Green Bandwagon: Front Page Posts

Dennis Johnson on Ballerblogger

Jim — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 23:51:32 -0000

In the spirit of remembering ex-Celtics (see my last post) head over to Ballerblogger for a profile of Dennis Johnson.

Remembering Sherman Douglas

Jim — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:00:08 -0000

I got the idea of profiling random players from Boston's past from the stellar Washington Wizards blog, and fellow SB Nation site, Bullets Forever. I really got into the Haywoode Workman post. Although in my case I don't envision this morphing into a series. Rather, I just wanted to talk about Sherman Douglas. Sure I could keep this short and simply remind everyone that he was a "Super Passer". But what fun would that be? Check it out after the jump.

via www.checkoutmycards.com

Age: 42 (43 in September)

Height: 6 feet (6'1 according to him)

Weight: 180 pounds (165 in college)

Drafted: In the 2nd round (28th overall) of the 1989 draft by the Miami Heat

Little Known Fact: During halftime of game 4 of the 2008 NBA Finals I posted a new open game thread for the second half. It included the following sentence, "Now we can sit back and watch the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history" and this YouTube clip. Awesome on numerous levels.

Nickname: The General

YouTube Clip: Unfortunately I couldn't find any clips of his vaunted floater. However, check out this list of top ten plays and compare Douglas' move (1:37 mark) to one of Rajon Rondo's better plays (1:37 mark) from last season. Realistically I can't go after the announcers because Tommy Heinsohn is the most biased guy on television right now. Still, some of Rondo's moves from that clip are outrageous. It's okay to recognize that.

His story: Douglas graduated from Springarn High School in Washington D.C with exactly one Division 1 scholarship offer. Of course that offer came from Syracuse University. Douglas spent his freshman year watching Pearl Washington run the show from one of the best seats in the house. However, the following season Douglas' playing time quadrupled after Washington left for the NBA. Ironically Washington played in Miami during the 1989 season, which doubled as his last season in the NBA and the year before Douglas joined the Heat. But back to Syracuse. Douglas and a talented group of Orangemen, that included Derrick Coleman and Rony Seikaly, advanced all the way to the NCAA final. Of course Keith Smart was the hero of that one, in part because Steve Alford could not shake Douglas. And Bobby Knight threw a chair. Okay separate incidents, but that clip is mesmerizing. Following that magical run in 1987 Douglas' final 2 years were a disappointment as far as the team was concerned. Still he left with Syracuse with 3 notable accomplishments:

1. Syracuse's all-time leading scorer.
2. NCAA's all-time assist leader.
3. A renowned master of the ally oop. The passing part, not the dunking.

And though his scoring and assist records were both subsequently broken, Douglas took his ally oop pass to the NBA. There he joined a struggling, expansion Miami Heat franchise that won a combined 42 games in his two full seasons in South Beach. Looking to capitalize financially on making the NBA's All-Rookie First Team and a strong sophomore campaign in which he scored 18.5 ppg and dished out 8.5 apg, Douglas held out prior to the 1992 season. He eventually signed a contract, played 5 games, and was dealt to the Boston Celtics for Brian Shaw. On the surface that's a huge upgrade team wise, as Douglas joined a squad with Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, and Reggie Lewis. Unfortunately it was a team on the decline. And his Boston career reflected that:

Year                                          Record                                        Finish
1991                                           51-31                     Lost Eastern Conference Semifinals
1992                                           48-34                     Lost Eastern Conference First Round
1993                                           32-50                                    Missed Playoffs
1994                                           35-47                     Lost Eastern Conference First Round

However, that's not to say Douglas did not make an impact in Boston. After a slow first year (4.1 assists) Douglas averaged 7.4 dimes in his final 3 full seasons as a Celtic. More importantly he unleashed a trademark floater on numerous forays into the lane. In fact I'm convinced it is impossible for anyone who remembers him to have a conversation about Douglas without bringing up the floater. Tommy Heinsohn still references it from time to time.

