Bounced back today with a 28 point win over Argentina
m
Walker Proof Digital Album Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Coming into these games the world rankings were:
1. USA
2. Spain
3. Australia
4. Argentina
Making four of their five exhibition games against some really tough competition,hopefully they can build on this win. It sucks I finally get to watch a game and the one player I was looking forward to watching,Jayson Tatum, sat with some knee soreness.
Yeah...except the US beat Nigeria by 80+ not too long ago and 30+ the last time they played. And I don't think anybody's expecting a blowout over Australia.
Now that Team USA is winning again, we won't have any more jokes to crack. I wish we could go back to the days when Team USA was losing to Nigeria and Australia, those were great times, I miss those days.
@doubledragon said:
Now that Team USA is winning again, we won't have any more jokes to crack. I wish we could go back to the days when Team USA was losing to Nigeria and Australia, those were great times, I miss those days.
@doubledragon said:
Now that Team USA is winning again, we won't have any more jokes to crack. I wish we could go back to the days when Team USA was losing to Nigeria and Australia, those were great times, I miss those days.
@doubledragon said:
Now that Team USA is winning again, we won't have any more jokes to crack. I wish we could go back to the days when Team USA was losing to Nigeria and Australia, those were great times, I miss those days.
@doubledragon said:
Now that Team USA is winning again, we won't have any more jokes to crack. I wish we could go back to the days when Team USA was losing to Nigeria and Australia, those were great times, I miss those days.
Oh my goodness, Doug Gottlieb blasted US basketball culture.
Doug Gottlieb Is Not Impressed With The State Of US Basketball Culture
After his great run at Cal, Pete Newell retired from coaching. He spent time as an AD and a GM with the San Diego Rockets (since moved to Houston) and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Somewhere along the line, he started privately coaching big men and that morphed into Big Man’s Camp, aka Pete Newell’s Big Man Camp.
One year he saw a young player go for a dunk and tried to explain to him what he was doing wrong.
“Don’t mess with my game,” said the young player.
“Son,” said Newell, “you got no game.” And then, perhaps, was able to help him.
US Basketball has taken a lot of criticism as it’s turned more from a team game to a game of individualism over the years, where a dunk is seen as much better than a sharp pass or good defense.
And former player and media member Doug Gottlieb hates it and draws a connection from the general decline of US basketball culture, which he says “sucks,” to the poor start of Team USA in the run-up to the Olympics.
We’ll reserve judgement on the team for the moment, given their short amount of time together, but we will say this: one of Mike Krzyzewski’s great accomplishments when he ran Team USA was getting guys to work together and often to take on roles they would never have with their NBA teams.
The late Kobe Bryant, for instance, volunteered to be a defensive stopper. Jason Kidd hardly shot at all when he was on the team. Not a huge stretch, but still, he let other guys do it and contented himself with defense and passing.
Everyone eventually settled into a role and they were all willing to do it, even when some of them weren’t thrilled.
We hope that as this team comes together, roles will be pretty clear and some of the guys who aren’t called upon to be dominant scorers find other ways to contribute.
In general though, Gottlieb is right. It’s a team game and the NBA’s focus on individual flash, while it makes for great television, is a rot in the core of the game. And it’s spreading.
US Basketball has taken a lot of criticism as it’s turned more from a team game to a game of individualism over the years, where a dunk is seen as much better than a sharp pass or good defense.
The writer of that article above clearly hasn't been watching US Basketball in recent years, dunks are pretty much nonexistent these days. Now teams live and die by the three. Last night there were about 3-5 dunks compared to 29 three attempts. That being said, this was a pretty nasty dunk by Zach Lavine... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lFdft7vIPs
edit: Its also hard to achieve team basketball when said team has only been together just a few weeks. Pretty much no familiarity yet and from what I've seen from these games so far some of these star players have been to passive to a fault.
@erikthredd said: US Basketball has taken a lot of criticism as it’s turned more from a team game to a game of individualism over the years, where a dunk is seen as much better than a sharp pass or good defense.
The writer of that article above clearly hasn't been watching US Basketball in recent years, dunks are pretty much nonexistent these days. Now teams live and die by the three. Last night there were about 3-5 dunks compared to 29 three attempts. That being said, this was a pretty nasty dunk by Zach Lavine... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lFdft7vIPs
edit: Its also hard to achieve team basketball when said team has only been together just a few weeks. Pretty much no familiarity yet and from what I've seen from these games so far some of these star players have been to passive to a fault.
