It wasn't even that close. They shot the ball pretty poorly and still won by 23.

When you play pressure defense and rebound as well as they do you dont have to shoot lights out. Of course NBA guys dont play defense, dont care as much, are strictly playground players, are only there to appease sponsore, etc...:)

I am going to get this out of the way now as it is pretty clear that I am probably dead wrong about this one. They outclassed Greece like they never have. Even the Dream Teams didn't dominate like this. It is not the medal round yet but they appear to be the rapidly approaching train that is on time to clean house in Bejing. One for the horse trainer is recorded .....

Several interesting things have occured while watching this team. Number 1- Jason Kidd looks old. He may be hurting (he has a bad back) but there is no question that CP and DW are far superior to him now. Number 2- Dwayne Wade looks very good. Back to his 2006 form. Number 3- Chris Bosh is an even better player than I thought he was. His perimeter defense on guards is unbelievable and he is really active on the boards, often tapping the ball and keeping it alive if he cant get the rebound. Number 4- International refs are really bad.

Owww my shoulder is sore, Marv. Take it easy.

I have to throw in my two cents about Carmello Anthony. PGarden, I disagree with your assessment of his abilities.

This is going to sound crazy but to me Carmello is a throwback type of player. I defy you to name a swing man in the league that takes the ball to the cup as strong as Carmello Anthony. I remember that there was a stat out there not too long ago that Carmello led the league in getting his shot blocked. Now is that a good thing? I think it says a lot-you arent going to get your shot blocked shooting jumpers!

You discount him as not being a "winner" but you fail to look at all of the circumstances objectively. It would be one thing if his teams were FAVORED every year and getting bounced in the first round. Rather, they are running up against better teams and losing like they should be. Name me one team in the playoffs that they SHOULD have beaten but didnt.

You discount his college success but look at all the one and done man children that were NOT able to take their respective teams to the final four let alone a championship. Would you pin them with the loser label? Look at the Rose kid this year. He had the equivalent of the nike all american dream team around him at Memphis this year but yet still failed to win the championship. Or how about Beasley? Or Durant the year before? Or Oden?

Carmelo will WIN as soon as he has players around him that fit.

Man, are you remembering the original dream team? They were winning by like 50 points a night. Check out the stats...it will be an interesting comparison when all is said and done.

This team is good but they arent anywhere close to the original dream team from 1992.

This team would wipe out the original dream team. beat them by 40

You are on crack.

http://www.nba.com/features/dream_te...rs_070807.html

There isnt a guy on that team who could make this team

There isnt a guy on that team who could make this team, hell they are all like 50 years old

LOL... alright you got me.

Seriously though, we will never see another team like that again. For no other reason, I doubt we ever have post guys like that.

I could be wrong about this one to but I think Larry, Michael and Magic make this team. Maybe even Ewing.....I'll be humble here on this one but I'll draw the line on Boozer beating out any of these

Ewing can barely walk.

magic weighs about 500 pounds, Bird hasnt shot the ball in 10 years and Mike has done enough. They are all over the hill

If you could take the Original Dream Team players in their prime (most were way past their prime in 1992) and match them against the current team in their prime...it would be no contest at all.

Exactly what I was saying.......of course you can't compare them current day. That would be like asking a retired horse who won a triple crown race in the 90's to get in a gate at the Travers this year.....simply assinine.

New paragraph...

(because the thread is gone)

Kev....it is never too early in life to be familiar with preload reducing medications. Be suspicious of the blue meatloaf she serves but make sure you clean your plate.....15 years huh....by that time the meds we'll have will be designed to make Sally, from Harry fame, seize, vibrate and lose 10 IQ points with each dose that passes Harry lips. Pharmacology is not just for the elderly!!!!

I could win on this team.
I could score on this team.
The Olympic games are not the right situation to use the "put good players around him". What the hell was Iverson and Camby supposed to do for Denver?

My problem with him is he is bad, really bad, defensively. And he is very easily frustrated. He is super talented. He really showed his stripes in the playoffs against L.A. They totally frustrated him on offense, he has no answer but to bull rush to the basket, and then his defense which is already bad, gets worse.

He obviously gets along well with the other players on this team though and works hard or he would not be on the team.

This current Olympic team does not even need an offense. They are putting so much pressure on D its leading to open court situations so often. We totally excel in the open court. We are athletically superior to all these teams at EVERY position. We run have run very few offensive sets, no need.

Now the really impressive thing that I was not counting on is we are getting on the boards big time offensively. The 3 point shot... or lack thereof, that we displayed early really is not hurting us at all when we play this type of D. If we had to run 5 on 5 offensive sets the entire game we could lose.
The defense is setting up everything and it is beautiful. We are not only playing superior man to man, we are helping surprisingly well.

My abbreviatedtake.

Carmello is a quality player.

Of course he is.
And he has the talent to be one of the top 3...
If we could screw another noggin on that neck.

He has a huge next step to take.
He can be so much better.
Probably why he pisses me off so much.

No you couldn't. If you played more than 20 minutes they couldn't beat anyone. And if you scored it would mean you took so many shots that their chances would be even less.

I believe this to be more than accurate.

The opposition should let me shoot.
I cant shoot 80% from the field.
Which is the level of the US scoring % in
the open floor.

However we might have some problems getting in an open floor situation
with my feet pounding the hardwood.

So the real point is anyone on this team could lead in scoring and still win a game.
Even Kidd, if he ever decided to shoot. Using these games to show Carmello's
basketball prowess is silly. With the possible exception that you want him matched
up with a weak offensive player if possible. Carmello would not be on Ginobili if Ginobili
was a forward.

If Ricky Rubio is really 17 he is unreal.

The US played really poorly and won by 20 today though Ginobelli got hurt and Nocioni wasnt 100%. Spain will keep it closer than the other day but the US should beat them by 20 on Sunday especially if Calderon cant play or is hurting. If the NBA refs let them play as physically as the FIBA refs, Luis Scola would be a NBA star. That guy is strong.