World Mens Basketball Championship 2006

[Wruff_ajax]

It's about time the US finally got their shit together and kicked some ass in international hoops. Looks like we have a hungry young squad this year that's going to go out there and play hard for the USA. I hope so. Will be watching all I can.

Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and co.
Kick some ass in the worlds, finally!


Great overview of the tournament here:
http://www.nba.com/usabasketball/index.html
Official USA hoops site:
http://www.usabasketball.com/seniormen/index.html

NBA.com
"Looking to regain respect after disappointing finishes in the Olympics and 2002 World Championship, the United States faces its first chance to prove itself in taking on Puerto Rico Saturday, Aug. 19, in its opening game of the 2006 FIBA World Championship.

In 2004, Puerto Rico stunned the U.S. in its first game of the Olympics, 92-73, handing Team USA its first Olympic defeat using NBA players. U.S. coach Larry Brown said he was "humiliated" following the game. The Americans will look to get off to a better start in Japan."



Let's do this!

[yomamasofat]

If USA doesn't win it all either in World Championship or the Olympics, then what kind of excuses they're gonna give this time? They don't have a fall guy like Larry Brown anymore.

[Brett]

Until the NBA's BEST American players are on this team again, they still could lose.

[steve mcqueen]

There is no more excuses for the US team.....the simple fact is that the rest of the world caught up with them....they (NBA players) are not any better than players from other countries anymore.....a fact that is proven with with any draft in the last 5 years or so as more foriegn are going higher and higher.....European players play better as a team and seem more interested in winning games than showing up on Sportscenter.....the US team will have to win all their games by large margins to establish themselves again as any sort of "Dream Team".....and I don't think that will happen.....the first Dream team intimidated the rest of the world....no one is afraid of them anymore.

[Brett]

The first "Dream Team" actually was one....all the great players were on that team. This team does not have all the best American players.

[Wruff_ajax]

Some of these countries are fielding some real good talent these days. And as mentioned above they're not going to be intimidated nearly as much as years ago, for obvious reasons.
Most of these foreign teams play together as a unit for years.
Adding to it more and more of the NBA's quality players are euro or whatever and flying home to play for their own teams.
There was only one Dream Team. We'll never see that again. Even if we put all the best american players on the squad.

[Brett]

True, 1992 was special.

Hell the '92 team is probably a large part of the reason European players got so good now, they were inspired by what they saw in 1992. The world had never seen anything like that before, basketball played at that level by some of the greatest players to ever walk on the court.

[jrk5150]

True, 1992 was special.

Hell the '92 team is probably a large part of the reason European players got so good now, they were inspired by what they saw in 1992. The world had never seen anything like that before, basketball played at that level by some of the greatest players to ever walk on the court.

True - some of the best individual players in history, and all of them willing to play as a team. Best of both worlds.

That team would have been a lot better in 1988 though. A couple were past their primes in 92.

84 was an incredible amateur team, too.

[Guitar Shark]

True - some of the best individual players in history, and all of them willing to play as a team. Best of both worlds.

Not to mention that they were all born and raised in the USA.

LOL, I had forgotten how dominant the Dream Team was in 1992. Check out these scores:

1992 USA RESULTS (8-0)
USA 116 Angola 48
USA 103 Croatia 70
USA 111 Germany 68
USA 127 Brazil 83
USA 122 Spain 81
USA 115 Puerto Rico 77
USA 127 Lithuania 76
USA 117 Croatia 85

http://www.usabasketball.com/history/moly_1992.html

[jrk5150]

If you could magically transport that 1992 team to today, don't think they'd do that kind of damage. They'd win, but the scores would be closer IMO.

We'll see what happens. Some of these kids have serious all around potential from the standpoint of "playing the game" vs. solely being highlight reels. There's hope of continued US success. Nobody else in the world can trot out the top to bottom talent we can, but the key to winning is to maximize that talent in a team format.

[Wruff_ajax]

Yeah, for the US to win this tourney it's going to take a lot of desire and a very solid TEAM effort. That's where the question lies. We've certainly got the talent. Starting tomorrow we'll see if we've got the TEAM.
I believe our guys really feel they've got something to prove as a team this time around. I think they're hungry to re-establish the US as the best TEAM in the world again.

Hell the '92 team is probably a large part of the reason European players got so good now

That's for sure. That was one hell of a wake up call for the rest of the world.

Watching the US since '92 it's been painfully evident just how important the simple fundamentals of the game are. Other countries focus on the fundamentals while the US has relied solely on it's run and gun, hot-shot, above the rim BS, and we've gotten beaten because of it.
Something I look forward to seeing change in this world tourney. We gotta play the game to win it.

