Kobe Takes Over in the Fourth Quarter, Team USA Defeats Spain 118-107 to Claim Olympic Gold
Kobe Bryant had 13 points and two assists in the fourth quarter as Team USA survived a gritty, determined performance by Spain to win the gold medal game, 118-107. Bryant began his onslaught with 8:13 left in the game and Team USA clinging to a 91-89 lead; in the next 2:11 he scored five points and assisted on a Deron Williams three pointer and a Dwight Howard dunk. Later, Bryant drained two three pointers, including a four point play. Bryant finished with 20 points, a game-high six assists and two blocked shots in 27 minutes. Dwayne Wade scored a game-high 27 points on 9-12 field goal shooting and added a game-high four steals, providing a vital boost off of the bench, especially in the first half when he scored 21 points while Bryant and LeBron James were saddled with foul trouble. James contributed 14 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul scored 13 points each. Rudy Fernandez led Spain with 22 points, while Pau Gasol had 21 points and six rebounds. Juan Carlos Navarro scored 18 points and led Spain with four assists.
Due to the early foul trouble and the disjointed nature of this game, the on court point differential numbers that I have been tracking for Bryant, James, Anthony, Wade and Jason Kidd do not paint an entirely accurate picture of the ebb and flow of this game but let the record note that Team USA outscored Spain 93-68 when Wade was in the game, 73-71 when Bryant was in the game, 73-71 when James was in the game and 25-22 when Kidd was in the game; Spain outscored Team USA 49-38 when Anthony was in the game and Anthony spent the last 8:13 of the game on the bench. Wade certainly played a crucial role with his first half scoring when Bryant and James were on the bench and he did hit an important three pointer late in the game but Wade had just six second half points. Point blank, without Bryant stepping up in the fourth quarter Team USA would have lost, just like the two previous versions of Team USA that included James, Wade and Anthony--but did not include Bryant--lost.
Early in the game it did not look like Bryant would emerge as the hero and there was good reason to doubt whether or not Team USA would win. In my
preview for this game I suggested that Team USA could get off to a big start if Bryant and James avoided foul trouble but instead they both got two quick fouls and had to head to the bench with Team USA trailing 13-9. The officiating in this game was very ragged--not biased, but ragged; both teams complained about calls at various times because there was absolutely no consistency: sometimes a player would be thrown to the floor and nothing would be called while other times the slightest contact drew a whistle. Bryant got his second foul when he contested a Navarro three pointer and the Spanish guard crumpled to the ground as if he had been shot. At one point, NBC commentator Doug Collins said, "This is a gold medal game. Are we going to watch free throw shooting or basketball?"
Navarro could make a training DVD featuring all of the running shots he hit in this game; his first one put Spain up 19-14, the biggest deficit that Team USA faced during the entire Olympics. Paul then converted a three point play but Spain quickly pushed the lead back to five, 22-17, before Team USA went on a 9-0 run that included another three point play by Paul, two pairs of free throws by Chris Bosh and Deron Williams respectively, a steal and reverse dunk by Wade and a layup by Tayshaun Prince. Team USA's depth really paid off during that stretch.
Team USA led 38-31 at the end of the first quarter; their defense broke down numerous times, perhaps due to Bryant and James being on the bench, but Team USA obviously found a lot of different ways to score. All of the starters returned to action at the start of the second quarter and it briefly looked like Team USA would break the game open. Marc Gasol committed an offensive foul by elbowing Anthony and then Bryant drained a three pointer to give Team USA a double digit lead for the first time. Howard then committed a hard foul on Pau Gasol, resulting in two free throws plus Spain retaining possession. Collins said, "Dwight Howard just had a mental lapse there in a couple ways. He lost Pau Gasol, their best player, defensively, and then he compounded it with the foul. This is where you have to have poise." That was a theme that Collins emphasized not only during this game but throughout the Olympics and poise was one of the three keys to victory that he listed for Team USA (the other two were "defense leads to offense" and "three point shooting--defending it and shooting it"). Spain could have turned Howard's gaffe into a five point play but instead Gasol missed both free throws and then Ricky Rubio's missed three pointer led to a fast break dunk by Bryant to put Team USA up 43-31. After another miss by Spain, Bryant went for the dagger three pointer but it wouldn't go down. Marc Gasol scored inside, followed by Bryant breaking down the defense and dishing to Anthony for a three pointer to make the score 46-33.