Of course Douglas did not finish his career as a Celtic. He was traded to the Bucks in the midst of the 1996 season. Luckily for him he did not join Antoine Walker, Todd Day, M.L. Carr, Pervis Ellison, Brett Szabo, Nate Driggers, and everyone else that participated in that dreadful 1997 Boston Celtics season. Instead Douglas played in Milwaukee, Los Angeles (Clippers), and New Jersey (2 stints) before calling it a career at age 34, following the 2001 season. When it was all said and done he averaged 11 ppg and 5.9 asp, while shooting 48.4% from the field. He also exploded for 42 points against Paul Westhead's all offense, no defense Denver Nuggets. Check out his account of that game here.

Sources:

1. Basketball-reference.com's Boston Celtics page.
2. Basketball-reference.com's Miami Heat page.
3. Basketball-reference.com's Sherman Douglas player profile page.
4. Rival.com's profile of Keith Smart's championship winning shot.
5. Sherman Douglas' recollection of his best scoring game as a pro, courtesy of Heat.com.
6. The Syracuse University Basketball Player Index Sherman Douglas page.

1560 The Game

Jim — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:19:47 -0000

This past Saturday I had my second appearance on Raheel Ramzanali's Gametime, which airs on 1560 The Game, out of Houston, Texas. Once again we talked Olympic basketball. However, this time we focused on USA/Spain during the halftime of that game. Unfortunately my prediction of a 15-point American victory was off by 22 points. As always radio is hard. Still, I enjoyed myself. It's a fun show.

Ten Things I Liked About Argentina/Greece

Jim — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:59:39 -0000

I was a little surprised by how much both teams complained to the referees. It was like a NBA game at points. At the same that was a very minor part of an incredibly entertaining game. Just awesome to watch. And the following stood out to me:

Honorable Mention:

- Both coaches had emotional outbursts that were in no way forced. Rather they fit with the intensity of the game.

- Carlos Delfino's dragon tattoo.

10. The cheering sections. Despite a solid showing from the Argentinian fans, the Greeks appeared to have more of a presence, in terms of numbers and noise.

8. Sofoklis Schortsanitis only played 4 minutes. In that time he made one bucket, missed 2 free throws, knocked Luis Scola down with a pick, and threw a ton of elbows and forearm shivers.

7. Due to the physical play of Schortsanitis the Argentinians had to worry about Fabricio Oberto, Andres Nocioni, and Luis Scola getting into either foul trouble or a fight. Enter Roman Gonzalez. Don't get me wrong, there's a reason he only played 1:46. He's a big dude that no one would describe as mobile or offensively gifted. Still there's always a place on this blog for a player with a fu manchu that's out there to throw his body around.

via www.fiba.com

6. Some people may criticize the Greeks for taking a 3 in the waning seconds, even though they only trailed by 2. I'm not one of those people. I also enjoyed Scola attacking that rebound and the Argentinians' jumping, chanting, circle dance celebration.

5. Following Manu Ginobili's ridiculous driving lay up (more on this later) that put Argentina up 5 (80-75) with 46 seconds to go, the Greeks had an awful offensive possession. After 2 near turnovers it degenerated into Panagiotis Vasilopoulos and Dimitrious Diamantidis playing hot potato behind the 3-point arc. I counted 4 pump fakes and 3 passes before Vasilopoulos banked a 3-pointer. It gave Greece a chance.

4. Carlos Delfino. He scored 23 points on efficient shooting (9 of 14 from the field, 5 of 8) from deep. And a few of those shots were definitely, "What the hell I'm feeling it" type shots. My favorite was a rainbow 3 from the corner during a stretch when both teams were firing away from outside.

3. Antonios Fotsis. Yes he had 17 points, 10 rebounds, and a solid day from deep (3-5). More importantly he hit a few shots when it looked like Argentina would run away with it. He hit a 3 that cut Argentina's lead to 4 with 7:30 remaining in the game. Later he tied it at 66. I definitely underestimated him heading into the Olympics.

2. The closing minutes of the third quarter degenerated into a series of intense, physical possessions. It made me think, "These teams really care and they may despise each other." That made it fun.

1. Manu freaking Ginobili. Yes Delfino was excellent. But it's always good to step back and reflect on how nasty Ginobili is. My 3 favorite plays from him:

- With about 50 seconds left in the game Ginobili drove right into the lane and then flipped a left handed floater up and in for a 5-point lead.

- His 3 straight 3-pointers in the first quarter. At least 2 of them were step back 3s.

