fiba world basketball championships
dreas_heardrums
686 Posts
anyone been watching these games?USA finally broke open an 8pt over Germany in the 3rd quarter...they were only up by 1 at halftime (it's live right now 6:50am central). If they win, they'll play Greece. All I gotta say is they're gonna need to bring their A game or they will be shut down by the HELLAS All-Star squad.
Comments
has international basketball improved by leaps and bounds since Dream Team I and II or has the US just gotten a lot worse???
imo, it is a combination of the two, but much more has to do with the US not having the talent, coaching and desire of the first two teams.
The Carmelo's and Lebron's are not gonna hustle and dive out of bounds for balls or play the tough "D".
From the looks of the game last night no one in the NBA knows how to defend a simple pick and roll!!!
How can winning the NBA title continue to be called the "World Championship" if we can't win gold in a tournament against other countries?
That's most American Sports. Baseball does that shit. Football & Hockey? It doesnt really mean shit, but grandiose boasting. Now if someone was to start an International Basketball League....
That's why they downscaled this time around w/ way more role players. This shit aint the Olympics though.
If they havent learned from this exp, the real Gold aint comin their way. Team Play > Stars & Them.
I bet money on Greece beating USA today, that's how confident I was that we did not want that shit as bad as the Greeks...and well, I got 15-1 odds on Greece winning the gold so that's a no brainer. They have HEART. They are unselfish players and play very smart as a team, but really they just wanted it more than the USA and I think that's what it came down to. I watched this game live and saw what they did: they dismantled the US with agressive defense (a zone!), they got more offensive boards, and they had less turnovers. It's obvious they're just hungry (I ain't talkin' bout gyros and dolmas mang).
As far as calling the NBA the World Championship...that title is kinda deceiving and you make a good point Mr. Nice. However, put the Miami heat up against that Greek squad and I think Greece would lose (b/c MIA = team ball). You also have to consider that this tournament is single elimination now, and that changes a lot too. One game and you're done.
These FIBA finals should be a great matchup with a lot of emotions. Very fun to watch imo. As far as the USA, they just have to want that shit, and talent wise, they should've been able to take it. Oh, and USA should crush France one more time for the bronze.
In Baseball it's been called the World Series for almost 100 years....and since the sport was invented here that was probably a true title for 80 of those years. Now that other countries have learned and acceled at the game MLB should change it from the World Series to the National Series???
In Basketball and Football I'm pretty certain they are just referred to as the NBA and NFL Championships.
People who continuously point this out as a sign of America boasting need to get a life.
Whoa - Rock, "Get a life". That's some bumpersticker bullshit right there.
Baseball was invented here but the roots are in Europe. Basketball's invertor is Canadian.
I dont get worked up over the "World Champions" thang myself, but I think for American sport businesses to spread the game to other countries, import its players/styleofplay, why not be literal with who they really compete against.
Where was the first organized basketball played??
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blbasketball.htm
Canadian James Naismith in America.
I can't help but feel as sense of embarrassment losing in consecutive international tournaments. And I know I'm not the only one. Any kind of "World Championship" won against other teams within the U.S. implies that we are our own best competition. That doesn't sound a bit ethnocentric to you at this point? It's a critical analysis of our nation's sporting customs, which may be due for some re-examination. Identify what's so "get a life" about that for me.
Simple.....the only "World Championship" that anyone within the U.S. claims is the "World Series" and that is more of a traditional name than a statement about World Dominance.
Again...The NFL and NBA don't bill their titles as World Champions
Smart move...because they certainly used to. Make no mistake about that.
I think in the next 10+ years, your gonna start seeing a major increase in players from around the world almost taking over the NBA. It's slowly been happening.
The international players is already here. A good third of the L is foreign.Maybe even more.
Dogs, when David Stern hands outs the trophies to Shaq and Riley he says "WORLD Champion" Miami Heat.
Says the same w/ the Lakers and them.
and in the past, the NBA billed their championship team as world champions. this I am certain of....
"And now, your World Champion Chicago Bulls..." for example.
true, but the US guys still go overseas and make the most money. there are some great overseas players but i have friends who were bench players in college that are making good money in europe. basketball is better over here, there is no question about that. however, there is obviously a huge improvement in international play, and perhaps a decline in our "team game."
And in my opinion the reason our game is on the downslide and the Non-U.S. players are starting to dominate can be summed up in one word...
Fundamentals
Growing up in the U.S. the homies don't give a crap if you can hit a free throw but doing that 720 dunk is solid gold!!
True.
The league shot itself in the foot when they allowed alot more one on one/iso plays that favored the superstar.
They also eliminated the hand check which really freed up kids to go solo. That was in the mid to late 90's i think, and theyre trying to fix that shit.
co-sign.
At its very core NBA basketball is an extension of the street game. That is where the top home grown players learn the fundamentals. This is much less the case outside of the US. European basketball adopted the mantra that a team should be much greater than the sum of its individual constituents parts. Over the last decade the skill level of individual international players has reached a level such, that whilst in the main they are consistently below that in the US, the sum is sufficiently greater than USA teams.
Where the current 'Team USA' is falling down is in the 'Team' part its name. In soccer we consistently see national teams of rich, talented overpaid egos loose out to less talented groups of well organised, drilled & coached teams. A case in point was two years ago, when the winner of the European soccer championship was Greece. I could not name you a single player on that team, as they were all average journeymen players at a club level. But as a unit, they were hugely successfull.
The US has realised that and started to change its approach to these international competitions. But if history is anything to go buy, that boat has sailed. I doubt you will get back to former glories. The street game structure & fundamentals within the US will put paid to that.
Inventing a sport, turning it into a national pastime, promoting then exporting it, only to be regulalrly thrashed by countries who have adopted it as their own, is something we Brits have in itself turned into a national pastime. So welcome to our world.
OK I need to type faster, my point put much more succinctly.
you guys watch too many and-1 videos. individual skill level is at its highest ever. the fact that these guys play one-on-one basketball says nothing about their ability. kids are getting professional training at the middle school level through AAU and camps and are better than ever. the result is man-child monsters like lebron.
the nba has been WATERED DOWN via expansion. it will never be what it was in the 80s because there are too many players. accordingly, you also have guys being traded left and right as teams are constantly trying to rebuild in order to compete. team ball still exists, ask the pistons, spurs, mavs and suns. there is just less of it due to dilution.
...getting drafted on so much pure hype that they end up with million dollar splinters in their pine-riding asses.
And yeah, just in case you're having trouble reading that, it says Darko Milicic.