By puerto rico!! how about that for a dream team?

What a day!!! Enough of surprises ... :)

No No, we want more surprises ! :)

Can any of the Americans, or non americans please explain to me how the USA can lose? Against a 2nd world country, no offense, but there is more money for sports in the USA, the best competition, the best players, how can you possibly lose that? It's like schumacher losing in a Ferarri against a kart driven by a mother of three or something....well, beautiful thing, sports...

because there is more money playing in the US NBA than playing in the Olympics, more motivation.

Could be due to few reasons:
1. NBA session starts in Fall and ends in Spring, all these players are out of shape or not in their peak performance.
2. Not all the best NBA players want to join the Olympics team for whatever reasons.
3. I'm not sure how well they prepared as a team.
4. They are expected to win and perhaps also under pressure.
5. They might have underestimated the opponents.

And, one the most important things, they think NBA is more important and challenging, especially for their career ... as compared to other competitions even Olympics.

Could also be that they are far from being the "dream team" of yesteryear

There are a few other reasons why the USA lost today,
But I think mainly they lost because they had a bad day and P.R. had the game of there lives. If you had watched, nothing fell for the U.S. and P.R. just had all the bounces going there way.
1. International rules are freaking ridiculous, they emphasize just pure jump shooting. If you watch international ball everyone is in the middle clogging the lane. Everyone just looking for charges and there are no fouls called, like playing ghettoball.
2. The three line is like 3 feet closer, nba players are not used to shooting this kind of shot as the pay off in the nba game is not there. This distance shot is not emphasized in the nba game.
3. This is euroball, not the nba...our team has only had a couple of weeks with a finalized team to practice, where European and S.A. team have been playing there whole careers.
4. This is not the best possible team they can field notable absenses, Kobe Bryant, Tracy Mcgrady, Shaq, Vince Carter, Kevin Garrnet..etc
5. I would like to see how well a european team would do against a fully stock NBA All-Star team...playing a NBA style game...then I would be shocked to see USA lose

the play is fair though. the rules of the international tournament isn't new. NBA chooses to play their own rules is their own choice. the price they have to pay is they will lose out on international matches.

surely there are better players, but if they chose not to come, you can't blame anybody but the US themselves.

and the one who chose to come, they only practiced for a few week isn't any other body's fault but their own. others country probably practiced for months and years.

fact is, US lost on established rules. and they field the strongest team who are willing to attend. sounds fair to me.

I am not saying its unfair...I am saying there are a variety of reason why the US lost to P.R. only shocking thing was they degree of the loss. I believe these Olympics will be a good lesson to humble the players. I am still going to say the US is the best in basketball. I just believe the international rules and lack of enthusiasm for the Olympic basketball is the reason for their loss.

I am not saying its unfair...I am saying there are a variety of reason why the US lost to P.R. only shocking thing was they degree of the loss. I believe these Olympics will be a good lesson to humble the players. I am still going to say the US is the best in basketball. I just believe the international rules and lack of enthusiasm for the Olympic basketball is the reason for their loss.

The first dream team of US put together did quite well even with international rules.. So i don't think the rules attribute much to US problems ;)
/Twobeer

:) :) :) Italia-Usa 95-78 :) :) :)



if nba players are so good they should win anyway, with nba and international rules.

but... dream team was only 1992 team

if they got more than 6 practices and a couple of scrimages in and more player had more patriotism and less court battles...I believe they would easily win the olympics...well there is always Beijing 2008

Well they deserve to lose... US team are really out of sync.. they are not putting their effort and didnt play with heart.

if they got more than 6 practices and a couple of scrimages in and more player had more patriotism and less court battles...I believe they would easily win the olympics...well there is always Beijing 2008
That's a big IF.

The USA has fielded an All Star team, not a Dream Team. They just threw out a bunch of young talent. None of the players has previous Olympic experience.