- After just failing to break up an ally oop on the previous defensive possession Ginobili had a huge block on a fast break lay up attempt by Fotsis. The basket would have given the Greeks a 1-point lead. Instead Ginobili blocked it off the backboard to a teammate before crashing into the stands.

Bonus points because Ginobili said the following to Craig Sager, "I'm telling you we, we play till we die." Awesome.

GINOBILI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jim — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:21:59 -0000

Quick recap for now:

Spain dispatched upstart Croatia with a 72-59 victory that saw Pau Gasol throw up a 20-10. Is it a good thing that Marc Gasol and Ricky Rubio had the same amount of rebounds (6)?

Yao Ming's Olympic dream came to an end thanks to Sarunas Jasikevicius (5 of 6 from 3-point land) and company. And it wasn't close.

Australia hung with Team USA for a while (25-24 after 1). And then the Americans exploded for a 116-85 victory.

Now it's all about Greece, Argentina, and GINOBILI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In fact it just tipped off. Currently Luis Scola is getting buckets. He just set a mean pick too.

More later...

Doc Rivers parade in Maywood, IL

your friendly BullsBlogger — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 03:12:10 -0000

Doc Rivers parade in Maywood, IL

Video of Doc Rivers' personal parade in his hometown of Maywood, IL, courtesy of our awesome and generous (and awesome) sponsors at CBS.

2008 Olympic Basketball: Quarterfinal Games and Lingering Questions

Jim — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:41:36 -0000

Games

Quarterfinal 1: Spain vs. Croatia
Quarterfinal 2: Lithuania vs. China
Quarterfinal 3: Argentina vs. Greece
Quarterfinal 4: USA vs. Australia

Lingering Questions

1. This one came up during USA vs. Germany today. Did the Chinese tank their final game in the preliminaries to avoid possible early match ups against Argentina and the USA? Couple of interesting factors in regards to this conspiracy theory. Yao Ming played 18 minutes and was unhappy. Also China's head coach, Jonas Kazlauskas, used to have the same role with the Lithuanian national team. The loss put China in line to play, drum roll...Lithuania. Seems like a bit of a stretch. And, based upon Yao's reaction, the players did not have anything to do with it. Just throwing it out there.

2. USA vs. Australia. Heading into this one the Boomers could feel good about the fact that they kept it close in the most recent meeting, without Andrew Bogut. And Patrick Mills drove to the basket at will. On the flip side the Americans have to like their strong play so far, smothering defensive stretches, recent 3-point shooting, and the fact that their focus appears to be sharper than it was in the last meeting with Australia. Regardless I expect this one to be physical and intense.

3. Is Argentina vs. Greece the best game of the quarterfinals?

4. Is Russia the biggest disappointment of the 2008 Olympics, as far as basketball goes?

5. Are Dallas Mavericks fans secretly happy that Dirk Nowitzki's run is over?

6. Are Dallas Mavericks fans openly horrified by Jason Kidd's play?

7. Are Boston Celtics fans secretly ecstatic that none of the franchise's players competed in Beijing?

8. Is anyone still reading?

9. Are Argentina and Croatia the most under the radar teams right now?

Jannero Pargo: Russia Bound

Jim — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:43:15 -0000

Jannero Pargo took a one-year contract to play for David Blatt's Moscow Dynamo squad. Hypothetically if I were good enough to play professional basketball there are numerous countries I would consider - Australia, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Spain make the cut. Russia? Never say never. But that's a tough one.

J.R. Giddens Does the Carlton Banks?

Jim — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:29:53 -0000

He definitely pulled off Carlton Banks' patented dance move after throwing one down in a dunk contest:

JR Giddens off the glass tomahawk dunk ncaa slam dunk 2008 (via thedanger15)

Hat tip Red's Army Perk is a Beast.

Strangely this happened once.

USA vs. Spain: I Was Way Off

Jim — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:14:46 -0000

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.

2008 Men's Olympic Basketball: Spain vs. USA

Jim — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:13:57 -0000

This one deserves a brief preview.

Tournament Play So Far

Both squads defeated Greece by comfortable margins and beat host China as well, albeit in entirely different ways. Team USA withstood a strong first quarter from the Chinese and then coasted to a big win. On the flip side, the Spanish found themselves down by as much as 14 late and rallied to win in overtime. Furthermore, the Americans ran past Angola and Team Spain won its last game versus Germany.

