There are a series of 14 videos at the AT&T Blue Room site that describe how this year's Team USA--dubbed the "Redeem Team"--has been put together and provide some highlights from the just concluded pre-Olympic exhibition tour (if the videos don't play automatically after clicking on the links below, go to "connection settings" on the right hand side and make the appropriate selection for your internet setup).
Team USA Managing Director kicks off the first video by saying of Team USA's recent failures in FIBA play, "It really bothered me as an American and, quite honestly, I was mad inside because I take great pride in what we've accomplished in this country with the game of basketball."
After more than a decade of service in the Team USA program, Mike Krzyzewski was likely in line to be the head coach of the Olympic team--but when USA Basketball made the move in 1992 to use NBA players instead of college players, Krzyzewski assumed that he would never get a chance to be the team's coach. That all changed once Colangelo took over:
After clicking on either of the above links, you will have access to the rest of the videos in a continuous play sequence. The other video titles are:
3) Team--Coming Together 4) Announcement 5) Leaders 6) Big Men 7) Redemption 8) Off Court Preparation 9) The Young Point Guards--Chris Paul & Deron Williams 10) The Role Players 11) Team USA vs. Russia 12) Team USA vs. Turkey 13) Team USA vs. Canada 14) Team USA vs. Lithuania
Some of the above footage has also been shown in the "Road to Redemption" series of TV shows.
Team USA Overcomes Sluggish Start to Beat Australia, 87-76
Team USA trailed for most of the first quarter but built a 15 point halftime lead and held on to post an 87-76 win over Australia at Qizhong Arena in Shanghai. Team USA finished 5-0 on their pre-Olympic exhibition tour--including a 4-0 mark in the USA Basketball International Challenge, which consisted of two games apiece in Macau and Shanghai--but this game (and a to a lesser extent their 89-68 win over Russia, a contest that was also competitive in the second half) showed that the road to the gold medal will not be a cakewalk for this squad. Dwyane Wade again provided a major lift off of the bench, scoring a game-high 22 points. LeBron James finished with 16 points, four assists and a game-high five steals. Kobe Bryant scored 13 points but did not shoot well (3-9 from the field, 5-8 from the free throw line) and he largely made his presence felt as a defender and playmaker (four assists). Carmelo Anthony scored 12 points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds but he shot just 4-13 from the field. Jason Kidd did not attempt a shot and had three assists in 15 minutes as he split time almost evenly with Deron Williams (one point, 0 assists in 18 minutes) and Chris Paul (four points, five assists, five fouls in 16 minutes), Team USA's point guards of the future. Australia placed five players in double figures, led by Patrick Mills and former NBA center Chris Anstey with 13 points each. David Barlow scored 12 points on 4-5 shooting from the field while C.J. Bruton and Brad Newley--a 2007 second round draft pick of Houston's--added 11 points each.
For the first time in these five exhibition games, a Team USA player received a DNP-CD (did not play-coach's decision): Carlos Boozer. Although some people continue to insist that Team USA needs more bigs--and Australia, like Russia, did outrebound Team USA (42-41)--Coach Mike Krzyzewski went with a small lineup with no true NBA big for a total of seven minutes; starting center Dwight Howard had eight points and five rebounds in 22 minutes, while Chris Bosh contributed nine points and four rebounds in 11 minutes. Howard shot 4-4 from the field, while Bosh made all three of his field goal attempts. Bigs are not as important in FIBA play as they are in the NBA because of FIBA's trapezoid lane. In any case, James and Anthony are as big and strong as just about any power forwards that Team USA will see, while Howard, Bosh and Boozer provide more than enough depth at center. Team USA's problem is not size but rather maintaining the awareness and discipline to defend against perimeter players from opposing teams; Team USA must contest three point shooters without giving up wide open driving lanes and they struggled in both of those areas in this game as Australia shot 8-20 (.400) from three point range and 29-61 (.475) from the field overall. I'm sure that many people will point out Team USA's subpar three point shooting (3-18, .167) but what concerns me more than that poor percentage is the volume and quality of those long range shots: Team USA shot too many three pointers and they shot them too early in the shot clock. Other than Bryant (2-5), no one on Team USA had a good game from behind the arc: James shot 1-4, Anthony shot 0-4, Michael Redd--who is supposed to the team's zone busting sharpshooter--shot 0-3, Wade shot 0-1 and Paul shot 0-1. It's fine to talk about how many long range shots Redd drained in last year's FIBA Americas tournament but he did most of his scoring after Team USA used good defense to build sizable leads; if Team USA gets in a close game during the Olympics, Redd will not be on the court unless Bryant or James are injured or in foul trouble. There is nothing wrong with adding a shooting specialist to the team but what will make or break Team USA is perimeter defense and this game was a perfect example of that: Australia used a zone, a matchup zone and a sagging man to man defense but Redd contributed just two points on 1-4 shooting in eight minutes.
