The Pantheon: An Examination of Basketball Greatness, Part I
The NBA has selected official all-time teams in conjunction with its 25th, 35th and 50th anniversaries. The first of these, the Silver Anniversary Team, consisted of the ten greatest retired players at that time (1971): Paul Arizin, Bob Cousy, Bob Davies, Joe Fulks, Sam Jones, George Mikan, Bob Pettit, Bill Russell, Dolph Schayes and Bill Sharman. Red Auerbach was voted the greatest coach. Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West were still active players and thus not eligible for consideration.
Ten years later the NBA expanded the roster to 11 and modified the selection process to allow the inclusion of active players; the 35th Anniversary Team included Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Bob Cousy, Julius Erving, John Havlicek, George Mikan, Bob Pettit, Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell and Jerry West. Abdul-Jabbar and Erving were still active players at that time. Red Auerbach was again voted the greatest coach and the 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers were chosen as the greatest team.
In 1996 the NBA honored its 50th anniversary by creating a list of the 50 Greatest Players of All-Time. This list included everyone from the 25th and 35th Anniversary Teams except for Davies and Fulks. The youngest player on the list was Shaquille O’Neal and some questioned his worthiness for such an honor since he had only been in the league for four seasons and had yet to win an MVP or a championship. Bob McAdoo was the only former NBA MVP not included in the 1996 list.
In 1999 an Associated Press panel voted for the Basketball Player of the Century. The top ten finishers were Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Earvin Johnson, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West and Julius Erving. Most observers would probably agree that the AP list includes the pantheon of professional basketball—one could make a case for any of those players being the greatest player of all-time and few, if any, legitimate candidates for that title are missing from that group.
In some ways, trying to rank the players within this pantheon is silly and futile—how does one properly compare players who played different positions in different eras under different rules? Walter Payton, who at the time was the NFL’s all-time rushing leader, once said that ranking the greatest running backs of all-time is pointless and impossible and that instead we should simply savor and enjoy the unique traits of each of the worthy candidates. He was right, of course, but it seems to be an essential part of human nature to attempt to create order, to rank things, to classify items—and to argue with those who order, rank or classify things differently!
The two main approaches to ranking players are (1) relying on statistics and (2) focusing on subjective observations/historical context. There are numerous variations within these two methods: the statistics can be examined on a per minute or a per game basis, they can be adjusted to emphasize certain categories and they can also be “standardized” to account for changes in pace over the years; observations of teammates, opponents and the media who covered these players can be used to bolster or minimize the importance of certain statistics.
The players in basketball’s pantheon display both durability and a high peak value, which I would define in the following fashion: durability means sustaining a long career (at least 10 years) at or near the top of the game and peak value refers to the top level that the player reached, even if he stayed there only briefly in the midst of a longer career during which he performed at a lower but still exceptional level. It is very difficult to meaningfully compare the peak value seasons of different players; this is a subjective exercise unless one uses either a linear weights system (add up all the “good” stats—points, rebounds, assists, etc.—and subtract all the “bad” stats—turnovers, missed shots, fouls; some systems assign more or less emphasis to various statistical categories) or a more complex statistical analysis that takes into account pace, how a player’s team did during the minutes that he didn’t play and so forth. Of course, the further back we look the fewer available statistics there are, so these methods lose a lot of precision when they are used to evaluate players who played before turnovers, steals, blocked shots or other categories were officially tracked. Systems using linear weights can provide a rough ordering, but do not tell us anything about context—did a player force double teams, take charges or do a host of other “intangible” things that are not measured in conventional statistics but increase his value?
Taking our lead from Payton’s sage advice, instead of ranking the members of pro basketball’s pantheon this series of articles will look at how each player exemplifies the traits of durability and high peak value, starting with Bill Russell and then proceeding chronologically through the list. Along the way we will also examine the pros and cons of “standardizing” statistics when making intergenerational comparisons of great basketball players. We will conclude by considering whether the pantheon should open a new wing to include current stars such as Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James.
Bill Russell’s durability can be easily summarized: 11 rings, 10 fingers. He led the Boston Celtics to 11 NBA titles in 13 seasons, after previously winning an Olympic gold medal and two NCAA titles. Russell is the greatest individual winner in North American team sports history. He was without question always the most important player on his team, despite not being a big time scorer. Russell controlled the game with his rebounding and his shot blocking. He was also a good passer and ran the floor very well as a trailer on the fast break.
Bill Russell’s production was remarkably consistent throughout his NBA career. It is difficult to pick one or two seasons to represent his peak value because his prime seasons almost look like carbon copies statistically: he averaged more than 21 rpg for 10 straight years, never averaged less than 18.6 rpg and never ranked lower than fourth in the league in rebounding. Russell averaged 15.1 ppg and 22.5 rpg in the regular season and increased those numbers to 16.2 ppg and 24.9 rpg in the playoffs. He never averaged 20 ppg in a season nor did he ever score 40 points in a game but he averaged between 14.1 ppg and 18.9 ppg in his first nine seasons. Russell shot only .440 from the field and .561 from the free throw line but he had such an impact defensively and on the boards that he won five MVPs and he would have won a bunch of Finals MVPs if that award had been given out during the prime of his career. If blocked shots had been officially recorded during his career it is a safe bet that he and Wilt Chamberlain would rank 1-2 all-time and would be significantly ahead of everybody else in NBA history.
