USA NT 2012

[skangles]

72-61 after three. The US looked much better for most of the third quarter but then let Argentina make a run in the last few minutes.

[skangles]

LeBron is the most important player on this team. For whatever reason he is the only player that is consistently taking his man off the dribble and attacking the rim. This opens up the court for his teammates including Durant on the perimeter. I'd like to see more of this from guys like Kobe and the PGs.

[skangles]

86-80 final score. Nice run by Argentina but the morale of the story is that it is critical to get out to an early lead. I think Team USA will spend some extra time working on free throws tomorrow.

[Kenneth23]

[quote name='skangles' timestamp='1342991181' post='38559']

LeBron is the most important player on this team. For whatever reason he is the only player that is consistently taking his man off the dribble and attacking the rim. This opens up the court for his teammates including Durant on the perimeter. I'd like to see more of this from guys like Kobe and the PGs.

[/quote]



I agree with you on LeBron. He is the most important player for the USA. I hope Kobe, Melo etc. will play better at the Olympics. Team USA will have to play like a "team" and not depend on two "stars". You see it against Argentina. They have against Argentina but you can see the weakness of Team USA. They can be beaten. Argentina will get better and I think that Spain will be their biggest rival for the gold. Spain is playing like a real team. Too bad that Rubio is injuried. I think that he would have made Spain even a lot better than they now are. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that Spain will beat the USA but I think that they have a chance to beat USA. But team USA is still the favorite to win it all.

[skangles]

[quote name='Kenneth23' timestamp='1342993392' post='38561']

I agree with you on LeBron. He is the most important player for the USA. I hope Kobe, Melo etc. will play better at the Olympics. Team USA will have to play like a "team" and not depend on two "stars". You see it against Argentina. They have against Argentina but you can see the weakness of Team USA. They can be beaten. Argentina will get better and I think that Spain will be their biggest rival for the gold. Spain is playing like a real team. Too bad that Rubio is injuried. I think that he would have made Spain even a lot better than they now are. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that Spain will beat the USA but I think that they have a chance to beat USA. But team USA is still the favorite to win it all.

[/quote]



I agree, Rubio would help Spain immensely. I'm looking forward to seeing the USA vs. Spain game on Tuesday as I haven't seen Spain play yet this season. They certainly have the talent to beat anybody in the world even without Rubio.

[Kenneth23]

[quote name='skangles' timestamp='1342993959' post='38563']

I agree, Rubio would help Spain immensely. I'm looking forward to seeing the USA vs. Spain game on Tuesday as I haven't seen Spain play yet this season. They certainly have the talent to beat anybody in the world even without Rubio.

[/quote]



I agree with you. I'm also looking forward to seeing the USA vs Spain game on Tuesday. I've seen Spain play against France, Australia, Great Britian and Argentina. Spain is looking very good. They are playing good defense, they are sharing the ball and they really play like a team. I know France, Australia and Great Britian aren't from the same level as the USA. They have beaten Argentina 105-85. I think it will be a very exciting match on Tuesday.

[skangles]

[quote name='Kenneth23' timestamp='1342994963' post='38566']

I agree with you. I'm also looking forward to seeing the USA vs Spain game on Tuesday. I've seen Spain play against France, Australia, Great Britian and Argentina. Spain is looking very good. They are playing good defense, they are sharing the ball and they really play like a team. I know France, Australia and Great Britian aren't from the same level as the USA. They have beaten Argentina 105-85. I think it will be a very exciting match on Tuesday.

[/quote]



I think that it definitely plays to the US' advantage that this game being played in Spain. Spain will have the home court advantage and will want to impress their home fans. They may even win this game but irrespective of the result the US should take enough away from the game to better prepare themselves for a more important match up on a neutral court in the UK should they meet in the knock out stages.

[skangles]

I also think that it was a mistake not to play Davis or Harden at least for a few minutes. This is the only chance that Coach K will get to know exactly where his players stand 1-12. Davis has looked really good in his limited playing time and while I agree with Coach K that Team USA shouldn't count on him down the stretch, I think that there is definitely a role for him in London beyond just garbage time minutes.