X-Factor

For Team USA it has to be a healthy Dwyane Wade. He's come off the bench on fire so far with intensity on both ends of the court. Meanwhile, I'm going with Rudy Fernandez for Spain. The Spaniards have several players that are more household names. Yet Fernandez is second only to Pau Gasol in time on the court and points scored.

Guys I Overrated Heading In

I'm a huge Jorge Garbajosa fan. However, there's a good chance he's still trying to overcome those leg injuries. He's grabbed a respectable 12 rebounds so far. But that's one less than Jose Calderon's total and Garbajosa minutes and points are low. On the American side it has to be Carlos Boozer. I thought he'd see more time. Instead he's either the 11th or 12th man.

Intriguing Subplot

Too easy. Kobe vs. Pau. Ignore the fact that they play different positions. The last time they were on a court together this happened. Still awesome, but I digress. We may learn how to say, "Kendrick Perkins pushed you around at will" plus a few expletives in Spanish, as Kobe is not afraid to pick up another language. At the same time Gasol could make the case for how real teammates act.

Keys for Spain

No opponent has done the following 3 things to Team USA yet:

1. Handle the defensive pressure.
2. Force the Americans to play a half court game.
3. Shoot lights out from deep for 40 minutes. China did for a half but then fell apart.

There's a great chance Spain can do some, or possibly all, of those. Should be interesting to watch.

Keys for USA

At this point I don't expect an amazing performance from deep or from the line. And thus far it has all been about defense. They have to create steals with smothering D that leads to easy transition buckets. At the same time they must avoid the over the top gambling that leaves them susceptible to easy buckets in the lane. Finally this could be the first game the role players have to do their parts. That means some timely shooting from Michael Redd.

Put Up or Shut Up Time

All of the Jason Kidd talk was geared towards games like this. Can he really be a factor?

Strange Development

I did not envision Team USA as a fan favorite while another squad played the role of villain. I haven't touched on this at all yet because it caught me completely off guard and is bizarre. All I'll say is that it does raise an interesting question: Is it better to refuse to apologize or apologize with a vanilla statement that you definitely don't believe?

Australia is Taking it to Russia...

Jim — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 04:41:37 -0000

Just throwing it out there.

J.R. Giddens Signs With Celtics

Jim — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:48:53 -0000

J.R. Giddens has officially joined the Boston Celtics. That's good to see. In doing so he opted against pulling a Brian Shaw, a.k.a signing over seas. You have to like a guard that averaged 8.8 rebounds in a college season.

2008 Olympic Basketball: Men's Preliminary Standings

Jim — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:39:26 -0000

Group A

Lithuania: 3-0
Argentina: 2-1
Croatia: 2-1
Russia: 1-2
Australia: 1-2
Iran: 0-3

Group B

USA: 3-0
Spain: 3-0
Germany: 1-2
Greece: 1-2
China: 1-2
Angola: 0-3

The US leads all teams, and it's not close, in points scored (290), while not surprisingly Iran is last in that regard (184). On the flip side Argentina and Spain have the stingiest defenses (200 points allowed), while Angola's 277 points allowed narrowly edges Iran's total. Although one has to imagine that pace has a lot to do with it. I caught a good chunk of the Argentinians' game yesterday and they did not look to make it a track meet.

Stats courtesy of NBC.

2008 Olympic Basketball Day Three: Inside the Box Score

Jim — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:04:34 -0000

Spain/Germany: Unlike the US the Spanish have messed around with their starting 5 to so far. This was evident in their opener when Marc Gasol got the nod over his older brother and yesterday when Jose Calderon came off the bench. In this one the Spanish were determined to not let Dirk Nowitzki beat them. To that end they threw double and triple teams at him and forced Dirk into 11 points on 5 of 15 from the field (1 of 6 from deep) and zero foul shots. Some other interesting stats from the box score:

1. The Spaniards enjoyed advantages in rebounds (41-30), steals (8-3), and turnovers (8-18).

2. Chris Kaman grabbed 1/3 of Germany's rebounds.

3. Strangely Spain was noticeably worse from the field, finishing the game at a 38% clip, while Germany connected on 45%. Both teams hit 22 field goals.