An article on this year's USA basketball team by ESPN.com's Bill Simmons, who writes great and entertaining columns. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/040804

Phil

maybe they should start calling themselves the "Nightmare" team :p

maybe they should start calling themselves the "Nightmare" team :p

I think "Pathetic" team should be more appropriate...;)

Anyway, the original 1992 Dream Team beat the rest of the world with an incredible average of 40+ point per game... with the international rules with maybe less than 10 trainings... etc...

The point is the rest of the world has catch up with NBA... even if you put an average NBA team they should be beating any other countries easily... those NBA players are earning millions of dollar man.. no excuse whatsoever... AI, TD, Marion, Marbury.. these are All-Star player... BTW, just to let you guys know how much they earn... Nets just signed Jefferson to a 6 years 78 millions contract extension.. this is like a whopping 13 mils per year and Jefferson is not even a NBA Superstar!!!

I'm a Rockets fan and this discussion is pretty much heated here :

http://bbs.clutchcity.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=82429

Join the BBS if you are a Rockets or Yao Ming fan... ;)

man, his taxes for 1 year will keep me going for a lifetime

man, his taxes for 1 year will keep me going for a lifetime

You could probably buy puerto rico for the price of the American Basketball team.

You could probably buy puerto rico for the price of the American Basketball team. "you can buy them, but you can't beat them.."

:)

61-53 for the US against Greece at the moment, shortly into the 4th quarter! At the start of the second quarter, Greece was down by 10, so they've been hanging in there!

Phil

Ahh US won in the end 77-71, Greece came back within 1 point, but US took off after that. Greece isn't even a basketball power either.

Phil

Greece almost give the Americans a scare...

I'm totally dissapointed with the US BBall Team's performance... anyhow a win is still a win.. i hope they will survive the next few rounds

I think US will get thrashed by Lithuania! :p

they showed a better fighting spirit against Greece than against Puerto Rico though... things are getting better...

I think US will get thrashed by Lithuania! :p

they showed a better fighting spirit against Greece than against Puerto Rico though... things are getting better...
got to get through the australians first though. Seems like everyone is lining up to take it to the dreamers team. I think its attitude that's killing them.

Got to agree with Gheri though...the REAL Dream Team is the 1992 Dream Team.

No one seems to be reacting but U.S. did actually lose against Lithuania!

Lithuania played great from what I saw, they really deserved to win!

However the US team is getting better and better, they won't be so easy to beat from now on...

No one seems to be reacting but U.S. did actually lose against Lithuania!

I don't think people care now, the dameage was done earlier and the American team are getting such bad receptions every time they go on court it's a shame.

However the US team is getting better and better, they won't be so easy to beat from now on...

Because everyone has beaten them already :p , no actually 2 defeats and one very close game from Greece, they might not take the gold. I think they are lying 3rd in the pool

I never saw the US as favourites in basketball, so their defeats weren't surprising to me...
I think they still are a serious outsider for the title though, they only lost by four points to -mighty- Lithuania!

anybody saw the score so far?

in the semi-final. Argentina is leading the US 70-57 in the 3rd quarter!

US just lost 89-81 to Agentina and ended all hopes of a Gold Medal. They got beaten by Lithuania earlier, and I think they have been beaten badly by Italy during the pre-Olympics games. I would make a guess that a disappointed US Team won't mentally fit enough to play the bronze medal game, but we'll wait and see.

Wow, after USA's great win against Spain it looked like they had found the solution... but this wasn't enough to beat Argentina!

We'll see now if they are strong enough to take the bronze...

