Olympics Day 4: Americans Destroy Spain

I’m going to be totally honest: I didn’t catch the first half of the Team USA game and wasn’t able to see any others this morning so this entry will be geared much more toward the future of this basketball tournament at the 2008 Beijing Olympics than it is about reviewing today’s action. There is obviously some fallout from the games today, which I’ll get to in a bit. First, here are my thoughts on the Americans’ 119-82 dismantling of the Spanish national team.

Recap: Spain Gets Blasted

From what I’ve seen and heard of the first half, it was only close for the first quarter before Team USA blew things open in the second. Is this any surprise? The Americans have been doing it all summer. I think it has something to do with a few starters not exactly being ‘productive’ in every game but regardless of what the reason is, the fact remains that it’s the States’ M.O. I really didn’t expect a 37-point loss for Spain, even if they didn’t find importance in the game. I know they didn’t come in trying to lose, but the mentality was a little different knowing that there was just a one point difference in the group standings. When it comes down to it, neither team had much to gain from winning but I think Team USA had more on the line to lose. If they had lost this game, the media would be in a frenzy right now talking about how “Spain was able to defeat the Americans in group play so what could possibly happen in the medal round?”, etc. They had to win this game and they did it convincingly and from my understanding, locked Jose down in the first quarter and that was all she wrote. I saw the second half and he didn’t do anything noteworthy.

I’m going to deviate from the system I’ve set up with analyzing storylines and looking at the CB4 radar. This game actually seemed like it was on par with the Angola game from Tuesday morning when it comes to entertainment and competitiveness. Chris Bosh didn’t have a good game on the offensive end but I’ve noticed something interesting: when have Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard had their best games? Usually, when the competition is either very bad (Angola) or the game is virtually meaningless (Spain). On the other hand, when the competition is good and the game has some semblance of meaning and importance, Chris Bosh has risen to the occasion. Everyone was waiting for the U.S. to find vindication against Greece after losing to them in the semi-finals of the 2006 World Championships. Who helped lead the team to that victory on both ends of the floor? Chris Bosh. What were Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard doing? Not much at all. When they take the floor again on Monday against Germany, I won’t be worried too much about what Bosh does. It’s Wednesday in the quarter-final round that piques my interest. If Bosh shows up there and then again in the semi-finals, that’s just food for thought without me even having to say anything.

Am I saying CB4 is the key to this team’s success? No. But he has been a top five player when you consider both sides of the ball. I’d say he’s right there at number five after Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul when it comes to making a consistent impact every game since he does so on the defensive end. Is he a game-changer in all the ways some people seem to associate with defense like blocking shots and getting steals? No. But he disturbs the opposition’s offence enough to allow his teammates to make those plays instead. Nothing matters until probably Friday morning in the semi-finals because I think the U.S. will draw Australia in the quarter-finals and we all saw what happened during the pre-Olympic tour when they played each other. It won’t even be close.

Tournament Outlook

Here are the rest of the results from Friday night and Saturday morning:

Greece def. Angola (102-61)

Australia def. Russia (95-80)

Lithuania def. Croatia (86-73)

Argentina def. Iran (97-82)

China def. Germany (59-54)

Group A Standings

1. Lithuania 4-0 (8 pts)

2. Argentina 3-1 (7 pts)

3. Croatia 2-2 (6 pts)

3. Australia 2-2 (6 pts)

Russia 1-3 (5 pts)

Iran 0-4 (4 pts)

Russia and Iran have been eliminated from contention, which is kind of surprising to me in Russia’s case. I did not see them losing to Australia last night and they seemed to lose pretty handily if the score is any indication. Their lone win was against Iran, which is pretty sad. Lithuania has locked up the top spot and they play Australia Monday. Whether or not the Aussies win the game, they’ll still be fourth in the group. The reason for that is Croatia is playing Iran and will win so if it comes down to a tie, Croatia holds the tiebreaker, having beaten Australia in their first game back on August 10. Also, Argentina will finish with eight points even if they lose to Russia on Monday (which isn’t likely with the way they’ve been playing) and they hold the tiebreaker over everyone except Lithuania so the #2 spot is theirs. To summarize, the order you see right now is most likely what you’ll see after the group stage is done on Monday morning.

