I just came back from USA - Italy in Cologne

[andynbg]

I can only tell you that your US team is a complete joke. Italy was way better and won 95-78.
Whenever Italy played a tough def the US team had no answer to it. They even were not able to defend aganist the italian 3 pointers. The way they played they are no contender for gold and way overrated. However it was great to see your guys playing over here.

I am pretty much looking forward to tomorrows game between our German team and the US team. I still can not believe we did not qualify for the olympics.

 

[HacheMan]

Every year the NBA adopts more and more "Slackers", no other way to go about saying it.....

 

[andynbg]

Has anyone of you seen the game on TV?

 

[HacheMan]

I havent Andy, but saw about it not long ago. I can just imagine though.......

 

[HacheMan]

I would go as far to say that approximately half of NBA players are identical to Ricky Williams in very many ways. That "I don't give a sh!t" attitude........

 

[bolivar]

I saw the TV and Andy needs nothing added to his coments. The US seemed like they did not know what to do on either end of the floor. If they did not get a fast break they were dead. Maybe they get a little better but looks as if they need to get a lot betterl.

 

[miked429]

the nba player just doesnt care about these games.they should have stop sending nba'ers to play these games years ago.

 

The OLDEST player on this team is AI at 29. Since Brown is coaching I know for a fact AI doesn't give a rat's ass about it.

I think they said the average age is 24? Yikes...this is what happens when a bunch of individuals don't try to work as a team (Washington Redskins defense I'm looking in your direction).

sb

 

[andynbg]

I am sorry to say that but they got what they deserved. I have never seen a more arrogant group of guys before and I am attending sports events for around 25 years now. You should have seen the warm-up for the match. The US team tried to make dunkings for nearly 50% of the time. Ok - it looked great but that is not the way to prepare for a match. You can not go out and think no one will ever beat us. Even in Europe we are playing a nice basketball.
Maybe your basketball team should have a look at your hockey team.
Btw the tickets were cheap. The cheapest one was 29 Euro and a courtside ticket 200 Euro. I guess you guys are paying much more for a single NBA game.

 

[socc3r_guru]

i called it when carmelo said we would bring back home gold from athens.....like i said before we have no shooters...italy made 15 3's and thats what u have to do in international basketball....have you ever wondered why almost all the europeans shoot lights out....cuz thats the only way you can win in europe

 

[TheGeneral+]

YAWN

Can we get back to WNBA please.

 

LOL Where is the more interesting WNBA/Olympics thread now Gen?

sb

 

[andynbg]

You could be right. I just had a look at the stats of the European Final Four (4 games in total):
3 pointer: 73/169 or 43.2 %
2 pointer: 180 / 332 or 54.2%
average total per game (40 minutes of play): 191.5 points or 95.75 points per team.
compared to 48 minutes of play it would be as follows:
229.8 points total or 114.9 points per team - nice numbers !!!

 

[SubZaero]

I would put my house on the US to win the gold....
Pointspreads.... hmmmm that's another thing.... they are overrated so the lines will be huge, but they will win...

 

[TheGeneral+]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by SubZaero:
I would put my house on the US to win the gold....
Pointspreads.... hmmmm that's another thing.... they are overrated so the lines will be huge, but they will win... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You may start looking for room and board

LOL

 

[andynbg]

Your team has an easy group. They will only have some competition against Greece and Lithunia. But right after they will get into trouble. They probably will think no problem to get gold here.
Group A is full of good teams. Watch out for Argentina, Italy, Serbia and Spain. They will give them a tough competition and I even can`t see them going to the finals. The atmosphere here in Europe is totally different to the one they are used from the USA. The crowd (especially the Greeks) will be lowd and they will face something they are not used to. It could get ugly for them. I still remember the day Germany won the European championship against Greece (in Germany). The Greek crowd went crazy prior to the final seconds of the game and threw their plastic seats (!!!!!)onto the field.

 

[BrianG103]

I agree with General.

Enjoy motel skippin.

 

[stef]

I did watch the game and we were FLAT to say the least. Excuse??? I don't know but I have travel numerous times on those long haul flights and it does kick your ass being in a plane that long. Italians played well and definitely have some shooters. It was pretty obvious that they were coached to kick the ball out and shoot a bomb and they were hitting today. Will we win the gold, I still think yes. The world is definitely catching( probally have caught up)up in basketball as we are in soccer.

 

[SubZaero]

Iverson WILL kick ass....

but I gues we'll just have to wait and see then...

 

[HacheMan]

stef, I don't necessarily agree or think the world has caught up with the U.S. in terms of talent when it comes to basketball or athleticism, but what the rest of the world's top players do possess much more so than ours, is.......work ethic,desire,and pride........