Before I start, I'd like to propose a new NBA rule: players are NOT to make ANY contact with any player of an opposing team AFTER a whistle has blown.

If there are players that need separating, there are 3 referees and 4 teammates on each side that can do the job, so there is no need for a player to pose as a "peacemaker" by making contact with or restraining an opposing player. As often as not, that just further provokes things.

On November 12, 2008, at the US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona, home of the Suns, the visiting Houston Rockets found themselves in this season's first NBA brawl. Here is a very clear YouTube video of the incident.

In brief, Houston point guard, Rafer Alston set a screen for Tracy McGrady at the 3 point arc, and Phoenix Suns 6'7" starting forward, Matt Barnes, gave the 6'2" Rafer Alston, a hard and cheap shot.

Interestingly, at the time Barnes gave Alston the cheap shot, Alston was having a great game and had the best player efficiency (+17) of any player on both teams, and Barnes was having a bad game and had the lowest player efficiency rating of all players on both teams (-17). The Rockets were beating the Suns in Phoenix, and it appears that frustration was a factor in Barnes's hard foul.

After Alston regained his balance, he ran at Barns, but was held up momentarily by an illegal moving screen set by Steve Nash. When Alston did get to Barnes, he did not strike him or push him. Alston just put his face into Barnes's face and they jawed back and forth...

It looked like that was all that was going to happen, teammates were already separating the two when suddenly Steve Nash inexplicably came charging at them, made contact, then flopped to the floor. That DEFINITELY escalated what was just angry words between two players into an all out fracas.

Fortunately for all involved, Ron Artest was on the bench at the time, and stayed put.

The most interesting thing I observed, though, is what the NBA Officials did -- or maybe I should say DID NOT do, and this should be a major concern for the NBA Player's Union.

If you watch the video closely, throughout the whole skirmish, referees James Capers and Tony Brown were in the middle of the fray separating players. However, Referee Greg Willard started to pull Matt Barnes from the fighting, but when Barnes gave referee Willard a shove, Willard backed out of the incident altogether and became a spectator, leaving it to his two coworkers to settle things down 2 on 10.

Speaking of NBA officials doing nothing, here is the REAL problem...

Had the refs called the obvious foul that Barnes gave Alston, the skirmish would not have happened and no one would have been fined or suspended.

Because the foul happened in plain sight on the 3 point arc, and not in the crowded paint, I am assuming the officials saw it and chose not to call it. Besides, the television replays from multiple angles make it clear that you didn't need a special angle to see the foul.

I'm not saying Barnes didn't provoke it with his cheap shot because he did. And I'm not saying Alston should have kept his cool, because he should have.

I'm saying that referees have a tremendous amount of power on the floor. They can call things tight and players adjust, or they can allow contact and let tempers rise.

I've said this before and I hate that I have to write it again, but I don't care who you are, everyone has a point at which they can lose their cool. When we put young athletes in the heat of competition, sometimes with a lot on the line in terms of their careers, franchises and fan base, and then fail keep control of the game, we are setting players up to fail.

Unfortunately, there is that chorus of cretins who always complain to officials to "let them play," but what these dullards can't comprehend is that fouling isn't playing, it is a violation of play. It is an attempt to gain an advantage by breaking the rules of the game... in simple terms, fouling is cheating.

I hope that someday all fans will realize that the best way to keep a game from being stopped so often for free throws isn't to allow contact, it is to be consistent, then teams can once and for all adjust their play and things can flow well.

I have no problem with the fines and suspensions the NBA league office imposed on those involved, but I have a REAL problem that the refs get off scott free for this, because most of the blame is theirs.

If I were Derek Fisher, the head of the NBA Player's Union, I would be sending tapes and a formal complaint to David Stern, and putting my face in front of cameras to tell the world, "Had NBA officials called that obvious foul, fans would not have been disappointed to see their favorite stars suspended."