I'm ready for the Olympics to start, I think once we get everyone together we'll be fine, I think once the games start to count, it will be a different story. As long as we bring home the gold, I'll be satisfied. If we don't bring home the gold, I'm going on Twitter and taking my frustration out on Kevin Durant!
@erikthredd said: US Basketball has taken a lot of criticism as it’s turned more from a team game to a game of individualism over the years, where a dunk is seen as much better than a sharp pass or good defense.
The writer of that article above clearly hasn't been watching US Basketball in recent years, dunks are pretty much nonexistent these days. Now teams live and die by the three. Last night there were about 3-5 dunks compared to 29 three attempts. That being said, this was a pretty nasty dunk by Zach Lavine... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lFdft7vIPs
edit: Its also hard to achieve team basketball when said team has only been together just a few weeks. Pretty much no familiarity yet and from what I've seen from these games so far some of these star players have been to passive to a fault.
I'm ready for the Olympics to start, I think once we get everyone together we'll be fine, I think once the games start to count, it will be a different story. As long as we bring home the gold, I'll be satisfied. If we don't bring home the gold, I'm going on Twitter and taking my frustration out on Kevin Durant!
I’m ready too but I think they need these next couple games to get better. They face France in game one after France pretty much knocked them out of any chance of a medal last summer in the WC tournament.
@erikthredd said: US Basketball has taken a lot of criticism as it’s turned more from a team game to a game of individualism over the years, where a dunk is seen as much better than a sharp pass or good defense.
The writer of that article above clearly hasn't been watching US Basketball in recent years, dunks are pretty much nonexistent these days. Now teams live and die by the three. Last night there were about 3-5 dunks compared to 29 three attempts. That being said, this was a pretty nasty dunk by Zach Lavine... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lFdft7vIPs
edit: Its also hard to achieve team basketball when said team has only been together just a few weeks. Pretty much no familiarity yet and from what I've seen from these games so far some of these star players have been to passive to a fault.
I'm ready for the Olympics to start, I think once we get everyone together we'll be fine, I think once the games start to count, it will be a different story. As long as we bring home the gold, I'll be satisfied. If we don't bring home the gold, I'm going on Twitter and taking my frustration out on Kevin Durant!
I’m ready too but I think they need these next couple games to get better. They face France in game one after France pretty much knocked them out of any chance of a medal last summer in the WC tournament.
And they better get better or Kevin Durant and me are going to have one heck of a Twitter beef!
On the talk above about just how good the rest of the world has been these days compared to US players, the last three NBA MVP awards have been won by International players: Giannis (Greece) B2B then Jokic (Serbia) this past season.
Also 6 of the top 12 players in MVP voting from this past season are foreign born players:
1. Jokic (Serbia)
2. Embiid (Cameroon)
4. Giannis (Greece)
6. Luka (Serbia)
10. Rudy Gobert (France)
12. Ben Simmons (Australia)
There’s expected to be about 50 current NBA players, possibly more, playing in these Summer Olympics. That number doesn’t factor in how many future NBAers that are currently in college or playing professionally overseas who will also be playing for their countries over the next month. For comparison, Team USA’s roster counts just 12 of the 50+ NBA players.
Because of Covid protocols, Team USA has to find a replacement for Bradley Beal and now possibly Jerami Grant too. Then today Kevin Love decided to not go to Tokyo saying that his condition isn’t what it needs to be to compete at a high level in the coming weeks.
So now Popovich is looking to fill at least two rosters spots. Cmon @doubledragon this is our chance to make sure Kevin Durant wins that gold. If he can’t get it done you can forget Twitter, we can just rag on his ass during the flight back from Tokyo.
Edit: they actually cancelled tonight’s 4th exhibition game against Australia.
@erikthredd said:
Because of Covid protocols, Team USA has to find a replacement for Bradley Beal and now possibly Jerami Grant too. Then today Kevin Love decided to not go to Tokyo saying that his condition isn’t what it needs to be to compete at a high level in the coming weeks.
So now Popovich is looking to fill at least two rosters spots. Cmon @doubledragon this is our chance to make sure Kevin Durant wins that gold. If he can’t get it done you can forget Twitter, we can just rag on his ass during the flight back from Tokyo.
If Durant doesn't get it done, he better just stay his ass in Tokyo!