Team USA stretched the lead to 58-44 after back to back three pointers by Wade and James but Spain simply would not back down, answering with five quick points to get the margin below 10. Coach Mike Krzyzewski prudently sat Bryant and James down for the last few minutes of the half so that neither player would pick up his third foul and Team USA only led 69-61 at halftime. That kind of scoring may be fun for fans to watch but it is definitely not part of Team USA's defense-first game plan. Prior to the third quarter, Kidd told Collins that Krzyzewski's halftime directives were that Team USA had fouled too often and that they needed to play better containment defense on Spain's guards. Coach Krzyzewski also urged his players to relax.
Felipe Reyes hit a jumper to cut the lead to six at the start of the third quarter. Then Team USA had a series of horrible offensive possessions. Bryant shot an airball three pointer during which there seemed to be a lot of contact but no foul was called. Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James each committed turnovers and then James missed a layup after a no look feed from Bryant. It was not clear if James' shot was blocked or if he just shot it off of the back of the rim; he complained that he was fouled on the play. Team USA did not score for 1:36 until Howard's put back increased the lead to 71-63 but Reyes answered with a layup. Bryant drove to the hoop, made a layup and was seemingly headed to the free throw line to complete a three point play but instead a late traveling call was issued, nullifying the basket. Bryant, who had landed on the floor after his shot, had a bemused look on his face after the call. Pau Gasol made a sweet left handed hook to pull Spain to within 71-67. Kidd fed Howard in the paint but Howard missed both free throws after he was fouled. Anthony tipped in the second miss and was fouled but he missed his free throw and Bryant received his third foul while trying to get the rebound.
Team USA's lead fluctuated between four and six points for most of the third quarter until James made a gorgeous touch pass to Bosh, who was fouled and made both free throws to put Team USA up 83-76. Then Team USA finally got a defensive stop and Bryant fed Wade, who split a pair of free throws after he was fouled. After Wade hit a turnaround jumper to make the score 86-76, Bryant and James went to the bench for the last couple minutes of the quarter. Navarro accounted for six quick points on two driving shots plus a lob to Pau Gasol for a score and Team USA was only up 91-82 going into the fourth quarter.
Throughout the Olympics, Collins made the point that in a close game the coaching staff will let you know who they trust by who they put on the floor. Team USA began the fourth quarter with a lineup consisting of Bryant, James, Anthony, Bosh and Deron Williams. Just like in the third quarter, Team USA got off to a slow start offensively and Spain used a quick 7-0 run in the first 1:47 to shave the deficit to just two points. After a timeout, Coach Krzyzewski replaced Anthony with Wade. With the game very much up for grabs, the last 8:13 became "Kobe time." I've said all along that the most important move USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo made was adding Bryant to the roster because Bryant has set the tone defensively but down the stretch in the gold medal game Bryant took over offensively. First, he made a strong move to the hoop and hit a tough shot in the lane to make the score 93-89. After that play, Collins commented, "One of the things LeBron has said is that we know that there is one guy on this team who will take big shots and that's Kobe Bryant. That's a big shot coming out of the timeout to sort of stem Spain's run."
After Fernandez missed a three pointer, Bryant drove to the hoop, collapsed the defense and passed to a wide open Williams for a big three pointer. "That's a gigantic shot," Collins said. "Great play by Kobe Bryant. I thought that he was going to take the shot but instead the dribble kick (pass). That's what I always talk about--that's how you get those threes in rhythm."