There is a generation of basketball fans that only knows Elgin Baylor as a Los Angeles Clippers executive who for many years seemed to have a seat reserved at the NBA Draft Lottery. That’s a shame, because Baylor put up some amazing numbers: career averages of 27.4 ppg and 13.5 rpg in the regular season and 27.0 ppg and 12.9 rpg in the playoffs. He averaged more than 34.0 ppg for three straight seasons (1961-63) and during that time he never averaged less than 14.3 rpg or 4.6 apg; no other forward in NBA history has done that, so Baylor’s peak value is quite extraordinary. After the second of those seasons, 1961-62, Baylor set a playoff record by scoring 61 points in a 126-121 victory in game five of the NBA Finals. The win gave Baylor’s L.A. Lakers a 3-2 lead over Russell’s Celtics but Boston won two straight—including an overtime triumph in game seven—to take the title. Baylor’s mark stood until Michael Jordan needed two overtimes to score 63 points in a 1986 playoff game; Baylor’s total is still a record for a regulation length playoff game and for an NBA Finals game.
During the prime of his career Baylor suffered a series of devastating knee injuries that robbed him of a lot of his explosiveness. He persevered well enough to earn 10 All-NBA First Team selections and join the select group of players who accumulated more than 20,000 points (23,149) and 10,000 rebounds (11,463).
Part II will look at the accomplishments of Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson and whether or not some of their statistics should be “standardized” when compared to the numbers of current players.Links:
1) This article adapts and slightly modifies ideas that I first explored in the following two posts:
The Greatest Basketball Players of All-Time, Part IThe Greatest Basketball Players of All-Time, Part II2) The NBA 50th Anniversary Team, including the list of voters and links to biographies of each player:
http://www.nba.com/history/players/50greatest.html
posted by David Friedman @ 5:40 AM
Phil Chenier: A Straight Shooter
Phil Chenier was one of the best guards in the NBA in the mid-1970s before beginning a 20-plus year career as a color commentator for the Washington Wizards. He made the All-Star team three times in a four year period before suffering a back injury that essentially ended his career. Here is the link to my HoopsHype.com article about Chenier (10/7/15 edit: the links to HoopsHype.com no longer work, so I have posted the original article below):
Winning a championship is the ultimate goal for most NBA players, but for Phil Chenier the Washington Bullets' 1978 title was bittersweet. "It was certainly great for the organization, but I have mixed feelings about that because I was hurt during that time," Chenier recalls. "I had back problems and was unable to play for the rest of the year. So I missed out on that experience."
Chenier had established himself as one of the top guards in the NBA, making the All-Star team in three of the previous four seasons (1974-75, 1977), so not being able to actively participate in the championship run was extremely frustrating.
Chenier has been with the Bullets/Wizards organization for more than three decades--first as a player and currently as a broadcaster--but he was born, raised and attended college in California. Growing up he admired Jerry West. "When I watched him on TV he looked lean like me," Chenier says. "I wasn't as thick as Oscar Robertson and some of the other guards that played in the league. Plus, West was in L.A. and I got to see him a little bit more being on the West Coast."
Chenier averaged 16.8 ppg in his junior season at California in 1971, earning First Team All-Pac 8 honors. After that season, he became one of the first early entry players, which at the time was known as going hardship;
Spencer Haywood's Supreme Court case had just paved the way for players to enter the NBA draft before their college classes graduated.
Chenier was selected by the Baltimore Bullets and averaged 12.3 ppg to earn a spot on the All-Rookie Team. The New York Knicks bounced the Bullets out of the playoffs in six games.
Before the 1972-73 season, Baltimore acquired Elvin Hayes from the Houston Rockets in exchange for Jack Marin and future considerations. "It was just absolutely amazing sometimes to watch him hit that turnaround jump shot and dominate games with his shot blocking and rebounding and scoring," Chenier says of Hayes. "I don't think that there is any denying or disagreeing with the fact that he is one of the greatest--if not the greatest--power forwards of all time."
Hayes teamed with center Wes Unseld to form a powerful frontcourt duo and the Bullets won their third straight Central Division title.
"Wes was there for my whole career with the Bullets--a very stable player, very team oriented and he set a lot of picks to get me open," Chenier says. "He was a player who instilled confidence in his teammates in a very quiet way. You always knew that he supported you. He never fussed at his players. He was always encouraging and that's what I liked most about Wes."
Chenier averaged 19.7 ppg, second on the team. He scored a career-high 53 points versus Portland on December 6, 1972, the best single-game scoring effort in the NBA that season. He still holds the franchise record for most points in a non-overtime game. The Bullets again lost to the Knicks in the playoffs, this time by a 4-1 tally. New York went on to win the championship.
The Bullets moved to Washington DC for the 1973-74 season and were renamed the Capital Bullets. Chenier earned his first All-Star selection by leading the Bullets in scoring (21.9 ppg, 13th in the NBA) and steals (2.04 spg, sixth in the NBA in the first year that this was an official statistic). The Bullets again won the Central Division title and again lost to the Knicks in the playoffs, this time falling 91-81 in the seventh game in Madison Square Garden.
Chenier's versatility--in 1973-74 he averaged 5.1 rpg, 3.1 apg and blocked 67 shots, second on the team to Hayes and more than any other guard in the league--led some to compare Chenier to Walt Frazier, the best all-around guard in the NBA at the time. "He was thicker and stronger than I was and I think that I was quicker than he was," Chenier notes (Frazier was listed at 6-4, 205, while Chenier was listed at 6-3, 180). "He was very methodical in everything that he did. He would just wear you down, boom, boom. When you made a mistake he was right in position and always on balance to capitalize on it. He wasn't a David Thompson kind of jumper. He very rarely used his left hand, but he could. He was just very basic and fundamentally sound."
