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Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Hey everyone sorry i havent posted in so long

I know i havent posted in so long thanks for everyone hangging in there for me and i will be posting again really soo thanks everyone see yall tommorrow

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

USA World Championships Update Today.

There was never any doubt that the Americans were going to win this one, and win it decisively -- which is exactly what they did, beating Iran 88-51. The bigger question was whether they were going to start showing that their offense had caught up to their defense, which continues to be their strongest suit.Truth be told, it hasn't.The turnovers keep on coming and coming, and the lack of ball movement and player movement in their half-court sets was again noticeable against Iran. After the game, Team USA director Jerry Colangelo agreed: "We need a lot of work."And that is why the offensive execution, or lack thereof, is Team USA's greatest concern as it continues moving through its dead week -- a day off, followed by Wednesday's game against Iran and Thursday's against Tunisia, followed by three full days off before the single-elimination knockout round begins as the field at the World Championship is whittled down to 16. "Well, the second half was a lot better than the first half," Colangelo said. "We were still throwing the ball away and forcing things in the first half. We need more movement, and we got better movement in the second half. Not as good as we need to be, that's why we need some good practice time and we can get that after our next game.
"The good thing is we got minutes for people who need minutes. [Danny] Granger could be a key guy because he can score. Tonight he showed he can do that if given some minutes. Kevin Love continues to be a contributor. You can depend on him for almost a rebound a minute, and he can score. And it was good for [Tyson] Chandler to get some productivity.
"But too helter-skelter, and we need some practice time. Real practice time."
Team USA should defeat Tunisia and finish atop Group B with a 5-0 record, and should go into the round of 16 against the fourth-place team from Group A -- a group that had a major surprise Wednesday when Angola defeated Germany 92-88 in overtime. Australia and Angola will now play each other Thursday with the stakes raised, the winner being assured of finishing no lower than third.
After the round of 16, the Americans would move on to a quarterfinal game in which Spain, currently third in Group D after two stunning losses, could very well be their opponent.
And in order to win against a quality opponent at that stage, the Americans are going to need to clean up their offensive act. Their two-point victory against Brazil two days earlier should have been a warning to them, but their sloppiness in the first half against Iran, which played almost nothing but zone defense, was a further indication they still have a long way to go to reach the level they'll need to be at to break America's 16-year drought in this tournament.
To me i think if they can stop making stupid mistakes on the court. If they make it threw the round of 16 i really think they can win the world championships.