Rick Kamla and Fran Fraschilla handled the play by play and color duties one last time live and direct from ESPN2's studios in Bristol before turning over the microphones to Mike Breen and Doug Collins, who will call the Olympic basketball games for NBC. Fraschilla's three keys for Team USA were bang the boards, deflections and no injuries. He also listed a blueprint for how to beat Team USA in FIBA competition:
(1) Don't hit offensive boards (2) Play zone or pack man to man (3) Sub on free throws (4) Take care of the ball (5) Use shot clock
Australia followed several of those prescriptions. They won the battle of the boards despite getting just five offensive rebounds, which means that they got back on defense, clogged the paint and often limited Team USA to one shot. The reason it is important to substitute after made free throws is that this limits Team USA's ability to quickly inbound the ball and try to score in transition. Australia took care of the ball in stretches but Team USA built their leads during key runs when they forced some turnovers (Australia finished with 18 turnovers compared to 11 for Team USA). Australia did a pretty good job of using the shot clock, as indicated by the much lower pace of this game compared to Team USA's first three games (Russia also did a good job of slowing the game down). The concern for Team USA is that there are several FIBA teams (Spain, Greece, Argentina) that can follow the above five point plan and that have more depth than Australia and Russia.
Team USA won the opening tip and ran a nice backdoor action as Kidd set a back pick for Bryant, who cut to the baseline, received a feed from James, scored, got fouled and made a free throw for a three point play. The reason that I have provided "verbal diagrams" of Team USA's opening play in several of these recaps is that this is often the first--and last--time that Team USA runs a good half court offensive set. Team USA obviously wants to pressure the ball, force turnovers and score in transition but I don't understand why they don't run these kinds of actions later in the game during sequences when the action has slowed down.
Australia immediately answered by involving Anthony defensively in a screen/roll, resulting in a Bruton three pointer. During the Olympics, look for teams to go right at Anthony's poor defense, particularly in the one and done games during medal round action. Team USA ran a screen/roll with Bryant and Howard, who was not open on the roll; Bryant kept the ball and was eventually fouled but he missed both free throws. Barlow blew straight past James to give Australia a 5-3 lead. On the next possession, Anthony took the worst possible shot: a long two pointer with :18 left on the shot clock. James stole the ball but promptly threw it away; Kidd alertly broke up the resulting 3 on 1 opportunity for Australia. Anthony was intentionally fouled after a steal. He made both free throws and Team USA retained possession. Team USA again ran a back door action for Bryant, who drew a non-shooting foul but Team USA turned the ball over after Anthony made a bad pass trying to feed Howard in the post. "That's a bad angle," Fraschilla noted. "When you throw the ball in from the top of the key into the post you'd like to have the defender on Dwight Howard's back." The correct passing angle is from below the free throw line extended.
Australia led 11-9 at the 4:56 mark when starting guards Kidd and Bryant both went to the bench. Paul came into the game and really struggled to keep Mills in front of him; Mills drove past Paul and went coast to coast for a score after a made basket, something that should never happen. I laughed yesterday when I read that someone--a Hornets fan, naturally, as opposed to an objective analyst--praised Paul's defense in these exhibition games; as I have noted repeatedly and as Fraschilla has mentioned during the telecasts, Paul's defense has been poor. I disagreed with those who criticized Paul's NBA defense last season but there is no question that Paul has not played good FIBA defense so far. As Fraschilla said after Mills burned Paul a third time, forcing Paul to foul him, "There have been a number of times in this (exhibition tour) when he has not guarded the ball particularly well. Patrick Mills takes advantage of that." Team USA regained the lead late in the first quarter thanks to a steal and a layup by Wade, who also made two of three free throws after he was fouled on a three point shot with one second left. That made the score 22-19 Team USA.
The second quarter began with Bryant blocking a shot and Williams passing ahead to Wade for a fast break dunk. Then came a series of bad possessions by Team USA, starting with a Bryant three point attempt with eight seconds on the shot clock. Team USA wasted too much time standing around before James passed to Bryant, who was in a no win position: there were no driving lanes available at that point against Australia's zone and the lack of good spacing meant that if Bryant passed the ball Team USA was unlikely to get a better attempt than the one he took. Deron Williams turned the ball over, leading to a Bruton jumper. Then Wade missed a long jumper with :14 on the shot clock. The next time down the court, Anthony bricked a contested three pointer with :12 on the shot clock and Fraschilla immediately exclaimed, "Oh, no. That's just too fast in the shot clock and he didn't move any defenders." Team USA's problem has never been--and is not now--a lack of players who can shoot but rather an inability and/or unwillingness to run good half court continuity; if they would move the ball and move bodies then someone would get an open shot that he is more than capable of making, so there is no reason to jack up long, contested jumpers with 12, 14 or more seconds on the shot clock. Team USA failed to score on the next possession thanks to a James travel.
