2021 Tokyo Olympic Basketball...

[cliftonparksufan]

Lol

The Stifle Tower!

I'll be the first one to admit I was rooting for Gobert and France. Same thing with Ingels and the Aussies.

 

[GENESEO1983]

And as usual, I’m sure Popovich was his usual DICK self to the reporters after the game……….his pompous attitude is a complete boor!

 

[Cusefan0307]

At what point does Durant start taking heat?

 

[OttoinGrotto]

At what point does Durant start taking heat?

Someone needs to tweet "You think LeBron lets this happen?" to him.

 

[Briancuse]

The French.got down big and didn't ever surrender.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Someone needs to tweet "You think LeBron lets this happen?" to him.

You called?

#DurantIsABetaDogg

 

[MikeSU02]

At what point does Durant start taking heat?

Honestly, it's all the other guys that haven't done anything that are getting max contracts. Beal, Tatum, Book, etc.

KD has proven himself over and over again. He's one of the top 15 players of all time.

I would also say Dame should take some heat for a guy that is supposed to be in the elite group, but he hasn't won anything in PDX and he's not dominating here.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Honestly, it's all the other guys that haven't done anything that are getting max contracts. Beal, Tatum, Book, etc.

KD has proven himself over and over again. He's one of the top 15 players of all time.

I would also say Dame should take some heat for a guy that is supposed to be in the elite group, but he hasn't won anything in PDX and he's not dominating here.

My comment was mostly sarcastic, but I expect the morning shows will be all over him with H0T Takes if the team doesn’t win the gold.

 

[Cheriehoop]

Sad that Jerami Grant was the only player who didn’t get into the game at all. Maybe he could have made a difference? Would like to believe he would have.

 

[Eric15]

And as usual, I’m sure Popovich was his usual DICK self to the reporters after the game……….his pompous attitude is a complete boor!

Maybe 10-15 years ago I shared your sentiment about Pop. I found him just insufferable. But now I love everything about him.

 

[Melancer46]

Trae wasn't taken because he doesn't fit the style that Popovich wants to play. Which is much more half court oriented as opposed to fast open court. I agree Trae should have been on the team and it should have a different head coach. This team is poorly constructed. There is no interior scoring or muscle for rebounding. Notice they are out rebounded every game. Since they can't get easy baskets in the paint they have to shoot really well from outside. If they have an off shooting game they're toast. And because there are really no interior scorers teams can overplay on the perimeter. Which they all are doing lowering the shooting percentages. Incredibly disappointing.

That's just silly if true considering Atlanta was slow relative to most NBA teams and Trae is absolutely devastating in the half court.

I get that everyone wants to find a logical explanation for Team USA losing and it's easy to point to too many 1 on 1 scorers, but like, there's really no reason whatsoever that Damian Lillard, arguably the #1 or #2 PG in the world, isn't good enough to be the PG for this team. And there's no logical reason that a team comprised of many of the best scorers in the world should shoot like crap and also be unable to finish around the rim.

It would be more interesting to me if USA tried to organize a more normal team talent wise that made more sense from a traditional sense, but this team is far more likely to win gold than a team with guys like LaMelo, Cade, Brogdon, etc. would be.

Having said that, I'll continue to actively root against this team because it's a lot more fun to watch them lose than to see them just dominate everyone like they usually do.

 

[Briancuse]

Maybe 10-15 years ago I shared your sentiment about Pop. I found him just insufferable. But now I love everything about him.

Ya the older I get the more I kind of enjoy his pric kly sarcasm.

 

[MikeSU02]

Uh, anyone want to talk about Luka's insane game? Holy cow.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Uh, anyone want to talk about Luka's insane game? Holy cow.

Did they win?

 

[Cusefan0307]

Did they win?

By 18.

 

[MikeSU02]

Did they win?

He toyed with them:

 

[Newhouser]

Honestly, it's all the other guys that haven't done anything that are getting max contracts. Beal, Tatum, Book, etc.

KD has proven himself over and over again. He's one of the top 15 players of all time.

I would also say Dame should take some heat for a guy that is supposed to be in the elite group, but he hasn't won anything in PDX and he's not dominating here.

That may be more of a commentary on the NBA creating a system that has created too many non-max guys getting max dollars.

Roster management, coaching, etc - it always comes down to that the best player in the world needs to be an alpha who motivates his peers to care about these games. LeBron excelled at that. Thus far KD has not and even if he didn't ask for the role, it is one he must accept.

 

[ForCuseSake]

He toyed with them:

Anyone who pwns Argentina in the Olympics is good in my book.

Will always enjoy watching them get punked after the Athens arse-whooping they put on Team USA in 2004.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

He toyed with them:

Great highlights, Luka's fun.

Sidebar - is Argentina down this year? The only two games I've heard about with them are this one and the US exhibition where they got clobbered.

 

[sufandu]

I find it interesting that when we first started using NBA players in the Olympics one knock on international teams was that they couldn't match the USA physicality. Now, largely due to NBA rule changes and the coinciding lack of emphasis on traditional post play, we are the ones lacking in physicality.

 

[MikeSU02]

Great highlights, Luka's fun.

Sidebar - is Argentina down this year? The only two games I've heard about with them are this one and the US exhibition where they got clobbered.

Sure seems like it, right?

 

[MikeSU02]

I find it interesting that when we first started using NBA players in the Olympics one knock on international teams was that they couldn't match the USA physicality. Now, largely due to NBA rule changes and the coinciding lack of emphasis on traditional post play, we are the ones lacking in physicality.

I think the traditional big thing definitely makes a difference. We're not rolling with David Robinson and Patrick Ewing or Shaq.

I think, though, that there is a serious issue with the foul hunting / getting fouls called in the NBA that just doesn't exist in FIBA and these guys like Book, Tatum, Beal, etc (who are all obviously very good basketball players) fundamentally aren't accustomed to not being able to get to the FT line since those guys play a lot of iso ball (KD and Dame aren't innocent of this either).

So I think what's happening is that Pop is trying to get ball movement going, but we have no real PGs, a lot of iso-heavy guys and to your point, no real bigs. And, it's not like we even have Trae and a rim running big that we can go pick and roll and just hammer them with floaters and alley oops.

Our best passer might be Draymond. Our best big is Bam, I guess?

I keep harping on this, but if they weren't going to be able to get all of KD/Bron/Steph/Kawhi, they needed to make sure the rest of the pool was much better than what it was.

Again, Trae and Zion should not only be on this team but probably starting.

At the very least, I think they should have considered putting at least Cade on here and probably Mobley as well. Heck, Suggs would be helpful with his skill set at this point.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Having said that, I'll continue to actively root against this team because it's a lot more fun to watch them lose than to see them just dominate everyone like they usually do.

Nothing against you at all as it sounds anti-American, but I get what you saying. That said is anyone taking Iran +39 or Nigeria +31 vs the USA. It will be interesting to see what Pop has in mind for two games that they should dominate. #freejerami.

 

[cuseincincy]

All apologies to Keldon Johnson but adding him to the team was like the Harlem Globetrotters replacing Meadowlark Lemon with one of the Washington Generals players.

 

[MikeSU02]

All apologies to Keldon Johnson but adding him to the team was like the Harlem Globetrotters replacing Meadowlark Lemon with one of the Washington Generals players.

I mean, it's not just Keldon Johnson... If we want to be real honest. McGee and a few others shouldn't have touched this team.