Randomly enjoy this picture, which has nothing to do with this game or these countries, as you head into the jump:

via en.ce.cn

Australia/Iran: Statistically Iran's 28 turnovers, Australia's dominance of the boards (39-25), and the Boomers 19 steals to Iran's 7, stood out the most. I have a tendency to immediately zero in on the NBA guys and was impressed to see that Andrew Bogut was tied for 4th in points scored by Australians. Patrick Mills had an efficient 15 points, including 4 3-pointers, which caught me a bit off guard. All and all this is just not Iran's tournament. Injuries to key players and the death of Aidin Nikkah-Bahrami only added to an already high degree of difficulty. Still I don't know any Iranians. None. So it's cool to watch them compete.

China/Angola: The Chinese had more turnovers and fewer steals. However, they owned the boards (37-19) and enjoyed a comfortable free throw advantage as well. All told China was 22 of 25 from the line compared to Angola's 7 of 8 mark. More importantly Yao Ming had his first, "I'm freaking Yao Ming" game of the Olympics. He was 10 of 11 from the line and the field. Of course that brings me away from the box score to Adrian Wojarnowski's article on Yao's national team commitments and the Dream Shake's rebuttal. I tend to agree more with the latter. From what I can tell Yao loves representing China. At the same time he is under a tremendous amount of pressure. Meanwhile, he did look winded against the US. Yet there's a great chance that's he's only getting into game shape just now. That's it I'm diving back into Brook Larmer's Operation Yao Ming and posting a book review next week.

Lithuania/Russia: With a final score of 86-79 it's easy to go searching for stats that tilted the game in Lithuania's favor. Of course coaches, players, and fans can go crazy doing that. But at the end of the day AK-47 would probably like another crack at the 9 free throws he missed (10 of 19 from the line).

USA/Greece: Doug Collins put it best at the end of this one. The last time these two teams met Greece scored 101 points, shot better than 60% from the field, and did not turn the ball over that much. This time around it was an entirely different story. Forget the box score. Several aspects of the game jumped out at me:

1. Doug Collins called European teams front runners. I'm just the messenger.

2. A lot of people, myself included, have worried about Team USA's overly aggressive man-to-man defense that focuses too much on steals and leaves them open to back cuts and easy lay ups. However, the Americans played fantastic man-to-man defense in the first half. Yes they got steals. But they weren't gambling or trying to jump passing lanes in a detrimental way. That fell apart a bit in the second half, but that cold be nitpicking.

3. If you're a Dallas Mavericks fan can you really be excited about the Jason Kidd era, version 2.0? As a side note his off the backboard ally oop attempt to LeBron James was unnecessary.

4. Contrast that with Miami Heat fans who have to be excited about where Dwyane Wade's health is right now. He's an absolute freak. How he accomplished so much while only recently embarking on a serious lifting regimen is beyond me. At this point it's between Wade and Chris Bosh for "guy I underestimated the most heading into the Olympics". In closing check out Wade's lob to Kobe while you can.

Argentina/Croatia: The Croatians cruised through their first 2 games and then ran into the Argentinian buzz saw. When it came to scoring 4 of Argentina's NBAers - Carlos Delfino, Manu Ginobili, Andres Nocioni, and Luis Scola - delivered, scoring 15, 14, 18, and 12 points respectively. I actually watched this one but after looking through the box score I was most impressed by the fact that Croatia was awful from the field (19 of 57 - 33%) and didn't make it easy for their teammates - 6 assists.

Burning Boston Celtics Questions

Jim — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 05:06:10 -0000

Green Bandwagon is in serious danger of going from being an "Unofficial Boston Celtics blog" to "Officially not a Boston Celtics Blog". In my defense it has been a slow summer. No summer league team. No Olympians. And not that I'm complaining, no major trades, depending upon how you feel about Bill Walker of course. Ultimately it has been quiet ever since James Posey left town, opening the door for Eddie House and Tony Allen to re-sign. Still I wanted to throw out a few questions I have as the '09 season approaches, while simultaneously holding on to an admittedly tenuous grip on Celtics themed blog status. Here goes:

5. Will Gabe Pruitt bring anything to the table for a team that does not play its home games in Utah? This squad is all of the sudden full of questions. Will J.R. Giddens prove to be a model citizen while capitalizing on his potential? Will Bill Walker sign, pull a Leon Powe, and overcome a difficult injury past? And see #4. As a result Pruitt is flying under the radar a bit. For a guy entering his second NBA season I know shockingly little about him. He's not afraid to shoot, has good size if he ends up as a 1, and possesses a good looking jumper. What else is there?

