Oh, c'mon, how could I pass that up?
So, if you didn't know, no sooner did I say nice things about Team USA than they turned around and reverted to NBA ball, playing a couple of closer-than-expected games, and getting bounced in the semifinals of the World Basketball Championships by basketball powerhouse Greece. I blame Mike Krzyzewski.
I'd discuss the game in detail, but, well, it was on at three in the morning US time, so I haven't seen more than the highlights on ESPN. Apparently, the Greeks got very hot in the middle part of the game, shredding the US defense with a series of pick-and-roll plays, and shooting something like 75% from the floor. They shot 63% on the game, which is pretty damn impressive. The US, for their part, appears to have relied on shooting lots of jump shots, which didn't work terribly well. They also shot under 60% from the free-throw line, which is death in a close game.
This will lead to lots of finger-pointing from sports talking heads, which is sort of stupid because nobody really cared about this tournament before the loss. If it wasn't more important than pre-season football when they were winning, it's not a national crisis when they lose.
I do want to make one comment, though: a bunch of people have said things like "These guys are NBA stars, and they can't figure out how to defend the pick-and-roll?" as if there's no surer indication of complete idiocy. I have four words for those people: John Stockon, Karl Malone. Those two guys had a fifty-year career in the NBA doing nothing but running the pick and roll. And they were perennial all-stars as a result.
Done well, the pick and roll is extremely difficult to defend. Greece apparently did it very well in the wee hours of Friday morning, so congratulations to them.
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Most of the talking heads are saying we need a couple of outside shooters, and maybe a couple of more traditional power forwards, to replace some of cutter/driver types. The latter did very well from what I saw (mainly early games), but in the NBA you can get set up in isolation and its 1 on 1 a lot, thats not the international game.
Consensus is we have better talent, not the best team; I guess I'd say NBA ball and international ball are very different games. NBA teams tend to have specialists that are really good in certain roles. But I think DWade, and some of the otehrs are pretty complete players.
So what is the problem? Can we tweak the roster? Learn to play and play against zone more? Send a team (like the Hear or Pistons?) Or has the rest of the world caught up to our level?
One person (M. Wilbon?) suggested getting Malone and Stockton to help teach pick and roll and how to defense it!
Most of the talking heads are saying we need a couple of outside shooters, and maybe a couple of more traditional power forwards, to replace some of cutter/driver types. The latter did very well from what I saw (mainly early games), but in the NBA you can get set up in isolation and its 1 on 1 a lot, thats not the international game.
I watched a bit of the Argentina game this morning, and that was sort of my impression as well. They didn't seem to have any real traditional big guys.
This is partly a function of the kind of game Krzyzewski like to play, and partly a function of the pool they have to draw from, as the NBA is really dominated by the one-on-one drive-to-the-basket game. Whatever the cause, though, I think they could've used a little more balance.
So what is the problem? Can we tweak the roster? Learn to play and play against zone more? Send a team (like the Hear or Pistons?) Or has the rest of the world caught up to our level?
The rest of the world has caught up to a large extent-- as one of the analysts on ESPN noted, something like 20-25% of the NBA players are from other countries now. They also play a different style than NBA players are used to, and the rules in the international game aren't as favorable for the style that NBA players play.
It's pretty much the same issue as "Why doesn't Canada win every international hockey gold?" The game is just different enough from what the professionals play to cause problems.
Personally, I'd like to see the NBA move closer to the international game, which looks more like actual basketball than the NBA game does. I don't think that's a popular position, though.
I do like the international style. The NBA goes between plain run and gun for a decade or so, then WWF style defense allowed 75 point games for a while......
But I'm an old fart, I fondly recall the Lakers-Celtics matchups of the 80's.