The Redeem Team
I could not sleep last night. The past few weeks I have been having a horrible time trying to get a full nights sleep and last night was no different. I finally gave up and got out of bed around 5 AM this morning. I wandered around the house for a little while when I remembered that USA was playing Greece in Men's Basketball. It should be a good game because Greece beat the US in the World Championships in 2006 and then celebrated like a bunch of kids.
Dwayne Wade plays with heart.
Dwayne Wade had a horrible season last year. He was hurt most of the season. The Heat traded away Shaquille O'Neal and they ended up with the worst record in the league at 15-67. But in this game, he looked like the Dwayne Wade that lead the Heat to a championship against the Dallas Mavericks. He was all over the court: playing tough defense, taking it strong to the basket, drawing fouls and finishing.
Carmello Anthony sucks.
There is no nice way to say it. He just plain sucks. He has a ton of talent but I think the fame has gotten to his head. He looks like he isn't trying and he just expects everything to fall into place. If he put the work in that I am sure Dwayne Wade did to get back to his normal self, Carmello could be mentioned in the same breath as Kobe Bryant and Lebron James. Right now it looks like he is just going through the motions. The Denver Nuggets might want to think about trading him while he still has some value.
Chris Bosh is better than I thought.
I rarely get to see him play since Toronto Raptors games are rarely on national TV but I was impressed by his ability. In my opinion, he is too small to play center in the NBA and is much better suited for the power forward position. But in the international game, he is perfect. He got much more playing time then Dwight Howard. When I first heard who was selected for the final team and noticed that Bosh, Howard and Boozer were their centers, I thought they were going to get dominated in the middle. Dwight Howard is the only true center on this team. In the international game with the wider lane, it takes guys that can't make short jump shots like Howard out of the offense. But someone like Bosh, who has a much better outside touch becomes a big threat. Howard's main purpose on this team now is going to be defending the paint.
And I thought they let players travel in the NBA!
Pack your bags and bring your passport! Everyone is traveling this summer. Players in the NBA get away with traveling pretty often but this was bordering on ridiculous. Pretty much any time a player caught the ball and tried to make a move, they would move both feet before beginning a dribble. I am not an expert on basketball rules but from the little that I know, that is a traveling violation. Over the course of the game, I didn't see one traveling violation called. I did only watch the second half but still, I saw at least 4 traveling violations that should have been called.
The next game is going to be on Saturday at 5AM PST and I think they will be playing against Spain. I'm really looking forward to that game.
I figured, I am already awake so I might as well watch the game. I quickly headed downstairs and flipped on the TV. I subscribe to the largest package my TV provider offers so I had to scroll through the guide for about 5 minutes before I find which station had the game on. By the time I found it, I had already missed the first half.
Unlike watching an NBA game on television, there was no commercials and no half time presentation. There was just some stats on the screen. For a second there, I thought the game was over but judging from the stats I deduced that it was just halftime.
The second half started and the USA team looked pretty dominate. Here are a few things that I noticed:
Lebron James is a freak of nature.
There was one instance when a Greek player had what looked to me like an uncontested layup. I was just about to sarcastically say to myself "Great defense." when Lebron, who looked to me like he was way behind the play and casually following the Greek player, jumps up and blocks the lay up off the back board. He had a few more blocks in the game and was clearly the best defensive player on the team. You could tell that he was taking this game seriously after getting beat by the Greeks in the World Championships. I think the biggest problem that USA basketball has had, which caused them to lose when they were clearly the more talented team, has been that they got too full of themselves and stopped playing defense. They always thought of the other country's teams as wannabe NBA players and not as the best the world has to offer. There are great basketball players outside of the NBA. If you think that you can't be beaten, that is when you will be beaten. Overconfident players rarely play defense. They assume that their "superior talent" will win in an offensive showdown. They always say in the NBA that defense wins championships. Well, it wins gold medals too.
Unlike watching an NBA game on television, there was no commercials and no half time presentation. There was just some stats on the screen. For a second there, I thought the game was over but judging from the stats I deduced that it was just halftime.
The second half started and the USA team looked pretty dominate. Here are a few things that I noticed:
Lebron James is a freak of nature.
There was one instance when a Greek player had what looked to me like an uncontested layup. I was just about to sarcastically say to myself "Great defense." when Lebron, who looked to me like he was way behind the play and casually following the Greek player, jumps up and blocks the lay up off the back board. He had a few more blocks in the game and was clearly the best defensive player on the team. You could tell that he was taking this game seriously after getting beat by the Greeks in the World Championships. I think the biggest problem that USA basketball has had, which caused them to lose when they were clearly the more talented team, has been that they got too full of themselves and stopped playing defense. They always thought of the other country's teams as wannabe NBA players and not as the best the world has to offer. There are great basketball players outside of the NBA. If you think that you can't be beaten, that is when you will be beaten. Overconfident players rarely play defense. They assume that their "superior talent" will win in an offensive showdown. They always say in the NBA that defense wins championships. Well, it wins gold medals too.
Dwayne Wade plays with heart.
Dwayne Wade had a horrible season last year. He was hurt most of the season. The Heat traded away Shaquille O'Neal and they ended up with the worst record in the league at 15-67. But in this game, he looked like the Dwayne Wade that lead the Heat to a championship against the Dallas Mavericks. He was all over the court: playing tough defense, taking it strong to the basket, drawing fouls and finishing.
Carmello Anthony sucks.
There is no nice way to say it. He just plain sucks. He has a ton of talent but I think the fame has gotten to his head. He looks like he isn't trying and he just expects everything to fall into place. If he put the work in that I am sure Dwayne Wade did to get back to his normal self, Carmello could be mentioned in the same breath as Kobe Bryant and Lebron James. Right now it looks like he is just going through the motions. The Denver Nuggets might want to think about trading him while he still has some value.
Chris Bosh is better than I thought.
I rarely get to see him play since Toronto Raptors games are rarely on national TV but I was impressed by his ability. In my opinion, he is too small to play center in the NBA and is much better suited for the power forward position. But in the international game, he is perfect. He got much more playing time then Dwight Howard. When I first heard who was selected for the final team and noticed that Bosh, Howard and Boozer were their centers, I thought they were going to get dominated in the middle. Dwight Howard is the only true center on this team. In the international game with the wider lane, it takes guys that can't make short jump shots like Howard out of the offense. But someone like Bosh, who has a much better outside touch becomes a big threat. Howard's main purpose on this team now is going to be defending the paint.
And I thought they let players travel in the NBA!
Pack your bags and bring your passport! Everyone is traveling this summer. Players in the NBA get away with traveling pretty often but this was bordering on ridiculous. Pretty much any time a player caught the ball and tried to make a move, they would move both feet before beginning a dribble. I am not an expert on basketball rules but from the little that I know, that is a traveling violation. Over the course of the game, I didn't see one traveling violation called. I did only watch the second half but still, I saw at least 4 traveling violations that should have been called.
The next game is going to be on Saturday at 5AM PST and I think they will be playing against Spain. I'm really looking forward to that game.
Comments