Group B Standings

1. United States 4-0 (8 pts)

2. Spain 3-1 (7 pts)

3. Greece 2-2 (6 pts)

4. China 2-2 (6 pts)

Germany 1-3 (5 pts)

Angola 0-4 (4 pts)

The United States has beaten everyone in their group and I don’t think that’ll change when they play Germany, so the #1 spot is theirs. Spain has beaten everyone except the U.S. and their next game is against Angola, so it’s safe to say they’ll be second in Group B and they hold all the tiebreakers against the teams below them anyway. It gets very interesting when China plays Greece on Monday, however. I’m sure both of those teams want to avoid a fourth place finish in the group stage because that would set them up to play Lithuania in the quarter-finals, which won’t be easy. Then again, the winner would be playing against Argentina, which is just as hard and could be harder depending on individual match-ups, etc. I don’t think China has much of a chance to win this game. Greece has only lost to the U.S. and Spain, which is nothing to be ashamed of. I may be jumping the gun with that prediction but I think it’s reasonable.

Quarter-Finals

The quarter-finals will begin on Wednesday when the group stage is completed. The eight remaining teams will face off in a format where the best in Group A plays the worst in Group B and vice versa. The #2 team in each group plays the #3 team in the other. With that said, these are the match-ups we can expect to see on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning:

QF1: Spain vs. Croatia

QF2: Lithuania vs. China

QF3: Argentina vs. Greece

QF4: United States vs. Australia

It’s pretty clear to me Spain, Lithuania and the U.S. would win their games but Argentina/Greece would be great to see. It’s a shame it’d have to happen so early when the other good teams got easy match-ups but that’s how things go. The winners of QF1 and QF2 would play each other and the same goes for QF3 and QF4 on Friday.

Semi-Finals

SF1: Spain vs. Lithuania

SF2: Argentina vs. United States

Just like the U.S. wanted to avenge their 2006 loss to Greece in the World Championships, I’m sure there is still bitterness over losing to Argentina in the semi-finals of the 2004 Athens Olympics as well. That 101-95 loss stung in so many ways because the U.S. just did not have the right type of resistance. I think they’d pull it off this time, though and meet Spain in that inevitable final.

Final

Spain vs. United States

Barring some type of upset in one of the earlier rounds on Wednesday or Friday, this is what things will shake down to look like on Sunday August 24 in Beijing. If today was any indication, the U.S. shouldn’t have any problem reclaiming the gold medal they lost in Athens. The road goes through Australia, Argentina and Spain in my opinion so let’s see what happens.

That’s it for this short entry. It turned into more of a prediction/preview than anything but we pretty much have the outline for everything anyway. I’ll still be reviewing the games as they happen so stay tuned until next time..

-Mark R.

[The Raptor Core]

Olympics Day 3: Redeem Team Gets Payback

The Raptor Core returns for the third installment of analysis for the basketball tournament at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I managed to catch the Spain and United States games, so those will be the ones I cover. Here are the other scores from Day 3, except for the Argentina/Croatia game to be played after this writing::

Spain def. Germany (72-59)

Australia def. Iran (106-68 )

China def. Angola (85-68 )

Lithuania def. Russia (86-79)

United States def. Greece (92-69)

Recap: Spain Rebounds

I have to start off by saying these Olympics have been my first opportunity to see Spain play for long periods of time and the way they performed against China did not encourage a good first impression for a team that’s expected to be the biggest test for the United States. The coach had erratic substitution patterns, a rotation that only he could understand (assuming there was a method to the madness) and the team played sloppy basketball you would expect from a young NBA team. With that said, they did a lot better against Dirk Nowitzki, Chris Kaman and the rest of Germany. I won’t say they looked like anything close to a challenge for Team USA but they were much better than Tuesday morning.