4. Will redemption be spelled P.O.B.? That's right Patrick O'Bryant. He's 7 feet tall, with tremendous upside. At the same time Kevin Garnett provides a little MJ/Kwame Brown potential. And that's not a good thing. For the record I spent a fair amount of time last off season thinking about Jackie Manuel and Brandon Wallace. This seems better.

3. What's next for the Tony Allen experience? It's been a long, strange ride as is. He's allegedly healthy/confident and, believe it or not, is heading into his 5th NBA season. I'm hopeful because he's still in the NBA despite 2 knee injuries and the White Palace Grill incident. It will be huge if he provides perimeter D off the bench, while helping keep Ray Allen and Paul Pierce's minutes in check.

2. How much better will Rajon Rondo be this season? He improved significantly between his first and second seasons, will turn 23 in February, and, outside of roller skating, appears entirely focused on basketball. I encourage you to click on the roller skating link, read the 1st comment, remember how the 2008 season ended, and exchange a sick high five* with a friend. Bonus points if you are at work.

1. Last time I checked Doc Rivers' assistant coaches did not have contracts. Of course with all my focus on the Olympics this may have been resolved. Still my Internet searches have been futile. Just know that I expect to see Tom Thibodeau and Clifford Ray on the sideline when the LeBrons come to town for opening night (October 28th).

* If you are alone, a fist pump will suffice.

Philadelphia 76ers Sign Andre Iguodala to a New Deal

Jim — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 03:45:13 -0000

In looking for a link for this post I came across this old (July 15th) Rotoworld.com update that contained the following blurb:

"On Sunday, Elton Brand said he had been assured by Sixers' management that the team would match any offer made to free agent Andre Iguodala."

There's a joke in there somewhere right? Players, management, keeping one's word...But back to Iguodala. I know he got an extra year than Josh Smith, so the money is closer than it initially looks. Still am I way off on this one because I think Smith at the very least worth moderately more money?

Meanwhile, I could not help but think, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" when I read that Walter Herrmann is back in the fold in Detroit. It's bad enough that Herrmann did not travel to Beijing. He shouldn't be a non factor in the NBA as well. There are a few teams out there that would allow him to contribute mightily to fantasy squads like he did back in the spring of '07. Although the man can rock a suit:

via slamonline.com

2008 Olympic Basketball Day Two: Inside the Box Score

Jim — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 03:28:54 -0000

For an explanation of the "Inside the Box Score" posts go here.

Lithuania/Iran: I watched the majority of this one and was struck by 2 things:

1. It reminded me of USA/China in the sense that the Iranians kept it close through one quarter and then got blown out from that point on, particularly in the second quarter when the Lithuanians ripped off a 31-14 run.

2. Linas Kleiza has a mean streak. Trust me on this one.

On to the box score. Lithuania was significantly better in turnovers (16 to 23), steals (18 to 6), and field goal percentage (57% to 31%). Not surprisingly the Lithuanians ended up with a 32-point victory. Although I will say this, Hamed Ehadadi (21 points, 9 rebounds) played hard, even if he had 8 turnovers. That's a lot. Bonus points because it seemed like Ehadadi sweat so much that the red numbers on the back of his jersey smudged. You be the judge:

Hamed Ehadid - Smudged Shirt?

Croatia/Russia: Zoran Planinic of ridiculous shot fame and Marko Popovic combined for an impressive 42 points. Factor in Stanko Barac's 12 points and that's the bulk of Croatia's final score. Turnovers, steals, and rebounds were roughly a wash. And while the Russians had an advantage in assists (18-11) and a slight edge in 3-pointers made, there was a substantial discrepancy from the free throw line. Croatia was 25 of 29 from the charity stripe, while Russia was 14 of 19. In the end there's a lot more to it than that, but the Russian squad will most likely think about the free throw line when it contemplates that 85-78 final.