Chenier modestly suggests that, while they shared superficial similarities in physical appearance--height, skin color and eyes--their games were different. "I just think that we looked a lot alike," he concludes with a laugh. "He certainly had a much livelier career than I did."
The Bullets tied with the Boston Celtics for the best record in the NBA in 1974-75 (60-22). Chenier ranked 11th in scoring (21.8 ppg) and sixth in steals (2.29 spg). In addition to making the All-Star team for the second consecutive year, Chenier earned All-NBA Second Team honors and finished eighth in MVP voting; Hayes placed third and Unseld was ninth.
When the Bullets downed the Celtics 4-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals, it seemed like the NBA Finals versus Golden State would just be a formality. Rick Barry led the Warriors to the best record in the Western Conference (48-34) but on paper they seemed to be no match for the Bullets.
Washington had home-court advantage for the Finals, but it would not be possible to use the normal 2-2-1-1-1 format due to scheduling conflicts with the Warriors' arena, so the NBA presented two options to Bullets' coach KC Jones: play Game One on the road and the next three at home or play game one at home and then the next two on the road. Jones did not want his team to fall behind early, so he chose to have Game One at home. This backfired when the Warriors beat the Bullets in Washington, 101-95.
Barry scored 36 points to lead Golden State to a 92-91 victory in Game Two at the Cow Palace.
Barry had 38 points in the next contest as the Warriors took a 3-0 lead. Undersized rookie forward Jamaal Wilkes (6-6, 190) held Hayes to 29 points in the first three games. Golden State completed the sweep with a 96-95 win, producing one of the most improbable upsets in sports history. Chenier played marvelously throughout the postseason, averaging 24.2 ppg and ranking first in the playoffs in free throws made.
He says that, despite losing, playing in the 1975 NBA Finals is the most memorable moment from his NBA career: "That is where I am from, the Bay Area, so my family and friends got to see me play in the Finals, even though it wasn't a happy result."
Washington slipped to 48-34 in 1975-76 and failed to win the division title for the first time in Chenier's career. He ranked 16th in the NBA scoring (19.9 ppg, .1 ppg better than Hayes) and seventh in steals (1.98 spg). The Cleveland Cavaliers edged out the Bullets by one game for the Central Division title and they beat Washington by one basket in game seven of the Eastern Conference semifinals, a contest forever known in Northeastern Ohio as the "Miracle of Richfield." Chenier's jumper tied the game with 24 seconds left, but Dick Snyder's runner put the Cavaliers up 87-85 and Chenier's final shot missed at the buzzer.
In many ways, the Bullets' 1976-77 season was a rerun of the previous campaign: they went 48-34, lost the division title by one game (this time to the Houston Rockets) and were eliminated in the Eastern Conference semifinals by the Central Division champion. Chenier fell out of the top 20 in scoring for the first time since 1972-73 despite increasing his average slightly to 20.2 ppg.
Some people blamed Hayes for the Bullets' inability to win a title and thought that he should be traded. But instead of subtracting Hayes, general manager Bob Ferry added free agent forward Bob Dandridge, who played an important role on the Milwaukee Bucks' 1971 championship team. Dandridge proved to be the perfect frontcourt complement to Hayes and Unseld.
"Bobby was the glue that put it all together in the end," Chenier recalls. "When he came to Washington, he had to guard Julius (Erving) in one series and he had to guard George Gervin in another one."
Chenier missed the preseason because of a back injury. His back flared up again during the season and instead of traveling with the team for a West Coast road trip he was hospitalized on January 19. He had a ruptured L5-S1 disk that required surgery. "Actually, I also had a problem on the other side of the vertebrae at L4-L5 but what they said was if they went in and saw a lot of damage (at L5-S1) then they'd take that as being the cause of my problem," Chenier explains. "The next year the other side went out and I had to have a second surgery. So that was pretty tough to take."
Chenier was replaced by Charles Johnson, who had been cut by the Warriors earlier in the month. The Bullets suffered so many injuries that at one point they only had seven healthy players but, through all of the adversity, coach Dick Motta kept repeating a simple mantra: "The opera ain't over 'til the fat lady sings."
The Bullets limped to their worst record since Chenier's rookie season (44-38) but defeated Atlanta and San Antonio to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. They faced the Philadelphia 76ers, the number one seed and defending Eastern Conference champions. Unseld's late putback layup in game six sent the Bullets back to the NBA Finals.
In an odd repeat of what happened in 1975, the Bullets once again had to deal with an unusual playoff format. A previously scheduled mobile-home show forced the NBA to use a 1-2-2-1-1 schedule. Just like in 1975, the Bullets squandered home-court advantage. This time they blew a 19 point lead in Game One and lost 106-102. Seattle's "Downtown" Freddie Brown exploded for 16 points in the last nine minutes of the fourth quarter. The teams traded wins after that. Game Seven was a nightmare for Seattle's star guard Dennis Johnson, who shot 0-14 from the field as the Bullets won 105-99 to claim the franchise's first and only title.
Washington and Seattle faced each other again in the 1979 NBA Finals, but the second back surgery limited Chenier's role severely; he averaged 5.8 ppg in 27 regular season games and 2.8 ppg while appearing in just nine of the Bullets' 19 playoff games. Dennis Johnson ultimately avenged his seventh game disaster from 1978 by leading Seattle to the championship in five games and winning the 1979 Finals MVP.
Chenier was never the same player after his back surgeries.