[Kenneth23]

[quote name='skangles' timestamp='1342995337' post='38568']

I think that it definitely plays to the US' advantage that this game being played in Spain. Spain will have the home court advantage and will want to impress their home fans. They may even win this game but irrespective of the result the US should take enough away from the game to better prepare themselves for a more important match up on a neutral court in the UK should they meet in the knock out stages.

[/quote]





[quote name='skangles' timestamp='1342995843' post='38570']

I also think that it was a mistake not to play Davis or Harden at least for a few minutes. This is the only chance that Coach K will get to know exactly where his players stand 1-12. Davis has looked really good in his limited playing time and while I agree with Coach K that Team USA shouldn't count on him down the stretch, I think that there is definitely a role for him in London beyond just garbage time minutes.

[/quote]





I agree with you. Spain has the home court advantga and they will try to impress their fans. Spain could win the game against USA and then Team USA will have to analyse what went wrong and how they can improve. But it's the same for Spain, they will use this game to see what they are doing good and which thing they are doing bad and improve in this areas.



I also think that Davis and Harden need to get playing time. Harden is a good threat from the bench and could help them a lot. Davis may still be a kid but he's a great player. I'm seen him play many time on television and he surpassed my expectations about him. If I were coach K, I would let him play 20-25 minutes against Spain and see how his play against the Gasol brothers. I would help Davis is his development and then you can see what have in him when you need him against teams like Spain etc.

[Raze Lupin]

The Spain vs USA game hasn't started yet but I'd like to say that I believe USA is royally f***ed! If Spain plays smart and pounds the ball inside for 40 minutes its over.

[Kenneth23]

I think Spain has a very good chance of winning this game. Spain is playing more like a team than team USA.

It will be a difficult game for the USA but also for Spain because they have the pressure to win for their home fans.

Both teams will learn a lot about their own weaknesses through this game. I can't wait till the game starts

[skangles]

23-21 Spain after the first. As expected Gasol and especially Ibaka picked the US apart in the first quarter with the US playing small ball due to Chandler's foul trouble. Kevin Love has done nothing to put himself in the box score but notice how the Spanish interior domination ended once he came into the game. Do not underestimate how important he was for Team USA.

[skangles]

Why isn't Davis in the game? Chandler has three fouls and Love just went to the bench now is the ideal time to throw Davis to the wolves and see what he can do! Horrible decision making by Coach K. We know that he is going to go with his tiny stars when it matters, at least try something new when it doesn't count!

[skangles]

Carmelo Anthony leads Serge Ibaka 48-40 at the half. This US team is so enjoyable to watch on transition defense.

[skangles]

74-59 after three. The first half of the third quarter was the best 5 minutes I have seen out of the US at any point this year. Their ball movement was superb.

[skangles]

100-78 Final. Excellent game by the USA but it is obvious that Spain has a lot more to offer should we witness a rematch in London.

[TeoTheGreek13]

Those refs were annoying or it's just me? <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/bag.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

They seem to called so many fouls against USA that is not even funny. Anyways, expected result. <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thup.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':thup:' />

[ZEUS]

Damnit, I couldn't watch the match on any reliable streaming server, myp2p didn't deliver the goods unfortunately <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/huh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />





Still, that result for the US is pretty sweet, Spain pretty much got vanquished.

[skangles]

[quote name='TeoTheGreek13' timestamp='1343170761' post='38605']

Those refs were annoying or it's just me? <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/bag.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

They seem to called so many fouls against USA that is not even funny. Anyways, expected result. <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thup.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':thup:' />

[/quote]

I noticed that the refs were horrible but it didn't really bother me for some reason. Probably because the US was playing well.

[skangles]

[quote name='ZEUS' timestamp='1343172249' post='38607']

Damnit, I couldn't watch the match on any reliable streaming server, myp2p didn't deliver the goods unfortunately <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/huh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />





Still, that result for the US is pretty sweet, Spain pretty much got vanquished.

[/quote]



Stopstream, mate. Definitely the best unless you can find a HD Sopcast feed.