After another Fernandez miss, Bryant again drove into the paint, collapsed the defense and made a great feed, this time to Howard for a dunk. That pushed Team USA's lead to 98-89 and Collins noted, "Who's been on every play? All three plays--Kobe Bryant. He hit the big shot and he's had two assists in this stretch." Fernandez answered with a three pointer but Bryant retaliated with a three pointer to reestablish a nine point bulge. The teams then traded misses before Fernandez drove to the hoop, dunked on Howard and made a free throw after Howard fouled him. Collins criticized Bryant for gambling for a steal on the play, saying that this turned Fernandez loose. There is some truth to what Collins said, but Howard could also have taken a different angle, cutting off Fernandez and making him pick up his dribble as opposed to ushering him to the hoop and then fouling him; Team USA's defense is built around ball pressure to force turnovers and that means that sometimes a guard will gamble and get beaten and in those situations there should be some kind of defensive rotation that forces the other team to at least make a couple passes to get an open shot. A guard going for a steal behind the three point line should not automatically result in a dunk and a three point play opportunity. As perennial All-Defensive Team member Bobby Jones
once told me, "In the type of defense that we (the 76ers of the late 70s and early 80s) played, if one person gambled it was kind of like a spider web type of thing--the web stretches. If one guy goes, the other four sort of cheat and leave their men a little bit to help out in case the ball moves and a guy becomes open. You just keep rotating around. I don’t think it (going for steals or blocks) is selfish at all. I think that it’s good. You have to put pressure on the offense because shooters are so good. The offense has such an advantage because it can initiate what takes place, so as a defender you have got to try to instigate something to throw them off and make them do something they don’t want to do. The old term, 'pressure will bust the pipe,' is very true. It will make people change what they want to do."
Bryant missed a three pointer on the next possession and Collins criticized that decision as well, saying that the shot was from too far out. Collins had previously noted that Bryant is more comfortable shooting three pointers from NBA range than from the shorter FIBA three point line, so this critique seemed a little odd. That said, it would have been preferable for Bryant to drive and kick like he did on some of the earlier possessions.
Whatever one thinks of Bryant's defensive gamble or his missed three pointer, he proceeded to ice the game in the next couple minutes. First he leaped high in the air to deflect a pass away from Pau Gasol above the rim, nullifying what would have been an easy layup or dunk. Then, after Howard split a pair of free throws and Gasol scored four straight points to cut Team USA's lead to 104-99 with 3:34 left, Bryant drilled a three pointer, was fouled and made the free throw, coming full circle from his first quarter foul on Navarro's three point attempt. After Bryant made the three pointer he put his left index finger to his lips as if to say, "Shh. Don't say a word." Collins said, "Is there anybody in the NBA who loves these moments more than Kobe Bryant? He's been called upon to play defense but this could be a gigantic four point play. Not only that--Rudy Fernandez has just fouled out of the ball game." In one fell swoop, Bryant nearly doubled Team USA's lead and forced Spain's leading scorer to go to the bench. Before Bryant shot the free throw, Collins noted, "You think about it. The United States was up two, Coach K took that timeout. How many points has Kobe Bryant had his hands in? Remember he had 10 straight points where he either scored or had the assist."
Spain deserves a lot of credit because they responded to Bryant's dagger with five quick points before Wade hit a three pointer. Team USA led 111-105 with less than two minutes left. There has been a lot of speculation about who would shoot the ball for Team USA in a do or die late game situation; of course, that had never been an issue prior to this game but on this possession we found out that the answer to that question is Kobe Bryant. After his runner gave Team USA a 113-105 lead and basically clinched the gold medal, Collins concluded, "You see why Kobe Bryant's on this team--money under pressure."
Spain lost their composure in the last minute and Ricky Rubio was whistled for a technical foul, resulting in two free throws for Team USA. Collins said, "Interesting enough, Chris Paul is the best free throw shooter on the United States team. Kobe was shooting 44 percent going into this game but who wants to shoot these under pressure? Kobe said, 'I'm shooting these free throws.' If the United States holds on to win this game, Kobe Bryant took over this game when the lead was cut to two. That's why he's the MVP of the NBA and could be walking out of here with a gold medal to add to his three NBA championships."
Naturally, Bryant made both free throws and then Paul split a pair of free throws because he had been fouled prior to the technical foul. Coach Krzyzewski took Bryant out of the game, enabling Michael Redd to make his first appearance of the game. Team USA players took turns hugging each other and their coaches and then Bryant doused Coach Krzyzewski with some bottled water in a mini version of the Gatorade bath that winning football coaches receive. After the final buzzer, Team USA shook hands with the Spanish team, went over to the broadcast table to shake hands with Collins and play by play announcer Mike Breen and then they went to the center of the court and jumped around in unison like a college team celebrating an NCAA Tournament win. The pure joy that they obviously felt at that moment was wonderful to see. These players committed to a multi-year plan to bring the Olympic gold medal back to the United States and they deserve tremendous credit for doing just that.
