USA men's basketball spoiler thread.

[GOPisEvil]

USA down 43-38 at the half to Argentina.

[JackintheGreen]

1. Ha ha ha ha ha ha

ha ha ha ha hah ha ha hah ha ha ha ha ha

[Catholic Sensation]

2. How's Ginobili doing?

He's my favorite player in the NBA. GO SPURS!

[GOPisEvil]

3. I dunno...just checking ESPN for updates.

USA behind 53-40 now. :spank:

[MallRat]

4. Which teams are in the other half of the bracket? n/t

[GOPisEvil]

5. Italy and Lithuania

[MallRat]

6. Bold prediction: the US men's basketball team will not medal.

No gold.
No silver.
Not even a lame-ass bronze.

Nothing.

-MR

[GOPisEvil]

7. That's not out of the realm of possibility.

58-48 Argentina right now.

[SaveElmer]

9. Getting Closer

58-51 with 3 minutes left in the third

I have to say I was glad to see the U.S. team get a huge dose of humble pie...but now I'm back to rooting for them again. (I still think Iverson is a punk though)

[GOPisEvil]

8. USA inching closer.

60-54

[GOPisEvil]

10. Guess not...

66-54

[GOPisEvil]

11. End of the 3rd quarter

Argentina leads, 70-57

[ps1074]

12. I think Lithuania will win the gold medals

From what I've seen so far they are the clear favorites. They are yet to lose a game and they play like a real team.

What is Lithuania's population? 2 million? Or even less?

[GOPisEvil]

13. Yeah, most of the best players on the old Soviet teams

were Lithuanians, too. Argentina looks good, too. Remember, they are the reigning world champions.

[ps1074]

14. must be a national sport in Lithuania

:)

I was thinking earlier today of the sports specialization of some of the sports I've seen.

Lithuanians are very good at basketball.
Cubans are very good at boxing.
Slovaks are very good at canoeing.
Chinese are very good at small categories weightlifting, table tennis, badminton, rifle shooting.
Japanese are very good at judo.
Romanians are very good at gymnastics.
Hungarians are good at fencing.
Coreans are very good at archery.

I find this interesting.

[Awsi Dooger]

15. Down 80-69 and Duncan has fouled out

3:43 remaining.

This result will earn plenty of swell publicity.

[GOPisEvil]

18. I'm looking forward to actually picking a real team now.

This team was built for marketing, not to win basketball games.

[Awsi Dooger]

29. Yeah, the young guys were worse than I expected

Wade, in particular, did not shoot well the entire tournament. He was something like 1 for 8 today and was so lacking in confidence he passed up easy shots down the stretch, including one critical turnover. Too much freelancing by Iverson and not enough ball movement, ways to get the ball inside to Tim Duncan.

We also have no clue how to defend or shoot the international 3 pointer.

I remember the late Al McGuire warning about this, that the international players were making great strides and we could not afford to keep sending all star teams with little preparation time.

[ronnykmarshall]

16. Go ARGENTINA!!!

[mrboba1]

17. you must be a racist, huh?

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



j/k
:D

[ronnykmarshall]

20. Yeah I guess, huh?

:silly:

[mrboba1]

30. so do you think they'll make it a real team

designed to WIN next time, or just keep with the marketing angle?

[Awsi Dooger]

19. A bit closer

81-72 and USA's Jefferson trying two free throws. But less than 3 minutes.

[Cush]

21. US loses

they didn't even try down the stretch

[Awsi Dooger]

22. Final: Argentina 89, USA 81

Never closer than 7 in the 4th. Down by as many as 16 in the 3rd.

[ronnykmarshall]

27. Alright ARGENTINA!!!!

[GOPisEvil]

23. We're number 3 or 4, we're number 3 or 4!!!!

:bounce:

[shadu]

34. Not number 5, or number 6!

this is pitiful

[xcmt]

24. Here's the burning question.

This has been bothering me since the Olympics began. Why wasn't Ben Wallace on this team?

[GOPisEvil]

26. He declined an invitation to play.

Along with Elton Brand, Shaquille O'Neal, Kenyon Martin, Kevin Garnett, Richard Hamilton and Vince Carter. Ray Allen is getting married, Jason Kidd is hurt, Tracy McGrady whined about security, etc..