Kidd checked in at the 7:13 mark with Team USA clinging to a 24-21 lead. The teams traded baskets, a James jumper and a layup by David Anderson after James allowed dribble penetration. "Did LeBron fall asleep a little bit there?" Kamla asked after James got completely turned around. "Sure he did," replied Fraschilla, who at one point suggested that Team USA was already mentally in Beijing for the Olympics despite still being physically in Shanghai. He said that during the Russia game, too, but after Team USA's string of failures in FIBA events you'd think that they would be more attentive. James tried to post up on the block and unitentionally provided a good demonstration of why FIBA teams do not frequently use post up play; the trapezoid lane forces the offensive player away from the hoop, making it easier to trap him. "Right now he's playing one on three," Fraschilla said. James fired an ill advised behind the back pass to Anthony but the defense easily rotated and blocked his shot. Anthony went to the bench at the next dead ball with Team USA only ahead 26-25.
Team USA had its first good half court possession of the second quarter when James drove to the hoop and kicked the ball to Bryant at the three point line; the drive and kick is a staple of FIBA basketball and in this case the defender, in his haste to recover, fouled Bryant, whose three free throws gave Team USA a four point lead. Bryant's third make enabled Team USA to trap--something you cannot do when you are turning the ball over and taking bad shots--and Bryant forced a turnover that James converted into a fast break dunk. Bryant then forced another turnover, this time leading to a James three pointer. After another defensive stop James missed a shot but Bryant got the offensive rebound and passed the ball back to James, who drove to the hoop and converted a three point play to put Team USA up 37-25. Right around this time Fraschilla made a very astute observation: Bryant put so much pressure on Australia's backcourt that Australia had to go small by bringing in another point guard just to get the ball up the court but this led to favorable matchups for Team USA at the other end of the court, namely a smaller player having to guard either Bryant or James. This is a good example of something that statistical analysis does not pick up: James scored eight straight points and he certainly played very well in this stretch but those scoring opportunities were created not only by Bryant's defense forcing turnovers but also by Bryant's defense forcing a lineup change that created favorable matchups for Team USA to exploit. You may recall that it was right around that point in the second quarter that Greece hit Team USA with a 24-8 run en route to a 101-95 victory in the 2006 FIBA World Championships. That version of Team USA got big offensive performances from Anthony (27 points), Wade (19 points) and James (17 points) but did not have a defensive stopper on the perimeter who could thoroughly disrupt the opponent's ability to even advance the ball up the court.
Team USA led 44-29 at halftime but began the third quarter extremely sluggishly. James sagged too far into the paint, enabling Barlow to make an open three pointer; in the NBA you want to defend the paint first but in the FIBA game with the short three point line you simply cannot leave outside shooters unattended. After another Barlow three pointer plus a Bruton three pointer and a Barlow layup, Team USA's advantage shrunk to 46-42. Anthony's jumper pushed the margin to six but Australia quickly answered and Coach Krzyzewski did something he had not done in the previous four exhibition games: call a timeout. Bryant hit a three pointer on the next possession to put Team USA up 53-44. Team USA enjoyed at least a three possession lead the rest of the way, including a 65-55 advantage at the end of the third quarter. Perhaps Team USA was never in serious danger of losing after that point but on the other hand they never really put Australia away, either; there was always the chance that Australia might hit two quick three pointers and be right back in the game.
Considering the closeness of this game it is interesting to look at how Coach Krzyzewski distributed the playing time: James played a game-high 33 minutes, while Bryant and Wade played 25 each. Bryant and James were the primary instigators of Team USA's second quarter run, while Wade provided steady scoring throughout the game. Anthony played 24 minutes but Team USA actually trailed 42-41 during his time on the court (Team USA outscored Australia 54-50 when Bryant was in the game and was tied 70-70 and 35-35 respectively when James and Kidd were in the game). Redd (eight minutes) and Tayshaun Prince (three minutes) hardly received any run and, as mentioned previously, Boozer did not even get into the game.
Team USA will have to play better than this to win the gold medal but they are more than capable of doing so.
The Man Behind the Icon: Reebok Exclusive Yao Ming Interview
Rebook Exclusive recently posted an interview with Yao Ming. Yao admitted that it has been a little difficult to get back in the swing of things after missing three months of action due to a broken foot but said, "You have to play through it because you are a professional athlete." He is thrilled to have the opportunity to play in the Olympics in his home country: "I can't find the words to explain how excited I am."
Kobe Bryant scored a game-high 19 points as Team USA defeated Russia 89-68 to improve to 4-0 on their pre-Olympic exhibition tour, including 3-0 in the USA Basketball International Challenge. This was the first of two games that Team USA will play at Qizhong Arena in Shanghai after beating Turkey and Lithuania at Coati Arena in Macau; Team USA will wrap up exhibition play on Tuesday versus Australia. Carmelo Anthony added 17 points and a team-high seven rebounds but he once again played terribly on defense, particularly in the third quarter when Andrei Kirilenko repeatedly drove right by him; Kirilenko led Russia in points (18), rebounds (eight) and assists (four), while American import J.R. Holden scored 17 points.