After the game, Collins recalled what he said to Team USA when he spoke to the players in Las Vegas during their training camp: "There's a huge difference between being
a winner and a champion. Once you're champions, you're champions together forever. No one can ever take it away from you. This moment the guys will relish the rest of their lives."
Labels: 2008 Olympics, 2008 Team USA, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Felipe Reyes, Jason Kidd, Juan Carlos Navarro, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Pau Gasol, Ricky Rubio
posted by David Friedman @ 7:33 AM
Team USA-Spain Gold Medal Game Preview
The gold medal game will be a clash between 2006 FIBA World Champion Spain and Team USA, which is the number one ranked FIBA team; I don't know exactly how Team USA earned a number one ranking despite not winning a gold medal in a major FIBA event since 2000 but in light of their dominance thus far in the Olympics that certainly looks like the correct call.
These teams met in the preliminary round in a game that was considered to be a test for Team USA but
Team USA routed Spain 119-82, shooting .579 from the field, forcing 28 turnovers and holding Spain to .394 field goal shooting, including .214 from three point range. Spain kept within striking distance during the first half, in part because Kobe Bryant went to the bench with early foul trouble; Team USA built a 14 point lead but Spain kept pace with Team USA for more than five minutes in the second quarter with Bryant on the bench, as each team scored 14 points during that stretch. A tip-in by Carlos Boozer just before the halftime buzzer put Team USA up 61-45. Team USA blasted the game open with an 11-3 run to start the third quarter.
Felipe Reyes (19 points, eight rebounds, 9-12 field goal shooting) was Spain's best player in that game, while Pau Gasol had 13 points, six rebounds and five turnovers. Spain's much touted backcourt quartet of Jose Calderon, Rudy Fernandez, Juan Carlos Navarro and Ricky Rubio shot 7-31 from the field (.226) and had seven assists and nine turnovers. Calderon may not play in the gold medal game due to injury.
If Bryant and LeBron James avoid early foul trouble, Team USA could very well jump on Spain right from the start, much like they did while taking a 21-4 first quarter lead in their
101-81 semifinal win over Argentina. I suspect that collectively Team USA is a bit embarrassed by the way that they let Argentina crawl back into that game. Individually, Bryant no doubt would like to make amends for his shot selection (nine three point attempts is too many) and field goal percentage (5-14) in that contest, Carmelo Anthony (3-14 field goal shooting) also had a rough shooting night and James (two assists, four turnovers) made some uncharacteristically poor decisions.
Team USA has posted a 7-0 record in the 2008 Olympics, winning every game by at least 20 points while ranking first in the Olympics in scoring (104.6 ppg), field goal percentage (.544), two point field goal percentage (.641) and rebounding (43.0 rpg). Team USA is forcing 20 turnovers per game while holding their opponents to 74.3 ppg on .386 field goal shooting and .283 three point shooting. Their 30.3 point differential is much better than the 2004 and 2000 versions of Team USA posted in the Olympics (4.6 ppg and 21.6 ppg respectively) and is reminiscent of the dominance of the 1996 and 1992 Olympic teams (31.7 and 43.8 ppg respectively). Team USA is playing so well overall that all the critics and doubters can do is nitpick about a few small details, such as free throw shooting, three point shooting and interior defense.