He played three more seasons, but never appeared in more than 43 games or averaged more than 7.6 ppg. "This is what I tell people: when you have guys who are out for six, seven months or for a whole season, it's not so much physically that you can't get back but mentally," Chenier explains. "You don't have that same mental edge that you had when you were playing with all the guys and going through practice and the routine of working out. I think that mentally as well as physically I just wasn’t the same person."
He retired in 1981 with 9,931 points and a career scoring average of 17.2 ppg. Chenier has been a color commentator for the Wizards organization since 1986.
*******************************************************
Here are some "DVD Extras" about Chenier:
***Chenier's most vivid memories of his first taste of NBA playoff action as a rookie in 1972 focus on the tremendous battles in the paint between Knicks' power forward Dave DeBusschere and his counterpart on the Bullets, Gus Johnson. They had faced each other for the previous several years and, although Johnson was nearing the end of the line, he still asked no quarter and gave none either. "Gus would just manhandle DeBusschere and DeBusschere would come back on the very next play and just manhandle Gus," Chenier says. "They would go at it but never complain. That is the one thing that I will always remember about them. And I remember DeBusschere talking about Gus after the funeral or after he passed and you could tell that they had mutual admiration and mutual respect."
By 1972-73, Johnson had moved on to the ABA's Indiana Pacers, helping them win a title before he retired, but that did not mean that there was peace and tranquility in the paint when the Knicks and Bullets played--not with Knicks' center Willis Reed and the Bullets' Wes Unseld fighting for position. "Willis was in and out of the lineup because of his injuries," Chenier remembers. "When he was in there, because of his knee, Willis had to be even more physical. So he and Wes were banging and I said to myself, 'Man, I don't want to have anything to do with that! I'll stay out here and shoot jump shots.'"
***Chenier mentions an often overlooked factor that hurt the Bullets in their stunning 4-0 loss to the underdog Golden State Warriors in the 1975 NBA Finals. "Jimmy Jones didn't start but he was a player who could fill in anywhere and he was our first man off the bench. He was averaging about 20 minutes and he could play with me or he could play with Kevin Porter or he could play with both of us by being the '3.' So he was a top notch player who gave us a lot of flexibility. He got hurt during the Boston series. So, that hurt us. But give a lot of credit to Golden State and the timing of their players kind of coming together."
***Chenier lists Pete Maravich, Earl Monroe, Walt Frazier, Nate Archibald and Jo Jo White as some of the toughest players that he faced. Chenier comments, "Pete could embarrass you. He could go for 50 on you and make it look as easy as possible. Earl could do the same thing. Earl didn't jump that high. You thought that you had him stopped, you thought that you had his shot blocked and he'd still fade back a little bit and loft that soft shot over you. That New York team had Earl and Frazier in the backcourt and then they had DeBusschere, Bradley and Lucas--that team was phenomenal. We played them three consecutive years in the playoffs and they beat us each time."
***It is well known that entertainers want to be athletes and vice versa. This is not just a recent phenomenon. Chenier recalls playing in a celebrity three on three tournament in Las Vegas in which the teams consisted of an active NBA player, a retired NBA player and an entertainer. Chenier was paired with the retired Zelmo Beaty and legendary singer Marvin Gaye and they played against David Thompson, Jerry Lucas and Pat Boone, the famous singer who less famously was once a part owner of the ABA's Oakland Oaks. Chenier didn't say who won, but noted that Gaye was a big sports fan. Of course, Gaye later did a soulful rendition of the National Anthem at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game less than a year before he was shot and killed by his father.
Labels: Bob Dandridge, Dave DeBusschere, Earl Monroe, Elvin Hayes, Golden State Warriors, Gus Johnson, New York Knicks, Pete Maravich, Phil Chenier, Rick Barry, Walt Frazier, Washington Bullets, Wes Unseld
posted by David Friedman @ 4:32 AM
Carmelo Anthony Selected to All-World Championship Team
Spain's Pau Gasol has been selected as FIBA World Championship MVP despite suffering a broken left foot that forced him to miss Spain's 70-47 gold medal game victory over Greece. He is joined on the All-World Championship Team by Team USA's Carmelo Anthony, Spain's Jorge Garbajosa, Argentina's Manu Ginobili and Greece's Theo Papaloukas (known to Team USA as "#4"). The team was selected by a panel of 16 journalists consisting of one writer from each of the countries that made it to the eighth-finals round.
Anthony led Team USA in scoring (19.9 ppg), ranking sixth in the tournament and narrowly edging Dwyane Wade (19.3 ppg). The only American to average more points per game in World Championship play is Luther "Ticky" Burden (20.2 ppg in 1974). Anthony shot .504 from the field and .440 from three point range but inexplicably only connected at a .630 rate on his free throws.
Although Anthony made a substantial contribution offensively, I
pointed out in my recap of Team USA's loss to Greece that his defense was less than stellar: "Also, this may sound like sacrilege considering all the points that he scored and the big shots that he made, but Carmelo Anthony gives up a lot at the other end of the court. Yes, he gets steals, but he also gets out of position often, leaving his man open, which leads to an eventual breakdown of the defense."
There is a lively discussion about Team USA going on at
APBR Metrics. This is what Dan Rosenbaum wrote after watching Greece beat Team USA:
"The one player who I found myself most often rewinding and saying 'what the hell was he doing?' was Carmelo Anthony. Most of the time he was away from the play and managed to simultaneously not guard his man and not help either. I have not watched the other games this closely, but after watching this game I would have a very hard time making a case for Anthony being our MVP."Anthony tied with Chris Paul for the team lead in steals (17 in nine games) but both players were also burned many times when their forays into the passing lanes came up empty, breaking down Team USA's defense. LeBron James edged Dwight Howard for the team lead in rebounds (4.8 rpg to 4.7 rpg) and finished second in assists (4.1 apg) to Paul (4.9 apg).
