Samsonite - Dumb and Dumber (via digimay)

I thought Spain would take care of the ball, make the US run a half court offense, shoot well from 3-point land, and overall make it a competitive game. Turns out I was way off as the US dominated. I even did a radio interview at halftime (more on that in a future post) where I said Spain would make a run and Team USA would end up winning by 15 or so. Ouch. Yes the Americans had 16 turnovers. But that pales in comparison to Spain's 28. And Team USA's half court offense was just fine. Carmelo Anthony showed up and knocked down 3s. Chris Paul was excellent. Tayshaun Prince contributed. LeBron James was LeBron James. And Dwyane Wade served notice yet again. On the flip side I was disappointed in Juan Carlos Navarro and Jose Calderon. Somewhere Gilbert Arenas is chuckling.

More stuff I messed up:

The US was 12 of 25 from beyond the arc and 19 of 24 from the line. Nothing wrong with that.

Lingering Questions:

Did Spain quit?
Did the Spanish play possum?
Did I egregiously overrate Spain and simultaneously underrate America?

For the record I would answer those as follows: Yes, Grasping at Straws, Yes.

Closing Side Notes:

Chris Paul on this day off plans: "I might go see the Great Wall..." For some reason I thought that was awesome. Oh and give Yao Ming and company credit for advancing to the next round. I expected a little more from Germany and on a different note poor -  showing by Russia.

For anybody who has been watching Team USA's summer has been all about three words - "redemption", "gold medal". And while numerous individuals - players, coaches, and broadcasters - have acknowledged that the world can play basketball there is still a sense that the US can regain the glory days. But there in lies the problem. Those days are long gone. I'm not saying the US can not or should not win gold. Rather the idea that they can cruise, not study their opponents, and just win on their athleticism is a flawed one. And the Australian game was a phenomenal example of everything Team USA is up against. Consider the following points.

1. The Americans cheat on defense looking for steals and fast break dunks. Against lesser teams it works and the US rolls to victories. But consider what Australia did today. The Boomers refused to be intimidated or back down and hung around as a result. In fact Matt Nielsen and Chris Anstey worked a nice two-man game at times, creating easy baskets in the process. If Andrew Bogut had been around to help with depth, scoring, and passing that would have further complicated things.

2. Rick Kamla pointed out at some point in the exhibition run that Team USA's best lineup might be Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, and LeBron James. Those guys will create match up nightmares. At the same time they'll get worked in the post and on the glass as well. In general the US, regardless of the lineup is susceptible to physical play down low.

3. I think it's safe to assume the Americans will shoot better than 16.7% (3-18) from 3-point range. At least I hope it is. However, it's definitely not out of the realm of possibility that an opponent could best Australia's 40% (8-20). Furthermore, I recognize the fact that the 3-point line is significantly closer. However, the Americans are by and large slashers. Outside of Michael Redd who on the US roster is a pure shooter? Just remember there's a reason the Boston Celtics worked like crazy to make LeBron and Kobe shoot from the outside during the playoffs.

4. Patrick Mills blew by Jason Kidd and Deron Williams. Fair enough. The latter is older and the former is a bigger guard. But Mills left Chris Paul behind as well. Now Mills made some mistakes, missed some shots, and the Australians definitely needed C.J. Bruton to run the point and hit some 3s. Still Mills turns 20 in 6 days. He's going to get better. There will come a time when another squad matches an American roster athlete for athlete. And yet the bigger concern should be who plays the game better.

5. Realistically Team USA and its NBA players will have to adjust and mimic their opponents (Hat tip TrueHoop) at some point.

6. In closing, I realize Zyrdunas Ilgauskas stayed home, at last in part, because of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Yet that may be more the exception than the rule. Jorge Garbajosa left the Toronto Raptors to represent Spain and Matt Nielsen paid his own way. In the back of my mind I can't get over the fact that some of these international guys want this well beyond rhetoric. Of course I could be way off on this one. The Americans are giving up their free time and working hard as well.

7. Actually one more point. I'm really concerned about the Americans' offense and defense. At times I was reminded of Kobe Bryant versus the Celtics when he settled for deep shots. For stretches he made some, but they're low percentage shots and over the course of a game and definitely a series they simply were not enough. Meanwhile, I learned a great deal about defense from the Celtics this past season. They rotated like crazy, cut down passing lanes, talked, and outside of Rajon Rondo rarely gambled for steals. On top of all that they were physical. Does Team USA do any of that?

This marks the 7th preview in as many days in a collaborative effort with fellow SB Nation blog At The Hive. Check out previous posts in the sidebars at both sites or click on the following links: China, Greece, Russia, Argentina, Australia, and Iran.

Population: 3,565,205

Size in Comparison to a US State: About the size of West Virgina (slightly larger).

Suffrage: Universal at 18.

Interesting Fact: In 1990 Lithuania was the first republic to declare its independence from the Soviet Republic. Soviet troops did not get the memo and stayed for 3 more years.

Recommended Reading: Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure - Sarunas Marciulionis makes a cameo in this one and quite frankly he deserves his own definitive biography. He had a few great seasons off the bench in Oakland, helped build the Lithuanian National Team, and worked with the Grateful dead on warm ups:

via www.sfgate.com

Marciulionis is awesome.

World Rank (Courtesy of FIBA): 5

Qualified: European Champion Runner up

Dream Match Up in Beijing: Russia

Dream Match Up That Did Not Qualify: Latvia (I always link them.)

Recent News: The Lithuanian team was on a roll preparing for the Olympics until it ran into the Spanish buzz saw. This happened too.

Basketball Note - The Lithuanians love to shoot three-pointers. Bonus points because they're good at it. Unfortunately, with apologies to Sarunas Jasikevicius, they could desperately use some high caliber dribbling. They must hate the Paul/Kidd/Williams trio.

