Memsie - it gacve me a few good chuckles.

[johnny]

Originally posted by Gangrell: Johnny, it seems like you're taking offense to this like it was your team that lost. The name Dream Team faded away when the 92' Olympics ended, everyone knows it and after this year, our basketball team surely won't wear it.

If it was my team, they wouldn't have lost a game, i can't believe how much easy open shots the Lithuanians got, where's the defense ? Too bad there wasn't very much interrest from the players to join the Olympic squad, i can't believe guys like O'Neal, Bryant, and Garnett don't wanna represent their country. If there's injuries involved, i can understand, but if they have nothing better to do, it doesn't make sense to me. Now there's a chance they become the laughingstock of the olympics. Same goes for the baseballplayers, they're not even qualified, is money all that matters to these guys ?

[Memnoch]

Pride in the jersey...

[Gangrell]

Originally posted by johnny: Same goes for the baseballplayers, they're not even qualified, is money all that matters to these guys ?

Considering they make more money than a doctor does during brain surgery during a game, take a guess.

Honestly, this is getting annoying. This is the first time I've watched the Olympics but I have seen some plays back from 92' and what people simply can't get through their minds after 12 years is that the greats are gone. Even if the American basketball team did do better, they would've still gotten bashed for screwing up even a little bit because people still and probably always will compare them to the long lost Dream Team.

I agree with you johnny, I don't know why guys like Bryant and Garnett didn't bother representing the United States, but still, don't put O'Neal in there, he is a horrible shooter, free throw and three pointer.

*Sigh* Who knows, maybe things will shape up in the next Olympics, this is still pretty sad though.

[ 08-22-2004, 01:01 PM: Message edited by: Gangrell ]