Thoughts on Team USA vs Turkey

July 31, 2008

9am here in the States, while Team USA is playing Turkey as a preparation for the Olympics. Here are some random thoughts during the first half:

LeBron James is a fan of tight jerseys – I mean really tight.
ESPN commentators sound like Euroleague commentators – if you have followed this blog and the Euroleague TV games, you know what that means in terms of spelling European cities and player names.
first quarter, 31-30 – meaning no defense by either team, which Team USA will not see at the Olympics when playing teams such as Greece.
As the ESPN2 moderators tell us, the FIBA ball CAN be smaller or bigger – never heard of something like that.
Team USA has not learned its lesson – too much one-on-one, with Turkey taking advantage of that during the first quarter.
According to the commentators, Carmelo Anthony is the best international player in the world.
Way too many turnovers by Turkey to stay close in the second quarter – they only scored 7 points in the whole second quarter.
The fans in Macao LOVE Kobe Bryant – even here he got MVP chants right from the beginning.
Team USA’s full court defense does not work and is no more intimidating – not even to Turkey.
For Team USA, it might all be about unselfishness, but somebody has to explain to them that playing unselfish and playing as a team is different – I still do not see a team – some great and nice highlight plays though.
Turkey gave up with about 2:30 remaining in the third quarter.

Jul 31, 2008ballineurope

This post was published on July 31, 2008

Comments: 6

Stev
16 years ago
With the curent rules Anthony IS the best international player.
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Stev
16 years ago
maybe the aim of the USA fullcourt def, is just to slow the opponent down and not stealing the ball, but than again i havnt watched the game and im talking into blue
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Tobias
16 years ago
Team USA has done this full court defense from the first second on ever since as far as I remember. I guess it did have an impact on the opponent – it also did have one on Turkey .. 10-0 start for Team USA
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Teo
16 years ago
Carmelo has been Team USA’s best “international” player, that surely is true. As for world wide…well, if the NBA champ is the world champion to americans, then they practically have to call Melo the world’s best if he is the best international american in the NBA playing on team USA. I understand where they’re coming from, I also understand that this has been what cost them the gold over many years. Let’s just wait and see, the talent’s all there, surely. Lithunia will be more interesting I guess.

oh and apart from that I just hate the distinction between international and “normal” (NBA) player, either you’re good or not, this game should be about skill equally as much as it is about athleticism no matter what rules apply, they’re the same for everyone…it’s just a foolish label. the “international” game…bah
and espn’s headline of lebron “morphing” into a fiba palyer reads to me as if he was a retard before and suddenly learned a few things, this shouldn’t even be such a big issue as to make a headline. morph…the last thing I expect as a bb headline is people morphing, sounds like B-grade science fiction.
I don’t even want to dismay LeBron, he’s too great for that, but the international game does not exactly require them to play bb with gold bats, the US media could really start toning this down a little bit because it sounds every bit like the excuse it is for being to focused on flashyness and highlights in order to win a serious game. Yes, the NBA is doing much better financially than european clubs BECAUSE they play so flashy that they sell and it certainly isn’t hurting the popularity of the sport, but if I want just the circus of it I can just go watch the Harlem Globetrotters, they won’t complain about “international game”…
Lame! I’ll still prefer the euroleague final4 anyday for it’s intensity, even if it’s a lock for something that resembles more of a war than a nice game played with a ball.
sorry for taking this much too far, I had too much coffee.
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Kris
16 years ago
I just watched the game on NASN (on tape): ” FIBA officials usually make 3 to 4 strange calls during the games and you gotta scratch your head and just let it happen !” Hahahaha….I just answer to that ESPN-comment: Tim Donaghy. Period

I’m out like ESPN-commentators
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oguzhan
16 years ago
Was a kind of preparation game for me where I thought: “is Turkey back from summer holidays?”

Turkish team came together just 2 weeks ago before it was invited to play against USA & Lithuania…no Hido Turkoglu, no Mehmet Okur and a staff of mostly young players who were not ready enough to play…

So this was just a joke game for both sides.

Turkey will get better te next days until the Qualifyig for the European Championship starts BUT can the “dream team” of the USA handle against teams like Spain, Greece or Argentina with THIS WEAK DEFENSE???

Only a few days left for the Olympics…
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