Free throw shooting is the one legitimate weakness of this team; they rank 11th out of 12 teams with a .670 percentage. One obvious explanation for this is that Dwight Howard (15-31, .484) ranks second on the team in free throw attempts. However, James (11-22, .500) and Dwyane Wade (21-34, .618) are both shooting well below their career averages and that has also pulled down Team USA's free throw percentage. Even Bryant has struggled, albeit in a small number of attempts (4-9, .444). The good news is that Anthony (24-28, .857), Chris Bosh (19-23, .826), Chris Paul (13-14, .929) and Deron Williams (7-8, .875) have consistently knocked down their free throws--and the better news is that Team USA is so dominant in other areas that their poor free throw shooting will be nothing more than a quirky historical footnote. That said, if I were coaching an opposing team, I might consider fouling James, Wade and particularly Howard, especially if I had enough depth to deal with some foul trouble; considering Team USA's field goal percentage, a "hack Team USA" policy might be the opposing team's best chance, with an added psychological benefit of possibly irritating some of Team USA's players and maybe throwing them off of their games. Howard and Anthony in particular seem prone to being distracted and possibly trying to retaliate. I don't think that this approach would really work for a whole game versus Team USA but it might be worth a try; Australia caused Team USA some problems by doing this, though they did not have the talent or overall depth necessary to defeat Team USA.
The main three point shooting weakness of Team USA is that they shoot too many of them: 176 of their 502 field goal attempts have come from behind the arc and even though that is a lower percentage than their opponents' 184/477, it would be better if Team USA did not shoot quite so many long range bombs. That said, Team USA is shooting a solid .364 from three point range and it is understandable that the siren song of that short 20-6 FIBA three point line is difficult for some of the players to resist. As Bryant told Craig Sager, he shoots turnaround shots from that distance in the NBA.
I realize that in some of my game recaps it might seem like I am singling out Michael Redd for criticism but I actually really like his game, particularly in the NBA; he has worked hard to build himself up from a little used reserve to an All-Star caliber player. My beef is with people who believed that Team USA had to add a pure shooter and/or that Redd would play a vital role for this team. What Team USA "had to do" was fix their glaring defensive problems and they did just that by bringing Bryant and Jason Kidd aboard. Team USA shot .369 from three point range in the 2006 FIBA World Championship but did not even make it to the gold medal game. Team USA shot .314 from three point range in the 2004 Olympics but the real problem there was that they allowed their opponents to shoot .441 from behind the arc, essentially making opposing players look like Reggie Miller or Ray Allen. In their disastrous performance in the 2002 FIBA World Championship (which included Team USA's first three losses with NBA players on the roster), Team USA shot .392 from three point range but allowed their opponents to shoot .363 from three point range.
In other words, Michael Redd's three point shooting abilities are a luxury for this team, not a necessity and Team USA could have done just as well--if not better--had his roster spot been filled by a versatile perimeter defender. Redd is averaging just 10.3 mpg, 11th on the 12 man roster. He has shot 10-31 (.323) from the field, including 5-18 (.278) on three pointers. The one time that he came into a game when Team USA did not have a huge lead--in the semifinals versus Argentina--he was ineffective. If his performance had really been as vital as so many "experts" were suggesting beforehand, then Team USA would not be 7-0 right now.
Anyone who still thinks that Team USA needed to add Tyson Chandler or another big man is simply defying reality, because all visual and statistical evidence clearly shows that USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo did a great job assembling this roster. Team USA enjoys an outstanding 43.0-35.7 rpg advantage on the glass and even though certain individual big men have had good games against Team USA (most notably Argentina's Luis Scola, who is having a great tournament overall) no team has posed a serious threat to Team USA in the paint at either end of the court. Meanwhile, the decision to bolster the size, strength and savvy of the backcourt by adding Bryant and Kidd is the number one reason that Team USA is poised to win the gold medal: Team USA's dominance in terms of defensive field goal percentage, defensive three point field goal percentage and forced turnovers is a direct result of Bryant and Kidd, both in terms of their on court play and--just as importantly--the way that they changed Team USA's attitude toward defense. Just look at Team USA's defensive statistics from the 2006 FIBA World Championship, when they settled for the bronze medal sans Bryant and Kidd: .462 defensive field goal percentage, .349 defensive three point field goal percentage, 18.3 turnovers forced per game, 83.1 ppg allowed, 20.5 ppg scoring differential. As noted above, Team USA is performing much better in every one of these categories this time around.
