USA Basketball - road to redemption!!!

[vabeach_skinsfan]

Did anyone catch the prelim game between USA and Puerto Rico last night. It came on around 11pm, so it was pretty late.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=sheridan_chris&id=2539099

The article doesnt' realy capture the dominance and swagger the US showed last night. Depsite being a prelim game that realy doesn't count or have any consiquence to loosing, the USA team played with a lot of patriotism and a lot of heart. I love how Coach K and Colangelo enforced this team to play this game with class and not not show any arrogance towards our opponents.

It got off to shacky first half, with it going back and forth. but we closed out the 2nd quarter strong, only to comback during the second half and blow PR out the water.

D-wade was awsome, Mello was great, Lebron was good, Chris Paul looked like a veteran guard, Bosh did good, Battier played hard defense, and Joe Johnson was beasting.

I love this squad, becasue we're deep......and they assembled this team the right way. They got our guys playing with passion, for the sport and for the Country. There not our there playing for a contract, they're out there playing for the US. D-Wade even had a sick highlight dunk, he striped the PG and had a break away steal down court and finished it off with a windmill dunk....glanced over to the side lines were some US troops were sitting and Saluted them. That was freaking awsome.
http://www.nba.com/media/wadedunk_400_060803.jpg

Not to sure how manyof you love basketball, but i'm a true afficionado of the game, and it just thrills me to see the US team play interantional ball, not NBA ball. trust me, there is huge difference.

I was excited during the FIFA world soccer championships, and I tell I was pretty happy for Italy to win it and it was amazing how the entire country celebrated together in unity. And trust me when I say this, we need the USA to win the gold and give our country something to celebrate together in light of all the crap thats going on overseas. But wait till our USA team can come back to the road of redemption and take back the sport that we invented. Its going to be total nirvana I tell you.

[smoak]

I actually got to the point where I rooted against the last USA B-bball squad. Their lack of enthusiasm was so evident that I wasn't surprised at all that they got their butts whipped.

Hopefully this team continues to play with energy and enthusiasm because the world has caught up to us. The world doesn't care about shoe deals and highlight dunks... they play smart fundamental bball that is more fun to watch that the garbage product the USA cranks out.

[CNYSkinFan]

I loved Dream Team 1, it was never the same after that. Dream Team 2 was annoying and Dream Team 3 was one of the worst teams I have ever seen. These young guys have something though that Dream team 1 had, something to prove. We forget that USA basketball was in trouble before Dream team 1 and that is why there was such clamor for professionals to play in the Olympics anyways, bcause our college kids were not good enough with many p"pros" on other team rosters.

I like this team, it has the right coach and a bunch of young team first players.

[RedskinsDave]

If this team wins gold it will be far from nirvana for most people. Most Americans couldn't care less about this or expect them to win so anything short of that is failure. There won't be people waving flags in the streets over a U.S. victory.

[fent]

If this team wins gold it will be far from nirvana for most people. Most Americans couldn't care less about this or expect them to win so anything short of that is failure. There won't be people waving flags in the streets over a U.S. victory.

without the commies around, i don't know if we'll ever see nation wide celebrations anymore.

[smoak]

without the commies around, i don't know if we'll ever see nation wide celebrations anymore.

LOL! I don't know if it was as much commies as it was being a MAJOR, MAJOR underdog. But I agree. The problem with "Dream Team" is that they aren't amatuers. Nobody would turn against amatuer bball players that put it all on the line for the team. These guys are seen as selfish pros who are practically forced to play and don't care. the average American can't relate to that... Most Americans would consider it an honor to play for their country and are juggling just to make ends meet.

Honestly, the last team's plane could have gone down and I don't think most people in the US would have cared. That team was an abomination.

[Keino]

I think it sad that people would root against their country. Actually I think it's worse than sad, I think it despicable.

I too am happy about the strong showing, but Im happier about the way the team was assembled. We need to have players that want to play, and we don't need 12 Superstars. What hurt us in the last olympics was the lack of a jump-shooter like Michael Redd.

When we win Gold again, I'll be waiving my falg with you VA Beach.

[RedskinsDave]

I think it sad that people would root against their country. Actually I think it's worse than sad, I think it despicable.

I too am happy about the strong showing, but Im happier about the way the team was assembled. We need to have players that want to play, and we don't need 12 Superstars. What hurt us in the last olympics was the lack of a jump-shooter like Michael Redd.

When we win Gold again, I'll be waiving my falg with you VA Beach.

I'll be happy. I won't be ecstatic because I think it is always ours to lose. I could never cheer against anyone in the red, white and blue no matter how much I personally disliked them.

[SpicyMcHaggis]

From an "outsider" point of view, I think the States could EASILY win if they just stopped treating the games like All-Star games and assembling teams like All-Star teams...they should have at least 2 or 3 guys in there that are willing to play 5 or 10 minutes max...actually I think if you take the NBA Champion Miami Heat, they could win the tournament easily. The important thing is putting together a TEAM, with 5 starters, 3 or 4 good guys off the bench and 3 role players..

[danny's stogie]

From an "outsider" point of view, I think the States could EASILY win if they just stopped treating the games like All-Star games and assembling teams like All-Star teams...they should have at least 2 or 3 guys in there that are willing to play 5 or 10 minutes max...actually I think if you take the NBA Champion Miami Heat, they could win the tournament easily. The important thing is putting together a TEAM, with 5 starters, 3 or 4 good guys off the bench and 3 role players..

But Stern has no control over international officiating.


without the commies around, i don't know if we'll ever see nation wide celebrations anymore.

Or until Middle Eastern countries start injecting their athletes with steroids and start competing in sports that matter to americans.

[BurgundyNGold]

Or until Middle Eastern countries start injecting their athletes with steroids and start competing in sports that matter to americans.
Do you think that they would then start every interview by saying" "First, I've got to give all glory to Allah, who blessed me with these gifts and makes all things possible..."?

[Jon Jansen is money]

Good showing by Jamison and Arenas- two Wizards on the USA roster.

Also, did anyone notice Wizards 15th man Peter John Ramos on the Puerto Rico team? Hard to miss him at 7'4.

[LATrueRedskin]

I like USA ball better than the NBA personally. We schooled Puerto Rico on how to play the game of basketball. It was a really strong showing by the U.S. team, it's time to take our spot back in the world.

[SkinsKY]

I'd love to see this group do great things. I was 11 when DT I rolled around, but I was in awe watching all of these fantastic athletes play together. It was fantastic. I hope this group takes great pride in representing our country. If they do, they should smoke everybody else out.

[Jon Jansen is money]

They really played wel the other night. I only watched for a little bit and it really looked like these guys cared about the outcome. With this talented and balanced roster trying hard every game, I don't see how Team USA will lose a game.

[Jon Jansen is money]

Team USA took care of business tonite beating China 119-73. It was nice to see Gilbert Arenas get a start. Lebron James had 22 points, Carmelo Anthony had 18, and Dwyane Wade dished out 6 assists in an easy win.

[Jon Jansen is money]

I should mention that both Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi, two NBAers, did not play for china.

[RedskinsDave]

Well they barely beat Brazil this morning. Thanks to a bunch of foul calls at the end of the game they pulled it out. It wasn't pretty though.