If refs aren't going to call fouls, why do we even have them? And if the union isn't going to stand up for its players when they are wronged, why have a union?

Derek may be distracted as he focuses on the Lakers' goals, but there is no excuse at all for the new head of NBA Officiating, former Army general, Ronald Johnson.

Hey, General Johnson, stop stealing pay checks and do your job!

Keep an eye on this unfolding story about Cuban using insider information to avoid $750,000 in losses.

According to Forbes Magazine, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is one of the richest people in the world, with a net worth at $2.3 billion as of March 2007. Besides the Mavericks, Cuban owns the HDNet cable television channel, Landmark Theaters, a large national chain, and (ironically) a Web site called Sharesleuth.com, which bills itself as providing "independent Web-based reporting aimed at exposing securities fraud and corporate chicanery."

Considering that Mark Cuban is a celebrity and a high profile billionaire, I'm sure the SEC did its homework twice before filing charges, especially given that the alleged infraction took place June 28, 2004.

If guilty, do you think they'll put Mark Cuban in the same cell with ex-NBA referee, Tim Donahy as part of the punishment for both of them?

If fined, do you think Cuban will continue his tradition of matching the amount he pays in fines with a donations to charity?

Seriously though, this is not a good day for Mark, or for anyone for that matter. And by the way, the SEC charges are in civil court, not criminal. I hope Cuban is innocent. Unfortunately though, the charges are somewhat believable.

I remember when Dirk Nowitzki won the 3-point shootout in Houston in February of 2006, Dirk actually stood on the line and some of his makes should have been disqualified. Had the refs done their jobs, Dirk would not have won, but Cuban didn't complain to the league office that time.

Cuban is an opportunist: Mark Cuban does whatever benefits Mark Cuban's interests, and he has a history of seizing every advantage he can get for himself. Hopefully, he knew better than to do what the SEC thinks he's done.

By the way, again I apologize for being unable to make comments, even on my own blog postings.

I've standardized our offices on Firefox for both Macs and PCs, and Foxsports blogs comments suddenly quit working for Firefox... it appears to be a Javascript problem with their "Add a Comment" link, but I don't know and they aren't helping.

At any rate, I'm sorry but I cannot make comments on Foxsports blogs, including my own, unless I drink the purple kool-aid and apparently downgrade to Internet Explorer.

--- EDITS ---

The Wall Street Journal updated their article from when I originally linked to it, and added more detail.

Cuban and his attorney launched into a vicious public tirade against the SEC, saying among other things that the SEC should be too busy with its bigger problems to worry about Cuban's little $750,000 transaction.

Does that response smell funny to you? Because it sure does to me.

The article also added a quote from Mark Cuban's blog, posted on March 2, 2005, nearly a year after the stock sale.

Mr. Cuban wrote, "the company did a PIPE financing. I'm not going to discuss the good or bad of PIPE financing other than to say that to me its a huge red flag and I don't want to own stock in companies that use this method of financing. Why? Because I don't like the idea of selling in a private placement, stock for less than the market price, and then to make matters worse, pushing the price lower with the issuance of warrants. So I sold the stock."

Obviously, this blog entry is a written confession of guilt. Cuban clearly says that the reason he sold was because of the PIPE financing, which explains why Cuban's defense isn't that he didn't get inside information prior to selling, but that he was never told the insider information was confidential.

That is so unlikely and weak that it should make most people laugh out loud.

Even if Cuban was not told the information was confidential, which again is impossible to believe given the sensitive nature of the call and the care the CEO took to document it, Cuban would have known that conversation was confidential anyway.

Besides, Cuban confesses that he knew it was a confidential call when he describes it as selling stock in a "private placement."

Hey Mark, private placement means the public won't be notified until after the deal is done... so like it or not, you ARE an investor who made a trade based on information the public wasn't privy to, information given to you by an insider. That is pretty much the definition of insider trading, and you confessed to it in your own blog.