@erikthredd said:
Because of Covid protocols, Team USA has to find a replacement for Bradley Beal and now possibly Jerami Grant too. Then today Kevin Love decided to not go to Tokyo saying that his condition isn’t what it needs to be to compete at a high level in the coming weeks.
So now Popovich is looking to fill at least two rosters spots. Cmon @doubledragon this is our chance to make sure Kevin Durant wins that gold. If he can’t get it done you can forget Twitter, we can just rag on his ass during the flight back from Tokyo.
If Durant doesn't get it done, he better just stay his ass in Tokyo!
If that happens he'll need to buy some of these shirts.
@erikthredd said:
Because of Covid protocols, Team USA has to find a replacement for Bradley Beal and now possibly Jerami Grant too. Then today Kevin Love decided to not go to Tokyo saying that his condition isn’t what it needs to be to compete at a high level in the coming weeks.
So now Popovich is looking to fill at least two rosters spots. Cmon @doubledragon this is our chance to make sure Kevin Durant wins that gold. If he can’t get it done you can forget Twitter, we can just rag on his ass during the flight back from Tokyo.
If Durant doesn't get it done, he better just stay his ass in Tokyo!
Well,if he does stay in Tokyo he better learn how to spell his nickname over there スリムリーパー
Plenty of "blame" to go around. The committee expects to shuttle in 3 players 24 hours before tip off AFTER the finals and expects team chemistry?
Pre Pandemic I traveled to Asia every month. All I know is I didn't make any important decisions work wise until the end of the trip. I can't imagine having to be physically and mentally sharp once I got off the plane against world class athletes who are hungry. The world has caught up.
m
Walker Proof Digital Album Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Even with the increased parity between other countries and the US in basketball, our team (as a collection of players) is still miles ahead of the other countries' rosters. But in terms of style of play and chemistry, we do not have what it takes to always secure a win. We may cry well still end up doing great this year. But I have a feeling we would have been better off (though it would not happen) putting together a roster of retired pros. If they had been playing together for a couple years non-stop, they might have the edge over what our team looks like right now.
I am watching them lose to France now. Yea, they are just not very good.
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
This article just came up on my phone and USA Today blasted Gregg Popovich.
Time to face facts, NBA coaching legend Gregg Popovich stinks at Olympic basketball
DAN WOLKEN | USA TODAY | 4 hours ago
SANDY HOOPER, USA TODAY
TOKYO – If you want to call Gregg Popovich the greatest coach in NBA history, go right ahead. But let’s be as direct and to the point as Popovich usually is: He stinks at Olympic basketball.
We’ve seen enough to say that now, haven’t we? What more do we need to know?
If you want to know where to put the blame for Team USA’s 83-76 loss to France – America’s first Olympic men’s basketball loss in 6,176 days – look no further than the guy with five NBA titles who has been clueless from the very moment he was given the reins to USA Basketball.
Clueless in what he values with this roster. Clueless with an offense that unlocks very little of what his players do well. Clueless with the expectations he took on by following Mike Krzyzewski in this admittedly thankless job.
And it’s the last point that irks the most.
As Popovich attempted to slough off this embarrassment like it's a Wednesday night in January at Minnesota and not the Olympics, he sounded no different from every Power Five college football coach who tries to reassure their fan base after losing to a MAC school that, hey, those guys are on scholarship too.
“When you lose a game you’re not surprised, you’re disappointed,” Popovich said. “I don’t understand the word surprise. That sort of disses the French team, so to speak, as if we are supposed to beat them by 30 or something. That’s a hell of a team. They have NBA players, other talented players playing in Europe who’ve been together for a long time. I think it’s a little bit of hubris if you think the Americans are supposed to just roll out the ball and win. You have to work for it, and for those 40 minutes they played better than we did.”
Everyone understands that France has NBA-level players, as do several teams in this tournament. Rudy Gobert is a star. Evan Fournier and Nic Batum are names you know. Nando de Colo played a little bit in the NBA and has been awesome year in and year out in the EuroLeague.
But it’s not even the slightest bit jingoistic or hubristic to look at that roster, then look at the U.S. roster, and know within a fraction of a second which one you’d pick.
You know who gets that? The players on the American team. After the game, a couple reporters caught Damian Lillard outside the locker room, and I asked him if it was fair for fans back home to be shocked by what they saw against France.