Dwyane Wade provided a lift off of the bench for Team USA with 16 points on 6-7 field goal shooting. LeBron James was the only other Team USA player to reach double figures (10 points) but this was easily his worst performance on the exhibition tour as he shot 4-9 from the field, committed a team-high four turnovers and fouled out with more than five minutes remaining in the game. Dwight Howard had just five points and one rebound in 16 foul plagued minutes as Team USA was outrebounded (33-29) for the first time in these four games. Jason Kidd started at point guard but played just nine minutes as Coach Mike Krzyzewski is apparently resting the 35 year old veteran to keep him fresh for the Olympics. Deron Williams and Chris Paul each logged 20 minutes; Williams scored five points and a had a game-high nine assists, while Paul finished struggled on defense and only contributed four points and one assist.
With Team USA's exhibition tour almost over, ESPN2 color commentator Fran Fraschilla not only provided his customary three keys to the game for Team USA (keep sharing the ball, stay focused defensively and no injuries) but he also listed "what we've learned" about Team USA so far:
(1) Great chemistry
(2) Simple offense
(3) Outside shooting=no problem
(4) Defense starts with ball pressure
(5) Clean up pick and roll defense
Team USA won the jump ball and on their first possession Bryant received the ball at the free throw line extended on the left side of the court after setting a back pick for Dwight Howard. Sergei Bykov fouled Bryant as Bryant attempted a jumper and Bryant opened the scoring by splitting a pair of free throws. Throughout the game, Fraschilla emphasized that Team USA Coach Mike Krzyzewski is using a simple half court offense akin to what he runs at Duke, allowing Team USA's players the space to read the defense and make plays as opposed to running a lot of intricate half court sets. This fits in with something that I have repeatedly stressed, namely that Team USA will probably never run a half court FIBA offense as well as the other FIBA teams do and will thus have to rely on pressure defense to create transition scoring opportunities.
Team USA took early 5-0 and 7-2 leads with Bryant applying his typical suffocating pressure defense against Russia's best guard, Holden, but the Russian team kept their composure and rallied to tie the score at 9-9. Holden scored Russia's first two points with a tough drive against Bryant and Fraschilla said, "He's going to tell his grandkids about that one." Fraschilla also noted that Russia, coached by ex-Princeton player David Blatt, used a technique that Pete Carril's Princeton teams employed: not crashing the offensive boards in order to get all five players back on defense to protect the paint and force the opposition to shoot from outside. Team USA led 29-17 after the first quarter. Even though Russia succeeded in slowing down the pace they were not completely able to take advantage of this because they kept committing fouls, enabling Team USA to score 10 points on free throws.
In the second quarter, Russia refrained from excessive fouling and Team USA's scoring plummeted as several players bailed out the zone defense by launching long jumpers early in the shot clock. Team USA only outscored Russia 17-14 and play by play announcer Rick Kamla coined a very apt description of what Russia did in the first half: "uglying" the game. Fraschilla said that Russia "muddied up the waters with the zone (and) got four and five people back in transition." Fraschilla concluded that Russia deserved credit for containing Team USA's offense but that Team USA also helped Russia by taking some "tough shots." Fraschilla also pointed out that Russia's deliberate offense played a key role in slowing the tempo of the game and that this kept the score down as well.
Team USA opened the third quarter with a 7-2 run as Anthony buried a jumper, Bryant forced a turnover that led to a possession in which James scored and then Bryant drilled a three pointer. It seemed like the game was about to turn into a rout but then Team USA got very sloppy at both ends of the court, particularly on defense. Fraschilla observed, "There have been a couple moments in these first four exhibition games when Chris Paul fell asleep on defense, though he certainly has made up for it at the offensive end." After Kirilenko blew by Anthony but missed the layup, Fraschilla said, "That is poor defense by Carmelo Anthony. He is not a good on ball defender."
When Russia cut Team USA's lead to 55-43, Fraschilla said of Team USA, "You almost sense in this game that these guys are ready to get to Beijing. More so than in any other game they are pretty much going through the motions." Coach Krzyzewski has yet to call a timeout in these exhibition games and Fraschilla suggested that perhaps he should do so just to get his players accustomed to the FIBA timeout scenario (only the coach can call a timeout in FIBA play and he can only do so in a dead ball situation). After Kirilenko again blew by Anthony for a layup to make the score 57-45 and Team USA turned the ball over, Fraschilla declared, "This is where I would call timeout." Krzyzewski did not call timeout and on the next possession Holden used a screen to escape Bryant, drove right by Anthony and drew a foul on him. Holden made both free throws and Russia was very much in the game, only trailing 57-47 with 4:45 remaining in the quarter.