Team USA ranked first in scoring (103.6 ppg, exactly 15 ppg better than Spain), first in field goal percentage (.506), second in point differential (20.4 ppg compared to Spain's 22.0 ppg) but only 16th (out of 24 teams) in points allowed (83.1 ppg), 16th in defensive field goal percentage (.462) and 13th in three point field goal percentage allowed (.349)--take out the numbers from Team USA's blowout wins over Australia and Senegal and the resulting three point field goal percentage allowed goes up to .378, which would rank 21st. Many pundits will not allow these inconvenient numbers to get in the way of their version of events, which is that Team USA needs more shooters. No, what Team USA needs is better scouting of the opponents and more preparation time, which would enable the coaching staff to devise effective defensive game plans and give the players a chance to practice executing them.
The complete statistics for the FIBA World Championships can be found
here. China's Yao Ming ranked first in scoring (25.3 ppg), Richard Lugo of Venezuela won the rebounding title 11.4 rpg) and Argentina's Juan Sanchez led the tournament in assists (5.8 apg).
posted by David Friedman @ 3:29 AM
Spain Routs Greece 70-47 to Claim the FIBA World Championship
Spain claimed their first FIBA World Championship with a convincing 70-47 win over Greece. Playing without star center Pau Gasol, who was sidelined by a broken foot that he suffered in Spain's semifinals win over Argentina, the Spanish team took control late in the first quarter and was never seriously threatened the rest of the way. Jorge Garbajosa and Juan Navarro led Spain with 20 points each, while Mihalis Kakiouzis topped Greece with 17. Vasileios Spanoulis, who led Greece with 22 points against Team USA, finished with four points and missed all six of his three pointers.
Garbajosa shot 6-11 from three point range and Navarro shot 4-9 from long distance. The Spanish team shot 12-30 overall on three pointers, compared to Greece's 5-21 and the 21 points from those extra seven three pointers constitutes most of Spain's margin of victory. Felipe Reyes, who recently returned to action after being injured, started at center in place of Gasol and contributed 10 points, all scored in the first half, more than doubling his previous single game high in the tournament.
The teams seemed evenly matched in the first five minutes and Greece led 9-8 at the 4:47 mark of the first quarter. Spain then went on an 8-0 run en route to an 18-12 lead by the end of the quarter. A Navarro jump shot off of a well executed pick and roll play and a Garbajosa three pointer put Spain up 23-12 early in the second quarter and the rout was on. Greece did not look at all like the team that shredded Team USA's defense in the semifinals--and, as ESPN2's Fran Fraschilla explained, there is a good reason for that: "This is what happens when teams are familiar with each other," he noted after one of Spain's nine steals. "Navarro was in the exact spot Papaloukas was throwing the ball to."
Sofoklis Schortsanitis, who scored 14 points on 6-7 shooting against Team USA, had two points, three fouls and four turnovers in seven minutes of play versus Spain. Unlike Team USA, Spain knows that Schortsanitis does not pass well out of double teams, so they trapped him every chance they got. They also know his moves and were able to lure him into poor decisions and offensive fouls. Team USA was originally scheduled to fly out of Japan on Monday but changed their plans and departed after the bronze medal game. I think that it would have been nice--and smart--if Team USA's players and coaching staff had stuck around until the end of the tournament, watched the gold medal game and familiarized themselves with the players and teams that they hope to beat in the Olympics in two years. Team USA does not lack skill or will; it lacks knowledge and understanding of FIBA basketball in general and the international players in particular, especially the ones who are not in the NBA.
Greece did not score until the 6:42 mark of the second quarter and by then they trailed 28-13. Spain led 43-23 at halftime, shooting 17-31 from the field while holding Greece to 8-26 field goal shooting. The teams played to an 11-11 standstill in the third quarter but Spain removed what little doubt remained about the outcome with a 15-9 run to begin the fourth quarter.
Team USA is capable of beating these teams but first must respect them enough to actually learn about how their players play. That process should start at the top of USA Basketball and then trickle down to the coaching staff and players. Team USA paid good lip service to the idea of respecting the opposing teams and won and lost with class but by the time the Tournament of the Americas rolls around next year there will be no excuse for not being thoroughly familiar with the other teams in the field.
posted by David Friedman @ 2:42 PM
Team USA Beats Argentina 96-81, Wins Bronze Medal
Team USA outscored Argentina 46-32 in the second half, breaking open a close game and seizing the bronze medal in the FIBA World Championship with a 96-81 victory. Dwyane Wade led Team USA with 32 points, including 18 in a fourth quarter explosion that was reminiscent of the kind of play that earned him the 2006 NBA Finals MVP. LeBron James flirted with a triple double (20 points, nine rebounds, seven assists), while Carmelo Anthony (15) and Elton Brand (13) also scored in double figures. Luis Scola led Argentina with 19 points but he fouled out after only playing 21 minutes. Andres Nocioni contributed 18 points and Carlos Delfino had 13, including a spectacular two hand dunk that gave Argentina a 40-34 lead in the second quarter. Manu Ginobili was held to 10 points on 2-9 shooting from the field.
