...zito ellada...

[phatman]

...my dad and i called it last night...no one was giving Greece the proper respect in this tournament...well there it is...no gold for the US...lol...

[Spragga]

Well this loss sets USA hoops back 10 more years...

[phatman]

...i def think they're slowly getting back to the concept of "team sport"...but it's not a short road back to that mentality here...

[Spragga]

I'm pissed they lost but they needed it...hopefully this will kickstart fundamentals in b-ball from the ground up. Should take a generation or two for the US to consistently win again.

[fkornre]

no team will ever beat dream team 1...its been downhill in skill since then...

[bxbomb]

congrats

[caleb]

I'm alittle late on this but POW! What a game. Greece looked like they were gonna get crushed in the first quarter but they made a comeback in the second to take the lead going into overtime and that was huge because I think it gave them some confidence that they could actually play with USA. Giannakis used the pick and roll basically all game and USA just couldn't stop it.

You'll be seeing some of these Greek players in the NBA soon. Spanoulis signed a 3 year contract with the Rockets.

What I think USA should consider doing for future tournaments is sending the defending NBA champion to play. Like for instance this year it would have been the Heat. A couple of years ago it would have been Detroit. I know that Detroit would have had a much better chance at winning the gold than this team USA put together. Anyway, at least they got the bronze =/

[philippio]

A very well deserved victory indeed!

[ghhhhhost]

i dont see what all the fuss is about. the US is not expected to win gold anymore..its not 1992. the intl game has caught up..and u cant take anything away from this group of guys that went to Japan..they did a gr8 job and in a couple of years , if they play together, they're more likely than not gona b gold medalists again. the biggest issue here is that they have to learn to play the european game..u cant just expect to run and gun on every1..and u cant sleep on teams like greece..theres a reason theyre european champions.

kudos to greece for their resiliency..and good luck to them against Spain...hope they dont sleep on them just cause of Gasol's injury

[clubber5524]

Originally Posted by ghhhhhost

i dont see what all the fuss is about. the US is not expected to win gold anymore..its not 1992. the intl game has caught up..and u cant take anything away from this group of guys that went to Japan..they did a gr8 job and in a couple of years , if they play together, they're more likely than not gona b gold medalists again. the biggest issue here is that they have to learn to play the european game..u cant just expect to run and gun on every1..and u cant sleep on teams like greece..theres a reason theyre european champions.

kudos to greece for their resiliency..and good luck to them against Spain...hope they dont sleep on them just cause of Gasol's injury

ALL OF YOU ARE WRONG! The international game has caught up some, but the MAIN reason why US hoops doesnt dominate like it did in the past is because now, most of our BEST players decline to play for the team. can you imagine a team with a lineup that included:

Shaq, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Tracy Mcgrady, Jason Kidd, Ben Wallace, Elton Brand, Ray Allen, Chauncey Billups, Michael Redd & Omare Stoudamire (if they were healthy) + the guys already on the team like Lebron, Wade, Melo. if our BEST players played in all these international tourneys we would still dominate EVERYTIME.

every country is putting up ALL their best players against SOME of our best players

[kfitz73]

Shaq??

[clubber5524]

Originally Posted by kfitz73

Shaq??

yea you fuckin wise ass.......healthy or injured still the most dominant center in the world.....

[phatman]

Originally Posted by ghhhhhost

kudos to greece for their resiliency..and good luck to them against Spain...hope they dont sleep on them just cause of Gasol's injury

...you nailed it...greece got spanked...and i dont think it's a big fuss, but you do have to agree that the US game has gotten so far away from fundamentals that it needs a lot of work...just by stating that "in a couple of years, if they play together" is an indicator of the things they need to do here to get back to basics...but we'll see...and it's not just basketball, ego is an issue in most major sports in this country...look at baseball, some teams are following a similar path...

[kfitz73]

Originally Posted by clubber5524

yea you fuckin wise ass.......healthy or injured still the most dominant center in the world.....

Are we talking about the same Shaq that got outplayed by Eric Dampier for most of the NBA finals??

The fact that Shaq is still even considered a top NBA center is more of an indictment on the center position than Shaq actually still being good...

Stick a fork in him, he's done... Has been for a while... It's only going to get worse from here... Don't let that good game he'll throw up every week to 10 days fool you... He's so done that the Knicks will look to pick him up 2 or 3 years from now....

[clubber5524]

Originally Posted by kfitz73

Are we talking about the same Shaq that got outplayed by Eric Dampier for most of the NBA finals??

The fact that Shaq is still even considered a top NBA center is more of an indictment on the center position than Shaq actually still being good...

Stick a fork in him, he's done... Has been for a while... It's only going to get worse from here... Don't let that good game he'll throw up every week to 10 days fool you... He's so done that the Knicks will look to pick him up 2 or 3 years from now....

lmao off at the knicks comment, im laughing and crying at the same time (why do my knicks have to suck so bad?) when healthy (and when he feels like getting up for a game) SHAQ is still the best center in the league, but maybe not consistently.

i agree the international game caught up with us some, and alot of these players chosen for the team need to improve the fundamentals, but if we had......duncan, kg, big ben, kobbe, t-mac, etc.. we would DOMINATE other countries........