USA 77 Greece 71

[Grave_Addiction]

Geez, these guys just barely beat Greece. I gotta say they are the worst Olympic team to ever think of playing. I'd much rather see college players playing in the Olympics. At least they actually want to play.

[chickenhawk]

Way to bounce back and show the world who's boss! :roll:

[scdoanintendo]

At least they won. I thought once they lost, they lost for good. Can someone explain how this works.

[hutno]

ITs a round robbin first round where teams accumulate points for wins and ties and then X many teams qualify for the next round based on the most points

[johnnyoski]

Not sure of the exact system, but I believe this is just a position pool to see who qualifies for the medal round.
The women's team has a much better chance of winning the gold. The men will be lucky to even play for the bronze.

EDIT: Damn, beat me to the punch.
By the way, Puerto Rico, who just smoked the U.S. a few days ago, got beat by Lithuania.

[liquidsnake]

the USA has a group of good basketball playeres but no team

[Grave_Addiction]

the USA has a group of good basketball playeres but no team

I think we would have been better off if we sent the Pistons to play for us instead. At least we could have been assured of good, solid basketball instead of this pathetic excuse.

[bignick]

They had me worried at the end.

[johnnyoski]

I think we would have been better off if we sent the Pistons to play for us instead. At least we could have been assured of good, solid basketball instead of this pathetic excuse.

I'll second that !!

[Cornfedwb]

We treat our great players like superstars, they're put on a pedestal and treated like gods. Somehow we're surprised that putting a group of these men with their inflated egos backfires and never coalesces into a team (think last years Lakers and this years olympic team).

When you tell a man he's the best there is.. and teach him to hunt for all of the personal glory he can find.. do you truly expect him to sacrifice his numbers for the good of the team?

And as a quick side note, many of these olympic teams train for four years together to get ready for the olympics.. not the few months the USA has to get ready. That does make a difference.

[johnnyoski]

And as a quick side note, many of these olympic teams train for four years together to get ready for the olympics.. not the few months the USA has to get ready. That does make a difference.

I don't think they even had that long. The way the roster kept fluctuating I doubt they even had a month.

[KaneRobot]

the USA has a group of good basketball playeres but no team

I think we would have been better off if we sent the Pistons to play for us instead. At least we could have been assured of good, solid basketball instead of this pathetic excuse.

Agreed, since the U.S. would have blown by any team if the Pistons were playing. Actually though, that would apply for just about any upper-echelon NBA team simply because the players are used to working with each other and, at least some of the time, can put aside egos and work together.

I feel bad for Larry Brown because he's a good coach, but these spoiled, lazy, uncohesive, unattentive players he has on the team are ruining what should be a sure thing. Oh well.

[Grave_Addiction]

We treat our great players like superstars, they're put on a pedestal and treated like gods. Somehow we're surprised that putting a group of these men with their inflated egos backfires and never coalesces into a team (think last years Lakers and this years olympic team).

When you tell a man he's the best there is.. and teach him to hunt for all of the personal glory he can find.. do you truly expect him to sacrifice his numbers for the good of the team?

And as a quick side note, many of these olympic teams train for four years together to get ready for the olympics.. not the few months the USA has to get ready. That does make a difference.

Right, but the U.S. is supposed to be the greatest team in the world. Well, it clearly isn't anymore.

I don't know if, in the past, the skill level between us and the other countries was too great for them to overcome or if our players played better as a team than they do now. But I don't think anyone can disagree that the other countries have clearly gained on us a lot.

No longer can we throw out our good NBA players and expect them to steamroll the competition. That's why I think we should start sending our good college players. Those players want to prove themselves and would probably want to play for their country more than these millionare NBA players.

Even if they lost, I could still know they gave their best. With this pathetic excuse for a team, I just don't know how much they try.

[liquidsnake]

it would be good to send the college players but the ncaa would never allow it

[ryosnk]

Overall this pisses me off. These NBA players get paid millions of dollars to play and live basketball but they cant take pride in that they are playing for USA not for themselves. I 'm happy that pr kicked their butts this shows them that they aint even worth a penny of my money to see.

[johnnyoski]

I really think they should explore going back to only allowing amateur players to represent their countries.
Problem is if you did this for basketball you would also have to do it for hockey, and I sure see a lot of heart from these professionals when they are skating out there.

[Grave_Addiction]

Overall this pisses me off. These NBA players get paid millions of dollars to play and live basketball but they cant take pride in that they are playing for USA not for themselves. I 'm happy that pr kicked their butts this shows them that they aint even worth a penny of my money to see.

Very true. It's kinda sad, but everyone in my office is rooting against the U.S. team, and we're all in the Air Force! I want them to come back from Greece and admit they lost because they were too selfish and couldn't play as a team.

[chickenhawk]

We treat our great players like superstars, they're put on a pedestal and treated like gods. Somehow we're surprised that putting a group of these men with their inflated egos backfires and never coalesces into a team (think last years Lakers and this years olympic team).

When you tell a man he's the best there is.. and teach him to hunt for all of the personal glory he can find.. do you truly expect him to sacrifice his numbers for the good of the team?

And as a quick side note, many of these olympic teams train for four years together to get ready for the olympics.. not the few months the USA has to get ready. That does make a difference.

I don't agree with this assessment in it's entirety. Ever since NBA players started playing on Olympic teams, this has been a potential problem. Only recently (the World Championships a couple years ago) did the US Men's teams really go downhill.

The problem is with the players that are there. They are all young and dumb, with some a couple exceptions (OK, maybe only one...Tim Duncan). They are not the best we have to offer. Sure LeBron, Carmelo and company are good players, and will get better, but they aren't ready for something like this.

If you recall, when the US started this with the original "Dream Team", most of the players had been in the league a while and were mature enough to play team basketball.

I do agree though that their limited time together has something to do with the results.

[johnnyoski]

I think anyone on this board could have coached the original "Dream Team" and won the gold medal.
Like you said, those were veteran players that just wanted to beat the living snot out of every team they played against.

[jshorr]

The original dream team was great......Ewing!

[ZeroSupporT]

Makes me wonder why there really weren't any veteran ball players on this years dream team.

[xion]

I'm real glad Puerto Rico won :D . I'm rooting for them and I saw the game against Lituania(sp?) and I have to say that they could have won but the went into foul problems. For Example: Casiano, Arroyo, Ayuso, Santiago, Ortiz all of 'em fouled out. IMO Puerto Rico can go a long way if they focus and try to play like they did w/ Team USA. They have a chance is what I say 8)