“I wouldn’t say it’s unfair,” Lillard said. “I mean, I think that’s just what the expectations are when you play for Team USA. I think we have a history of dominance, maybe not always blowing people out but we have a history of winning. It’s not often that you see Team USA go out there and lose especially to start.
"I think that’s why a lot of people will make it seem like the end of the world, but our job as professionals and as this team representing our country in these Olympics, we have to do what’s necessary. We can still accomplish what we came here to accomplish, and we have to make sure we keep that in mind.”
You know why Lillard isn’t afraid to own up to the fact that Team USA is expected to win these games? Because it’s true.
USA Basketball didn’t win three straight Olympics and dominate every international event in between by accident. It happened because there was great care put into building those rosters and because there was tremendous buy-in from the top American players and because Krzyzewski did enough not to screw it up.
This idea that the world has caught up to the USA? Pfft. The world has been good for a long time. The French team isn’t locked in a gym in Paris working on sets all year long laying in wait to knock off the Americans. They’re professional players who have to come together in a short window for these tournaments just like our guys do.
And for the last 17 years, since the debacle in 2004 in Athens that forced USA Basketball to overhaul everything it was doing, the U.S. has been better at that than everyone else. At least until Popovich showed up with a bag full of excuses, saying ridiculous things like it was good that the U.S. lost to Nigeria in an exhibition game or that “those things happen” when you blow an eight-point lead late in the game.
It’s not supposed to happen to the United States in international competition. But it seems to happen more than its fair share under Popovich, who was an assistant under Larry Brown for the 2004 disaster and has overseen a seventh-place finish at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup and now a loss at the Olympics after 19 straight wins.
“Basketball is an international sport,” Popovich said. “There are very good teams all over the world. People shouldn’t be surprised that the French team or Australian team or Lithuanian team – it doesn’t matter who it is – the gap in talent shrinks every year as there are more and more players all over the world, and you need to give the French team credit.”
You can give the French team credit while also wondering why the U.S. team wasted time at the beginning of this process by picking Kevin Love – a terrible decision that could not be justified by his play over the last couple years – only to see him bail midway through the training camp. You can wonder why the U.S., with a bevy of great young point guards who can run a half-court offense better than the guys they picked, snubbed someone like Trae Young who clearly wanted to be on the team. You can wonder why the spacing is so bad and the ball doesn’t move. You can wonder whether Popovich is too stubborn and too far past his prime to be the right choice to lead this team.
Ultimately, Team USA can shut everybody up by winning a gold medal, which is still within the realm of possibility. That’s the ultimate scoreboard.
But as we can see with our own eyes, it won’t be easy. It may not be likely. And it sure won’t be because the alleged greatest coach in basketball history figured something out.
Popovich has had years to figure out the whole Team USA thing. We’re still waiting for his first good day at the office.
It seems Team USA finally took my advice during these past two wins...give the ball to Jayson Tatum then tell everyone to get out of the way.
He scored 40pts in the the two wins with 27 coming in the 4th quarters.
@ringer said:
Pop has gotten more arrogant as the years have passed. So surly over everything. Completely unlikable. And nothing to do with politics.
Sounds like 82% of the posters here
m
Walker Proof Digital Album Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
I've often wondered how a temporary coach, frail looking 60 yr old white haired white guys were supposed to connect to 18-30 yr old black top shelf athletes.
Big win tonight that puts them in the Gold medal game next. Their opponent will either be a Luka led Slovenia team or a chance to payback France for their earlier loss.
Looks like France eeked out a one point win over Slovenia to setup a USA/France rematch for the Gold. Hopefully Jrue Holiday locks down Evan Fournier this time around and Team USA’s scorers can attack Rudy Gobert at the rim to try to get him into foul trouble early.
The Gold medal game will be tomorrow night at 10:30pm ET for this wanting to watch it.
Comments
Team USA finally got off the schneid and got a win against a good Argentina team.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
Bounced back today with a 28 point win over Argentina
m
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
That's more like it!
Coming into these games the world rankings were:
1. USA
2. Spain
3. Australia
4. Argentina
Making four of their five exhibition games against some really tough competition,hopefully they can build on this win. It sucks I finally get to watch a game and the one player I was looking forward to watching,Jayson Tatum, sat with some knee soreness.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
Yeah...except the US beat Nigeria by 80+ not too long ago and 30+ the last time they played. And I don't think anybody's expecting a blowout over Australia.