Bryant answered with a contested jumper but Fraschilla correctly stated that Team USA better not depend on those kinds of shots when they face "live bullets" in the Olympics. During the first part of the third quarter Bryant almost single-handedly maintained Team USA's lead, scoring nine of Team USA's first 13 points. Kirilenko once again drove by Anthony as if he were a traffic cone to bring Russia within ten, 59-49; Anthony inexplicably forced the right handed Kirilenko to the right. Anthony took a seat on the bench shortly after that play and Team USA closed the quarter with a 12-2 run. Michael Redd, who usually has been padding his scoring numbers with Team USA safely in front, only scored six points in this game but they were much more meaningful than some of the bigger outputs he had in previous games on this tour and in last year's FIBA Americas tournament; Redd made two three pointers in the last 1:17 of the third quarter to help Team USA rebuild a comfortable lead going into the fourth quarter. Russia did not mount a serious challenge in the final period, never getting closer than 18 points.
As usual, I attempted to track the plus/minus numbers for Bryant, James, Kidd and Anthony but that proved to be a little tricky: Team USA led 70-52 after the third quarter according to ESPN2 but then the graphic changed twice early in the fourth quarter without either team scoring; apparently, the score was actually 71-51 after three quarters. At the end of the game, ESPN2 displayed a final score of 90-68 but the actual final score was 89-68. I looked at the official play by play sheet to try to fix the plus/minus numbers accordingly and what I came up with shows Team USA outscoring Russia 57-46 when James was in the game, 54-46 when Anthony was in the game, 58-52 when Bryant was in the game and 13-11 during Kidd's cameo appearance. This is a good example of a small plus/minus sample being "noisy"; in other words, those numbers do not give an entirely accurate depiction of each player's relative contribution. For instance, in the third quarter Bryant scored 11 points but it was all he could do to keep up with everything that Anthony was giving up at the other end of the court. James played the entire third quarter and although he did not make a large contribution during that time his plus/minus numbers benefited from Redd's two three pointers. One thing that these plus/minus numbers do correctly indicate is that the starters did not have a great game as a collective unit and the bench provided a nice lift, particularly Wade and Williams, with a nod to Redd for his two big shots; TNT's Doug Collins always talks about the importance of closing quarters strongly and in this game the bench players contributed to important Team USA runs to close the second and third quarters.
Team USA will face tougher teams than Russia in the Olympics and in those games it will be very important to tighten up their half court offensive execution as well as their defense, particularly regarding Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul. On the other hand, it is reasonable to assume that if Team USA experiences a lull in a game that counts that Jason Kidd will not remain glued to the bench; Coach Krzyzewski has smartly used the exhibition games as an opportunity to get some much needed FIBA experience for Paul and Williams and that will prove to be beneficial not only in these Olympics but also in future competitions when they will have to take over for Kidd on a permanent basis. These exhibition games don't "count" but they are meaningful in terms of preparing this team not only for this year's Olympics but also as part of the ongoing development of the younger players who will play key roles for Team USA for the next several years.
The first episode of "Road to Redemption" detailed Team USA's history in FIBA competition since NBA players began participating in 1992: Team USA won Olympic gold medals in 1992, 1996 and 2000 plus a FIBA World Championship in 1994 (Team USA won a bronze medal in the FIBA World Championship in 1998 when college and CBA players replaced NBA players due to the NBA lockout). Since 2000, though, Team USA has experienced a series of failures: a sixth place finish in the 2002 FIBA World Championship, a bronze medal in the 2004 Olympics and a bronze medal in the 2006 FIBA World Championship.
The current squad--assembled by Managing Director Jerry Colangelo and coached by Mike Krzyzewski--consists of players who made a three year commitment to turn the program around. The initial result--a 10-0 sweep to the gold medal in the FIBA Americas tournament in 2007--was good but that was just a warmup to the main event: the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Two key additions to the team are Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd, the new starting backcourt. Kidd has an undefeated record in FIBA play, including winning a gold medal in the 2000 Olympics, while Bryant--who called himself the "Doberman" after shutting down Lithuanian guard Sarunas Jasikevicius, a longtime Team USA nemesis--has become the team's defensive stopper, something that no one on recent Team USA rosters was willing and/or able to do.
Parts two and three of "Road to Redemption" look at Team USA's bonding process on and off the court during the month leading up to the Olympics. Kidd went on a golf outing with young point guards Chris Paul and Deron Williams. As they rode in golf carts, Kidd told them, "Whatever I can do to pass on from who I've learned from--Stockton, Magic and Gary (Payton)--that is my duty, to share with you guys. You guys are too talented and I want you guys to be successful." The three point guards joked around as they staged an impromptu closest to the pin contest, with the losers having to do 25 pushups. "Or we can do your age--we can do 50," quipped Williams to Kidd. Kidd, playing in flip flops, put two balls on the green, but Williams landed the closest shot to the pin, so Kidd and Paul had to do the pushups. "J, we'll give you five off--you get a senior discount," Williams said.