As I look at the box score to jog my memory, statistics on things like assists, steals, blocks, etc. aren’t available so some players are being shortchanged in my analysis. Either way, Rudy Fernandez looked nothing like the player he was against China. On Tuesday, he was aggressive, smooth, active and looking to make an impact. Against Germany, he didn’t seem as into the game and was making a lot of mental mistakes. He hit a big three pointer at the end of the clock that was impressive but that was the only make of his seven attempts all night. I guess this is why the Portland Trail Blazers didn’t have a problem with him staying overseas after they acquired his rights – he still has to find that consistent middle ground. This could be an aberration and he could bounce back in the next game, so I won’t read into it too much.

I was happy – if not relieved – to see Jose Calderon perform like the player Toronto fans are used to. He had 13 points on 4-for-7 shooting, including a 3-for-4 effort from behind the arc. That went along with 3 rebounds, which is decent for a point guard. I was starting to get very confused with what was going on with Calderon since he had an average opening game and then didn’t even start against China. Jay Triano, an analyst for TSN at these Beijing games, theorized that the Spanish coach may be a bit arrogant and that is translating into not putting his best line-up on the floor often enough. I find it very hard to believe Jose Calderon can’t start on this team. They’re good – but not THAT good. Either way, I’m sure he’ll play more as the games get more important.

Ricky Rubio was active again on the ball. I can’t wait to see what this kid can do defending NBA players. He won’t be able to fluster them as easily as he did to China and Germany but he’s still tenacious and downright irritating. The same goes for Marc Gasol. He reminds me a lot of Argentina’s Luis Scola. They’re both very active, willing to bang down low and have a certain level of finesse to their game even though they play tough. Gasol will be interesting to watch with the Memphis Grizzlies this coming season. As far as Pau Gasol goes, he had another good game. I’d like to see his shooting percentage a little higher in individual games, but 50% is nothing to be ashamed of.

Next up for Spain is the match-up everyone’s been waiting to see in group play. They go head-to-head with the favourites of the tournament: the United States of America. It could go in a variety of directions. Spain has already locked up their spot in the quarter-final round with their three wins so they may choose to take things easy in Saturday morning’s game. They could go all-out and try to send a message to the U.S. but that game is of little importance in the grand scheme of the tournament. Then again, the way Spain has been playing lately isn’t exactly inspiring so it would be advisable for them to play as hard as they can, as if this was an elimination game, so that they can build some momentum and get to the level that they need to be at. We’ll see what happens at 10:15 AM on Saturday.

Recap: Redeem Team Exorcises Greek Demons

As many of you know, it was Greece who defeated the U.S. 101-95 in the semi-finals of the 2006 World Championships, causing them to settle for the bronze medal. Not only did America lose the game, but they were also scored on at will, which I’m sure was a point of emphasis when Coach K spoke to his team about this game. From the outset, the U.S. was very aggressive and guys like Jason Kidd and Dwight Howard combined to accumulate 4-5 fouls in the first few minutes. It was obvious they wanted to really smother Greece and punish them, which they did by holding them to only 69 points. Greece is one of the better teams in Beijing but they were thoroughly dominated after holding a very early lead. This was America’s most difficult challenge so far after a cakewalk against Angola, and the competition will only get stiffer when they play Spain on Saturday morning. One team’s undefeated record will be tarnished but in the end, it won’t mean much as far as eliminations go. Both of these teams have secured spots in the quarter-finals. Anyway, here are my thoughts on individual players in the game:

Observations:

1. Kobe Bryant Returns

Finally, we saw what we’ve come to expect from the NBA’s reigning MVP. He has been mostly quiet throughout the tournament except for some highlight reel dunks. I still don’t like some of his shot selection and the volume he needs to shoot to get his points but he was a lot better in this game than against China and Angola. The one thing that struck me was I hadn’t realized just how many points he had until the game was over and I looked at the box score. It was an almost effortless performance on that end of the court, finishing 7-for-15 with 18 points (tied for the game-high), 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block – not to mention tenacious ball pressure. Team USA will need the Black Mamba to maintain this level of production against Spain and in the knockout stages. He’s way too good to be laid back and passive like he’s been so far.