The other big change defensively is the vast improvement that LeBron James has made at that end of the court. Larry Brown has been criticized for not using James, Wade and Anthony more during the 2004 Olympics but at that time those players were youngsters who barely understood NBA defense, let alone FIBA defense. That trio led Team USA in scoring during the 2006 FIBA World Championship but they still were not great defensively and they did not step up individually or collectively at that end of the court during the loss to Greece. In this year's Olympics, James has been a great defender and Wade has been a very active defender, even if he still gambles too much. As for Anthony, let's just say that he still has some room for improvement in this regard; at times he seems to be making more of an effort than he previously did but he reaches too much instead of sliding his feet and he is still out of position too frequently. Part of the improvement defensively by James and Wade can be attributed to the natural development curve of these players, part of it should be credited to Coach Mike Krzyzewski but I also believe that Bryant and Kidd have had a huge impact on the defensive intensity of their teammates; in contrast to the 2006 loss to Greece when Team USA was unable to make in game defensive adjustments, this year on the few occasions when Team USA hit defensive lulls Bryant and/or Kidd could be seen counseling various teammates about what adjustments to make. Their leadership is also very evident from the Team USA practice footage that has been aired occasionally.
Spain will most likely try the few tactics that have had limited success against Team USA: physical play, zone defense, sending Team USA to the free throw line. I would not be surprised if Spain keeps the game close for a quarter or even the first half, but I am more inclined to believe that Team USA will make a statement in the gold medal game by jumping on Spain quickly. Either way, look for Team USA to win by at least 20 points.
Labels: 2008 Olympics, 2008 Team USA, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Felipe Reyes, Jason Kidd, Juan Carlos Navarro, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Pau Gasol, Ricky Rubio
posted by David Friedman @ 4:50 PM
Team USA Demolishes Spain, 119-82
Team USA put together their most complete game of the Olympics against their most well respected opponent, routing 2006 FIBA World Champion Spain 119-82 to improve to 4-0 and clinch the top seed in preliminary round play. Spain dropped to 3-1 but will still advance to the medal round. This game was expected to be the biggest test so far for this version of Team USA and they responded by dominating nearly every meaningful statistical category, forcing 28 turnovers, shooting .579 from the field--including a blistering .480 from three point range--and holding Spain to .394 field goal shooting overall and .214 shooting from behind the arc. Team USA outscored Spain by at least seven points in every quarter. Eight Team USA players scored in double figures and every player made at least one field goal; Jason Kidd scored his first points of the Olympics on a left handed fast break layup after a nice feed from LeBron James.
James led Team USA with 18 points and he again filled up almost every category in the boxscore, amassing eight assists, five rebounds and four steals. Chris Paul also put up gaudy all-around numbers: 14 points, eight assists, five rebounds, five steals. Dwyane Wade had 16 points and six rebounds off of the bench and Carmelo Anthony scored 16 points on 6-8 field goal shooting. Foul trouble limited Kobe Bryant to 16 minutes and he finished with 11 points.
Michael Redd is an excellent player and seems to be a good person but I think that the story about him changing into a suit before he met with Team USA managing director Jerry Colangelo has been told frequently enough at this point. Yes, that was very professional of Redd and reinforces the idea that Colangelo filled out the roster with players who are not only talented but who are also fully committed mentally to the USA Basketball program. That said, Redd's actual role on this team is far less significant than most pundits predicted or than some people still portray it to be: even when Bryant suffered early foul trouble, Redd still did not get on the court, as Coach Mike Krzyzewksi rightly chose to utilize Tayshaun Prince, who is a better defender than Redd as well as a capable shooter, particularly from the short FIBA three point line. Prince shot 3-4 from three point range and scored 10 point in 13 minutes, while Redd did not make his first appearance until late in the third quarter. Redd scored a couple garbage time baskets in the fourth quarter and finished with four points. I mention this not to denigrate Redd but to emphasize that the most important thing for Team USA is defense--starting with pressure by the guards--and that three point shooting is a nice luxury for Team USA to have but not an essential part of the gold medal recipe. Yes, Team USA shot very well from three point range versus Spain and that helped turn what might have been a 15 or 20 point win into a 37 point annihilation but even if Team USA had missed every three point shot--which of course is highly unlikely--they still would have outscored Spain. The key three point shooting number from this game is Spain's 6-28 brick fest.
