Un-real.

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This one is beyond absurd

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Greetings to all.  I hope everyone had a nice Christmas Day.  There were five NBA games yesterday.  Thank goodness the Clippers were not one of the participating teams.  They definitely needed the rest.

According to Lisa Dillman of the LA Times, Zach Randolph's knee injury is being described by Coach Mike Dunleavy as a sprained knee.   X-rays of the knee were negative, and no MRI was performed.  That is certainly welcome news. 

Mike Taylor underwent surgery on his fractured right thumb and could be out six to eight weeks.  (Imagine, he injured the thumb on Monday night, and was undergoing surgery Tuesday.  These guys move fast).  The loss of Taylor will mean more minutes for Baron Davis and Jason Hart, at least until a third PG can be brought in (the Clippers are considering holding an open tryout.  Any of you readers available?). 

Chris Kaman and Ricky Davis are still OUT.  There does not appear to be a time table for their return.  So the roster will remain thin. 

Next game is Sunday at home against Dallas.  This will be the third meeting with the Mavs.  The Clippers won the first, and won 47 minutes of the second game before absolutely collapsing down the stretch.  But they have shown that they matchup well against Mark Cuban's squad.  The game is at 12:30.

Crazy stats.

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After a blazing fast start, with the half-court offense flowing thru Carmelo, Team USA found itself in a dog fight midway thru the 2nd period.  The offense became stagnant.  Kobe became jump shooting Kobe.  Nobody could hit a 3 or a FT, and the Aussies were beating the on-ball pressure and scoring on their end.  However, a late quarter run by the US, capped by a Deron Williams steal and 3 at the buzzer had the team up by 12 at the half, and a 14-0 run to start the 3rd put the game well out of reach. 

A few things jumped out.  First was the 57 to 28 rebounding advantage for the US, which included 19 offensive rebounds.  That is pathetic on the part of AUS.  For most of the game, they had a taller lineup out there than the US, who only play one of Howard, Bosh or Boozer at a time, but never together.  At one point, LBJ was the center.    How about 8 boards by D Wade (he has been great on the glass), and 7 by Chris Paul?  Bosh, Melo, Howard and LeBron (9 by him) also did nice work on the boards.  Had the Aussies been able to do their job on the defensive glass and create scoring opportunites out of the USA's early misses, it may have actually been a game. 

Compared to the previous opponents, Australia did a good job taking care of the ball.  18 turnovers is a decent number against the US assault.  Still, the US did snag 10 steals, 4 by James alone.  Byt the time the match ended, the US had put up respectable shooting numbers from everywhere but the stripe. 

Even when the game was close, it wasn't really close.  The US was waaaay more athletic, and with the exception of the Aussie Mills (gosh is he fast), team US was the quicker team.  Kobe is peaking at the right time, going for 25 points on 10/16 shooting.  I have a new found respect for Kobe.  He has been a great teammate and ambassador for all of the Olympic athletes.  He and LeBron show up together at every big event and have represented well.   I love the story Kobe told about how he got goose bumps at the sight of his own USA jersey.  He said that he is proud to be an American, and reasserted the claim when asked by a doubtful Chris Collinsworth.  Good on him. 

I think everyone played well and did their job.  The team has really grown as a unit.  That was the key ingredient missing in 2006.  Though they only assisted on 16 FG's, way below their average, this is the best passing team this side of the Harlem Globetrotters.  Fun to watch.  I have enjoyed watching these games and posting about them here.

Argentina is next, after a great game against Greece that went down to the wire.  I don't see them having the firepower to compete, especially defensivley..  Now that Bosh has shown a great ability to play the S/R, I think our defense should be able to hang in there.  They will need to protect the permieter against the likes of Ginobli and Nocioni.

On the other side of the bracket, Spain and Lithuania will face off in what should be a competitive contest.   I don't see either of those teams beating us in the final game on Sunday. 

So, I am still declaring Gold for the US, and will have to be proven otherwise. 

Well, that was fun.  The American team showed the world tonight that they are indeed quite serious about winning the Gold.  This battle of the unbeaten was a blowout from the beginning. 

The US got off to a great start with LeBron and Carmelo hitting a couple of early 3's and Howard getting a couple of early dunks.  Kobe Bryant fought thru a Pau Gasol screen by knocking his Laker teammate to the floor, fullback style, before getting into early foul trouble.  But it helped set the tone and send a message that the US is not here to fool around.

The game was fairly close mid-way thru the first, but our guys have been able to increase their leads when they go to the bench.  That's because the US has Dwayne Wade, who has perhaps been the most determined and spectacular player on the team thus far.    He is the teams leading scorer, even while coming off the bench, shooting 73% from the field in the Olympics.   Wade is virtually everywhere on the court, in the passing lanes, diving on he floor, blocking shots, and rebounding.  He is really making things happen for the US.