Now that Team USA is winning again, we won't have any more jokes to crack. I wish we could go back to the days when Team USA was losing to Nigeria and Australia, those were great times, I miss those days.
Here, you can relive them as much as you want.
Nigeria: https://m.twitch.tv/videos/1082971365
Australia: https://m.twitch.tv/videos/1084889597
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
Ah, the memories.
I just found those last night so I’ll be reliving them myself later today.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
Double post
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
Remember, everything goes better with Orville Redenbacher!
Oh my goodness, Doug Gottlieb blasted US basketball culture.
Doug Gottlieb Is Not Impressed With The State Of US Basketball Culture
After his great run at Cal, Pete Newell retired from coaching. He spent time as an AD and a GM with the San Diego Rockets (since moved to Houston) and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Somewhere along the line, he started privately coaching big men and that morphed into Big Man’s Camp, aka Pete Newell’s Big Man Camp.
One year he saw a young player go for a dunk and tried to explain to him what he was doing wrong.
“Don’t mess with my game,” said the young player.
“Son,” said Newell, “you got no game.” And then, perhaps, was able to help him.
US Basketball has taken a lot of criticism as it’s turned more from a team game to a game of individualism over the years, where a dunk is seen as much better than a sharp pass or good defense.
And former player and media member Doug Gottlieb hates it and draws a connection from the general decline of US basketball culture, which he says “sucks,” to the poor start of Team USA in the run-up to the Olympics.
We’ll reserve judgement on the team for the moment, given their short amount of time together, but we will say this: one of Mike Krzyzewski’s great accomplishments when he ran Team USA was getting guys to work together and often to take on roles they would never have with their NBA teams.
The late Kobe Bryant, for instance, volunteered to be a defensive stopper. Jason Kidd hardly shot at all when he was on the team. Not a huge stretch, but still, he let other guys do it and contented himself with defense and passing.
Everyone eventually settled into a role and they were all willing to do it, even when some of them weren’t thrilled.
We hope that as this team comes together, roles will be pretty clear and some of the guys who aren’t called upon to be dominant scorers find other ways to contribute.
In general though, Gottlieb is right. It’s a team game and the NBA’s focus on individual flash, while it makes for great television, is a rot in the core of the game. And it’s spreading.
Two things are happening simultaneously.
Internationally, basketball is expanding so much that many top players in the NBA come from other countries.
And "team basketball", as it used to be taught and played, is no longer the core of what is being taught and learned in the United States.
US Basketball has taken a lot of criticism as it’s turned more from a team game to a game of individualism over the years, where a dunk is seen as much better than a sharp pass or good defense.
The writer of that article above clearly hasn't been watching US Basketball in recent years, dunks are pretty much nonexistent these days. Now teams live and die by the three. Last night there were about 3-5 dunks compared to 29 three attempts. That being said, this was a pretty nasty dunk by Zach Lavine...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lFdft7vIPs
edit: Its also hard to achieve team basketball when said team has only been together just a few weeks. Pretty much no familiarity yet and from what I've seen from these games so far some of these star players have been to passive to a fault.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
I'm ready for the Olympics to start, I think once we get everyone together we'll be fine, I think once the games start to count, it will be a different story. As long as we bring home the gold, I'll be satisfied. If we don't bring home the gold, I'm going on Twitter and taking my frustration out on Kevin Durant!
I’m ready too but I think they need these next couple games to get better. They face France in game one after France pretty much knocked them out of any chance of a medal last summer in the WC tournament.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
And they better get better or Kevin Durant and me are going to have one heck of a Twitter beef!
On the talk above about just how good the rest of the world has been these days compared to US players, the last three NBA MVP awards have been won by International players: Giannis (Greece) B2B then Jokic (Serbia) this past season.
Also 6 of the top 12 players in MVP voting from this past season are foreign born players:
1. Jokic (Serbia)
2. Embiid (Cameroon)
4. Giannis (Greece)
6. Luka (Serbia)
10. Rudy Gobert (France)
12. Ben Simmons (Australia)
There’s expected to be about 50 current NBA players, possibly more, playing in these Summer Olympics. That number doesn’t factor in how many future NBAers that are currently in college or playing professionally overseas who will also be playing for their countries over the next month. For comparison, Team USA’s roster counts just 12 of the 50+ NBA players.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
Because of Covid protocols, Team USA has to find a replacement for Bradley Beal and now possibly Jerami Grant too. Then today Kevin Love decided to not go to Tokyo saying that his condition isn’t what it needs to be to compete at a high level in the coming weeks.