The big question coming into this game was which team would be better equipped to bounce back from the disappointment of not making it to the gold medal game. Fabricio Oberto opened the scoring for Argentina by beating Team USA downcourt for a transition layup, a flashback to the poor defense that plagued Team USA in the semifinals loss to Greece. Wade soon countered with a drive to the hoop but it was the Luis Scola show in the early going, as he scored 12 of Argentina's first 21 points. Argentina took a 12-4 lead before Team USA rallied and cut the deficit to 27-21 by the end of the quarter.
In the first half, Team USA had the same problems defending the pick and roll play that they had against Greece and ESPN2's Fran Fraschilla made a very perceptive comment about this. He mentioned that in the press conference after the loss to Greece, Coach Krzyzewski and the Team USA players referred to the Greek players by their jersey numbers, not by their names. Fraschilla concluded, "I really felt that all through the tournament we didn't respect the non-NBA players in this tournament." Fraschilla and his broadcasting partner Jim Durham added that to defend the pick and roll successfully it is vital to know the opponents' tendencies--who can shoot, who likes to drive (and which way they like to drive) and so forth. The fact that Team USA cannot even identify the Greeks by name underscores the point that I (and others) have made repeatedly: it is not possible to put together a FIBA championship team in three weeks. Can you imagine a team trying to win an NBA championship without even knowing the opposing teams' players by name let or being thoroughly familiar with each of their strengths and weaknesses?
Argentina stretched their second quarter lead to 43-34 after a Walter Hermann three pointer but Oberto went to the bench at the 4:00 mark after picking up his third foul. Argentina only made one field goal during the rest of the second quarter as Team USA closed the half on a 16-6 run. Anthony had a mini mental breakdown near the end of the period. First he fouled Ginobili while he was shooting a three pointer and then he was slapped with a technical foul for screaming at the officials when he grabbed a rebound and felt that he had been fouled. That could have been a big play, because under FIBA rules technical fouls count as personal fouls and five fouls result in disqualification. The technical was Anthony's third foul of the game but he redeemed himself a little bit by hitting a three pointer right before the halftime buzzer to give Team USA their first lead of the game (50-49).
Wade scored on a fastbreak layup to start the third quarter but it would be several more minutes before either team would make another field goal. Instead, the momentum of the game swung in Team USA's favor as Argentina committed five fouls in the first 3:21 of the quarter. Team USA converted only 3 of the resulting 8 free throws but Scola went to the bench with his fourth foul and Team USA was in the bonus for the rest of the period. Ginobili received his third foul just before the end of the first half and he sat out the entire third quarter. Nocioni was tagged with his third foul at the 4:59 mark of the third period and Oberto got his fourth foul 1:26 later, meaning that Argentina's starting frontcourt and their best player (Ginobili) all had at least three fouls with more than 13 minutes left in the game. This is worth mentioning because it not only limited those players' minutes but it also curbed their aggressiveness while they were on the court. Argentina was called for 29 fouls in the game, compared to 17 for Team USA, but Anthony did receive his fourth foul in the third period and Brand eventually fouled out. A Nocioni three pointer cut Team USA's lead to 69-62 at the end of the period.
Team USA went on a 10-4 run to open the fourth quarter and led by at least nine the rest of the way, outscoring Argentina 27-19 in the final stanza. Wade's 18 came from all angles--dunks, jumpers (including two three pointers), free throws and slashing drives. James concluded the scoring with an emphatic dunk, making a free throw to complete the three point play.
Anyone who believes that Team USA lost to Greece because of poor shooting should carefully compare the boxscores of that game with the Argentina game. Team USA shot 33-66 (.500) from the field versus Greece and a virtually identical 37-72 (.514) from the field versus Argentina; they shot 20-34 (.588) on free throws versus Greece and an even worse 15-30 (.500) versus Argentina. Yes, the three point shooting was a little better versus Argentina (7-18; .389) than versus Greece (9-28; .321) but the real difference was at the defensive end: Team USA held Argentina to 34-75 field goal shooting (.453), including 4-21 (.190) from three point range, while Greece shot a blistering 35-56 (.625), including 8-18 (.444) from three point range. Team USA scored 95 points versus Greece and 96 points versus Argentina. Forgive me for belaboring the point, but scoring is not Team USA's problem, nor is shooting; defending against the pick and roll and guarding three point shooters are the two main things that hurt Team USA against elite FIBA teams. Team USA's poor free throw shooting was an aberration--is anyone seriously considering cutting James because he shot 1-4 versus Greece or Anthony because he shot 6-10 and then 1-6 versus Argentina? I don't think that selecting the team based on the NBA's free throw percentage leaders is a recipe for victory. If anything, those guys were trying too hard and missing more often than usual because they were pressing to make up for the defensive lapses that got them behind in the first place.