Team USA led by 9 after one, and by 16 at the half.  Chris Paul and the second unit played great in the 2nd quarter, especially Tayshaun Prince, who shot 3/4 from downtown and defended well.  Bosh, the teams leading rebounder, was again effective on the glass, and played solid defense down low against the Gasol brothers.   Paul vs. those poor Spanish guards was a huge mismatch, especially when they would try some on-ball pressure.  Paul was able to blow right by them time and again and create easy baskets for his teammates.   CP3 had 14 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds, and 5 steals.    Coach K loves playing Paul and Williams together.  It sure worked today.  Williams had 11 pts. and 3 dimes before fouling out.  It sure is nice to have good point guards.  They destroyed Calderon, Rudy and Little Ricky, who were a combined 5-23.

Kobe struggled with his shooting and foul trouble, but he played solid defense on Spain's backcourt while he was on the floor.   Carmelo finished with 16 points on 6 for 8 shooting, including 4 for 6 from downtown, his best game so far and a flashback to the last two years of summer ball, when he was the teams most effective offensive player.   Getting him going early is huge.  Melo is an ideal FIBA player with his zone busting shooting ability.   But he is not the focal point of the offense this time around.  That role has fallen to LeBron James. 

Bron Bron has been the team's leader in assists, minutes, and blocked shots, and is second on the team in scoring, rebounding and steals.  He is the guy that keeps the ship steady, and is also a nightmare match up athletically for the teams he is facing,   I mean, who on Spain, Greece, or Argentina can defend perhaps the world's best player?  The King finished tonight with 18 pts., 5 boards, 8 assists and 4 steals. 

As a team, the US held the Spaniards to just 39% shooting from the field, while forcing 28 turnovers, 16 of them steals.  Fast break points were 32-0 in favor of the US.  The game was quite lopsided.  This was a blowout, and a statement.  I predicted a 20 pt. win.  But I'll take 37.

Whether or not Spain put it in cruise control for the 2nd half, it is hard to say.  I personally don't think that was the case. Quite the contrary, actually.  Spain looked to be using the 4th quarter to find something that would work in case there is a future meeting.  Their starters remained in the game late, trying to run their sets and hit some shots.  The US never relented, and Spain can't be feeling too confident at this point.   As Doug Collins pointed out on the NBC broadcast, Spain's offense resembles an NBA offense, more than a European one.  And the US is clearly the best NBA team in Beijing.  This is not a good match up for Spain.  I think they realize that, too.

Were there weaknesses?  A few.  Lot's of turnovers.  But that is going to happen with a team that runs and passes at this rate.  It is hard to imagine that Argentina or Lithuania, even with their style of play, will be able to defeat this US squad, which is beginning to look like the 2nd best sports team ever assembled (sorry, but Dream Team 1 still has the advantage). 

So I am sticking to my guns here.  The US will bring home the Gold.  And I'll even up it.  I don't think any game will be closer than 20 pts.

SPOILER ALERT:  this open thread is for those who are up at 7am and watching the game here. 

The game will re-air at 10am on NBC, so if you are planning to watch it then and hope to be surprised, it would be best not to enter.

Very briefly, I am watching a replay of the Spain vs. Germany matchup from earlier this week in anticipation for their showdown with our boys in Red, White and Blue.  A few things stand out.

First of all, Germany isn't very good.  Their offense is mostly Dirk isos with the occasional dump into Kaman, who made some nice plays, but got in trouble when he tried to put the ball on the floor (sound familiar).  Very poor guard play.  So Spain basically only had to keep an eye on two guys, one of them a poor ball-handler.  They forced Dirk into a lot of bad shots.  It is hard to say whether that was due to Spanish defense, or the fact that Dirk had no one to pass the ball to anyway.   Probably the latter.

The Spanish guards are quick.  Always weaving a maze around their bigs in the typical Euro style.   As they penetrate, the Gasols (there are two - the younger one is pretty good) roll towards the basket as we saw Pau do a lot with the Lakers.  All of the motion creates easy baskets and open looks for their shooters, of which they have a few.  They also do a lot of slow sets and posting up.  The U.S. bigs will be busy defensively.   Ball pressure by our guards will be key.

Defensively, their guards are push overs for the most part.  I know that is strong language, but they are going to have a very difficult time guarding on the ball against Paul, Kidd and Williams.  I say no chance.  Their best bet will be to sag back and stop penetration, forcing the U.S. to shoot from outside.  That is, of course, if they are able to whether our defensive pressure and stop the fast-break. 

So, my "keys to victory" for the USA are to keep their bigs from establishing position, put pressure on the ball to force turnovers, and hit some outside shots.   If they can do those things, I think the US should win comforably.  If the shots aren't falling, and their guargds can weather our storm, it could be close.

There will be an open thread for this one at 7am, which is the time that it will play live.  You can watch online here.  Otherwise, the game will be shown on NBC on tape delay at 10 am.  But by then we will already know who won.

Go USA!