Felipe Reyes shot 9-12 from the field and led Spain with 19 points and eight rebounds. He was easily their most effective player. Pau Gasol had solid numbers (13 points on 5-8 shooting, six rebounds) but he committed five turnovers and did not have a huge impact. Many people have expressed concern about Team USA's lack of frontcourt size but Team USA has controlled the paint defensively throughout the Olympics and Spain's slight rebounding advantage (39-36) was inconsequential in light of Team USA's complete dominance in every other phase of the game.
Spain's much touted backcourt was a disaster area, as Team USA hounded them into turnovers and missed shots. Starters Jose Calderon (four points on 1-9 shooting, zero assists) and Rudy Fernandez (eight points on 3-8 shooting, three assists) struggled mightily and reserves Juan Carlos Navarro (five points on 2-10 shooting, one assist) and Ricky Rubio (eight points on 1-4 shooting, three assists) were even worse. Those four players combined to post seven assists and nine turnovers while shooting 7-31 (.226) from the field.
The biggest difference between this edition of Team USA and the 2002, 2004 and 2006 Team USA squads is improved defense, particularly on the perimeter. Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd set the tone in that regard starting in last year's FIBA Americas tournament and just about everyone else on the roster has bought in as well. On the first play of the game, Pau Gasol bobbled the ball while maneuvering in the post and James swept in for the steal, passed to Kidd and received a return pass for a layup. Spain hung tough in the early going but Team USA's game plan is not based on winning the game in the first five minutes; Team USA sets the tone by applying immediate defensive pressure from the start and that pressure combined with Team USA's depth wears the opponent down, usually by the second quarter.
Early in the first quarter, Pau Gasol set a screen and his Lakers teammate Bryant was called for a foul after he made no attempt to go around Gasol and simply bowled him over. Gasol had a wry smile on his face after the play but Bryant did not smile, nor did he offer a hand to help Gasol back up. Doug Collins, who did the color commentary for NBC while Mike Breen handled play by play duties, said, "You're going to laugh but I think that's a good foul. I think that you knock Pau Gasol around early and let him know that he's going to be in a physical contest. He likes to be a finesse player. The knock on him has been that he does not like contact." Although everything that Collins stated is true, the flip side to that is that it only takes five fouls to be disqualified in FIBA play, so it is a little risky to give up one of those fouls early in the game. As it turned out, Bryant essentially took one for the team by making that play, because a couple minutes later he was whistled for his second foul and had to check out of the game for the remainder of the first quarter.
Dwight Howard continues to start at center but he has not been as effective as Chris Bosh, particularly on defense. Bosh is an ideal FIBA big man because of his ability to both defend the paint and switch aggressively on screen/roll plays. Meanwhile, Howard has struggled with his free throw shooting and has been foul prone. After Howard goaltended an Alex Mumbru shot that did not seem to have a chance of going in, James had an exasperated look on his face. That basket tied the score at 9-9. Wade checked in for Bryant shortly after that play and Team USA went on a 20-7 run, fueled by relentless pressure defense; Team USA got seven steals and forced 10 turnovers in the first quarter. Spain scored six points in the last 1:34 to cut Team USA's lead to 31-22 at the end of the quarter.
Bryant returned at the start of the second quarter. Reyes buried him in the post after a switch and made a short hook over him as Bryant tried to avoid committing his third foul but Bryant answered with several strong plays. First he drove to the hoop, collapsed the defense and kicked the ball to James, who reversed the ball to Prince for a wide open three pointer. Then Bryant stole the ball and sailed in for a reverse dunk. James and Bryant each nailed three pointers to put Team USA up 45-31 but on the next possession Bryant was sidelined for the rest of the first half after being called for his third foul while defending against a post move with a bent forearm. Less than a minute later, Anthony also received his third foul. Breen noted, "What I find watching international ball, the problem is the officiating is wildly inconsistent." It is strange that in FIBA play sometimes a player can drive to the hoop and be knocked down without anything being called but then a defender who is playing solid defense will be whistled for incidental body contact; Team USA assistant coach Nate McMillan later told sideline reporter Craig Sager that the referees called a much tighter game than Team USA had expected, not allowing defensive contact that had been deemed permissible in earlier games. Deron Williams eventually fouled out, while Bryant, Anthony and Howard finished the game with four fouls each.
