USA 111, Puerto Rico 101
News and notes from the USA’s World Basketball Championships opener…
Did you stay up? Did you make it? The USA’s opening game in the World Basketball Championships in Japan ended at 3:00 a.m. last night, but I managed to stay awake. The first half was relatively close, and Puerto Rico held a few leads, but the US just kept bringing in fresh bodies and were able to outrun PR.
A few random notes…
• The best lineup for the USA was when they started the second half with Chris Paul and D-Wade at guard, LeBron and Carmelo at forward, and Dwight Howard at center. Those guys led a big run coming out of the half and really sealed the game for the US.
• Puerto Rico opened the game in a zone defense and stuck to it through the first half, and it seemed to be very effective. Not only was the US missing jumpers, but they weren’t getting solid looks at the basket.
• The defensive play of the game was when Dwight Howard came soaring in to block a shot and ended up jumping completely over Puerto Rico’s Larry Ayuso, landing on his feet on the other side. And of course, no replay of it from ESPN. I had to rewind the Tivo a few times to catch it. Really amazing.
• Weirdest play of the game was when, during the first quarter, the US was assessed a techincal foul for reasons nobody could figure out. Coach K was yelling at the ref, “You gave him the ball!” As it turned out, the techincal came because, following a timeout, Melo was standing by the US bench. The ref handed him the ball, so Melo inbounded it. They actually played for about 15 seconds before the refs realized what had happened and whistled the foul on Melo.
• Worst announcer of the game was ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla. You know, this game was on in America starting at 1:00 a.m. on the East Coast, so you figure the people watching it are probably pretty into basketball — not a lot of casual fans just accidentally tuning in. Yet, Fraschilla was announcing it like ESPN’s guy did the World Cup. My favorite quote was when he explained how the US likes getting into transition because it’s easier to score baskets. No! Really?
• Snoop Ramos Ramos gets the worst line of the game: 15 minutes, 5 points, 2 turnovers, 5 fouls.
• The big run for the US came in the third quarter, when Coach K inserted the lineup I alluded to earlier, and then Melo got hot. It helped that Puerto Rico went away from their zone defense and into a matchup zone that worked more like a man defense. The US spread the floor, found advantageous matchups and scored on about a dozen straight possessions.
• The final score is a little misleading, because the US was ahead by as much as 20 in the fourth quarter.
• Confession time: I had no idea how smart Shane Battier is. There’s a lot of stuff he can’t do — shooting the ball, for one — but he’s fundamentally perfect at almost everything else. Watch him play away from the ball, and you’ll see him thinking a pass or two ahead. There was one play late last night where someone drove in and Chris Bosh tried to take a charge, which left Bosh’s man open. Battier rotated around just in time to get the steal.
• I thought the most impressive US guys were Battier, Chris Paul, Kirk Hinrich (played the best defensive game he’s had yet, and scored 15 points) and Dwight Howard, who really asserted himself. The worst US player was probably Antawn Jamison, who played 5 minutes, didn’t score and never got going. And once again, Chris Bosh did not look like the Chris Bosh we see playing for the Raptors.
Next game is at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow morning against China. It’ll be on live on ESPN2, and I’ll be up live watching them play. I’ll post something on that game tomorrow. Later…
17 Responses to “USA 111, Puerto Rico 101”
Aug.19 at 1:21 pm
Joe Millionaire says:
good goin lang
Aug.19 at 1:31 pm
Tunez says:
Gotta admit, I was thinking for a minute there that the U.S had reverted back to ways of old, even with the new players… but their depth is unreal, especially in international competition. I can’t think of another team with as much depth 12 deep… the next closest team coming to mind is either Argentina or Serbia-Montenegro and they don’t come close
Aug.19 at 1:44 pm
Hype says:
There was one play I found Kirk did a really poor job on defense: He played his man real tight and was close to the halfcourt.. the dude just dribbled past him and went up for a layup which the other US players didn’t rotate fast enough to help out. But yea, it’s just one play.. but I thought it was weird that’d he play his man that tight that far from the hoop. My fav was Dwight blocking a shot with his elbow! Haaaated the announcers, they were so loud too. Sometimes you just want to hear the court noises, y’know?
