Tokyo Olympic Basketball Tournament Discussion

[GSP]

KD 100000000% had USA -13 there




Good thing I did too

[Mickey8]

I never doubt in USA win over Spain, this Spain generation have never beaten USA team , not even in exhibition games if I could recall . They played competitive games but they always lose at the end.

[Sedale Threatt]

Tatum 3-3 with 10 points in the 4th. There was a 4 minute stretch where he scored or assisted on every basket, love to see it.

KD is next level good, and Draymonds defense is just beautiful.

He was outstanding after three terrible quarters. Hit some huge shots and made some big plays. We're really, really hard to beat when we get somebody to step up and be a wing man for KD.

[Sedale Threatt]

As a scorer yes
As a playmaker, he's had 100 games better than that

Given that he scored 38 points with 2 assists, which one do you think I'm talking about?

Playmaking for a point guard must primarily be about assists

Not tonight. If he doesn't score like he did Spain would have lost by 30.

[Sedale Threatt]

27 assists on 36 buckets

[Feed Your Head]

Tatum 3-3 with 10 points in the 4th. There was a 4 minute stretch where he scored or assisted on every basket, love to see it.

KD is next level good, and Draymonds defense is just beautiful.

He was outstanding after three terrible quarters. Hit some huge shots and made some big plays. We're really, really hard to beat when we get somebody to step up and be a wing man for KD.

He seems to be passive and indecisive early in these games, then seems to get comfortable and turn it on late. Has been the case the last three games, they really needed it tonight though.

Read on Twitter

?s=20

[BlueSan]

US going to have to play better than this if they want to win gold. Going to be extremely tough but fun to watch

Probably not. They played great. Had 100 open looks could have scored more and it would have been a blow out. Was almost like that in 3rd Quarter

[TheRealKaboom]

All the USA team doubters from early on sure looking pretty damn bad right now.

They could still loose to France or Slovenia, USA still not playing great basketball.

And France and Slovakia could still lose to the USA.

[homecourtloss]

27 assists on 36 buckets

Something something skills, something AAU, Popovich, FIBA Rules, something something selfish vs. unselfish, ISO, soft etc.

[Jellybeans]

Spain needs new blood and fast

[Nuntius]

Rubio tried but Spain's old guard was proven to be way too old. Spain was supposed to have an advantage inside but that didn't materialize at all. They were unable to get much scoring from their bigs. The Czech Republic got more out of their bigs than Spain did.

Hernangomez was solid but as you note the Gasols are just way, way past their prime at this point (obviously). We must have forced at least five turnovers with them trying to force the ball inside before they figured out that was a lost cause. Still, respect to our biggest rivals over the past decade plus. We had some fun battles over the years.

Yeah, Willy was solid. But I think that Spanish fans were expecting more out of the Gasols, especially Marc. Balvin and Vesely were much more effective inside against the US, to say nothing about the French bigs.

[BlueSan]

All the USA team doubters from early on sure looking pretty damn bad right now.

They could still loose to France or Slovenia, USA still not playing great basketball.

And France and Slovakia could still lose to the USA.

Slovakia definitely could not

[Mickey8]

USA is still playing unimpressive basketball, but the star power is carrying them through the tournament, France or Slovenia could beat them, I still remember Doncic kicking Durant and Irving's butt months ago.

[Sedale Threatt]

Tatum 3-3 with 10 points in the 4th. There was a 4 minute stretch where he scored or assisted on every basket, love to see it.

KD is next level good, and Draymonds defense is just beautiful.

He was outstanding after three terrible quarters. Hit some huge shots and made some big plays. We're really, really hard to beat when we get somebody to step up and be a wing man for KD.

He seems to be passive and indecisive early in these games, then seems to get comfortable and turn it on late. Has been the case the last three games, they really needed it tonight though.

Read on Twitter

?s=20

That and just missing good looks. Which, hey, it happens. And he certainly wasn't the only culprit. But it's still frustrating to see shooters of this caliber have a 1st half like we had.

Whatever the case, the last game and tonight's 4th quarter is what you expect for a player of his skills. Game got a little iffy there late and he (and Lillard, who made a couple of big buckets) held down the fort while KD sat.

[monopoman]

All the USA team doubters from early on sure looking pretty damn bad right now.

Not really. Spain was looking old for a while.

Usas main comp is France, Australia and Slovenia

Just because Spain isn't the top team to beat doesn't mean that most vastly underrated this team. I saw people claiming they would be lucky to even win any medal with this team.

[Sedale Threatt]

Rubio tried but Spain's old guard was proven to be way too old. Spain was supposed to have an advantage inside but that didn't materialize at all. They were unable to get much scoring from their bigs. The Czech Republic got more out of their bigs than Spain did.

Hernangomez was solid but as you note the Gasols are just way, way past their prime at this point (obviously). We must have forced at least five turnovers with them trying to force the ball inside before they figured out that was a lost cause. Still, respect to our biggest rivals over the past decade plus. We had some fun battles over the years.

Yeah, Willy was solid. But I think that Spanish fans were expecting more out of the Gasols, especially Marc. Balvin and Vesely were much more effective inside against the US, to say nothing about the French bigs.

They were great, great players for a lot of years, but they just don't have it at this point. Which is understandable given their age. But you could tell early on that wasn't going to be a solution for them. Pau tried to post Draymond up at one point and he got stood up so hard he fell over and lost the ball. And Marc is basically a spot-up shooter anymore. Spain would have been better off going small from the start.

[yoyoboy]

I feel like I watched a different game than some people. The US played pretty damn well. I didn’t see much selfish ISO ball at all. In fact, the ball movement was actually great the majority of the time. And defensively they were pretty good, as well. Spain’s guards were making some tough looks out there.

There’s this exaggerated idea that the teams outside the US are all these idealistic displays of how basketball is meant to be played while Team USA is some ego-driven ISO-centric AAU-inspired collection that relies on foul calls to be effective. But I didn’t see that at all today. They missed a lot of good looks from three and eventually when they started doing down, the game was blown open. And Spain is a good team, so no shame in it it being competitive for a while.

[CircleCitysportsfan]

USA is still playing unimpressive basketball, but the star power is carrying them through the tournament, France or Slovenia could beat them, I still remember Doncic kicking Durant and Irving's butt months ago.

Hoping against hope. Such an endearing human trait. l'm touched. Really.

[kombayn]

The money game is U.S.A. vs Slovenia. I'm hoping that's what we get get for the gold medal.

[Nuntius]

Hernangomez was solid but as you note the Gasols are just way, way past their prime at this point (obviously). We must have forced at least five turnovers with them trying to force the ball inside before they figured out that was a lost cause. Still, respect to our biggest rivals over the past decade plus. We had some fun battles over the years.

Yeah, Willy was solid. But I think that Spanish fans were expecting more out of the Gasols, especially Marc. Balvin and Vesely were much more effective inside against the US, to say nothing about the French bigs.

They were great, great players for a lot of years, but they just don't have it at this point. Which is understandable given their age. But you could tell early on that wasn't going to be a solution for them. Pau tried to post Draymond up at one point and he got stood up so hard he fell over and lost the ball. And Marc is basically a spot-up shooter anymore. Spain would have been better off going small from the start.

Yeah, it totally makes sense. I mean, Pau is over 40. It's a miracle that they're even playing.