Rather than placing your bet on semantics and vilifying the SEC, you ought to stop with the tantrum and get on their good side so you can cut a deal, because this civil suit, its legal costs, fines and restitution is going to cost you much more than $750,000. Best to pull a mea culpa and part with a million and try to make do with the remaining $2.3 billion you'll have left.

p.s. Perhaps Mark Cuban and Josh Howard deserve each other, but Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd deserve better.

Today the Rio Grande Vipers drafted Smush Paker. There are 16 teams in the d-league, and Parker went at #14.

That boggles the mind.

Thirteen teams would rather take a chance on an unknown talent, then acquire a very known commodity in Smush Parker.

Once the starting point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, sharing the back court with the venerable Kobe Bryant, Smush Parker averaged 11.1 points per game, 2.8 assists, and 2.5 rebounds... while matching up against the likes of 2-time NBA MVP Steve Nash.

But Parker's attitude put him on the bench watching rookie Jordan Farmar take his starting spot and minutes. Unrepentant, Parker lost his job with the Lakers altogether.Smush was picked up by the Miami Heat, and lasted a whole 9 games with them, then 19 games with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Smush Parker is a case study in the importance of having a good attitude.

--- EDIT ---

I still cannot make comments on Foxsports blogs, but I appreciate your comments, you guys. And thanks, Ricko, for the correction.

Less than a week has passed in the 2008 - 2009 NBA season, and I've noticed that many of the NBA's big names, and perpetual MVP candidates such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Chris Paul, Steve Nash and Dwayne Wade are having a hard time taking care of the ball. In fact,  look who are among the league leaders in turnovers:

Tied for 1st at 5 turnovers per game
Kobe Bryant
Steve Nash
Dwayne Wade
Rip Hamilton

2nd in turnovers at 4.5 turnovers per game
Andrew Bogut

Tied for 3rd at 4 turnovers per game
LeBron James
Chris Paul
Ray Allen
Dwight Howard
Baron Davis
Elton Brand
Caron Butler

Of course these players have only played 1 or 2 games so far this season and we all expect the early season to be sloppier, but a large number of these guys played a lot of basketball over the summer for Team USA in the Olympics. You'd think they wouldn't be rusty, after all Jason Kidd has managed to average just 1 turnover a game (to 12 assists).

Anyway, this message has been brought to you by Pillsbury: Turnovers in minutes.

--- EDIT ---
To NBA is the Worst: No, I can't make comments yet. It's frustrating because (for example) Tsunami accused me of inaccuracies in my previous post, with comments that were riddled with them, and all I could do was sit here and take it in the chin. That's okay though; I can use the lesson in patience.

I'm beginning to think my problem with comments may be a browser problem, though. I usually come here using Firefox, and when I tried Safari and found it didn't work either, and the problem coincided with FoxSports having us confirm our accounts, I assumed it was them. However, when I get time, I'll give Internet Explorer and Windows a shot and see if I can comment then. Either way though, I guess the problem is Foxsports, since Firefox and Safari work everywhere else. The problem seems based in Javascript though.

Is anyone else out there using Firefox, and is it working for them?

At any rate, I agree the turnovers will normalize over time, I just thought though that THESE guys would be the ones fast out of the gate, not stumbling.

Greed.  It is why there is a real estate crash.  It is why there is a banking crisis.  It is why there is a taxpayer funded bailout.  It is why OPEC is trying to raise oil prices again by cutting back production. 

Greed is also why Kobe Bryant is injured.  Hopefully greed won't be why the Lakers will not be in next season's NBA Finals.

Playing in a preseason game against the Charolette Bobcats, Kobe Bryant left the game with 3:08 left in the 2nd quarter with a hyperextended knee.  The extent of the injury is not known. 

Kobe Bryant did not speak to reporters after the Lakers victory, a weird thing to do after a victory -- especially when it is a meaningless preseason game, and particularly if the injury is nothing to worry about.