Aug.19 at 3:33 pm
pete says:
that melo block was nice too. did anyone else catch one of the play by play guys calling chris paul sean paul? i swear i heard that…
Aug.19 at 6:15 pm
Mike Matzanke says:
Where can I download highlights from the WC games? Is there any page or forum?
Aug.19 at 6:36 pm
B Ball I.Q. says:
Battier can shoot, just not off the dribble, and he’s doing a better job than I expected. Bosh would be playing better if he got some touches, same goes for Brand his midrange j is water. Wade is too pressed to shoot he’s like KB24 out there pump-faking every time just to get a shot off (it’s ok to do in the trapazoid, but not 20 ft away), he’s feeling himself a little too much (still top 5). CP3 and Hinrich are doing their thing, the D would have been better but the refs were calling everything, it was like watching the Finals all over again. Coach K should play JJ and Melo at the same time (in spots) they open up the floor with their shooting.
I’d rather see Morrison out there than Jamison, seriously!
Aug.19 at 11:11 pm
gerardo says:
usa played a good game , still i want to see them play against a real team.
they hada a lo of trouble with the 2-3 zone defense and puerto rico is not a great defensive team.
Aug.20 at 12:00 am
Mighty says:
the only thing ramos did well was his 1st quarter buzzer beater. arroyo and that number 10 dude played well for pr. but usa is really ahead of everything
Aug.20 at 12:59 am
B says:
does anyone care that brad miller picked up a DNP? or did i just miss him?
Aug.20 at 1:45 am
pete says:
im sure brad will get plenty of time in tomorrow against yao. i dont think bosh matches up too bad with yao either.
Aug.20 at 1:45 am
Jonathan says:
USA played a decent game.The players that I thought played well were Dwight Howard, Melo, Bosh and Joe Johnson.Lebron did his thing but missed a couple free throws.Same goes for DWade. I got to admit since Kobe and Lamar Odom are not playing I’m not as excited to watch team USA play in the world championships. Also I’m thinking this team is just going to be really even more deep when the players who were invited couldnt come do to personal reasons are on the 08 olympic team. Think about the likely players on the 08 olympics squad: Kobe
Chanucey Billups
Michael Redd
Ray Allen
Gilbert Arenas
Amarie Stoudamire Damn! Team USA ids defitnely going to be rolling deep for the 08 olympics.
Aug.20 at 3:20 am
Ronald says:
I’m pretty sure that what Hinrich did was on purpose. It’s a defensive zone called “one out-four in” where if your man has the ball you pressurize him to dribble past you and have your four other guys basically surround him so they cannot pass to the outside guys. Basically its used to force turnovers when you have agile big guys.
Aug.20 at 8:43 am
B says:
yeah, you’re probably right. If i recall correctly, Hinrich wasnt jabbing his man in the ribs like he usually does on the perimeter.
Aug.20 at 12:13 pm
RudX says:
Boris Diaw is good. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-worlds-france-serbiaandmontenegro&prov=ap&type=lgns
Aug.20 at 2:57 pm
Delicious J. says:
http://www.Dallasbasketball.com points out that Fran Fraschilla is calling the games for ESPN from Bristol. He’s not even at the games. Hmmm..
Aug.20 at 7:51 pm
Sara says:
i agree completely. Thank god there is one writer out there who doesnt only notice the players shooting abilities.
Aug.21 at 1:21 pm
Steve says:
Along the lines of Lang’s point about Battier being smart, here’s one instance I noticed years ago that has stuck with me: In a Duke game, he drove to the basket and was fouled. He turned and started walking to his bench. Everyone else, including the refs, started positioning themselves for a free throw, but Battier was walking to his bench. After a few seconds the refs realized it was time for a t.v. timeout, and sent everyone else to their benches.