USA versus Serbia

[NJYAJ09]

man, you know amare is better then Boozer... Coach isnt playing favorites is he?

 

[George O'Brien]

I was very surprised at the way Serbia played. Their ball movement was not there and they really fell apart in the second quarter when Vujanic was taken out. They kept trying to make layups against Duncan and Odom which was dumb and they did not find the open man very well.

I though Vujanic looked pretty good except when he fell down on a cut. I hope he didn't injure himself. He made a really nifty crosscourt pass that would have been an assist if they guy hadn't muffed the shot.

It seemed obvious that the USA team played much better defense, but the Serbs looked like they were trying TOO hard and weren't relaxed. Vujanic shot well, but rarely got the ball in shooting position. The Serbs kept trying to challenge on the inside which was a huge mistake. Missed shots led to USA fast breaks that scored nearly every time.

For the US team the ease of this win may not be the best thing. The danger they face is another team like Italy that can shoot the lights out from the outside. Serbia missed a number of open jumpers that Italy would have buried.

BTW, after a few games where every fake and drive play gets called as a travel, the USA players will learn to pass the ball more. It was amazing how many traveling calls they had.

Marion continues to play well. He seems to be willing to go strong to the basket and his quickness on put backs was fantastic. It is hard to monitor defense, but I did not see his man beat him very often.

 

[Joe Mama]

If Serbia and Montenegro really wanted to win that game they should have played a zone defense like Italy did and Germany did part of the gave. It's like I used to say about the Phoenix Suns. Any coach that doesn't use a lot of zone against them is not doing his job.

Joe Mama

 

[Chaz]

The USA played good defense and was able to run off turnovers to build a lead.

Serbia didn't shoot very well and they had to many turnovers. They had some flashes in the second half but the USA was doing a good job on the boards.

 

[thirty-two]

man, you know amare is better then Boozer... Coach isnt playing favorites is he?

i haven't watched the past two games, but has Larry Brown been playing lebron less, too? is he still trying to "punish" them for missing that meeting?

stupid theory, I know... but I'm just curious as to why Amare isn't getting playing time.

 

[Joe Mama]

man, you know amare is better then Boozer... Coach isnt playing favorites is he?

Carlos Boozer has played pretty poorly so far for Team USA. He has turned the ball over a lot and committed a bunch of fouls. He has also played some piss poor defense. Amare Stoudemire on the other hand just hasn't done a lot of anything. He and Shawn Marion were in the game today during the best part of the run.

Anthony really did not play well tonight. Of until this game I would have said he was the second-best player for team USA behind Tim Duncan. Tonight the second-best player was definitely Shawn Marion. He was everywhere. I thought the shaved head and headband look was good for him.

Even though I think the Phoenix Suns are going to struggle big-time defensively I'm very excited to see them on offense. I especially can't wait to see Steve Nash, Shawn Marion, Q, Barbosa, Amare Stoudemire, and JJ running the open court.

Wade had a bunch of turnovers tonight, but he sure is a good player.

Good game for team USA. It was nice to see.

Joe Mama

 

[George O'Brien]

It has been two games since Amare has gotten the ball in the low post. He has not done much on the boards, but his defense has appeared good since the S&M big guys didn't do much when he was in.

It was the first game LeBron looked good, but that was because USA was able to run. He is still not much help in the half court although he did hit a long jumper.

Marbury played better than in the past two games and hit some shots, but he is irrelevant on the fast break. Vujanic broke him down on a drive to the basket but otherwise his defense was vastly better than in previous games.

S & M did not play as much zone as I would have expected and completely failed to keep Duncan out of the offense. But the real key was the poor S & M offense/strong USA defense. S&M could have rreally used Peja.

 

[Chaz]

My theory is Larry Brown is afraid to play Amare. He is worried that he will hurt those skinny foreign guys.

 

[F-Dog]

man, you know amare is better then Boozer... Coach isnt playing favorites is he?

Maybe Amare can discuss LB's substitution patterns with Mehmet Okur on Tuesday. There's no excuse for playing Boozer over Amare, but there wasn't any excuse for Corliss Williamson getting time over Okur, either...

Marion and LeBron James were the engines that drove the US team's run in the second quarter. Both of those players should be getting more minutes IMO. (Marion did have one play in the second half where he fouled a jump-shooter and gave up a three-point play, though.)

Anthony is worse than worthless when he's not making his shots, of course. I thought he cleaned up his game quite a bit from Germany--his shot selection was a little better, strangely enough, and he finally decided to try and show up on the glass--but the bricks, turnovers and lousy defense add up pretty quickly when there are no made shots to help balance those things out.

Vujanic looked OK, but he didn't blow me out of the water.

S&M obviously wasn't playing to win yesterday--they didn't show any zone, and I'm sure they left a bunch of other stuff back in the locker room (to say nothing of their substitution pattern). It will be interesting to see how things turn out if the two teams meet in the Olympics.