Phil Jackson told reporters he had not talked to Kobe, so he couldn't tell reporters anything about the injury either. Interesting. Why wouldn't you ask about the health of your injured franchise player?  Did Phil not want to know that answer before talking to reporters?

Chances are the injury isn't too serious, but that isn't the point.  The point is it wouldn't have happened at all, were it not for the Lakers' greed.

Kobe shouldn't have been on the floor to begin with.  Kobe Bryant should have had his finger operated on right after the Olympics, and sat out the preseason and the early games of the regular season. This would have:

1) given Kobe's finger a chance to be well for the season,
2) allowed Kobe's body to get some much needed rest, and
3) given Kobe's teammates time to learn to win without him, a critical lesson the Lakers can only learn WITHOUT Kobe!

Not that I can blame Kobe for forgoing surgery and playing on. 

Kobe is addicted to this game.  When he is not playing it, he is studying it, working on it, or lifting weights, etc.  A year ago at this time, Kobe Bryant, one of the most athletic people in the world changed his diet and lost weight to make himself quicker.

Just as it wouldn't be reasonable to expect an addict to make a right decision, it's unreasonable to expect Kobe to do anything other than forgo the finger surgery and keep playing -- especially when you consider how tight the race was in the West for playoff spots.

The problem is, Kobe doesn't have people around him that care enough about him to intervene and save Kobe from himself.

Dr. Jerry Buss, Mitch Kupchak and Phil Jackson know better and should have stepped up to insist Kobe rest, and fix his finger.  Instead, they turned a blind eye and rolled the dice with Kobe's health so that Phil could get ring number 10, Jerry could keep the Lakers on top, and Mitch could further distance himself from the intense criticism he's endured these last few years.

The Lakers are abusing the goose giving them their golden eggs.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Kobe Bryant has played 9,609 minutes during the last 3 seasons, more than any other player in the NBA. 

And in the summers between those 3 seasons, Kobe Bryant played a critical role on TeamUSA, logging more minutes than any other NBA player as well. 

And unlike Derron Williams, who is also out injured, Kobe had a very long post season last year leading the Lakers to the 2008 NBA Finals. 

Not one of the Boston Celtics played for TeamUSA over the summer, they rested. How do you think they are going to compete against the Lakers if they end up meeting again after a grueling 82 game regular season and after 12 to 21 stressful playoff games?

Odds are, before all is said and done, Kobe is going to break down. He is a man, not a machine.

And say Kobe does manage to stay healthy all season and post season, if he is too fatigued to continue to perform at the extremely high level he has these last 3 years, Kobe will get the blame for sub par performances, not the Lakers.

The management of Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls is roundly criticized for their mistakes, and rightly so, but when Jordan was out injured, they were guilty of resting him too much rather than not enough.

What the Lakers are doing with Kobe is unconscionable.

By the way, if you are tempted to comment that I am wrong, here is one last reality check.

1) Kobe has played more minutes in the last 3 years than any other player.

2) It's not just the number of minutes Kobe played, but how dependent his team has been on his play these last 3 years. They've been intense minutes.

3) Kobe had a very long post season last season.

4) Kobe's had grueling summers with TeamUSA.

5) Kobe is now 30 years old. That means more when you remember that 12 years ago, in 1996, Kobe Bryant was the youngest player to ever play in the NBA. And it's not just the years, its the miles!

Now consider that in yesterday's preseason injury:

1) Kobe was not injured due to hard contact with another player. 

2) Kobe was not injured attempting an extremely athletic maneuver. 

3) Kobe wasn't even injured by accidentally coming into casual contact with another player like landing on someone's foot, or ####ing knees with another player.

4) Kobe was injured just jumping for a simple rebound.  That's it.

This injury is a FATIGUE injury. 

Kobe Bryant NEEDS to rest his body.

(By the way, a glitch with Fox Sports Blogs still prevents me from making comments, so I cannot respond to your comments. I've contacted their tech support and not received a response, so please accept my apologies in advance.)

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.