2. LeBron Remains A Terror

Whether it’s positional defense or coming from the weak side, The King has been nothing short of stellar in these games. He’s held his ground on the block against bigger guys trying to back him down and he’s had highlight reel blocks from all over the court. He’s come from behind, from the side, knocking the ball off the rim, making two-handed catches in mid-air and anything else you can think of. This entire team has been green-lighted to be aggressive and to play a wide open style where they push the ball up the floor and James has been great in the system. He’s had his fair share of highlight reel dunks as well, finishing this morning’s game with 13 points on 6-for-13 shooting with 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 blocks. Those are monstrous numbers when you consider how many minutes he’s playing. He hasn’t disappointed so far, and he can’t because every game will mean something as of Wednesday.

3. Melo Takes A Step Back

I was happy with how Carmelo played against Angola but I probably jumped the gun considering the opposition. Against a tough Greek team, he played aggressively and was definitely doing the scrappy, dirty work down low. However, he still doesn’t look like the player we saw last summer that was doing what Dwyane Wade is doing right now: being a beast. I guess it doesn’t really matter if you can win a game by 23 points but he’s been disappointing. I expected him to be a Top 5 player on this team easily and it’s arguable if he’s up there right now.

4. Dwight Howard Gets Tough Break

We’ve all heard how international referees allow more physicality but Dwight Howard hasn’t been able to get away with much. Against Greece, he got in early foul trouble and never really got into the game other than the one dunk he had. His rebounding was good considering the minutes he played but it was a forgettable performance. Maybe there’s some truth to the theory that as good as he is in the NBA, he’s not the perfect guy for international play. It’s still only three games into the tournament, so maybe he’ll show more than he has because he’s had some good games, but Greece wasn’t grossly undersized down low like Angola was when he had his best game. It’s just something to consider.

5. Dwyane Wade Is Business As Usual

Subconsciously, I think I’m waiting for Wade to have an average or sub-par performance by the standards he’s set for himself this summer but he keeps producing. The guy is just instant offence. He’s taking a high volume of shots (comparatively), but so are Kobe Bryant and LeBron James and neither of them have had the kind of numbers he’s been putting up consistently for the last few weeks. He had 17 points on 6-for-12 shooting with 3 rebounds and 5 assists. He was able to get to the foul line nine times, but only converted four of the attempts into points, which is disappointing. He could’ve finished over 20 but it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme. He continues to be scary in every game he plays and seems faster than I remember him before he was injured. I can’t wait to see him back on the floor with Miami in November.

6. The Intangibles

By definition, you can’t quantify intangibles but the U.S. has been doing some great things, especially in this game. How often do you see Carmelo Anthony stepping in to take a charge? Jay Triano pointed it out during the broadcast and it’s something I noticed this morning as well. To a man, it seemed like every player was willing to play outside of themselves in a small way to help the team. When I say that, I don’t mean they were pressing or forcing their game, but they were making one small – but positive – tweak to help the group. It’s cool to watch as a fan.

The CB4 Radar

I had to try very hard to contain myself and not talk about Chris Bosh’s performance earlier than I normally do. However, I – like every Raptor fan that watched this game – am very proud of what CB4 did against Greece. I said in my last entry that it would mean a lot more for him to play well in this game since it meant so much more to the U.S. than the Angola game, where he was average. Of course, Bosh needs others to create for him because he’ll get roughly one isolation or post-up play per game. Even so, that doesn’t mean he’s getting everything on a silver platter. He’s still rolling hard to the basket in order to create those passing lanes from Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, etc. If he was just lollygagging after setting the picks for the guards, he wouldn’t be producing anything.

Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t continue to praise the defense he’s been playing in this tournament and the pre-Olympic tour. He’s not going to be blocking every shot and he won’t physically impose his will on anyone but like everyone’s been saying for weeks now, when he steps out to help guard those pick-and-roll sequences, he’s coming fast and hard. Opposing players seem a bit startled early in games when he comes in because D12 doesn’t do it quite like CB4 does. With that said, I wouldn’t say today was Bosh’s best defensive game because there were some times he could’ve jumped for a block attempt instead of just holding his hands in the air and maintaining his position. It was fundamentally sound but I would’ve liked to see a gamble or two more. Then again, Dwight Howard had four fouls so he couldn’t get himself in trouble as well by doing stupid things. If Coach K’s rotation so far has been any indication, he’d rather not play Carlos Boozer heavy minutes unless he has to.