One More Guy I Should Mention: I'd be remiss if I did not give a shout out to my favorite Lithuanian center of all time - Arvydas freaking Sabonis. Why you ask? Why not? Touché

via www.nba.com

Player info after the jump...

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So that happened. As of today James Posey's next championship quest will take place with Chris Paul and company. Some thoughts/reactions:

1. Posey signed for less last year to earn a big contract. It wouldn't make sense for him to take less again.

2. Posey got the money ($25 million) and years (4) he wanted. Yet he also joined an excellent team. The Hornets are definitely on the rise and it was a nice acquisition for them.

3. All of the sudden Boston's bench is thin. The back up point guard position is still unresolved and who gets minutes behind Ray Allen and Paul Pierce? Meanwhile, you have to wonder if the C's can maintain that lightning in a bottle type aura they had last year.

4. It is interesting to see a player like Posey enter free agency, which I'd argue is still dominated by statistics. You can see why some guys shy away from hustle plays and unselfish basketball because the market does not reward that. Put it this way would you rather have Corey Maggette or James Posey? On the bright side we'll get to see how much he's worth next season.

5. I know this could and most likely would happen. However, I hoped it would not. Yet I wish Posey nothing but the best. I would not be surprised if he were productive during the 4th season of his deal. And he'd be hard pressed to make that type of money after three seasons. At least he's out West.

6. Danny Ainge has his work cut out for him.

7. Expect a significant drop in man hugs next season.

Blogs to Check Out

CelticsBlog
Loy's Place
Red's Army
The Shamrock Headband
Hornets 24/7
At The Hive
Ball Don't Lie
TrueHoop

1. First you need to check out Kelly Dwyer's take from 3 days about the preposterous Arenas rumors that inexplicably came true. Regular readers know that I'm a fan of Arenas but not at that price tag - $120+. And at this point the Warriors have offered a lucrative, albeit one year shorter, deal as well. Crazy.

2. I still can't get over the fact that Baron Davis will be a Clipper. Head over to Clips Nation and Golden State of Mind for decidedly different reactions. Personally I'm a little down about this one. In a span of less than a year we've watched the run and gun Phoenix Suns and now the Warriors disband. Both teams played some of the most exciting offensive basketball around. Obviously they did not win a title. In fact Golden State missed the playoffs in 2 of Davis' 3 years in Oakland and barely squeaked in during the other. Ultimately teams want to win championships and that wasn't happening. Although I imagine even Chris Mullin was caught off guard by Davis' departure. Still crazy times. 

3. Did Elton Brand look at what happened in Boston and decide to team up with Davis? One difference. Both will have to make less than they could have to play together. And there are only two of them. But all of the sudden that's an interesting team. Remember Chris Kaman can play, Al Thornton is a mature scorer, and Eric Gordon could be an X-Factor. As a side note how happy are Clippers fans that the Kings out bid them for Beno Udrih? One final note on the Clippers. They had some pretty unfortunate occurrences out in LA that severely weakened a team on the verge of making some noise. It got so bad last season that the Clips fielded an awful team in their trip to Boston. But as the Celtics showed one year can make a world of difference.

4. Check out Fooch's post (and vote in his poll) about the C's offering Corey Maggette a contract. I don't see it happening but the fact that it's at least somewhat plausible is yet another sign that the C's have come a long, long way.

5. In other news it looks like Jose Calderon, Beno Udrih, and most importantly Chris Paul are not leaving Toronto, Sacramento, and New Orleans respectively anytime soon.

The Guy I Underrated the Most Prior to the Playoffs

Honorable Mention - Rip Hamilton. Man he's an assassin. On top of that he cared throughout the Celtics series, which did not appear to be the case for some of his teammates. Now on to the winner.

Even after he made the All Star team and dropped 37 points on the Celtics I still felt that David West was a little overrated, largely due to playing with Chris Paul. I tend to make up for overvaluing Celtics by undervaluing players around the league. Then West averaged 21.2 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.1 steals, and 1.9 blocks during the playoffs. On top of that he had the face-tapping incident with Dirk Nowitzki, the run in with Fabricio Oberto (not sure why that’s on fast forward), and overall a sense that he could lose his cool at practically any moment. At this point I’m sold on West’s talent, wonder if he’s secretly xenophobic, and think New Orleans needs another competent big coming off the bench. Although I do wonder about West's wiring. He might need to tone it down a few notches. And this is coming from a guy that defends Kevin Garnett against all critics.

As a side note did you watch that YouTube Clip of Nowitzki and West? What the hell was Dirk supposed to do? Hit him? The Mavericks got beat soundly as is, but would have been in a much worse state without Dirk for a game. 

The Guy That Reminds Me of My Favorite Fantasy Sports Joke

"Man his team would be unstoppable...in 2002." Note that joke really does not work if it is in fact 2002. But you get the point. And the winner is...Jason Kidd. Not a strong playoffs for him. He put up roughly 8.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 6.5 assists while absolutely getting worked by Chris Paul. And let's not forget Kidd throwing down Jannero Pargo.

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All season I've felt that Kevin Garnett was the MVP. Granted that's due to the fact that I blog about the Boston Celtics. On top of that I realize that the playoffs should not influence arguments about the regular season MVP. However, when it is all said and done Chris Paul and LeBron James are both more valuable to their teams than Kobe Bryant is to the Lakers. As great as Kobe is I really believe that. What does this have to do with Kevin Garnett? Nothing I guess. Meanwhile, is it spiteful to link to Kobe's infamous police interview over on the Smoking Gun? Probably. As you can see I'm coping with the game 6 loss by lashing out at others. And I'm still not ready to talk about that series. Maybe tomorrow.