One of the Argentine players gave a very good reason why US lost, "The US have the best players, but it's a 5-on-5 game, not 1-on-1.". Time to build to true basketball team with role players, not an all-star team.

well the world was able to beat what was essentially a college team...but I think next time around it will be different in beijing as now the USA has something to prove..I hpe they learn from this experience as i want to see kobe, tracy, kevin, shaq, play in the next one...but kudo for those that went to represent...they did a good job considering there was so many things stacked against them...they did better than serbia montengro the gold medal favorites....hope we win the bronze...I like ginobille, spelled wrong i don't care ill be rooting for argentina...nba is still the best brand of basketball...untill i see an international team beat a USA all star team in NBA style ball...USA is still the best

well the world was able to beat what was essentially a college team...but I think next time around it will be different in beijing as now the USA has something to prove..I hpe they learn from this experience as i want to see kobe, tracy, kevin, shaq, play in the next one...but kudo for those that went to represent...they did a good job considering there was so many things stacked against them...they did better than serbia montengro the gold medal favorites....hope we win the bronze...I like ginobille, spelled wrong i don't care ill be rooting for argentina...nba is still the best brand of basketball...untill i see an international team beat a USA all star team in NBA style ball...USA is still the best
Well, I think one important reason why many NBA stars refuse to go to the olympics is the risk of anti-doping controls... It will probably be even stricter in four years so I'm not sure there is much chance of having all the very best stars...

And having all the best stars doesn't guarantee anything either, they would need to learn more humility and team spirit... which require a real preparation!
I don't know whether so highly payed players are willing to spend one or two months working "for free" to prepare the olympics...

Well, I think one important reason why many NBA stars refuse to go to the olympics is the risk of anti-doping controls... It will probably be even stricter in four years so I'm not sure there is much chance of having all the very best stars...
that is definitely true for baseball where many of the home-run hitters are openly taking steriods to boost their performance. probably one of the reason why US didn't even quality for baseball this time around.

doping is not that much of a concern when your talking about the NBA...I have not heard of any marque NBA player getting caught doping...NBA does have a mandatory testing...u are right about money being the problem...mainy NBA players have too much...and pride of country doesn't count as much...hopefully some young players will comeback to beijing as you can clearly see the USA is already getting better...just alittle too late :crying:

...nba is still the best brand of basketball...untill i see an international team beat a USA all star team in NBA style ball...USA is still the best
NBA brand of basketball isn't the best, it's just more entertaining/showy. International rules favour shooting, but isn't that the whole point of the game? To get the ball in the basket? The American players are more comfortable soaring through the lane than shooting a 20-footer.

Phil

NBA brand of basketball isn't the best, it's just more entertaining/showy. International rules favour shooting, but isn't that the whole point of the game? To get the ball in the basket? The American players are more comfortable soaring through the lane than shooting a 20-footer.

Phil

100% agree. People keep blaming the loss to the absent of O'Neil, Bryant, Garnett, and too young. If we compare the players one by one, the US team players are better any other team in all 5 positions. They just forgot basketball is a team sport.

For those interested, here's a very interesting article by Jason Whitlock on ESPN.com about the criticism on this USA team. Especially interesting is the comparison of Europeans' refining the game of hockey in the 70's to their changing the game of basketball now.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=whitlock/040826

Phil

IMO that article by Jason Whitlock is wildly inaccurate in describing the so called similarities in each games evolution. In his article he talks about the game of hockey becoming more creative and less one dimensional. If you look at the international game of basketball, the emphasis is plainly on shooting and zone defense. There is no reason to do otherwise because in the international game everyone is in the lane and just wants to run in front of you for a charge. And since the three is so close, what’s the point of going in for 2, when you can just as easily score 3. Where is the creativity in that? How is that less one dimensional? The point of the game is not shooting; it is to get the ball in the basket. And if 1 hour of watching players run back and forth shooting 20ft shots and everyone running into the lane to get a charge with a obvious flop is ur idea of great creative, superior, basketball, that good...I'll stick to my "entertaining/showy" NBA brand of basketball ...I'll agree that the international teams are much better today than before, but they have had 12 years to perfect their own brand of basketball, this USA team had 2 weeks to learn, wasn't even the cream of the crop and got 3rd, and did better than the world champs...I do not see failure, just preceived failure after so much success...like I said, we will see in Beijing who is the best, now that the USA has something to play for....PRIDE :mad: