FYI, I tried to make a comment in someone's blog and was told a confirmation email was sent to me. No confirmation email has arrived though. I've checked all my accounts, the spam catchers, etc., but no matter what I do, I cannot make comments.

I don't know what Foxsports Blog thinks it is accomplishing by this email confirmation process, but if they think this ought to be done, then they ought to think it should be done right.

What are we supposed to do when, through no fault of our own, we don't get their email?

What is their backup plan?

How do we contact support for help?

I'm amazed that it lets me write a blog, seeing as it doesn't allow me to make comments.

I guess I'll see in a few seconds whether or not it actually lets me post this.

Anyway guys, I'm not being antisocial; I've just been uninvited by technical (and business practice) glitches.

Cheers,
Tom

.
I never thought I'd ever say this, but look carefully at that player's butt.

As if losing their opening game of the college football season 70 to 0 (to the University of Arizona) wasn't humiliation enough, the University of Idaho Vandals had a uniform mix up with Nike. (Story here.)

Apparently the team ordered their new uniforms with a round patch logo (a capital letter "i" over the top of "Vandals" written in script font) on the back of the pants near the belt line, but when they put the uniforms on, they discovered that they had a hilarious, target like wardrobe malfunction, that may have helped them get their butts kicked.

As you can imagine, the crowd mocked them to scorn.

Who says football isn't all its cracked up to be?

Oh well. Let's hope they can put it all behind them.

This was inspired by Downs' NBA Utopia blog, which is great and should be checked out if you haven't already. In fact, I started this list as comments in his blog, but got tired of pausing the music every time I posted or edited a comment.

Besides, Downs' ideas are more practical than mine, so perhaps another, more whimsical blog, was due.

What do you think of these ideas?

What are some of your own ideas?

Here is some of my wish list for the NBA (in no particular order)...

1 - The sidelines would be cleared of photographers, videographers, etc. so the court would be safer for players.

2 - There would be "line judges" like in volleyball, soccer, tennis, etc. Basketball line judges would watch out of bounds calls of course, but they would also be responsible for calling things like backcourt violations, 3 in the key, the restricted zone under the basket, etc., freeing up the 3 referees to call fouls and traveling.

3 - Coaches would each get 2 opportunities per game to question a call and have it resolved by video replay. Yes, that would slow down games a bit, but still, that's less frustrating than having a blown call affect the outcome of a close game.

4 - In addition to the 3 referees, and 2 line judges, there would be a video ref, who watches the same feed the fans are fed. The NBA keeps a spare ref at every game anyway, this would just give the guy (or gal) something meaningful to do. The video ref wouldn't have authority to stop play, but could OCCASIONALLY communicate via radio to ear pieces on the floor refs what he sees... such as physical play off the ball that isn't being called, so that the floor refs can watch for it.

5 - Flopping would be a technical foul.

6 - Face guarding would be without question a technical foul.

7 - The NBA would assess sportsmanship fines without needing technical fouls to do so. For example, if a player like Kobe, or a coach like D'Antoni, or an owner like Cuban acts up but doesn't get a tech, the league should still fine them upon game tape review. That would clean up some of the whining without overly penalizing teams, players and fans.

8 - Unruly and abusive fans should be dealt with MUCH earlier on, so as to curb bigger problems. Everyone has a limit to their patience, and players in the heat and passion of "battle" should not be subjected to what many fans are doing at games.

9 - If an incident happens at a game, alcohol sales should immediately be suspended for that game.

10 - The regular season would consist of exactly 3 games against every other team in the NBA, that way teams records wouldn't be skewed due to a particular division or conference being exceptionally strong or weak. (By the way, this was Hoffman's idea originally.)

11 - The pass leading to an assist would be an officially kept stat, thus encouraging unselfish play (because players would still selfishly get credit in stats for passing).

12 - All NBA games for each season should be archived to the web, commercials and all, 2 days after the game has played. The web player could prohibit skipping forward, so advertisers can be assured their messages are getting out, but once watched, you could skip back video at will, loop it, and slow it down. That way fans could watch games not shown in their areas and see what the buzz was.

13 - All non-merchandising revenue would be shared, divided equally between all teams. A rising tide lifts ALL boats, regardless of size. If revenues were shared, not only would teams be more competitive, but they'd do more to help everyone succeed. For example, if a large market team like the Lakers were visiting a small market team like the Jazz, Lakers players would benefit the whole league by promoting the game, doing things such as school visits, television commercials, etc. This would be even more important to teams that are struggling. Losing teams have a much harder time selling tickets, but opponent promotion of games would raise attendance for the struggling team and increase revenues for all.

14 - All players would have to play a minimum of 30 games in the d-league before becoming eligible for the NBA draft, that way college players, high school players and international players would all be evaluated on a level playing field before being drafted into the NBA.

15 - All players would have to not only take courses which in effect train them in the perils of being an NBA player (drugs, alcohol, money management, hoes, leeches, handling press, etc.), but the courses would all have tests that players would need to pass as well. The tests would need to be passed again every 5 years a player is in the NBA (retaking the courses would be optional). Whether or not players comply remains to be seen, but at least we'll know they knew better.

16 - Player suspensions are too frequent in the NBA, and are unfair to fans who paid to see certain players play. Fines aren't effective because some players make too much to care, and those that don't wouldn't be getting equitable treatment paying a fine that a superstar has to pay as well. Alternative punishments should be sought that are just as serious a deterrent, but don't punish the fans as well. Alternative punishments could include community service in NBA Cares (painting alleyways or something), ushering at NBA games their team isn't playing in, etc.

17 - There should be more than just a single MVP award. Let the press vote for their MVP, but then let players vote for a POY (Player of the Year), and coaches selected a coaches' "Auerback Award" winner. Share the love! Most years, more than one player deserves the accolades anyway, and when someone has been especially dominate, they stand a chance of sweeping all three awards: by the players, by the coaches and by the media.

18 - (This is another Hoffman idea): Once the fans choose the NBA All-Star starting 5 for each conference, let the coaches select the rest of the all-star team without regard to position, that way the most deserving players get the recognition, and someone doesn't sneak in just because that position in his conference doesn't have many dominate players. Yeah, the coaches will have to be creative with minutes, but they are anyway as it is.

19 - After winning the NBA Finals, the champs would then participate in a tournament against the winners of the international leagues to REALLY earn the title "World Champion." To minimize the wear and tear on NBA players, the world would play a single elimination tournament (FIBA rules) to determine the NBA team's opponent. Say Spain's CB Girona won, and was to play the Boston Celtics. That final matchup would be a best of 3 series, with the first game played by FIBA rules, the 2nd game played by NBA rules, and the 3rd game played by the rules of the biggest point differential. Right now, Spain can stack a team with the Gasol brothers, Ricky Rubio, Rudy Fernandez, etc. but spread those players out to their normal professional teams, and have them play the NBA champions, and just watch how the world realizes how dominate USA basketball still is.

20 - After every game, coaches should fill out a score card on the officiating. Each year, all referees (and line judges) with a GPA less than 2.0 should be fired so as to let new blood have a shot at it.

It had been EIGHT years since USA Men's Basketball had won an international competition. Then, in USA's EIGHTH game of the Olympics, the so called "Redeem Team" joined Michael Phelp's EIGHT gold medal performance as the biggest stories of the 2008 Olympics, which started on... 08/08/08.

That said, here are 8 observations about USA's 2008 gold medal run think about.

--- 1 ---

If Team USA proved that USA Basketball is still number 1 in the world, it also proved its players have a short attention span when it comes to playing defense.

At the beginning of Olympic competition, USA was serious about defense, but then visibly and statistically let up as time went by. Check it out:

70.8 = Points per game allowed by USA in their first 5 games
91.0 = Points per game allowed by USA their last 3 games

36.7% = USA opponents shooting percentage first 5 games
46.2% = USA opponents shooting percentage last 3 games

Putting this in perspective, no other team in the 2008 Olympics allowed a team to score as many as 107 points like USA did versus Spain in the gold medal game, and Spain is less than half the size of Texas.

In fact, 107 points would have won every other game in the 2008 Olympics, and would be enough to have beaten USA in 5 of our 7 previous 2008 Olympic games.

And USA's statistics for the gold medal game against Spain looked less like a "redeem team" performance based on the first 5 games of the Olympics, and much more like USA basketball has looked these last 8 years, when a talented USA team would sometimes fail to outgun their opponents.

Had USA not come up with enough points to win its shoot out with Spain, there would forever be doubt in the minds of USA basketball. If a 3 year commitment, a coach focused on TEAM play, and a group of players like this couldn't bring home the gold, who could?

Spain will be back (see #5), and when it does, USA better have a longer lasting commitment to defense than it did this year.

--- 2 ---

Praise and accolades are being heaped upon Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade for their heroics in the gold medal game.

Dwayne Wade carried USA early, when Bryant and LeBron James were benched with foul trouble, scoring 21 of his 27 points in the first half.

Then at clutch time Kobe Bryant came through, scoring 13 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter.

HOWEVER!

The rest of the truth is that those two shooting guards allowed Spain's 2 shooting guards to combine for 40 of Spain's 107 points. (Fernandez 22, Navarro 18)!

In fact, they allowed Spain's shooting guards to score so much that despite their heroics, Bryant and Wade were actually only +7 over their counterparts for Spain.

Remember, Navarro washed out of the NBA after playing 1 year for the Memphis Grizzlies, and Fernandez will be an NBA rookie this fall!

There is something seriously wrong when THOSE 2 players combine to score just 7 points less than the scoring performance everyone is praising Kobe and Dwayne for, and the thing that was seriously wrong was Kobe and Dwayne's defense.

Earlier in the tournament, when USA cared about defense, Fernandez and Navarro combined for just 13 points against USA.

And while Dwayne Wade did have 4 steals, most if not all came by leaving his man and gambling on a pass. In reality, Spain's guards were never pressured.

The gold medal game was the least number of turnovers a USA opponent ever committed in the 2008 Olympics.

--- 3 ---

The final score was a little bit deceptive. Spain was actually better this game than the final score would leave you to believe.

With 26 seconds left, USA got 4 free throws in a row, and possession of the ball, thanks to a foul and a technical foul on Ricky Rubio.

The flustered 17 year old Rubio then missed a lay up on the following possession.

Additionally, Spain's highest scorer, Rudy Fernandez, fouled out with 3:10 left in the game.

There are easily AT LEAST 6 to 10 points in those end of game events, for which USA can take no credit. USA was just the beneficiary of some fortunate breaks.

After Spain's first defeat to USA in pool play, Spain started playing better, and began holding its opponents to 59 and 50 points, including opponents that USA allowed to score 76 points.

Excluding their meltdown against USA, Spain is the only team that averaged less turnovers per game than USA (13.4 vs. 13.9). Given Spain's improvements, USA should not have been surprised it would present more of a challenge than it did in their first meeting, and USA should have been prepared to defend better, rather than ease up.

28 = Turnovers by Spain vs. USA in pool play
14 = Turnovers by Spain in gold medal game

82 = Points by Spain vs. USA in pool play
107 = Points by Spain vs. USA in the gold medal game

39.4% = Spain's shooting percentage against USA in pool play
51.4% = Spain's shooting percentage against USA in gold medal game

--- 4 ---

Who did Coach K trust to bring home the gold?

On the floor at crunch time were:
- Chris Paul
- Duane Wade
- Kobe Bryant
- LeBron James
- Chris Bosh

And considering Kobe Bryant and LeBron James were in foul trouble since the first quarter, it is interesting who still ended up playing the most minutes:

28 minutes - LeBron James
27 minutes - Kobe Bryant
27 minutes - Dwayne Wade
24 minutes - Chris Paul
23 minutes - Chris Bosh

* Notice how USA starters Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard and Jason Kidd are not in either of those two lists?

World class blogger, Basketballogy, known for his astounding basketball intellect (not to mention his fine collection of mouse pads and his lovely singing voice), once pointed out that USA basketball's problem is not talent, it is decision making. This is especially true of Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard, although both are young and have lots of time to grow in this regard.

--- 5 ---

While USA disbands this team, searches for a new coach, and organizes its next group for a 3 year commitment, it hopes the pattern set by the "redeem team" will keep USA on top.

However, Spain promises to be a force the London Olympics as well. Spain's young back court includes Rudy Fernandez (23), and Ricky Rubio (17), Jose Calderon (26), and Juan-Carlos Navarro (28), and its front court includes Pau Gasol (28), Marc Gasol (23), and Felipe Reyes (28).

And next time, Spain will be bringing the "redeem team," in a push to get their gold medal back.

--- 6 ---

Dwight Howard shot 45.9% from the free throw line for the Olympics, which is worse than Spain's 3 point percentage in the gold medal game (47.1%).

I am still high on Dwight Howard, but clearly he was not the best center (after Yao Ming) at these games. In fact, Dwight wasn't even the best center playing for USA.

It will be interesting to see how NBA fans vote for the 2009 All-Star game, with both Chris Bosh and Dwight Howard in the east.

Additionally, Pau Gasol probably upped his stock in the eyes of NBA fans. In fact, I'd be very surprised if Shaq didn't take a back seat in the 2009 NBA All-Star game to both Yao Ming and Pau Gasol.

--- 7 ---

Why don't more players learn to shoot the runner? Juan Carlos Navarro, and his 18 point gold medal performance against world champion USA, certainly showed how effective the runner can be at the highest levels of basketball... as if France's Tony Parker hadn't already proved it.  

Opposing defenses don't even get their knees bent to jump before the shot is off.

The runner makes dribble penetration so much more deadly, and causes defenses to back off and give you open 3s.

If you had a deadly runner, a deadly 3, and were a good passer, I'd let you play on MY team!

--- 8 ---

This was a 2 point game in the fourth quarter.

It was a 4 point game with 2:29 left to play.

It was a 6 point game with 1:52 left to play.

USA was just +2 in the fourth quarter, +1 in the third quarter, and +1 in the second quarter.

USA had to shoot an insane 70.3 percent from 2 point range to pull this win out.

All of Spain's statistics, including its shooting percentage were within normal ranges.

And Spain was +6 on rebounds.

The odds of USA pulling off a performance like this again are not at all has high as Spain's odds at hitting their numbers again.

USA has superior depth, quickness and athleticism. If it will put that to use on the defensive end of the court, it won't have to rely on unlikely performances to bring home the gold from London in 2012.

--- Bonus ---

Lately I've been noticing that the number of comments on a blog is in inverse proportion to the amount of time I spend on it, so I'll be lucky to get 8 comments.

Nevertheless, here are 8 great Mike "Coach K" Krzyzewski quotes for your enjoyment.

(1) "A basketball team is like the five fingers on your hand. If you can get them all together, you have a fist. That's how I want you to play."

(2) "A common mistake among those who work in sport is spending a disproportional amount of time on "x's and o's" as compared to time spent learning about people. Making shots counts, but not as much as the people who make them."

(3) "I don't look at myself as a basketball coach. I look at myself as a leader who happens to coach basketball."

(4) "I believe God gave us crises for some reason—and it certainly wasn’t for us to say that everything about them is bad. A crisis can be a momentous time for a team to grow—if a leader handles it properly."

(5) "I had a really bad temper, when I was growing up. Sport helped me channel that temper into more positive acts."

(6) "I always won in my imagination. I always hit the game-winning shot, or I hit the free throw. Or if I missed, there was a lane violation, and I was given another one."

(7) "A leader may be the most knowledgeable person in the world, but if the players on his team cannot translate that knowledge into action, it means nothing."

(8) "A leader has to be positive about all things that happen to his team. Look at nothing in the past as failure."

To my surprise, I started crying when the game ended, just a little, as I watched USA coach Mike Krzyzewski cry.

Good job, Coach Krzyzewski. Good job USA.

Game analysis will come other time; I'm just going to drink in this moment for now.

I love this game, and I love this country... it couldn't be any better, could it?

Whenever there's a conversation about USA Basketball, there's always someone pontificating about the 1992 "Dream Team"  There should really be a special website for people who live in the past so they don't keep cluttering up conversations about international basketball.

And then there are the guys always harping on USA because it sends NBA players instead of college guys. Sigh.

Today the best player on the floor when USA played Argentina was an NBA player that had 28 points, 11 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks... and didn't play for USA.

It's a new world, and it is time to acknowledge and embrace it!

For years, USA smugly took its basketball superiority for granted and paid little if any attention to the fact that the rest of the world was getting better... until it was too late. And now, in these 2008 Olympics, history may be repeating itself.

It is very easy to be blasé about USA's weaknesses when it is beating opponents by 20+ points per game, but a disturbing fact about these wins is that of the 7 games the USA Men's basketball team has played so far in the 2008 Olympics, its worst two games were its last two.

If it happened once, it could be a fluke. But if it happened twice, it could be a trend.

The large margins of victory are lulling USA into bad habits and it is getting complacent, and sloppier. 

Meanwhile, since its defeat to USA, Spain has been getting better. A lot better. In fact, Spain has held its opponents to 59 and 50 points, including opponents that USA allowed to score 76 points. And Spain has been having games with as little as 9 to 11 turnovers, as opposed to the 28 turnovers it had against the United States.

Think about USA's last game against Argentina.

After the first quarter, USA was up 19 points.

When the game ended, USA was up 20 points.

That means that after USA's big first quarter, Argentina played dead even with USA for the last 3 quarters, and they did it without Manu Ginobli, and with an injured Andrés Nocioni.

USA's last two games were against Australia and Argentina.

Prior to playing Australia, USA's opponents had been averaging 70.8 points per game. Argentina scored 81, ten more than that average. Australia scored 85, which is enough points to have won 12 of the games played so far in these 2008 Olympics.

And prior to playing Australia, USA's opponents shot just 36.7 percent from the field. Australia shot 43 percent and Argentina shot 44.1 percent, again without Manu Ginobli, the scoring leader of the Olympics, and with Nocioni hobbling.

USA used to own the second quarter against its opponents, but today USA was outscored by Argentina in the second quarter 10 points! Outscored by 10 in 1 quarter?!

And while USA defense is visibly and statistically getting worse, so is its offense.

Argentina has ONLY played man to man defense in the Olympics, but after the first quarter injury to Manu Ginobli, Argentina packed the paint with zone defenders and gave a green light to USA from the arc. Not coincidentally, that is when USA's breakdown started.

With 40 seconds left in the first half, USA was up by only 6 points and Doug Collins mentioned that 20 out of USA's 33 shot attempts were 3 pointers! In other words, 61 percent of all shots taken, including put backs and face breaks, were from beyond the arc! That is incredibly bad shot selection.

You don't think Spain is intrigued that USA basically took the shots Argentina told it to?

USA's problem is not talent, it is decision making.

Kobe had no free throws. None. Question: was it bad officiating, or was he settling for  outside jump shots? Well, Kobe shot 5 of 14 (35.7%) overall, and was 2 of 9 (22.2%) from the arc. Since 9 of 14 of his shots were 3-pointers, it is safe to say Kobe made some a lot of very poor decisions.

I just wish Kobe was the worst culprit this game.

Carmelo Anthony shot 3 of 14 (21.4%) overall, and 2 of 8 (25%) from the arc, and conducted himself in a manner that was an embarrassment to everything USA Basketball claims to stand for.

At half time, NBC aired an interview with USA coach Mike Krzyzewski. Coach K said that Jerry Colangelo and he want USA to "win on and off the court" and to "show respect to the rest of the world."

With Coach K's words about respecting the rest of the world still hanging in the air, track this 3rd quarter action:

8:15 - Carmelo Anthony and Luis Scola got in a tussle.

7:09 - Anthony ran from near the sidelines to pick a fight with Scola for giving a hard foul to Dwight Howard. It took all 4 of Anthony's teammates to walk Anthony to half court and get him to knock it off.

6:30 - After a made jumper by Scola, with players running back down court, Anthony sought out Scola and unnecessarily bumped him, provoking another tussle.

5:38 - Anthony made contact with Scola then flopped to the floor. Anthony was called for the foul, gave up 2 points to Argentina and was finally benched by Coach K.

Carmelo Anthony is the poster boy for everything I hate about the NBA. He is disinterested in defense, plays hard only to score, is a thug on the court, and is an #### both on and off the court, but no one cares because he is talented.

One of the most surprising things about this game was that, for the first time in the 2008 Olympics, this very deep team saw players play more than 30 of the 40 game minutes. Both Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony were granted that honor. While Kobe at least played defense and was a peace maker, Anthony was totally unworthy of the trust Coach K put in him that game. 

Speaking of bad decisions, look at the turnover statistics of USA's primary ball handlers:

Turnovers per Minute Played:
0.188 Jason Kidd
0.154 Lebron James
0.154 Deron Williams
0.095 Chris Paul
0.063 Kobe Bryant

On Sunday, USA faces Spain again. I hope USA has learned its lesson about taking opponents for granted, especially since there were anomalies in that first meeting that USA should not count on happening again.

- Spain committed 28 turnovers versus the United States, a number it hasn't come close to before that game or since.

- USA shot 7 of 11 (64%) from the arc in the first half that game. For perspective, USA averages 36.4% from the arc for the Olympics.

- In the first meeting of USA vs. Spain, Marc Gasol had early foul trouble so Spain couldn't press its size advantage.

- Spain foolishly tried to play at USA's pace rather than slow the pace down to their advantage, a lesson Spain seems to have learned now given that opponents are only scoring 50 and 59 points since.

Because of the large margins of victory, USA's 67 percent free throw shooting hasn't been a factor. (Argentina shot 15 of 16 (94%) from the free throw line by the way). But that 67 percent number is a little deceiving. For instances, in this game against Argentina, two players combined to shoot 18 of 18 free throws, skewing the team's overall free throw shooting performance. 

If Spain wants, it can foul Dwight Howard (48.4%) and others with bench players, and pretty much count on getting the ball back while giving up just 1 point at the most.

With 20+ point margins of victory, it is very easy to be blasé about USA's weaknesses.

Then again, in the past USA has smugly taken its basketball superiority for granted and paid little attention to the fact that the rest of the world was getting better... until it was too late.

It's a new world, and it is time to acknowledge and embrace it, respect our opponents, and EARN the gold, and not just assume they plan on handing it over to you because you dominated in the past!

Playing basketball is a lot like shaving: no matter how good a job you did yesterday, you've got to get up and do it again today.

I am tied up in a family thing today and I will finish this late tonight, but just to get this idea out there....

This was a seriously bad game for USA Olympic Men's Basketball. Don't believe this was a bad game? Think about this:

After the first quarter, USA was up 19 points.

When the game ended, USA was up 20 points.

That means that Argentina played dead even with USA for the last 3 quarters, and they did it without Manu Ginobli, and with an injured Andrés Nocioni.

If it happened once, it could be a fluke.

If it happened twice, it could be a trend.

Of the 7 games the USA Men's basketball team has played so far in the 2008 Olympics, its worst two games were its last two.

But because USA won these last two games by 31 and 20 points, no one is worrying.

When I get back, I'll write why we probably should be.

Cheers!

Wow, this is a good game.

Will USA be playing Spain?

Spain is down by 3 with 9:20 left.

Lithuania is ridiculously physical; Fernandez got a nasty head but to the face.

Anyway, back to the TV.

6:10 left

Rudy Fernandez came back after sitting most of the 2nd half, and has made the difference for Spain, scoring 7 points in a row and giving Spain the lead.

Man the Blazers got a deal when they got this guy!

It looks like Spain will win, but they sure got beat up getting it.

And Spain has some great young players, especially guards, and will be a force in years to come.

I take that back. Spain's backup guards are 0 of 12, and they just coughed up the ball in full court pressure in a 3 point game with about a minute left.

redeem (verb) - to do something that makes other people have a better opinion of (you), especially after you have behaved badly or failed at something. -- Cambridge Dictionary of American English.

Whoever first coined the phrase, "The road to redemption" must have understood that redemption is almost never a single act or gesture. Redemption is a road that, like all roads, must to be traveled a step at a time. Today USA took another step towards redemption with its 31 point defeat of Australia. There are 3 steps left to go.

The story line to this game is an interesting one. USA led by just 1 point at then end of the first quarter, and would have taken just a 6 point lead into the locker room at the half, were it not for a missed 3 pointer by Australia's Mark Worthington, a rebound by Chris Bosh, then a buzzer beating 3 pointer by Deron Williams. That buzzer beater is more remarkable when you realize that Williams was only 1 of 5 from the arc against Australia, the buzzer beater was his only successful 3 pointer.

After a close first half, Kobe Bryant took control for USA by scoring 9 of USA's 14 to 0 run. After that, USA slowly built on its advantage.

Australia probably thought it was playing well against USA in the first quarter, but I didn't see it that way. For some reason every American but Jason Kidd started off the game completely infatuated with dribbling. I was really frustrated.

The ball movement was so stagnant, that USA did not have an assist the entire first quarter. In fact, with 2:51 left in the third quarter, Mike Breen and Doug Collins mentioned that USA had only 1 assist the entire first half. USA moved the ball considerably better after the break though, and had 15 assists in the second half.

Also, defensively this was the worst game of the 2008 Olympics for Team USA.

Never in these Olympics has USA allowed an opponent to score so many points. Opponents have been averaging 70.8 points per game, USA but allowed Australia to score 85.

Why isn't anyone talking about USA allowing 85 points?! That is enough to have won 12 of the games played so far in these 2008 Olympics!

Opponents had been averaging just 36.7% from the field but Australia shot 43%, easily the highest shooting percentage allowed by USA.

And Australia was actually -2 in turnovers, and +2 on points off of turnovers!

The closing play of the first quarter was typical of USA's defense: after a MADE free throw by Chris Bosh, Australia put the ball in play and ran the ball the length of the court and made a lay up while collecting a foul on Chris Paul.

Australia had only 1 turnover in the first quarter, had 7 turnovers in the second, and only 3 turnovers in the entire second half. Think about that. Australia's biggest let down was in the second quarter, when Coach K played a very quick, defense minded group consisting of Williams, Wade, Bryant,  James and Bosh.

In other words, when Coach K forced USA to play defense, Australia coughed up the ball like the other teams have.

USA's defense definitely slipped in this quarterfinals game from its previous performances, which troubles me. It should be getting better as games go on and mean more.

But USA's offense struggled to get going as well.

When Kobe Bryant shot his first shot of the game, 3 minutes into it, USA was already 3 of 9 (33%). That's a lot of quick and poor shots for 3 minutes.

LeBron James started 0 of 3, Dwight Howard was 1 of 3, and Carmelo Anthony was 2  of 3. And although Bryant made that first shot, he missed is next 3 and was 1 of 4 for the first quarter. For the first quarter: LeBron was 1 of 5, Howard was 3 of 6, Anthony was 3 of 5, Kidd 1 of 1, Wade 0 of 2, and Paul and Williams were 0 of 1.

And watching the game, it was clear the poor shooting was not due to Australia's defense, but due to USA's poor shot selection, particularly from the arc, which Australia's defense was daring them to take.

Defensively, Australia packed in their zone and dared the Americans to shoot from the outside (3 of 13 from the arc in the first half. And when USA did get the ball inside to Dwight Howard, they quickly hacked him; Howard had 5 free throw attempts in 14 minutes of play. And why not? Prior to this game Howard was shooting just 45% from the free throw line.

Observations:

- All 12 USA players scored.

- Australia sent in a scrub named Worthington to hammer Carmelo Anthony. To Anthony's credit, he smiled and walked away and left Howard and James to jaw with the scrub.

- USA's next opponent won't likely be intimidated by the "Redeem Team, seeing as Argentina has 4 NBAers in its starting 5.

- In the second quarter, Kobe rebounded the ball under the rim, and took such a severe fade away on his turn around jumper that he literally landed on his back on the 3 point line. I groaned that he attempted the shot, and laughed as it went in. Kobe is the best maker of bad shots I've seen.

- The NBA should change its terminology for the playoffs from "first round, second round, etc." to "quarter finals, semi-finals, conference finals, and finals." The Olympics have figured it out: that repeated uses of the word "finals" leading to the NBA Finals would be stronger product branding.

- After the game, LeBron James had this to say of Kobe Bryant, "He's the one guy on our team that's not afraid to take the final shot or guard anyone. Kobe is the No. 1 athlete out here. Beyond basketball, I think people are starting to see his personality."

- Team USA had 13 offensive rebounds in the first half, which was allowing them additional shots and a shot at staying in the game.

- Team USA was +29 in rebounding, astounding considering it was -4 in rebounds over the course of the first 4 games.

- Australia's coach, Greg Goorjian, "Going into the game, I thought we had one advantage, and that's a lot for us. I thought it was Patrick Mills. . . . I thought he was someone their point guards would have trouble with."

- USA's coach, Mike Krzyzewski, said this of Patrick Mills, who will be a freshman at St. Mary's this fall, "I'm glad my Duke team doesn't play St. Mary's this season. (Patrick Mills) is a great guard. He’ll be an NBA guard and I’m very, very impressed.... he really has great quickness. I love him defensively; I’m sure Brian does too. I’ve been a defensive coach my whole life and there aren’t very many people who stay with a guard – like right on him – when he has the ball – and if he’s beaten, he doesn’t retreat; he continues to play the play. He’s got to be an extremely tough-minded kid. As good as he is offensively, I think he’s got a chance to be a great defender. I think the kid has got a big time future, to be quite frank with you. He’s an impressive player. He’s got great quickness and great strength. What else can I say? he can shoot, he’s tough-minded, he’s so competitive. I mean the kid’s going to be an NBA player, there is no question about it. What a great thing to build your future on (speaking of Australia's basketball team)."

Perhaps the two most notable things about this game against Germany are:

1. How sharp USA played in a "meaningless game," and
2. How USA strayed from the winning formula it has been using so far in international play.

Because USA could force themselves to play with such sharpness in a meaningless game like this, I'm thinking there won't be any let downs in the medal games to come.

But it's really remarkable how USA strayed from the winning formula it used in previous games. So I should remark on it.

<> Up until now, USA was -4 in rebounding against their opponents, but today USA was +15 in rebounding over Germany! Everyone pretty much rebounded as they have been, except Dwight Howard, Carlos Boozer and Tayshaun Prince stepped up their rebounding efforts considerably.

<> USA found points inside from their big men, most notably Dwight Howard. He scored 22 points in 19 minutes! Carlos Boozer, though, had 6 points and 6 rebounds in just 9 minutes.

<> 59 of USA's 106 points came from forwards and centers, and Carmelo Anthony was only 4 of those 59 points. However, because Kobe Bryant has been playing small forward at times, that number is probably higher.

<> The 18 turnovers USA got from Germany is the lowest of the Olympics. And USA had only 18 points off of turnovers against Germany, which is their lowest point total off of turnovers in the Olympics (they had 28 against Spain, 25 against Greece, 25 against Angloa).

In other words, Germany slowed down the pace, cared for the ball better than other teams so USA scored less in transition, and tried to force USA's bigs to beat them from inside... and USA did!

Because USA has been leveraging their transition game, creating easy points for themselves off of turnovers, I've been wondering if opposing teams would start to slow down the pace, care for the ball better, and try to force Team USA's bigs to beat them from inside in a half court game, and if USA's bigs were up to the challenge. Well, they sure were against Germany.

Other observations:

- This was the first game USA took control of right away. The other games, teams had success against USA until USA found their way, then had their way with their opponents.

- Germany missed 9 of its first 10 shots, and went down 18 to 3 in the early going.

- USA never allowed Germany to score more than 17 points in a quarter.

- Michael Redd, USA's shooting specialist, was 1 of 9 from the floor and 0 of 4 from the arc in his 13 minutes of play.

- USA shot 61.1 percent from the free throw line. Dwight, you are embarrassing us! Germany's Dirk Nowitzki was 5 of 5.

- The player with the most minutes this game was... Tayshaun Prince! Only Prince and Chris Paul had more than 20 minutes of playing time.

- Kobe missed two dunks?! Maybe someone ought to bring out an Aston Martin to motivate him to get jumping.

- The last time USA basketball was beating teams by this much, Color Me Badd and Right Said Fred topped the charts, Wayne's World and Batman Returns were in theaters, and Eric Clapton won a grammy for "Tears in Heaven." That was the original 1992 Dream Team, and their competition then was no where near as good as the "Redeem Team's" competition is now.

If you are a fan of USA basketball, this was a great game, but two numbers indicate Team USA wasn't yet tested where it is weakest: inside. Those two numbers are 28 and 64.

Twenty-eight. Spain committed 28 turnovers versus the United States. For perspective, Spain committed 8 turnovers in their previous game against Greece.

Sixty four. USA shot 7 of 11 (64%) from the arc in the first half. For perspective, that is better than USA's FREE THROW percentage from their previous game (56.5%).

While those 2 numbers are actually positives, they are also anomalies: unusual occurrences that may not happen again.

Of course, USA had something to do with Spain turning the ball over so much, but then again, Spain's zone defense had something to do with USA shooting so well from the arc. If you don't believe that, Spain's halftime adjustments had USA shooting 4 of 14 for 28.5% in the 2nd half.

Anomalies (a.k.a. "luck") probably affect many if not most games, but for success to be consistent, it needs to be based on something a team can consistently do.

If Team USA can consistently shoot 64% from the arc, it hasn't shown it so far. In fact, USA's second half 3-point shooting performance against Spain, 28.5%, is more consistent with how USA has been shooting 3 pointers in the Olympics.

As for turnovers, remember Australia? Earlier this month (August 5,2008), the Aussies slowed down the pace to limit possessions, and were it not for a flat 2nd quarter, Australia could have upset Team USA. Instead of slowing down the pace though, today Spain tried to play at USA's pace, and Spain turned over Group B's leadership to USA. Literally.

I really think USA will earn the gold medal in 2008 Men's Basketball, but I also think teams have seen enough of how USA plays, where it is strongest and where it is weakest, and that opposing teams will try slowing down the pace and caring for the ball to take away USA's easy points, and they will try to make USA grind it out from inside.

USA's last two wins were impressive, but they scored very little with bigs posting up in the half court.

Against Spain, Carmelo Anthony scored 12 of his 16 points from the arc. Tayshaun Prince scored 9 of his 10 points from the arc. LeBron James scored 6 of his 18 points from the arc, and I don't know how many of the remaining 12 points were scored in transition, but it seemed like a lot, didn't it? That's where his highlight plays come from.

But in terms of good old fashioned back to the basket bigs scoring down low on post play in the half court, USA was probably outplayed by Spain. And Team USA was out rebounded again (39 to 36). Can USA's bigs step up to score inside if opponents are successful at forcing that pace on them? I hope so.

Other observations:

- Less than 2 minutes into the game (1:57 to be exact), Pao Gasol set a screen and Kobe Bryant just leveled him to the floor. Pau smiled, but Kobe walked by Pau without looking at him, much less helping him up or giving Pau a pat, which Bryant did with other Spanish players throughout the game. Commentator Doug Collins said he thought it was a good foul, and Collins was wrong. The only message that foul sent was a message Gasol already knew: that Kobe was more serious about beating Spain than he was about his friendship with Pau. In reality, the only thing that stupid foul did was put Kobe out of the game sooner.

- Team USA was called for 17 fouls in the first half, but as USA took control of the game, refs stopped trying to help Spain and called only 7 fouls against USA in the second half. USA did make adjustments, but it really appeared the the refs did as well.

- Spain's 17 year old guard, Ricky Rubio, didn't looked in intimidated in the least by going up against the likes of Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul and Deron Williams. In fact, he baited a couple of them into fouls.  XPhoneix87 is right when he wrote on BallerBlogger.com that this is a guy to keep an eye out for.

- I was thrilled to hear Doug Collins say that Team USA's mantra is: No bad habits. That's the motto I'm yelling during the practice of every team I've ever coached. You think Coach K stole it from me? ;-)

- It was a 7 point game with 25 seconds left to go in the 1st quarter. Considering the final scores in the Olympics, USA has yet to really dominate a team from the get go. Opponents start off finding success, then USA finds its way and then has its way with its opponents.

- 13 of 16 USA turnovers were James, Bryant, Paul and Wade.

- LeBron James and Chis Paul combined to shoot 14 of 14 from the free throw line, substantially helping USA raise their overall free throw percentage. The rest of the team shot 5 of 10 for 50% from the free thrown line. Tch tch tch.

- When asked to expand on Team USA’s strengths, Pau Gasol said: “They are playing with a purpose and that’s to win and to show everyone else that they are superior. And I think that’s the bottom line. It’s not that they are better individually than two years ago, they are better as a team. They have a better mentality.”

- In a post game interview with Craig Sager, Chris Paul made it clear the Team USA wanted to make a statement with this game. Did they? Well, ask Spain's Pau Gasol.

“They wanted to make a statement in this game, playing against us, and they did,” Pau said. “They sent a message to everybody in the tournament. They didn’t do it before, and now everybody knows that they’re for real, and they’re very serious about this.”

The first quarter was tense.

In the first minute and a half, Jason Kidd picked up 3 fouls, none of them would have been fouls in the NBA.

Enter Chris Paul, and he turned the ball over on his very first pass.

Add bogus foul calls on Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant, (not to mention the fouls that weren't being called on Greece), and in the first 2 minutes of play, Team USA found themselves with a 5 to 0 foul disparity, a starter on the bench, and two key players having to back off right away on defense because of early fouls.

It really was looking scary, and then no call contact on Kobe Bryant had Kobe wincing and grabbing at his injured finger. Greece clearly had a game plan.

On the first -- what appeared to be a time out call, Coach K didn't even look at his players. Instead, he went at the refs with such energy, players went out to get him and pull him back. Mike D'Antoni looked so angry on the bench that you'd have thought someone just told him Isaiah Thomas was just hired to be the Knicks president again.

Greece was allowed to be so physical, allowed to move on screens, shove USA players as they jumped to rebound and shoot, and allowed unlimited time camping in the key. In fact, I thought they were starting a homestead there in the blue paint.

We knew Greece would come with some surprises for USA though, and they did. They added a twist to their their pick and roll offense: they ran multiple picks off the ball while running their pick and roll at the same time.

The result of their offense was to create and exploit mismatches with USA's man to man defense, but also they used this very picky offense to create deep entry passes to the post. And it was successful. Greece got many great looks and were scoring inside, especially against Dwight Howard.

Then Chris Paul started doing what I've always hated until today: he threw his body into the body of bigger players and started collecting fouls on Greece. I'm sure Coach Mike Krzyzewski's outburst helped the refs see the contact as well, so it was good timing for Chris to start this.

When Kobe missed his first 3 point attempt, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade entered the game.

Dwayne Wade didn't start off well. He failed to block out the free throw shooter and Greece scored two points on a missed free throw. That was pretty much Wade's last mistake though. Immediately Dwayne made his presence known by impressively out working Greece (and all Americans) for a rebound.

Oops! I've got to go bring my daughter somewhere. I'll finish this later, stay tuned.

Okay, I'm back.

I'm not sure what the best combination of players was against Greece. Williams and Paul played a lot together, and Kobe played small forward in some groups and shooting guard with others. I had to laugh when Kobe would knock the ball off the rim! He's quickly adapting to international play, except for the 3 point arc I guess.

The second quarter was the breakout quarter for TeamUSA. When Greece beat USA 2 years ago in Japan, Greece had 11 turnovers the whole game. Today Greece had 11 turnovers with 2:04 left to go in the first half. That gave USA opportunities to run and speed up the pace.

However, USA didn't need a rebound or a turnover to run. In the 2nd quarter, USA pulled out an offense we haven't seen yet this Olympics: Mike D'Antoni's runnin' Suns offense. Taking advantage of their extraordinary depth, TeamUSA exploited Greece's 2nd quarter legs by running off of made baskets, the way the Phoenix Suns have been doing the last few years. Even if USA didn't score on early offense, it gave them more time to set something up in half court.

And Greece couldn't handle the pace. Greece scored 16 points in both the first and second quarters, but gave up 20 points the first quarter, and 31 points in the 2nd quarter, which USA played at D'Antoni pace.

The rap on Greece is they get discouraged and don't play as well from behind, but that wasn't the case this game. After their disastrous 2nd quarter, they increased their scoring in the third quarter (from 16 to 22), and decreased USA's 3rd quarter production (from 31 to 23). Greece did go flat in the 4th quarter though, eeking out only 15 points, but then again USA only scored 18.

There were some surprises.

- Rebounding was dead even: 38 to 38. Guards grabbed 15 of those 38 rebounds for USA. The bigs improved slightly over their rebounding performance against Angola, but not enough yet. Carlos Boozer had zero rebounds, but he was severely outsized, playing center for the most part.

- Then again, Jason Kidd grabbed 3 rebounds in only 7 minutes of playing. Boozer can and should do better on the boards.

- Kobe, shooting poorly from outside, backed up to about where the NBA line was and tried shooting 3s from out there. I wouldn't have done it, or advised him to, but it worked. Kobe shot the longer 3 better.

- LeBron played the most minutes, followed by Chris Paul, then Deron Williams and Kobe Bryant.

- Dwight Howard had 2 points in 12 minutes. Chris Bosh had 18 points in 21 minutes. Bosh was BRILLIANT on both ends of the court.

- Greece used picks to make mismatches out of USA's man to man defense, then tried to exploit the mismatches, but Chris Bosh thwarted them nearly every time. Time and again, a quick guard would drag Bosh out to the top of the key, and I'd think, "Uh oh, Bosh is going to foul or this guy is going to get a lay up," but Bosh's hands were quicker than a John Edwards lie, and he deflected, stole and blocked the ballhandler again and again. What started out as a probably 2 to 3 points for Greece became an easy transition basket for USA because of Bosh. He was the player of the game.

- Dwayne Wade was a player of the game as well. As I mentioned, Wade came into the game during a Greecian free throw, was the only USA player to line up in the lane nearer the shooter, and Wade ran to the rim for a rebound rather than blocking out the shooter, giving Greece an easy lay up instead of a missed free throw. That was about Wade's only mistake though. Dwayne Wade had 6 steals, 5 assists and 17 points.

- I take that back. Wade sucked from the free throw line, shooting 4 of 9 for 44.4 percent. Team USA overall shot 13 of 23 from the line, for 56.5 percent. Most high school teams shoot free throws better than that.

- Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony were by far the worst shooters in this game, both shooting 33%.

- Wade, Boozer, Bosh, Bryant, James and Redd all shot 50% or better.

- LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Deron Williams, Chris Paul and Dwight Howard account for 12 of the 16 turnovers for TeamUSA.

- The International Olympic Committee, if they don't do something about the officiating, owes the French skating judges a big apology.

---

What impressed me most about this win was that the team Greece fielded today was definitely BETTER than the team that beat USA 2 years ago. They have grown as players and as a team.

TeamUSA just grew more. And yes, Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd were a strong positive factor in today's win, but Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade were even more of a factor today. These two aren't the only U.S. players to improve over the last 2 years, and the team as a team is better as well. It's working. Team USA's management is doing it right.

In 2004, Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury were USA's backcourt. In 2006, Kirk Hinrich and Joe Johnson were the back court. Finally now, Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, Dwayne Wade, Deron Williams, Chris Paul and Michael Redd make up our back court. Talented guards, yes, but solid men and team players as well.

The current leaders of TeamUSA have done the right thing selecting THESE guys, making them commit the way they have, and making them work they way they are. This isn't all all-star exhibition, this is a team.

It is working.

An improved Greek squad was downed by a more improved USA team.

Hot on the heals of Josh Childress's departure from the Atlanta Hawks to play in Greece, the Hawks have just learned they may have missed out on a promising prospect that was almost on their front door step.

According to this story...

Matthew Whitton, a cop in Clayton County, Ga., and his friend Rick Dyer, a former corrections officer, say they recently found the body of Big Foot in the woods of northern Georgia.

Veteran Bigfoot tracker Tom Biscardi said he's examined the body, and that scientists will get their chance soon. Meanwhile, the body, photos and DNA evidence will be released at a press conference in Palo Alto, Calfiornia on Friday.

"I think you'll find that this is the real deal," Robert Barrows of Redwood City, Calif., told the Bay City News local wire service.

Yeah, well, that's what they said about Kwame Brown.

What I want to know is why they are presenting a body, and not a captured specimen.

And after all those "sightings" in the Pacific Northwest, if this story is true, it's wild they finally caught up with one in Georgia.

And why fly (drive?) it to Northern California for the press conference? Was there a testing facility for Big Foot fraud there or something?

And could the Big Fella box out? Before, of course, his unfortunate demise.

The good news is I hear his younger brother, Marc, is playing in Spain and will soon be playing for (of all teams) the Grizzlies.

Oh wait, that's the younger brother of the Geico caveman.

My bad.

Observations about the USA vs. Angola game have me thinking USA has a problem with their "bigs," or in other words, a BIG problem.

--- Angola's 3 point shooting was about as bad as Team USA's (29%), as was their mid range game, meaning most of Angola's 76 points came inside, which is SERIOUSLY bad news for Team USA. USA's bigs were dismayingly deficient defensively, especially since Angola may be the only team in the Olympics that is smaller overall than the U.S.

--- At half time, Angola was +3 in rebounds. By the end of the game, Angola out rebounded USA by 4 (38 to 34), so USA's rebounding efforts against a smaller Angola team were horrible, and got worse as the game wore on. There was no correction at half time or any other place in the game.

The thing is, the rebounding situation is worse than you think.

53 percent of all Team USA's rebounds came from their GUARDS, not their bigs!

When you consider that bigs are, well, bigger than guards, and that at any given time there are usually 50% more bigs on the floor than guards, you can see that Team USA's bigs are definitely not pulling their weight.

Criticize Kobe's performance all you want, (I plan to), but what hurt Team USA most this game was poor efforts and results from its forwards and centers, both on defense and in rebounding.

Rebounds per minute for FORWARDS & CENTERS:

0.286 - Carmelo Anthony
0.200 - LeBron James
0.200 - Dwight Howard
0.182 - Carlos Boozer
0.143 - Chris Bosh
0.071 - Tayshaun Prince

Rebounds per minute for GUARDS

0.313 - Dwayne Wade
0.267 - Jason Kidd
0.222 - Kobe Bryant
0.190 - Chris Paul

And of course, Angola's rebounds per minute stats blow away all Team USA's big players.

--- There is no other way to say it, I'm disgusted the Team USA only shot 64% from the charity stripe (16 of 25). 7 of the 9 free throw misses were Team USA big men.

--- Unlike the rest of the country, I'm not that worried about Team USA's outside shooting. USA's 3-point shooting stats are deceptive. As a team, they did shoot 5 of 21 (23.8%), but if you remove Kobe's 0 of 8, then they shot 38.4 %. Not great, but not the end of the world either. Before his finger injury, Kobe was the most devastating perimeter player in basketball. He's not so good now, but I don't see him shooting 0 of 8 again. I'm thinking USA's perimeter game will be adequate against Greece tomorrow, provided a team-first mentality prevails.

--- This team has lost its focus, and many players are thinking of themselves before their team. Often a man ahead was ignored so the man with the ball could dunk or shoot. Deron Williams over dribbled. Chris Paul let his man blow by him so often I could swear the crowd started to yell, "Ole'!" Kobe, even if you were 8 out of 8 from the arc, those aren't the stats nor the acts of a defensive stopper. Carlos, you are a role player on this team, and your role is to defend and rebound, not blow gimmies around the basket. Dwight, trash talking? Against ANGLOLA? Really?! Come on, guys, get back on task.

--- Scoring for the United States declined by quarter as the game went on, scoring a record low 16 points in the 4th quarter. I'm sure much of this was a motivation problem, and some of it is (hopefully) a sportsmanship thing, not wanting to run up the score and embarrass Angola. Angola's scoring, by the way, increased.

--- I LOVE how clear the floor was out of bounds at the baselines and the side lines. This should be the rule for NCAA and NBA basketball as well. I can't STAND to see players flying into camera men or cheerleaders, or worse, not diving for loose balls so they don't collide with these people. There is enough money in both college and professional basketball to give the players some breathing room and still make a profit.

--- Team USA did manage to get the ball into post, especially to Dwight Howard, but usually they did it in early offense before Angola's defense was set.

--- I was embarrassed by Dwight Howard's trash talking. First of all, he isn't playing well enough to have the right. Second, even if he was, this is Angola, not the 1992 Dream Team. Get over yourself and play basketball, Dwight.

--- Only one player got up early and scouted the Greece vs. Spain game with the coaches: Kobe Bryant. When asked about that, LeBron James said that if Kobe was there, then the whole team was there because Kobe would share any information he obtained. My goodness that is LAME! Those guys had a chance to peek at the cards of their two greatest adversaries, and slept through it! ARGH! Can spoiled millionaires ever grasp it? TEAM comes first, you come second!

[Added after I originally posted this]

Restating what I've written before...

It is scary for us to pin our hopes to a team that "turns it on and off" like our current Team USA does. It would be so much more reassuring if they would just play at their full potential all the time and crush everyone, even if destroying their opponents and running up the score is seen as poor sportsmanship.

We are all hoping that as the competition gets tougher, so will they, but it's an uneasy feeling not knowing for sure whether or not they actually will, given that USA has lost before.

One thing that will help is right now all players are getting lots of minutes, regardless their production. I'm sure the minutes will be less for players who aren't proving themselves productive once the heat is on. That will help with the final score as well as the box score.

Also, there is one point that probably can't be ignored.

It is just the nature of competitors to raise their level of play as the level of competition rises. It's just who and how they are.

I remember back in the day, I lost games of horse to middle schoolers, and later that day hit 7 3-pointers in a row during a tournament.

There is just something about real competition that brings out the best in some people. Even in the NBA, some players play better against some players and some teams, the challenge just brings out the best in them. Take for example, how Gilbert Arenas plays when he plays against Kobe.

And there are a LOT of these kinds of people on TeamUSA. They need the challenge to be their best.

And TeamUSA has yet to face a team that has challenged them enough to bring out the best in them.

At least that is what I am hoping is going on!

USA! USA! USA!

Here is some interesting research -- so interesting in fact that you will hear no doubt hear it again -- but remember, you heard it from ME first! :-D Anyway...

In the last 14 years, when it has come down to just the last 2 teams in the NBA Finals, the team with the best defense during the regular season has won the NBA Championship every time, except for the New Jersey Nets, and in 2001 when the Lakers beat the 76ers -- but that year injuries caused Shaq to miss 8 games, Kobe to miss 14 games, Horace Grant to miss 5, and starting point guard Ron Harper to miss 47, so the Lakers regular season defensive rating is misleading. (The previous season the Lakers had the #1 defense in the NBA).

So if you are looking for a team to bet on in the Finals, the odds are VASTLY in favor of the better defensive team.

In fact, in the last 28 years (which is all I wanted to research back to), except for the aforementioned Laker team, and a Rockets team that had regular season injuries to Hakeem Olajuwon,  Clyde Drexler, Vernon Maxwell, Robert Horry and Ortis Thorpe, the NBA Champion was always in the top 10 defensively.

In fact, in the last 28 years, 18 NBA Champions were top 5 defensive teams during the regular season preceding their championships.

And in the last 28 years, only 3 NBA Finals have not had at least 1 top 5 defensive team (2006 Heat vs. Mavs, 1995 Rockets vs. Magic, and 1982 Lakers vs. 76ers), and in every instance, the eventual champs defensive ranking was skewed due to injuries to key players such as Shaq, Wade, Olajawon, Kareem, Magic, Cooper, etc.

So, if you adjust for injuries, over the last 28 years EVERY NBA Finals has had at least 1 top-five defensive team in it, and adjusting for injuries, the better defensive team has won every NBA Finals for the last 14 years... unless its point guard was Jason Kidd. Hmm, I wonder if Mark Cuban knew that before he traded for him last year.  ;)

At any rate, those statistics may take some of the mystery out of predicting the Finals.

Now that the Lakers have learned they cannot just shoot their way past the Celtics defense, ranked #1 in the regular season, it will be interesting to see if they up their defense in the regular season from last year.

If they don't, then we probably shouldn't be predicting a Lakers parade next June.