USA vs. Spain, who is with me?

[WilmasPimp]

Time for some coffee.

[Az_Doc]

canwe get some live updates for people who cant watch the game because they are at work?

[Az_Doc]

looks like USA is up 23-20 with 3min left in first quarter

[Az_Doc]

spain up 25-23 2 min left in first

[WilmasPimp]

26-26 at the end of the 1st.

Spain looks AWESOME.

The US is very lucky to be tied right now. Duncan scored the 1st 5 points in about 15 seconds, and we even hit 4-6 3's (RJ 2-2).

Spain is just carving us up on offense, their guards are schooling Iverson and Marbury.

[Az_Doc]

this sucks i wish i could be watching the game right now

[WilmasPimp]

USA leads by 1 at halftime, GREAT game.

This is the best the US has looked so far (Doug Collins agrees), which tells you just how good the Spaniards are.

Duncan sat the entire 2nd quarter w/ foul trouble, so the US went small and it worked well, they got some steals and easy layups and took a 9-point lead.

Then the US got lazy and started settling for outside fadeaways. Gasol started taking over (he has had some nasty, in-your-face throw downs), and Spain went on an 11-0 run.

Even though they are down 1, I can't stress how good Spain looks. I think they would easily beat the US in a 7-game series. They really do it all, great big men and super-quick guards. Gonna be a great 2nd half!

[WilmasPimp]

74-67 USA after 3.

USA was 5-7 that quarter from behind the arc, including a 3 just before the buzzer from Carmelo.

Marbury is hitting everything.

[Irish27]

The USA is not dead yet. They beat Spain and advance to the semifinals. Marbury was huge. Spain's coach is an a$$hole. Pointing his finger in Larry Brown's face after the game because Larry called a timeout at the end of the game. Go home you baby, you lost.

[WilmasPimp]

Good win for the USA.

I think Larry Brown looked like more of an ass than the Spain coach. Sure the Spain coach was hot, but Larry Brown should have taken the high road instead of confronting the coach yelling "you don't point your f#cking finger at me!!" Low class by Brown, he won the game, walk away.

[WilmasPimp]

(For those who missed it, and since they won't show the replays, the USA was up double digits with like 15 seconds left and Larry Brown called time out, this really pissed off the Spain coach. He went and complained to the refs after the game and then was explaining to Popovich [i guess Pop speaks Spanish] that they shouldn't have called time out. Then Brown gets SUPER pissed off and you can see his veins popping and and his fists clenched and he is charging at the Spain coach and you can see him cursing at him, all the while the Spain coach is trying to talk to Pop)

[WilmasPimp]

Nice, they just showed the replay while interviewing Popovich. This is pretty funny, Larry Brown says no less than seven times in a row "Don't point your finger at me!" to the Spain coach, and each time he gets angrier and angrier, apparently not realizing that the Spain coach cannot understand him. The BEST part is that after the 3rd or 4th time Brown starts pointing his finger at him every time he says it!

Picture if you will, Larry Brown all red in the face screaming at the Spain coach "DON'T POINT YOUR FINGER AT ME!!!" (while pointing his finger at him!) and the poor Spain coach has no idea what he is saying. Pure comedy.

[TopCat]

Jesus Pimp, did you get up at 5 AM to watch the game? I accidentally saw it because the GF's dog woke us up. Props to Buster, otherwise I would have slept through it, even on the East Coast!


From what I saw, Spain was limited on defense. When the US was able to shoot overtop of the zone, Spain had no answer defensively. Lots of wide open shots. There was no reason to pound the ball into the paint when you can get any 15 footer you want.

Gasol is developing into a great player. He's becoming the Spanish version of KG. Unlike a Dirk Nowitski, Gasol actually plays defense and works the paint. I like him alot.

[Merkin]

<img src="http://www.athens2004.com/Images/Sport%20Gallery/Basketball/26%20August%202004/51086829EZ006_BKO_USA_ESP.jpg">
<img src="http://www.athens2004.com/Images/Sport%20Gallery/Basketball/26%20August%202004/51086829EZ007_BKO_USA_ESP.jpg">
<img src="http://www.athens2004.com/Images/Sport%20Gallery/Basketball/26%20August%202004/51086829JF001_BKO_USA_ESP.jpg">

[Merkin]

And Brown gets the finger
<img src="http://sportserver.nandomedia.com/ips_rich_content/386-brown.jpg" width=400>

[WilmasPimp]

Yeah I woke up early and watched it. Glad I did, it was a great game.

You are right about Gasol, the kid can play. I feel bad for Spain going undefeated in the round play and then having to play the USA in the first round. That should have been the gold medal game.

[Ben Hansen]

I stayed up and watched the whole thing too and boy are you wrong JJ. The Spain coach was a total spaz ******* about that timeout. Larry Brown made matters worse but Pop went to explain it (he speaks fluent Spanish) and the idiot wouldn't listen.

Amare Stoudemire should be shipped home this afternoon before he kicks anymore balls out of bounds. LeBron was HORRIBLE today with those things he called "shots" too. Oh, and hey Timmy, are you a moron? Stay out of foul trouble for once.

[TopCat]

I feel bad for Spain going undefeated in the round play and then having to play the USA in the first round. That should have been the gold medal game.


That was a horrible draw for Spain. If they'd dropped a game in group play they'd most likely be in the medal round instead of on a plane.

[WilmasPimp]

[QUOTE=Ben Hansen]I stayed up and watched the whole thing too and boy are you wrong QUOTE]

Hmmm, made a lot of posts in this thread maybe if you explained what I was so wrong about I could defend myself.

[Officer Craig]

You're still wrong Wilma.

[ByJoveByJingle]

I watched too . . . am now zombie-like.

There was no way the US could continue shoot that badly the entire tournament. It was a good thing they broke out today because they can't play defense for sh*t. Reminds me of Arizona last year--they still haven't figured out how to play the picks at the 3 point line.

I'm most impressed by the athletic ability and playmaking ability of the Euros these days. They never used to be able to do some of the things they are doing now. Gasol had an awesome drive along the baseline that finished with an emphatic dunk over 2 US players (I think that is one of Merk's pictures). It was almost Garnett-like. There were several other players that made impressive, athletic moves to basket and finished. Ten years ago they never would have made it to the basket and if they did it would have been blocked.

[barringer97]

How did RJ look?

[ByJoveByJingle]

He looked good, but he can't stay out of foul trouble. The international game sucks in that regard.

He hit a couple/few three pointers and had a couple of awesome penetrate and dish assists.

[ByJoveByJingle]

and have any respect left for Spain's Head Coach. He makes Jim Boeheim come across as a stoic. Pathetic . . .

"Let's be honest,'' Pesquera said. "The Americans have played to 40 percent of their capacity in two of their games. I think it's very strange to take part in a competition that rewards teams that lose.''

Pau Gasol led Spain with 29 points but was held to just four in the fourth quarter by a tenacious American defensive effort, which quieted a pro-Spanish crowd of 14,500 that included Spain's King Juan Carlos.

"It was said that the public supports the weaker team. I think in this case the public was solidly behind the stronger team because we were the stronger team,'' said Pesquera, who also complained that the officials allowed the Americans to get away with multiple traveling violations.

"I think this game was played under NBA rules, not FIBA rules,'' he said.

Spains lamer coach speaks out (http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer04/basketball/news/story?id=1868303)