"I think golf is 10 times harder than basketball--50 times," Williams added afterwards.
"I just showed that if you don't practice you will be trash," Paul added with a rueful laugh.
Coach Krzyzewski gave each player a notebook that has a picture of the gold medal on the first page. During one practice he gathered all of the players around to watch a video of Marvin Gaye's classic rendition of the national anthem prior to the 1983 NBA All-Star Game, telling the team, "That is going to be our song."
"I believe in visualization," Coach Krzyzewski explained later. "Let's put a vision in your mind about being on that gold medal stand and hearing our song."
Also, the entire team took a cruise to see the Statue of Liberty. "What we're trying to do is develop a spirit where we're not just saying something, we're showing them something," said Krzyzewski. "And then allowing them to feel something." I agree with Coach Krzyzewski about the importance of visualization and the power of symbols to motivate and inspire people.
"This is the first thing a lot of people saw when they came to this country," said Bryant of the Statue of Liberty. "This is where a lot of dreams started for a lot of different people and families. You have a dream in America where you can literally go from the bottom to the top. This is our dream here now, to bring a gold medal back to this country."
During one of Team USA's meetings, LeBron James delivered perhaps the clearest and strongest message about what this team's mentality has to be. Echoing a theme that is very familiar to anyone who follows James' Cleveland Cavaliers, he said, "When we go across these waters and we go play, we got to be a 'no excuse' team. What I mean is, it's going to be us against the world and we got to look at it that way. We can't blame the refs, we can't blame the crowd, we can't blame anything else on anybody. We are in a position right now where we control our own destiny. I know I'm guilty of this sometimes: I sit at home and say, 'If I had Dwight Howard on my team or if I had Carlos Boozer on my team or if I had Chris Paul as my point guard I would win an NBA championship.' So what's my excuse now? I got all y'all on this team, so what's my excuse now? Do we all have an excuse? We don't. This is everything that we always dreamed of, of having that guy next to you and winning something. I'm excited and I know you guys are. This is what I've always wanted, playing alongside Carmelo Anthony, playing alongside Jason, playing with Kobe. I don't have no excuse now--none of us."
Bryant added, "To me, defense and rebounding wins every time, no matter where you play--you play here, you play on Mars, you play anywhere you want: if you can shut somebody down and rebound the basketball then you're going to win no matter who you are playing against. That's the standard we have to set."
Team USA Applies Defensive Pressure, Beats Lithuania 120-84
Team USA concluded the Macau portion of the USA Basketball International Challenge with a 120-84 victory over Lithuania, improving to 2-0 in this event and 3-0 overall on their pre-Olympic exhibition tour. Team USA will play their final two exhibition games in Shanghai before beginning Olympic preliminary round action against host China on August 10. The story of this game was Team USA's pressure defense, led by Kobe Bryant, who set the tone right from the start by completely taking sharpshooter Sarunas Jasikevicius out of the game. Jasikevicius did not make a field goal in the first quarter as Team USA opened the contest with a 24-5 outburst. Jasikevicius finished with nine points on 2-8 field goal shooting, a far cry from his usual numbers against Team USA in FIBA competition (see Historical Note below). That history was very much on Bryant's mind: "He had a great game against us a few years ago, and he was real brash about it, trash talking and things of that nature. So it's my responsibility to bring it to him. He reminded me of it, so we sicced the Doberman on him." Although Bryant referred to "us," he was not a member of the previous teams that Jasikevicius burned and that is the biggest difference between the 2002-2004-2006 editions of Team USA and the current squad: Bryant has made it his personal mission to shut down the perimeter players who have caused Team USA so much trouble and heartbreak in recent FIBA competitions, a job that no one on those teams was willing and/or able to fill. In addition to his superb defense, Bryant scored 13 points on 6-9 field goal shooting, had three assists and did not commit a turnover.
Dwyane Wade scored a game-high 19 points on 7-9 shooting in 18 minutes off of the bench. Dwight Howard powered his way to 17 points and five rebounds and LeBron James had another great all-around performance: 15 points, six assists, five rebounds. Michael Redd added 16 points, including 10 in the fourth period garbage time session. Jason Kidd had two points, two assists and three steals in just 11 minutes. He played a key role in Team USA's opening run but it seems like Coach Mike Krzyzewski is limiting Kidd's playing time to save him for the Olympics. Carmelo Anthony scored 11 points on 4-9 shooting but his poor defense is the untold story so far for Team USA; he is the only starting player of whom it could be said that Team USA plays better when he is on the bench. I know that this contradicts a lot of what has been said and written about Anthony and I will elaborate on this point momentarily.