So now Popovich is looking to fill at least two rosters spots. Cmon @doubledragon this is our chance to make sure Kevin Durant wins that gold. If he can’t get it done you can forget Twitter, we can just rag on his ass during the flight back from Tokyo.
Edit: they actually cancelled tonight’s 4th exhibition game against Australia.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
If Durant doesn't get it done, he better just stay his ass in Tokyo!
If that happens he'll need to buy some of these shirts.
Well,if he does stay in Tokyo he better learn how to spell his nickname over there スリムリーパー
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
If Durant stays in Tokyo, he can always phone home!
It's great to see team chemistry going so well right before the Olympics starts....
nous avons plus d'échec contre la France
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
Pathetic!
🤔
Beat it out of them pop, if the team doesn't want to give you the effort, then take them to the locker room and beat the effort out of them!!
Plenty of "blame" to go around. The committee expects to shuttle in 3 players 24 hours before tip off AFTER the finals and expects team chemistry?
Pre Pandemic I traveled to Asia every month. All I know is I didn't make any important decisions work wise until the end of the trip. I can't imagine having to be physically and mentally sharp once I got off the plane against world class athletes who are hungry. The world has caught up.
m
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Even with the increased parity between other countries and the US in basketball, our team (as a collection of players) is still miles ahead of the other countries' rosters. But in terms of style of play and chemistry, we do not have what it takes to always secure a win. We may cry well still end up doing great this year. But I have a feeling we would have been better off (though it would not happen) putting together a roster of retired pros. If they had been playing together for a couple years non-stop, they might have the edge over what our team looks like right now.
I am watching them lose to France now. Yea, they are just not very good.
I am also watching the USA vs France game right now, and all I can say is.
2 pts down and trying nothing but failing 3s
This article just came up on my phone and USA Today blasted Gregg Popovich.
Time to face facts, NBA coaching legend Gregg Popovich stinks at Olympic basketball
DAN WOLKEN | USA TODAY | 4 hours ago
SANDY HOOPER, USA TODAY
TOKYO – If you want to call Gregg Popovich the greatest coach in NBA history, go right ahead. But let’s be as direct and to the point as Popovich usually is: He stinks at Olympic basketball.
We’ve seen enough to say that now, haven’t we? What more do we need to know?
If you want to know where to put the blame for Team USA’s 83-76 loss to France – America’s first Olympic men’s basketball loss in 6,176 days – look no further than the guy with five NBA titles who has been clueless from the very moment he was given the reins to USA Basketball.
Clueless in what he values with this roster. Clueless with an offense that unlocks very little of what his players do well. Clueless with the expectations he took on by following Mike Krzyzewski in this admittedly thankless job.
And it’s the last point that irks the most.
As Popovich attempted to slough off this embarrassment like it's a Wednesday night in January at Minnesota and not the Olympics, he sounded no different from every Power Five college football coach who tries to reassure their fan base after losing to a MAC school that, hey, those guys are on scholarship too.
“When you lose a game you’re not surprised, you’re disappointed,” Popovich said. “I don’t understand the word surprise. That sort of disses the French team, so to speak, as if we are supposed to beat them by 30 or something. That’s a hell of a team. They have NBA players, other talented players playing in Europe who’ve been together for a long time. I think it’s a little bit of hubris if you think the Americans are supposed to just roll out the ball and win. You have to work for it, and for those 40 minutes they played better than we did.”
Everyone understands that France has NBA-level players, as do several teams in this tournament. Rudy Gobert is a star. Evan Fournier and Nic Batum are names you know. Nando de Colo played a little bit in the NBA and has been awesome year in and year out in the EuroLeague.
But it’s not even the slightest bit jingoistic or hubristic to look at that roster, then look at the U.S. roster, and know within a fraction of a second which one you’d pick.
You know who gets that? The players on the American team. After the game, a couple reporters caught Damian Lillard outside the locker room, and I asked him if it was fair for fans back home to be shocked by what they saw against France.
“I wouldn’t say it’s unfair,” Lillard said. “I mean, I think that’s just what the expectations are when you play for Team USA. I think we have a history of dominance, maybe not always blowing people out but we have a history of winning. It’s not often that you see Team USA go out there and lose especially to start.