Bosh’s line was 18 points (tied for game-high) on 7-for-8 shooting with 4 rebounds and 2 blocks. I like all those numbers and his only miss was a mid-range jumper that he usually makes, but didn’t look very comfortable taking in this situation. I don’t think he wanted to take it since that hasn’t been his role on this team but was probably feeling good. Team USA outscored Greece by 15 points in the second quarter and I’m pretty sure that was when Bosh did most of his damage. I was happy to see his teammates were pulling for him and congratulating him on everything he was doing. The repeated ‘And Ones’ he had that he finished were good for his confidence. He was definitely amped up and animated like we’re used to seeing here in Toronto with the Raptors.

He’s easily living up to the expectations we’ve placed on him and others are realizing he’s the dark horse on this American team. After Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, who’s been better for them on both ends of the floor? Maybe Deron Williams or Chris Paul? The list isn’t very long – that’s for sure. Could this be Chris Bosh’s coming out party on the biggest stage of all? I think Saturday morning’s game will be very telling. When he’s up against Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol, Jorge Garbajosa and the rest of that Spanish team, will he be able to produce? The better question is probably will he be able to defend as effectively as he has so far against a fellow All-Star? This might be D12’s time to shine. Spain is America’s biggest threat so performing well against them would be great for Bosh. The game is also televised on NBC, so there’ll be plenty of people watching. I’m hoping for the best for our franchise player. He’s been great and we can all be proud of him even more for what he’s been able to do in Beijing. He realized he needed to do all the little things to get playing time because guys like LeBron, Wade, etc. would be getting touches they normally get in the NBA – not so for the big men on this team. Kudos to CB4 for his hard work – he deserved what he got today.

TSN Basketball Broadcasts

Paul Romanuk has officially irritated me to new levels. He used the phrase “as they say” about three times during the Germany/Spain game, and then proceeded to use the phrase “it’s all wet” another three times in the U.S. game. I don’t understand how one guy can sound so lame. Maybe it was just because I heard him for a couple games on Tuesday and it didn’t bother me as much in such a small dose but he’s reminding me why the Fan 590 had to get rid of him when he was doing the Raptor broadcasts on the radio. He really sucks. Jay Triano, on the other hand, has been pretty good for a coach. I like his insight on all the players, as well as the fact he’s actually worked with Team USA so he can speak from a perspective few others can. He also has international experience, obviously, having coached Team Canada during the days when they actually qualified for major events like the Olympics. I’m not sure who else TSN could’ve possibly gotten for the play-by-play and it’s not like Romanuk is a total idiot – he DOES know enough about the game but his style is just terrible. I just had to get that off my chest.

Well, that’s all for this entry. I’m sure Raptor fans will be very happy and buzzing about the performances of Jose Calderon and Chris Bosh today. It’s too bad Roko Ukic hasn’t been stellar in any game yet, but I haven’t been able to catch any of them so maybe that’s unfair to say. However, he’s 1-for-5 in the first half of the game against Argentina right now, which isn’t exactly impressive. I can’t wait for 10:15 AM on Saturday morning when Spain and the U.S. clash – it should be fun. Until next time..

-Mark R.

[The Raptor Core]

Olympics Day 2: Spanish Comeback & Team USA Rout

The Raptor Core is back again to review Day 2 of the Olympic basketball tournament in Beijing, with games that took place on Tuesday morning. Here are the results of the day’s games (two of which happened late Monday night in the Eastern time zone):

Lithuania def. Iran (99-67)

Croatia def. Russia (85-78 )

Greece def. Germany (87-64)

Spain def. China (85-75)

United States def. Angola (97-76)

Argentina def. Australia (85-68 )

None of the outcomes really surprise me except for maybe Russia losing to Croatia. However, the way one of the games went down was downright shocking to me.