This was a good effort against a tough Argentina team that has been together for several years and has players who have both NBA and FIBA experience. Wade was in the starting lineup for the first time for Team USA and he played 35 of a possible 40 minutes. It is easy to forget that Coach Krzyzewski and his staff not only had to take a crash course on the other teams in three weeks but that they also had to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the players on their own roster and which combinations of players worked best together. When Fraschilla mentioned this, Durham wryly noted that Wade was the Finals MVP and that it might not be a bad idea to start the five best players. I agree with that and would take it a step further,
as I wrote after Team USA's nine point win over Italy: "...the FIBA World Championships are not the NBA All-Star Game; the most important thing is winning the game, not making sure that everyone gets a chance to play. If someone is not productive in a given game or does not match up well with the players on the court then he should sit on the bench." That is why I was so disappointed to read Gilbert Arenas' comments in the
Washington Post on August 30. It had been originally reported that he was left off of the final 12 man roster due to injury but he believes that he was going to be cut regardless and cannot understand why he was not given the freedom to do whatever he wants to do on the court. Among other things, Arenas said "You've got LeBron being LeBron. You've got Carmelo being Carmelo. You've got D-Wade being D-Wade. Why can't I be me? Why do I have to transform? I did that and now you are going to cut me?" Arenas then vowed to try to score 50 points in each of his games next year versus the Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers because he felt that he was slighted by their head coaches--Mike D'Antoni and Nate McMillan respectively--who are assistants on Krzyzewski's staff. That is precisely the attitude that Team USA does not need. James and Wade are clearly better all around players than Arenas and Anthony is certainly at least as good of a scorer. Chris Paul set a Team USA record for assists in FIBA World Championship play and James also can handle the ball, so what makes Arenas think that he is entitled to guaranteed minutes on this team?
The roster moves/playing time decisions that I did not understand with Team USA are (1) Wade not starting until the last game when the team played markedly better with him on the court; (2) Bruce Bowen being cut when the team desperately needs good perimeter defenders; (3) Brad Miller being on the team because he is supposedly the prototypical FIBA big man, but rarely getting any playing time--if he is that valuable, work him into the rotation, otherwise cut him loose in favor of Bowen or somebody who can help Team USA's defense. It will be interesting to see what the roster looks like next summer when Team USA must have a strong showing in the Tournament of the Americas in order to qualify for the 2008 Olympics. Assuming that Kobe Bryant and Chauncey Billups are available, who will be cut from this year's roster? What if Amare Stoudemire is healthy, too? Arenas has probably talked himself off of the team, but what about Bowen's status?
Coach Larry Brown was blasted when his 2004 version of Team USA won the bronze medal in the Olympics but the new and improved Team USA did no better than equal that finish in the FIBA World Championships, although they did avenge Team USA's loss to Argentina in 2004. While both teams had similar preparation time, the difference is that Brown's team was a one and done outfit, while Krzyzewski and his staff will have the same pool of 24 players to choose from until 2008. I believe that they will use the extra preparation time wisely and that Team USA will win the gold medal in the 2008 Olympics--but if they are still identifying opposing players by jersey number and not by name in the Tournament of the Americas, I reserve the right to change my prediction.
posted by David Friedman @ 11:55 PM
Spain Defeats Argentina for the Tenth Straight Time, 75-74
Spain will play Greece in the gold medal game of the FIBA World Championship after beating Argentina 75-74 in a hard fought and exciting semifinals matchup. Pau Gasol led Spain with 19 points and 11 rebounds but he injured his left foot late in the fourth quarter and had to be helped off of the court after the game while his teammates celebrated the victory. Jorge Garbajosa also had 19 points. Manu Ginobili had a game-high 21 points for Argentina but shot only 6-21 from the field, while Andres Nocioni contributed 15 points and played his usual rugged, hard nosed game.
Argentina got off to a great start, taking a 13-2 first quarter lead. Spain did not make a field goal until Gasol's three point play at the 4:09 mark. That made the score 14-7 Argentina. Nocioni had nine first quarter points and Argentina led 21-15 going into the second quarter.
Spain outscored Argentina 25-17 in the second quarter, largely by going to the hoop, drawing fouls and making free throws. Gasol had two more three point plays in the quarter and the second of them gave Spain a 32-23 advantage. Spain clung to a 40-38 lead at halftime.
Luis Scola's putback tied the score in the opening moments of the third quarter and the score stayed close throughout the period, with Spain taking a 60-56 lead into the final quarter. A quick 5-0 burst to open the fourth quarter put Spain ahead 65-56 and Argentina did not score until the 7:25 mark, when a Pepe Sanchez three pointer put Argentina within six points, 65-59. Spain kept a small lead for most of the quarter. Gasol made a nice baseline spin move and was fouled with 1:36 remaining. He injured his left foot on the play but sank two free throws to put Spain up by six before he limped to the bench. A Sanchez three pointer, a Ginobili drive and two Scola free throws enabled Argentina to tie the game at 74. Spain had possession with less than 24 seconds remaining and Argentina made an interesting strategic decision, electing to intentionally foul, possibly conceding two points but ensuring that they would have the last possession and a chance to win. Jose Calderon made only one of the two free throws and it looked like Argentina's plan might pay off, but Nocioni missed a corner jump shot and Spain tracked down the loose ball as time expired.
As ESPN2's Fran Fraschilla noted on several occasions, players from both countries are very familiar with each other, not only from FIBA competitions but also from playing in various European leagues. This led to a very physical game. Neither team shot particularly well for the game--.440 from the field for Spain, .358 from the field for Argentina--and it often seemed like the defensive team knew exactly what the offensive team was trying to do. The look and feel of this game was a lot different than what you see when watching Team USA play. Spain and Argentina utilize a lot more ball and player movement; Team USA's players and coaching staff should study this tape and apply the lessons learned to future FIBA competitions.
Spain has more "name" talent than Greece but Greece won the European championship and Gasol's status for Sunday's game is uncertain. The gold medal game should be very interesting indeed.