"I think that’s why a lot of people will make it seem like the end of the world, but our job as professionals and as this team representing our country in these Olympics, we have to do what’s necessary. We can still accomplish what we came here to accomplish, and we have to make sure we keep that in mind.”
You know why Lillard isn’t afraid to own up to the fact that Team USA is expected to win these games? Because it’s true.
USA Basketball didn’t win three straight Olympics and dominate every international event in between by accident. It happened because there was great care put into building those rosters and because there was tremendous buy-in from the top American players and because Krzyzewski did enough not to screw it up.
This idea that the world has caught up to the USA? Pfft. The world has been good for a long time. The French team isn’t locked in a gym in Paris working on sets all year long laying in wait to knock off the Americans. They’re professional players who have to come together in a short window for these tournaments just like our guys do.
And for the last 17 years, since the debacle in 2004 in Athens that forced USA Basketball to overhaul everything it was doing, the U.S. has been better at that than everyone else. At least until Popovich showed up with a bag full of excuses, saying ridiculous things like it was good that the U.S. lost to Nigeria in an exhibition game or that “those things happen” when you blow an eight-point lead late in the game.
It’s not supposed to happen to the United States in international competition. But it seems to happen more than its fair share under Popovich, who was an assistant under Larry Brown for the 2004 disaster and has overseen a seventh-place finish at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup and now a loss at the Olympics after 19 straight wins.
“Basketball is an international sport,” Popovich said. “There are very good teams all over the world. People shouldn’t be surprised that the French team or Australian team or Lithuanian team – it doesn’t matter who it is – the gap in talent shrinks every year as there are more and more players all over the world, and you need to give the French team credit.”
You can give the French team credit while also wondering why the U.S. team wasted time at the beginning of this process by picking Kevin Love – a terrible decision that could not be justified by his play over the last couple years – only to see him bail midway through the training camp. You can wonder why the U.S., with a bevy of great young point guards who can run a half-court offense better than the guys they picked, snubbed someone like Trae Young who clearly wanted to be on the team. You can wonder why the spacing is so bad and the ball doesn’t move. You can wonder whether Popovich is too stubborn and too far past his prime to be the right choice to lead this team.
Ultimately, Team USA can shut everybody up by winning a gold medal, which is still within the realm of possibility. That’s the ultimate scoreboard.
But as we can see with our own eyes, it won’t be easy. It may not be likely. And it sure won’t be because the alleged greatest coach in basketball history figured something out.
Popovich has had years to figure out the whole Team USA thing. We’re still waiting for his first good day at the office.
Pop was an excellent, if not outstanding head coach until he became more interested in politics and social issues, than he is in basketball.
Steve
Germany beat Nigeria
Just an fyi
Pop has gotten more arrogant as the years have passed. So surly over everything. Completely unlikable. And nothing to do with politics.
USA 95
Spain 81
no love from mr. dragon ?
you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet
95 is too low
And they shoot a lot of 3s
They can go cold on the lower percentage shots
It seems Team USA finally took my advice during these past two wins...give the ball to Jayson Tatum then tell everyone to get out of the way.
He scored 40pts in the the two wins with 27 coming in the 4th quarters.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
Sounds like 82% of the posters here
m
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
I've often wondered how a temporary coach, frail looking 60 yr old white haired white guys were supposed to connect to 18-30 yr old black top shelf athletes.
Anyone ever wondered about that????
potd
you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet
France for the second USA Chance
How will it go? How will it go?
No sir, not until they bring home the gold!
USA 97
Australia 78
when we were down by 15 in the 2Q, all i could think about is double d becoming unhinged for about the next 3 weeks
you'll never be able to outrun a bad diet
Big win tonight that puts them in the Gold medal game next. Their opponent will either be a Luka led Slovenia team or a chance to payback France for their earlier loss.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486
I'm glad we won, but I don't like being down by 15 at any point in the game, I just don't like it, yes it unnerves me!
Looks like France eeked out a one point win over Slovenia to setup a USA/France rematch for the Gold. Hopefully Jrue Holiday locks down Evan Fournier this time around and Team USA’s scorers can attack Rudy Gobert at the rim to try to get him into foul trouble early.
The Gold medal game will be tomorrow night at 10:30pm ET for this wanting to watch it.
Eric
Erikthredd’s MJ Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset/395035
Erikthredd’s Nike Air Jordan Collection: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregistry/basketball/key-card-sets/nike-poster-cards-michael-jordan-1985-1992/alltimeset/408486