Greece/Germany: Greece's 87-64 victory is a prime example of why I love basketball. Germany sent out Dirk Nowitzki, one of the best players on the planet, and could not stay within 20 points of a well rounded Greek squad. And in going through the box score only one stat stood out above the rest - % percentage. Granted I was surprised to see the Greeks win the battle of the boards (33-26). Furthermore, I did not expect Nowitzki and Kaman to combine for 6 less points than the 23 Vasileios Spanoulis dropped, after they scored 42 against Angola. But 19 of 53 from the field (36%) is bad. Maybe the Germans were cold. I'm not entirely sure. That's one of the problems with these "Inside the Box Score" posts. However, I'm willing to bet that Octopus Man (Dimitrios Diamantidis) and company had a lot to do with it. The Greeks play D. Bonus points because it as a nice bounce back victory after the opening loss to Spain.

Spain/China: It is decidely uncool that this is the only game from day 2 that does not have the rewind option. If any game deserves more than a cursory glance through the box score, it is this one. Still several aspects stood out:

1. Ricky Rubio, Jose Calderon, and Jorge Garbajosa combined for 3 points. Ouch.

2. On the flip side Pau Gasol dropped 29 points to remind everyone he can play and Rudy Fernandez threw in 21. They also grabbed 8 boards apiece. Not too shabby. As a side note, good time to be a Trail Blazer fan.

3. Yao struggled mightily from the field (4 of 12) and fouled out, which could not have helped the Chinese cause.

4. Wang Zhizhi scored 15, in 20 minutes of time no less, which for some reason made me happy.

5. Contrast that to Yi Jianlian's 5 points in close to 38 minutes of time. Given his health, height, and skill set that's embarrassing. To be fair he only had 4 shots and I respect the 9 rebounds. But he's got to get it going if China is going to make the leap.

USA/Angola: Carlos Morais did his best Hamed Ehadadi impression by working hard, scoring a bunch of points (24), and committing an outrageous amount of turnovers (10) against a far more talented team. Meanwhile, you can put me in the group of people who forgot just how good a healthy Dwyane Wade is. Maybe it's because that 2006 Finals didn't sit right due to some calls down the stretch. But man Wade can play. He's kicking off a mission that will carry right through the 2009 NBA season when he launches a scoring assault on 29 other teams. I hope Michael Beasley doesn't have any illusions about who's team Miami is. But back to the game. Once again it's easy to reflect on a relatively easy American victory with some skepticism due to Team USA's efforts from beyond the arc (5 of 21) and from the free throw line (16 of 25). Not cool.

Argentina/Australia: Much like Greece Argentina was looking to bounce back after an opening loss. And the Argentinians did just that with a 17-point victory. And while it may not be all that surprising that Manu Ginobili led his team in scoring (21 points), I was caught off guard by the game's leading scorer. Any guesses? My man Patrick MIlls led the way with 22 points in 24 minutes of time. He turned 20 yesterday! That's it. I'm watching at least 3 St. Mary's games next year. Other than that Argentina's 3-point shooting advantage (11 of 22 to Australia's 2 of 13) and rebounding edge (37-29) were noticeable as well.

Radio Cameo

Jim — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:10:30 -0000

I should have mentioned this earlier, for all my Houston, TX readers, but I was on 1560 The Game Sunday morning. We talked about Olympic basketball and I did somewhat better than my previous radio appearances. I haven't found the clip of it and I'm not sure that I'll look too hard. But it was fun even if the guys at the Big Show shouldn't have to look for work anytime soon.

2008 Men's Olympic Basketball - Iran vs. Lithuania

Jim — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 01:15:39 -0000

After a sound defeat to the Russians the Iranians came out swinging and built an early 14-6 lead. However, after a timeout, a couple of defensive stops, and 2 3-pointers the favored Lithuanians are right back in it. The best part? Without announcers I can hear the Lithuanian fans chanting just like Henry Abbott talked about on TrueHoop today. Right now Iran is up 18-12 and the Iranian Lithuanian fans are not in the least bit fazed.

UPDATE: After outscoring Iran 31-14 in the second quarter Lithuania is up 46-34 at the half. Strangely the stadium kicked off the half with the song, minus the Lil Penny voice over, from the following commercial playing over the loud speakers:

Nike lil Penny classic commercial (via DaniBoxx)