As for the bronze medal game between Team USA and Argentina, both teams had gold medal aspirations, so they are equally disappointed at how things have turned out. Whichever team can get past that mental hurdle and convince itself that fighting for the bronze medal is a worthy goal will have the edge in tomorrow's game. Team USA is unquestionably talented enough to beat any of these teams but it requires a very sound offensive and defensive approach to beat the elite FIBA teams. All of the things that Greece did to defeat Team USA--not turn the ball over, run screen and scroll plays, make three pointers--Argentina is also capable of doing, so this game will not be a walk in the park for Team USA. The much maligned 2004 U.S. Olympic team overcame its disappointment at not winning the gold medal and beat Lithuania in a spirited bronze medal game.
posted by David Friedman @ 4:42 PM
Greece Shreds Team USA's Defense, Wins 101-95
Greece dissected Team USA's pick and roll defense to post a 101-95 victory in the semifinals of the FIBA World Championship. Vasileios Spanoulis led Greece with 22 points, including six free throws after he was fouled while attempting three point shots. Mihalis Kakiouzis added 15 points and Sofoklis Schortsanitis, who is nicknamed "Baby Shaq" but much more closely resembles Robert "Tractor" Traylor, scored 14 points on 6-7 shooting from the field. He scored some of his hoops from point blank range after pick and roll plays and the 300-plus pounder also beat Team USA down the court several times to score on fast break layups.
Carmelo Anthony had a game-high 27 points, Dwyane Wade had 19 and LeBron James contributed 17--including 10 in the fourth quarter--but Team USA's problem was not on the offensive end. Sure, Team USA did not help its cause by shooting 9-28 from three point range or an even more brutal 20-34 from the free throw line but look at the final score again: Team USA scored 95 points in a 40 minute game and that should be more than enough to win. What killed Team USA was Greece's 8-18 three point shooting and Greece's 35-56 field goal shooting overall. Greece outscored Team USA 32-24 in the decisive third quarter, shooting a sizzling 14-18 from the field. Team USA was not able to rattle Greece's ball handlers to force turnovers, nor did Team USA have any answers for Greece's top of the key pick and roll play. Greece got whatever it wanted from that play: open three pointers, wide open cutters for layups or mismatches in the post when the U.S. switched and failed to double team quickly enough. Greece has no players on its roster who are currently in the NBA--Spanoulis will play for the Houston Rockets this season--but don't for a second think that their players are unskilled. Also, don't forget the aforementioned fouls on Spanoulis--one by James, one by Kirk Hinrich; after all, those points provided the final margin of victory. Team USA made other mental errors as well; Wade shot too soon as the third quarter ended, enabling Greece to get a rebound and score on a fast break at the buzzer. Also, this may sound like sacrilege considering all the points that he scored and the big shots that he made, but Carmelo Anthony gives up a lot at the other end of the court. Yes, he gets steals, but he also gets out of position often, leaving his man open, which leads to an eventual breakdown of the defense.
Team USA actually got off to a good start, a rarity in this tournament, and led 20-14 at the end of the first quarter. Around that point, ESPN2's Fran Fraschilla lauded Team USA's good defense but, while Team USA did force a shot clock violation and certainly was playing hard, that kind of score meant that the game was being played at Greece's pace. Team USA took its biggest lead, 33-21, after a Joe Johnson three pointer early in the second quarter and, according to an Associated Press report, LeBron James told his teammates on the bench, "They don't know what to do."
Greece then went on a 24-8 run to close out the half; remarkably, after they took a 39-38 lead on Schortsanitis' layup at the 1:48 mark they never trailed again. Greece repeatedly beat Team USA down the court and seemed to score as many points in transition as Team USA did. Greece outplayed Team USA both in uptempo situations and in the halfcourt. Greece led by as many as 14 points in the second half and, although I hate the cliche that I am about to write in this case it is true: the game was not as close as the final score indicates. Greece controlled the action for the entire second half and Team USA never could even get close enough to make it a one possession game. James scored on a two handed dunk with seconds remaining, Team USA had to foul and two Kakiouzis free throws closed out the scoring.
I can't say that Greece's win is shocking. Even after Team USA's 40 point win over Australia I was not convinced that Team USA could beat the top FIBA teams, which is why I wrote the following passage in my post about that game:
"Although Team USA won handily, in the opening minutes of the game Australia repeatedly burned Team USA with dribble penetration and by draining open three pointers. If Team USA plays that poorly against Argentina or Spain then they will be down by ten points or more very quickly. Maybe it seems strange to critique Team USA after such a decisive win but the simple fact is that teams like Italy, Slovenia and Australia have revealed the chinks in Team USA's armor: Team USA struggles to defend against the three point shot, can be attacked with dribble penetration and is much better at scoring in transition than in a half court offense. Those three teams do not have enough depth to take advantage of these things for an entire 40 minute game but they have provided a blueprint for beating Team USA that can be applied by teams that have more depth and experience."
For all the talk about how well this team has come together and how poorly the 2004 version of Team USA supposedly played in the Athens Olympics under Larry Brown, Mike Krzyzewski's squad will have to win one more game just to equal the 2004 team's bronze medal performance--and that will hardly be an easy task, since Team USA will face the loser of the Argentina-Spain semifinal matchup and both of those teams are undefeated so far.
Don't get me wrong--I don't consider this team to be a failure, but neither was the 2004 team a failure. The United States simply cannot throw a team together in three weeks, no matter how talented and well coached it might be, and expect to beat national teams that have played together for years under FIBA rules. The current version of Team USA, with some key personnel additions--most notably Kobe Bryant--certainly can win an Olympic gold medal in 2008 if they have enough practice time together as a unit. First though, Team USA must qualify for the Olympics with a good performance in the Tournament of the Americas in Venezuela next summer.
posted by David Friedman @ 6:08 AM