Rick Kamla and Fran Fraschilla did the play by play and color commentary respectively for ESPN2. Kamla's high strung and excessive cheerleading are tiresome and it sometimes seems like he is trying so hard to come up with a good quip or to use certain material that he prepared that he is not actually paying attention to the action. Case in point: Deron Williams drove to the hoop and tried to throw down a one handed dunk instead of going up with two hands. Williams was fouled and Fraschilla noted that if Williams had used two hands then this could have potentially been a three point play. Kamla then went off on a whole tangent about how well coached Williams is and how important it is to go up with two hands when you are being contested by a Lithuanian player who has experience as a boxer; when Kamla finished, Fraschilla gently reminded Kamla that Williams had in fact NOT gone up with two hands. I half expected Kamla to offer up an Emily Litella-esque "Never mind."
Fraschilla did his usual excellent job of explaining the differences between FIBA play and NBA play, describing the strengths and weaknesses of FIBA players who may be unfamiliar to the viewing audience and talking about the strategies for both sides but he should place greater emphasis on how bad Anthony's defense is and make note of the impact that this has on the game. Fraschilla has mentioned this at times but he neglected to point out that Anthony was benched for the final 7:25 of the second quarter in Team USA's 114-82 win over Turkey and he did not mention the quick hook that Anthony got in the second quarter of this game or the fact that Team USA again played better in the second quarter with Anthony on the bench. Fraschilla's three keys for Team USA were a solid defensive start, find shooters and half court execution. Team USA did an excellent job with the first and third points and a pretty good job with the second point, though there was some slippage in the early moments of the third quarter.
Team USA won the opening tip and ran an excellent half court play: Howard set a screen for Bryant, who popped up to the top of the key, received a dribble hand off from James and buried a long jumper. After Jasikevicius missed a three pointer, Howard and Anthony executed a screen/roll play that culminated in a Howard dunk. Then Bryant poked the ball away from Jasikevicius, which led to a Howard layup. Team USA nearly forced another turnover but in the scramble Robertas Javtokas recovered the ball and drove down the lane for a thunderous dunk. The teams traded misses and then Kidd penetrated, drew the defense and fed Howard for a layup. James played excellent screen/roll defense, Kidd jumped in the air to get the steal and then while still off the ground he threw the ball ahead to James for a fast break dunk and a 10-2 lead. Lithuania called timeout right after that play. On the next possession, Howard poked the ball free and James had another fast break dunk. After a few misses by both teams, Bryant snared a defensive rebound and threw a great outlet pass to Kidd for a fast break layup. Lithuania had enormous difficulties running their offense because of the relentless pressure that Bryant applied to Jasikevicius.
Lithuania switched to a zone defense to try to contain Howard and force Team USA to shoot jumpers but Bryant foiled that plan by driving to the hoop and nailing a short bank shot. Howard also scored on a drive and made a free throw to put Team USA up 19-5 while tagging Javtokas with his third foul. Kidd and Anthony both sat down at that point. Bryant made a turnaround jumper and drilled a three pointer over the zone to push the lead to 24-5. "Team USA has imposed its defensive will on this team," Fraschilla said. Bryant and James both went to the bench with Team USA leading 25-7. Anthony came back into the game. Lithuania outscored Team USA 8-6 in the last 2:48 of the quarter. Howard (10) and Bryant (nine) scored 19 of Team USA's 31 first quarter points.
Kidd sat out the entire second quarter and James and Bryant began the second quarter on the bench. Anthony was in the game but at the 8:41 mark James came in for him; Team USA had yet to score, though Lithuania had just two points. James assisted on a Redd three pointer but Team USA let Lithuania get loose for a couple three pointers and the score was 38-23 Team USA when Bryant returned to action. Team USA extended the margin slightly to 45-27 by the time that Anthony checked back in to the game. Ramunas Siskauskas promptly launched Anthony out of his shoes with a pump fake and waltzed down the lane for a score. Bryant drove and then dished to Deron Williams who swung the ball to a wide open Anthony for a three pointer but at the next loose ball Krzyzewski removed Anthony from the game; Anthony had only been in for 1:18, during which time Team USA was outscored 5-3. Yes, that is a small sample size but this is the second game in a row that Anthony exited play shortly after making a bad defensive play. More to the point, in the second quarter Team USA outscored Lithuania 22-17 when Anthony was on the bench but were outscored by Lithuania 7-3 when he was in the game. The overall plus/minus numbers are even more revealing: Team USA led 56-39 at halftime but only outscored Lithuania 28-20 when Anthony was in the game--and that includes a 19-5 start to which he did not contribute much (Bryant, James and Howard were the dominant players on the court). In contrast, Team USA outscored Lithuania 37-18 when Bryant was in the game during the first half and 50-29 during James' first half playing time.
