USA's Grecian Formula
by Peter W on Aug 15, 2008 7:24 AM CDT
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(Photo credit: Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
As in any other type of basketball, if you turn the ball over 25 times, your chance of losing increases. Exponentially. USA's blowout of Greece--thought to be the first true indicator of how good the Redeem Team is--should give the other Olympic hoops participants cause for pause. Like in the NBA championships, defense rules.
No other Olympic team has yet used the international type of game--outside shooting, crisp ball movement and passing--to their advantage. The type of disruptor defense the USA is playing--full court pressure and traps, for example--precludes many teams from exploiting those advantages because only a few teams have the quality backcourt to withstand such an assault. As we move into the medal rounds, USA's talent has overwhelmed any "team" aspect their opponents used circa 2004 to defeat them. This club so far is better prepared, more focused, and has the athleticism to carry out their mission.
It's just getting good, however. The Greece win felt especially wonderful because we were humiliated by them in 2006 at the World Championships; anyone remember the nickname Lebronze James? Competition in the knockout rounds will be better, and I'm still very interested to see how Spain's guards will handle the sort of pressure the USA is handing out. Calderon, Fernandez and Navarro have been decent to very good in their Olympic match ups to date, with Calderon maybe having a slight edge on the other two.
On the USA side, it's nice to see Chris Bosh get a majority of front court minutes over Dwight Howard. While not as physically intimidating as Howard, his presence in the middle has been felt, and he hits his free throws. As we move further along, USA's outside shooting is still a concern, but it seems like this club has thrown down the gauntlet on the defensive end, and in fact are challenging the whole international "team" premise. Will USA's formula of superior athleticism, talent and focused defense defeat the sum of well coordinated, unified play?
We're about to find out.
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I'm interested to see...
…how Rubio plays against the US. A 17 year old kid against the world’s best. It’s also nice to see Kidd and Boozer finally make their way down towards the Redd end of the bench. The US has a stunning collection of athletes and they can win this on defense, transition ball, and 1 on 1 alone.
The World's Leading Exporter of Small Area Quickness
www.canishoopus.com
Now that I've seen that floppy top
…Rubio is dead to me. But yeah… I can’t wait for that match-up.
In the world of rising and falling draft stocks…. playing in front of the world against Team USA is a little tougher than posting up a chair.
His defense...
…looks good enough to be in the league right now. You don’t see too many guys try to bait the offensive player as effectively as he does. It’s really amazing to watch. Plus, you can see the talent on the offensive end. Once his body catches up with his mind on that side of the court, he’ll be alright. I’m really hoping for a Curry/Rubio draft.
The World's Leading Exporter of Small Area Quickness
www.canishoopus.com
This is a good win...
…though I think the NBC-types are making a bit too much of it – people forget that in ‘06 the Greeks followed up their win against the US with a blowout loss to Spain, who were without Gasol. It’s true that Spain blows out a lot of teams, but I think there are a lot of teams that are better than Greece – Arg., Lith., Russia, maybe Croatia and China in addition to Spain and the U.S.
I like the way you set up the stakes here – “superior athleticism, talent and focused defense” versus “the sum of well coordinated, unified play.” I also love when teams try to win with defense. It will be much harder to rattle Calderón (I think his last turnover was in February) or the Argentines, but given how hard they make the other teams work to score, I think this is the best chance for the U.S. in years…unless they go absolutely stone cold from the perimeter, which you’d think has to happen at some point.
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