Recap: Spain Gets A Scare

I fully expected the Spanish national team to come into this game and win by about 20 points or so but they were in total disarray in the first half. It was my first real opportunity to see guys like Marc Gasol, Rudy Fernandez and Ricky Rubio play meaningful basketball so I was very excited about it. I think all of them were impressive throughout the game at one point or another – especially the latter two players. Without Fernandez, China would’ve pulled off the upset and without Rubio, the comeback from down 15 early in the second half would’ve been a lot harder. My impressions of both of those players have skyrocketed after seeing them play and Portland is lucky to have Fernandez next season. They really are stockpiling some of the best young talent in the NBA to complement each other down the road. Pau Gasol was also solid, which was to be expected.

This game was full of surprises, though. Jose Calderon didn’t start the game for Spain for some odd reason and I think their head coach has mild brain damage. If people thought Sam Mitchell’s substitution patterns have been erratic in the past, they’d be pulling their hair out watching this guy work. He took Gasol and Fernandez out during a crucial period at the end of the game with less than three minutes left, which I couldn’t understand. He went with a different starting line-up from the one that played the first game against Greece. He subbed in and out so often, the idea of doing it to keep guys ‘fresh’ was a little stupid. The game is already only 40 minutes long and these are well-conditioned athletes – it really wasn’t necessary for such a deep team to be subbing so frequently. Spain played almost as badly as they possibly could’ve played with turnovers, bad shots, terrible decisions and poor defense. China was up to the challenge early and even during some of the third quarter.

The scary thing for opposing teams is that Spain was able to flip the switch and the game went right into their favour. Yao Ming fouling out had something to do with that, as well as his unwillingness to be more assertive and aggressive in crunch time but Spain’s defense was still too much to handle. China is a team that functions on Yao Ming inside with a lot of outside shooting and once it gets to the late stages of the game, their jumpers lose the legs and they shoot themselves out of it. It was an admirable effort and now their backs are against the wall because they probably need to win at least two of their next three group play games to advance to the quarterfinals. Four teams will be eliminated after the August 18 games have been played and it’d be a shame if the host nation was one of those victims. Angola and Iran will undoubtedly take two of those spots home.

Here are some random thoughts on players from this game:

Yao Ming: Played hard yet again, got passive in the fourth quarter and not all of it was due to the defense

Pau Gasol: Solid as a rock inside for Spain; he knows what needs to be done

Marc Gasol: Very active and multi-talented; willing to do all the intangible things

Ricky Rubio: Raw and very scary; his quickness and ball pressure skills are extraordinary – he’s a terror

Rudy Fernandez: Capable scorer; very versatile inside and outside; active in all facets of the game

Jose Calderon: Very disappointing; poor decisions at times and lackluster showing so far

That’s it for the China/Spain game. It was definitely exciting because it went back and forth for a while in the second half and it wasn’t clear who would win till the last minute or so of regulation when Spain really got the momentum going their way. It’s great to have the host nation involved in such exciting and entertaining games. Their players are trying hard – they just don’t have the talent to compete with these superpowers.

Recap: USA Routs Angola

I didn’t expect to see anything meaningful develop in this game and nothing really did. There isn’t any great storyline to discuss like the China/Spain game but Team USA still looked primed and ready. They didn’t follow the blueprint they’ve had since the pre-Olympic exhibition tour where the game is close or in the opponent’s favour in the first quarter and then they take over and squash them in the middle frames. Angola was so overmatched; they were already down 11 points after the first quarter. That ballooned to 17 points at halftime and 28 by the time the fourth quarter was ready to begin. Their turnovers and overall sloppiness made this fun to watch until the last frame, where things got exceptionally ugly. This is definitely the easiest and probably least entertaining win Team USA will have in these Olympics. The true tests are coming up in the next few days. I liked that there were some of the Angolan players that didn’t back down at all to the physical test of playing the Americans – one guy even stepped up to Dwight Howard, which is admirable of any mortal. Angola failed to provide any meaningful resistance and no one expected them to so this game went as it should have.