Team USA got off to a very shaky start in the third quarter, giving up back to back three pointers, answering with a James three pointer and then giving up another three pointer. The three point shot is the lifeblood of most FIBA teams and it is vitally important to contest these shots or, even better, apply so much defensive pressure that the other team does not even get to shoot from three point range. Team USA did an exceptional job in this regard in the first quarter--spearheaded by Bryant--but the first few minutes of the third quarter looked like a nightmare replay of Team USA's losses in recent FIBA competitions. Lithuania cut the lead to 59-48 after their fourth three pointer in the first 1:45 of the third quarter but Team USA did not panic and made the appropriate adjustments. Bryant had lengthy discussions with Coach Krzyzewski, Howard and several of his other teammates and it sure would be interesting to know what was said during those conversations, as opposed to the banal and irrelevant questions that are typically asked in postgame press conferences. The best that I could figure out based on Bryant's gestures and what Team USA did before and after the three point barrage is that Bryant was trying to get everyone on the same page regarding when to switch on screen/roll plays, when not to switch and who should be rotating to cover the big man rolling to the hoop. This is the stuff that Team USA never could figure out in previous defeats but whatever was said the bottom line is that Team USA promptly went on a 16-8 run to push the lead back to 20, 75-55, after which Lithuania never seriously threatened again. Obviously, that required a total team effort by Team USA but Bryant's fingerprints were all over this game deciding burst: he was credited with two assists during the run, fed Anthony for a three point play with a pass that was not scored as an assist and he provided the punctuation mark with a fast break dunk. Bryant sat down at that point and James went to the bench shortly after that with Team USA still up by 20, 80-60. Wade scored seven points in the final 1:30 of the third quarter to extend the lead to 91-66, enabling Bryant, James, Kidd and Anthony to sit out the entire fourth quarter.
Team USA outscored Lithuania 56-34 when Bryant was in the game, including the 25-4 run to open the game and the 16-8 third quarter run that decided the game. Team USA outscored Lithuania 74-50 when James was in the game and he also played a key role in both of those important runs. Kidd contributed to the 19-5 start and saw some third quarter action; Team USA outscored Lithuania 36-21 during his time on the court. I don't understand how Anthony can be considered Team USA's best FIBA player. While there is no question that he is a tremendous scorer, his defense is poor, so he is not nearly the all-around threats that Bryant and James are. Team USA only outscored Lithuania 45-36 when Anthony was in the game and it is important to remember that he shares some of his minutes with Bryant and James, who are clearly carrying most of the load for this team. Anthony has value as a versatile scorer who must be guarded but it will be interesting to monitor his production--and his minutes--against the elite FIBA teams: although I have yet to read or hear anyone talking about it, Anthony has twice been benched shortly after committing defensive lapses. Maybe that is just a coincidence as Coach Krzyzewski tinkers with his rotation but Anthony sat out the last 7:25 of the second quarter versus Turkey and went to the bench in the second quarter of this game twice after being on the court for less than two minutes and that kind of substitution pattern is an unusual way to handle someone who many people consider to be the best FIBA player on team.
Historical Note: ----------------
Jasikevicius missed a three pointer at the buzzer in the 2000 Olympics semifinals that could have handed Team USA its first loss since NBA players began participating in FIBA play in 1992. Jasikevicius had a game-high 27 points and shot 5-11 from three point range in that contest. Team USA escaped with an 85-83 victory, foreshadowing the end of Team USA's run at the top of FIBA competitions even though Team USA claimed the gold medal that year; Team USA did not win another FIBA gold medal until last summer's FIBA Americas tournament, the first time that Bryant suited up for Team USA.
Lithuania defeated Team USA 94-90 in the preliminary round of the 2004 Olympics. Jasikevicius trashed Team USA's shoddy defense, pouring in a game-high 28 points while shooting 7-12 from three point range as Lithuania shot 13-27 from behind the arc overall. Team USA forced 20 turnovers but did not take advantage of those extra possessions as starting guards Allen Iverson (4-12) and Stephon Marbury (2-14) shot horribly from the field. The teams each grabbed 31 rebounds. Four current Team USA players were on the 2004 squad: Dwyane Wade scored six points in 16 minutes, Carmelo Anthony had five points in 10 minutes and LeBron James did not score in six minutes. Carlos Boozer contributed 10 points in 13 minutes.
Team USA avenged that loss with a 104-96 victory in the bronze medal game. Shawn Marion led the way with 22 points as Team USA overcame Lithuania's 22-37 three point shooting barrage, including 7-12 by Arvydas Macijauskas (who had a game-high 24 points) and 5-9 by Sarunas Jasikevicius, who finished with 17 points. Team USA won by forcing 20 Lithuania turnovers and dominating the paint (40-26 rebounding advantage). Boozer had seven points and tied Tim Duncan with a game-high eight rebounds in 23 minutes, Wade scored nine points in 16 minutes, James had six points in seven minutes and Anthony scored three points in seven minutes.
Summary: In his three previous games against Team USA, Jasikevicius averaged 24.0 ppg and shot 17-32 (.531) from three point range.
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