[xcmt]

32. Gotcha.

I knew about the rest, but I wasn't aware Wallace even got an invite. I actually didn't expect a non-offense star to garner any interest from whatever conglomerate of NBA advertising execs and olympic committees decided on the team roster.

[theboss]

35. I don't think Wallace would have mattered.

In fact, Wallace was positively lost on the court during the 2002 World Championships.

With the wide, trapezoid lane, big men who can't shoot and dribble are a huge liability. Even Duncan who is the best big man in the world is limited, whereas someone like Gasol or Dirk is almost unstoppable.

What the US needed was shooters. They should have begged Rip Hamilton to play and should have actually invited Michael Redd. With those two, we win this tourney by ten points a game. It's a 20 foot line for God's sake. I can hit 4 of 10 from that distance (with no one on me), yet Richard Jefferson apparently can't.

[Bluebear]

25. News writers madly trying to work "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" into leads

and will all think they're terribly clever.

[ronnykmarshall]

28. Just don't let them sing.

[joeybee12]

31. I'm neither happy nor sad over this....

...can't say I'm rooting for Argentina--I'd like to see Lithuania win. However, I think the men's basketball team does deserve the enimity towards it--other US athletes are getting a raw deal. Anyway, even with the US men's lax attitude, the other countries have caught up with us--it's really no longer America's game.

[DinahMoeHum]

36. Bingo. The writing's been on the wall since 2000 in Sydney. . .

when the US men's team barely beat out the team from FRANCE (of all places!) for the gold medal.

The US women, meanwhile, have been deadly serious from the start, even before the tournament. Many of the players are Olympic veterans and they're grooming the first-timers for leadership roles in future US Olympic teams. They play as a TEAM, and their game is fun to watch.


:kick:

[joeybee12]

43. I LOVE our women's team! Gutsy, hard working, and gracious!!!!!!!!

No one can say anything bad about them!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[HughBeaumont]

38. ONCE again . . .

The US is still the best in the world at basketball, bar NONE. Judging US basketball based on the performance of a hastily assembled team of SFs, PFs, two ballhog guards and zero consistently good shooters is like judging all Fords because of Escraps and Pintos. Even an above average US NBA/college team, correctly selected, playing their respective roles with consistency (shooters, rebounders, defense specialists, etc) and with chemistry would smother any international team you put out there. Yes, I said SMOTHER.

[joeybee12]

44. You forgot that they need a consistent team with a GOOD attitude....

....then they're up there again.

[jakefrep]

39. Uh, No

I don't think ANY of our Olympic teams deserves the sort of hatred that has been directed at the men's basketball team. It pisses me off that supposedly patriotic people would openly root against our basketball team.

[theboss]

40. I won money by us losing

Is it unpatriotic to bet against your own country?

Anyway, I don't hate this team; I actually am impressed with the effort they gave. I hate USA Basketball and David Stern for putting together a team that would be better suited to win a slam-dunk contest than an International Basketball game. Tim Ducan and a buncher of slashers is what this team is.

I want the USA to put together a "team" next time. With shooters and point guards and stuff like that. I can't wait to root for that team.

[joeybee12]

42. Some of it may be over the top--but in Sydney there were many comments

from the men's time at that time that unless they got the gold, they wouldn't accept anything less. In other words, had they won the silver, they wouldn't have shown up for the medal ceremony.

Yup, say stuff like that and it pisses people off.

Now the women's team is another story--can't say anything good enough about them.

[Awsi Dooger]

33. I wonder if Bush will take credit for this?

Like he tried to do with the Iraq soccer team.

Our best NBA players declined because of fear of a terrorist attack, and that was certainly spiked by our voluntary war, the persistent reports of elevated threat levels, and the overall focus on fear by this administration.

[theboss]

41. That was a weak excuse at best.

This team flew in on private jets. Slept in a fortress. And were surrounded by a phalanx of bodyguards. Lamar Odom was probably the saferst person in the world for the last 17 days.

[ronnykmarshall]

37. Argentina HOTTIES!!

[joeybee12]

45. You tramp!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, ok, I noticed that too....although the Brazil

men are cuter!

[ronnykmarshall]

46. I represent that remark!!

Yup this past couple of weeks have been filled with some major eye candy!

[joeybee12]

47. Too bad the Olympics only come every four years!

I guess that makes us appreciate them more!

[ronnykmarshall]

48. Another pic of one the Argentine hotties.