After Anthony went to the bench, Team USA used a 9-0 run to take a 56-36 lead but then Coach Mike Krzyzewski inexplicably put Anthony back in the game late in the quarter despite Anthony's foul trouble. Anthony sagged too deeply into the lane and allowed Jorge Garbajosa to make a three pointer and Krzyzewski then took Anthony out of the game after a timeout. That three pointer started a 9-3 run that enabled Spain to cut the lead to 59-45 and that would have been the halftime score if Spain exercised good shot clock management but instead Rudy Fernandez shot too quickly, giving Team USA plenty of time to operate for the final possession of the half--so much time, in fact, that Team USA got off three shots, the last one a putback by Carlos Boozer as the clock expired. James had a monster first half with 14 points, three assists and four steals, though he did commit four turnovers. Thanks largely to James and Wade, Team USA performed very well when first quarter foul trouble sidelined Bryant, outscoring Spain 22-13, but when Bryant missed the final 5:39 of the second quarter Spain had their best extended stretch of the contest, playing Team USA dead even (14-14) until Boozer's shot.
With the starters back on the court to open the third quarter, Team USA used a quick 11-3 burst to essentially end all resistance: Bryant scored on a dunk, Howard split a pair of free throws, Anthony hit two three pointers and James spoon fed Kidd for a layup to put Team USA up 72-48. Spain never got closer than 17 points the rest of the way and trailed 86-63 at the end of the third quarter. The fourth quarter garbage time fiesta included some more strange substitution patterns by Coach Krzyzewski: Bryant has usually sat out the final stanza when Team USA has big leads, but Coach Krzyzewski put him back in the game with Team USA leading 92-66. James and Wade played briefly at the start of the quarter before going to the bench but when Williams fouled out Coach Krzyzewski put James back in the game for the last couple minutes; that would not look like a very smart move if James tweaked an ankle with Team USA winning by 30-plus points.
The strange substitution patterns skewed the on court/off court numbers a bit, allowing Bryant and James to pad their totals slightly in fourth quarter garbage time. The final tally shows that Team USA outscored Spain 82-57 with James on the court, 60-37 with Wade on the court, 42-32 with Bryant on the court and 45-39 with Anthony on the court. The score was tied 31-31 during Kidd's 13 minutes. Team USA's three most significant scoring runs came late in the first quarter (20-7 to build a 29-16 lead), in the middle of the second quarter (9-0 to push the margin to 56-36) and early in the third quarter (11-3 to go up 72-48). James scored seven points in the first quarter run, Deron Williams had five of the nine points in the second quarter run and Bryant, James and Anthony each made their presence felt by scoring and/or passing during the third quarter spurt. Wade's energy was a crucial factor in the first two of those runs (he was on the bench at the start of the third quarter). In other words, as indicated by the well balanced scoring, this was a team win in which many players made valuable contributions.
It has been suggested by various commentators (including Fran Fraschilla and Doug Collins) that sometimes in FIBA play teams will do some jockeying for position and perhaps try harder in certain games than others--and the reality is that after a team clinches a medal round berth the remaining preliminary round games are not essential--but I don't think that Spain was holding back some great secret strategical weapon to use against Team USA in a potential one and done medal round game. It did seem like Spain got discouraged in the second half and did not play with great defensive intensity but who would not get discouraged in the face of Team USA's onslaught? Four of Spain's starters played more than their average number of minutes, so if Spain was playing possum they chose a strange way of doing it.
In the single elimination medal round, anything can happen--just like the NCAA Tournament--but I think that it is fair to say that this is the best squad that USA Basketball has put on the court since the 1996 Olympic team. The competition is much tougher now but Team USA plays unselfish basketball at both ends of the court and is much, much better defensively than the 2002, 2004 and 2006 teams. Team USA faces Germany in the final preliminary round game and will then need to win three straight games to capture their first gold medal in a major FIBA competition since the 2000 Olympics.
Labels: 2008 Olympics, 2008 Team USA, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Felipe Reyes, Jason Kidd, Juan Carlos Navarro, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Pau Gasol, Ricky Rubio
posted by David Friedman @ 3:56 PM