[jrk5150]

And that's not changing any time soon. The whole system is fucked. HS teams, where you could develop skills, have been de-emphasized, or changed into traveling teams where practice time is minimized. AAU is now king, and they don't practice, they just play glorified all star/playground type shit. So, our whole system is now geared away from team building and coaching. These AAU guys aren't coaches, they're freakin GM's who roll out the ball and kiss asses to get guys to play with them, so they can get shoe dollars.

It's a mess. The hope is that the NBA is turning more into a coaches league, so maybe some fundamentals can be built there. Sure ain't happening before then. Even though the new rules will force kids into college for a year, all you'll end up with is college coaches focusing on one year turnover of stars, it'll be the same as AAU's.

Sad for the game. Outlaw AAU ball, and it's a good way towards being fixed.

[Wruff_ajax]

Utilizing a ball hawking defense that forced 25 turnovers and an explosive offense that scored points in bunches, the USA kept rolling in World Championship preliminary play posting a strong 114-95 victory over Slovenia (1-2) Tuesday night in a game not as close as the final score might indicate.

The win was the USA's third straight and insures the Americans of advancing to the round of 16 teams (Eighth-Finals). The USA defense, which came into the game having forced an average of 20 turnovers a game, forced Slovenia into 25 turnovers and the U.S. recorded 17 steals in the win.
Next up for the Americas is a clash Wednesday against 3-0 and also undefeated Italy in a game that will determine the first place finisher for Group D.
The USA is 5-2 all-time against Italy in World Championship play, but Italy handed the USA a 95-78 loss during the USA's pre-Olympic tour in 2004


Carmelo Anthony throws down two of his 14 points in Tuesday's 114-95 win over Slovenia.


Cool James pic vs China


----------------------------

From what I've gathered our defense is really standing out. Nice change of pace if it continues into the later rounds.
Still haven't seen a game. They replay them 3 days later in the middle of the afternoon on espn2. Websites don't consistently post video recaps.
I've got 1000 channels of on demand bullshit and can't catch a world hoops tourney game.
It's incredible this day and age that we can't see this stuff unless we're up at 4am to see it live. US Government cover-up for fear of getting our asses kicked by Argentina again.

[Wruff_ajax]

3 wins to gold....

USA Sprints Past Australia

SAITAMA, Japan, Aug. 27 -- One victory down, three to go.
Team USA moved one step closer in its pursuit of the gold medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship, crushing Australia 113-73 in an elimination-round matchup Sunday.

USA played its best quarter of the tournament, outscoring Australia 32-6 in the second period to turn a four-point lead into a 30-point rout at halftime.

Up next for the USA is Dirk Nowitzki and Germany in the quarterfinals on Wednesday (6:30 a.m. ET, ESPN2). USA Basketball is three victories away from accomplishing its goal of winning the tournament.

After a solid first quarter, Team USA clamped down defensively in the second. Although the USA increased its defensive pressure, its offense didn't suffer as it took a 59-29 lead into intermission.

Team USA went 14-for-27 from 3-point range, and forced 24 Australia turnovers.

Carmelo Anthony continued his outstanding play, finishing with 20 points. Joe Johnson added 18 and Dwyane Wade chipped in 15.

“I was just trying to be active on both ends of the court, make plays and provide some energy," Johnson said. "In the second quarter we really picked up our energy. We haven’t really gotten off to a good start these last few games, and that’s something we have to work on. But we came out in the second quarter tonight and picked up our defensive intensity and as a result we got some easy baskets and kept going from there. I think that was the deciding quarter tonight."

Andrew Bogut played well for Australia, scoring 20 points in defeat.

Team USA is now 6-0 at the World Championship.

“There’s a lot talent in this tournament," USA point guard Chris Paul said. "Some of these guys you don’t get to see in the NBA and some of the best players don’t play in the NBA and this is a great opportunity to play against them.

“We may not have played against everyone but we know just about everybody. We’ve seen film and we will see a lot more. Everybody on our team is watching games on tv at our hotel. We are all basketball junkies.”

[Wruff_ajax]

USA Moves Into Semis
USA Basketball used a late surge to overcome Dirk Nowitzki and Germany in the FIBA World Championship with an 85-65 win on Wednesday. After taking a one-point lead into halftime, Team USA outscored Germany 27-13 in the third quarter and maintained the separation down the stretch.
Carmelo Anthony scored 10 of his team-leading 19 points in the third. LeBron James had 13 points and Chris Bosh added 10 points and seven rebounds. USA will take on Greece in the semifinals on Friday (3:30 a.m. ET, ESPN2).