Author: John Paulsen (Page 836 of 937)

Having gold medal dreams, Team USA? Well, you better wake up because those dreams are over.

In the semifinals of the FIBA World Championship, Team USA lost to Greece, 101-95, sending them to the bronze medal game to face Manu Ginobili and the rest of the Argentinean team. Greece will play Spain in the gold medal game on Sunday.

The U.S. avoided their usually sluggish start, and came out with a sense of urgency at the beginning of the game by playing great man-to-man defense, which led to a 33-21 second quarter lead. At that point, Greece’s head coach, Panagiotis Yannakis, changed strategies. He implemented a pick-and-roll offense, which Team USA was unable to figure out for the remainder of the game. Greece went on a 24-8 run to close the second quarter, leading 45-41 at halftime.

Time after time, a Greek guard would run off a ball screen by a bigger teammate and, time after time, they would get a great look at the basket. The U.S. players on the other side of the court would often fall asleep, failing to cover their man as they cut to the hoop or failing to box them out when the shot went up.

This continued in the third quarter as Greece built a 14-point lead with six minutes to play in the quarter. Several hustle plays by Shane Battier helped Team USA cut the lead to 10 with just seconds to play in the period. Dwayne Wade had the ball at the top of the key and drove into the lane, clutching the ball one too many times and ended up forcing a bad shot attempt with less than five seconds to play. Had he gone straight up he probably would have scored the bucket, but Wade is used to playing against more athletic competition, where the extra clutch is necessary to avoid the high-flying defender. Greece grabbed the rebound and advanced the ball quickly up court for a layup at the buzzer. This four-point turnaround was a momentum killer for the U.S.

Throughout the entire second half, Team USA was hamstrung by poor free throw shooting. They finished a miserable 20-34 (59%), while Greece actually shot a higher percentage from the field (35-56 for 63%). Poor free throw shooting, along with the inability to cover the pick-and-roll, made any substantial comeback impossible.

Carmelo Anthony carried the U.S. offensively in the second half, and led all scorers with 27 points. Dwayne Wade added 19, while LeBron James scored 17 in the loss. I mentioned in my preview of the game that Greece didn’t have a NBA player on the roster, but guard Vasileios Spanoulis (22 points, 3-5 from 3-PT range) will be joining the Rockets this season and the rights of FC Sofoklis Schortsianitis (14 points) are owned by the L.A. Clippers, though he’s staying in Greece for at least another year. Spanoulis was especially deadly in the second half, murdering the U.S. on the pick-and-roll and hitting several clutch shots. Schortsianitis’ nickname is “Baby Shaq,” but he looks like a more athletic Robert “Tractor” Traylor. During Greece’s run, he looked like more like the Michigan version of Traylor than the NBA version.

After this summer’s re-tooling, I really thought that U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski would be able to turn the team around more quickly, but it’s clear that additional time is needed. This was envisioned as a three-year plan, culminating at the 2008 Olympics, so there is time for Coach K to straighten things out.

I get the sense, from watching their body language reading some of the quotes from the U.S. players that they don’t feel that international play is real basketball. The truth is that the international game – with its passing, screening and cutting – is more representative of the game that James Naismith invented back in 1891 than the current bastardization that is the NBA. The league has recognized that, in many ways, the SportsCenter culture has hurt the game, but is just now taking steps to try to correct it. Basketball is a team sport, and five good players playing together will usually beat five great ones playing separately. Team USA learned that lesson (once again) against Greece.

When Team USA takes the court Thursday night (Friday morning in the U.S.) in the semifinals of the FIBA World Championship, they’ll face their toughest opponent to date. Greece is 7-0 in WC play and is the reigning European champion. Considering they don’t have an NBA player on their roster, that’s saying something. Greece does a terrific job of slowing the game down, playing offensive possessions late into the shot clock and getting to the foul line. In short, they’re good at making the game ugly, and when that happens, favorites often lose.

Offensively, Greece will pound the ball inside to their big men, Lazaros Papadopoulos and Sofoklis Schortsianitis. On defense, they’ll matchup man-to-man, but they won’t be flying around in the passing lanes getting out of position. This will limit Team USA’s opportunities and force them to make outside shots to win the game. Germany had a similar intent with its 2-3 zone, but the Americans were able to get on the offensive glass to create second and third opportunities. It won’t be so easy against Greece, who has the size to match up with Team USA’s frontline.

But there two things about the Greeks that present even bigger problems for Team USA: heart and cohesiveness. This is a real team that has played together (on and off) for years, not just a collection of the country’s talent cobbled together at the last minute. Each player has a role to play so there won’t be any players trying to do things that they – physically or skill-wise – aren’t able to do. They have a reputation for always playing like a champion, so the U.S. should expect maximum effort regardless of the score. Moreover, they should expect Greece to play with a chip on their shoulder. Greece represents Europe’s best, and for a long time the continent has taken a back seat basketball-wise to the United States, so there is much to play for in the eyes of the Europeans.

That said, the U.S. team has a physical advantage over Greece. If Team USA limits turnovers and takes good shots, they’ll have a chance to win the game. The most important priority should be to play solid, man-to-man defense. The U.S. has a tendency to gamble defensively, going for steals when they should stay home on their defender. Thus far, other than the game against Italy, it hasn’t hurt them, but that could easily change in the next two contests.

Team USA is no doubt playing in the passing lanes because head coach Mike Krzyzewski told them to do so. His Duke teams always play like that, with great results. But here’s the difference – at Duke, a guy can get out of position and maybe two or three guys on the opposing team can make them pay. In international ball, four or five opposing players can hit a mid-range jumper, take it to the rack with success or find the open man. Team USA still needs to play aggressively, as much of their success can be attributed to turning the other team over and pushing the ball up court, but they need to avoid gambling needlessly. Because it will cost them.

Team USA always gets its opponent’s best shot. Coach K is used to this – year after year, his Duke teams walk around with giant bull’s-eyes on their chests. The question is – how will his players react? Will they come together under tough circumstances and pull out a win? Or will they fold under the pressure?

I guess we’ll find out Friday morning @ 3:30 AM ET on ESPN2.

In the other semifinal, Spain (Pau Gasol) and Argentina (Manu Ginobili) square off at 6:30 AM, also on ESPN2.