Observations:

1. Carmelo Anthony Produces

I was pretty critical of Melo after the game against China but I probably jumped the gun on my assessment. He hasn’t been anywhere near the player he was last summer for Team USA but he had a good showing yesterday. I hope that he can do that against the teams like Spain, Greece and Argentina when the time comes to play them. It’s one thing to do it against them and another entirely to school Angolan defenders.

2. Dwight Howard Bounces Back

D12 had a very economical game against Angola: 14 points on 6-for-6 shooting, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 blocks in just 15 minutes. They didn’t have anyone physically imposing enough to give him any kind of resistance. I’m not expecting anyone to be strong enough to handle Dwight and dominate him in that way but China was good at swarming him and they had Yao inside to contest shots. Not so against Angola. Again, like Melo, it’s nice to annihilate the interior defense of the second worst team in Beijing – can he do it against Pau Gasol and the Spanish defense?

3. Jason Kidd Contributes

Again, J-Kidd didn’t take one shot but he did contribute with 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in 15 minutes. You can’t complain about those numbers at all for a point guard – especially at Kidd’s age. I’m hoping we see slightly higher assist totals against the better teams but he’ll probably stay at that level of playing time while we see a slight bump for Chris Paul and Deron Williams in the backcourt. They seem to play well together when they’re on the court at the same time.

4. Kobe Bryant Continues To Shoot

I realize the Black Mamba is the greatest basketball player on the planet right now but why the hell does he shoot so many three pointers? He took seven against China, making one. Against Angola, he took a whopping EIGHT and failed to convert any of them. That’s eight three-point attempts out of 13 field goal attempts in all, for 8 points. Talk about being a volume shooter. He had more attempts than points. So in two games, he’s taken 15 and made one – gotta love it. Team USA missed 30 shots in this game and Kobe had about a third of those misses all on his own. I’m not hating on him but he needs to rein in that shot selection because it just won’t be good enough against the better teams. I’m harping on that with every single player but it’s the truth. Nothing can be taken for granted on this stage.

5. Dwyane Wade Is A Beast

What more can you say? 19 points on 6-for-8 shooting, 5 rebounds and 1 steal in 16 minutes off the bench. He’s averaging a point per minute in this tournament if I’m not mistaken, which is insane. D-Wade is definitely back to being his old, explosive self – he might even be better than he was before from some of the moves I’m seeing. Then again, the opposition is making everyone look a bit better. We’ll see how he looks in November against NBA competition but it’s exciting as a fan of his to see him back and healthy.

6. Everyone Gets Burn

I saw this coming since they were playing Angola but everyone on Team USA got some significant playing time. No one played fewer than Carlos Boozer’s 11 minutes, which is very reasonable in a 40-minute game. Tayshaun Prince finally got some shot attempts; Boozer got to do his thing more; Deron, CP3, Chris Bosh and Michael Redd all got to take some shots so it was good. I don’t expect to see Boozer or Prince on the floor much in the next two games, though, unless there’s foul trouble.

The CB4 Radar

I wasn’t all that blown away by Bosh’s performance against Angola. I thought he’d get more playing time than he did and maybe some more shot opportunities. He actually got a traditional post-up on the block in the first half, which he converted into a score but that was about it. He had to work hard for everything else he got, as usual. There’s not much to comment on here – he was tied for fifth on the team in scoring with Kobe Bryant at 8 points. I want to see him do big things against Greece on Thursday morning when they play their next game. His defense was still there, he was talking (you could hear him yelling on the TV broadcast), his shot selection was pretty good except for the turnaround he missed, which I’m sure Coach K didn’t mind since it’s a rare mistake he’s made.

That’s all for this entry! I’ll be back on Thursday night or Friday afternoon with my third entry, covering Day 3 of the Olympic basketball tournament in Beijing! By the way, I loved Jay Triano as the analyst for TSN covering those two games Tuesday morning. I think he did a great job and Paul Romanuk isn’t my number one choice for a baskeball play-by-play man but he does try and he’s knowledgeable for the most part. Until next time..

-Mark R.

[The Raptor Core]