Team USA to play Lithuania Sunday in exhibitionAugust 12, 2006SEOUL, Korea (Ticker) - Team USA plays two more exhibition games before the World Championships begin on August 19.The first of those will come on Sunday against Lithuania, which lost to the United States, 104-96, in the bronze medal game at the 2004 Olympics.Team USA will then face host Korea on Tuesday.ADVERTISEMENTAfter those games, USA coach Mike Krzyzewski is expected to make two cuts to reduce the roster to 12.Krzyzewski also must select a captain and indicated that LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat and Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets - members of the NBA's Class of 2003 - will receive strong consideration.Anthony suffered a hyperextended right knee in the second quarter of the Americans' 90-86 win over Brazil on Tuesday. But Anthony practiced at Hong Kong University the last two days and is expected to play on Sunday."My knee feels good," said Anthony, who averaged 17.3 points in Team USA's first three exhibition wins. "I really didn't feel any soreness at all in practice."At the outset of training camp in July, Krzyzewski - the first college coach put in charge of the national team since the advent of the NBA era in 1992 - said the goal was for the Americans to re-establish themselves as the dominant team in international basketball.Team USA did just that in the first two exhibition games, routing Puerto Rico, 114-69, in Las Vegas on August 3 and China, 119-73, in the Far East last Monday.But the second game in the Far East against Brazil on Tuesday was a different story as the Americans needed big plays in the final minute by James, Elton Brand and Joe Johnson for the victory.The U.S. held just an 87-86 lead before James, the superstar swingman of the Cavaliers, drove the left baseline and banked in a shot with 34 seconds left.Brand, the All-Star forward of the Los Angeles Clippers, blocked a shot on the other end. Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 20 seconds to go but missed both free throws, giving Brazil a chance to tie.However, Johnson, a guard for the Atlanta Hawks, stole the ball from Marcelo Machado and was fouled with 3.4 seconds left, then split two free throws to ice the contest.Kirk Hinrich of the Chicago Bulls scored 14 points, Johnson added 12 and James 11 for the U.S., which was outrebounded, 41-25.Team USA then left for Hong Kong to train before departing for Seoul for its final two exhibitions.In the World Championships, Team USA is in Group D with Puerto Rico, China, Senegal, Slovenia and Olympic silver medalist Italy, which routed the Americans in an exhibition prior to the 2004 Games. The Americans will open against Puerto Rico on August 19.In 2002, the U.S. finished an embarrassing sixth at the World Championships, losing an astonishing three times despite the presence of NBA stars. It was more of the same at the 2004 Olympics, where the Americans lost three more games and settled for the bronze medal.The fall from the top prompted wholesale changes within USA Basketball, including the appointment of managing director Jerry Colangelo and a tryout process which had not been used since the 1980s.Only the winner of the 24-team World Championships and the Olympic hosts automatically qualify for the 2008 Games in Beijing. If Team USA does not win the World Championships - which it has not done since 1994 - it must qualify through the 2007 FIBA Tournament of the Americas in Venezuela.
me neither, but hopefully the US will run on them and go inside. because if they try to outshoot Lithuania they'll lose.
Game Over.111-88The United States started out strong and Carmelo Anthony finished the game with 19 points,Wade had 14 points,LeBron finished with 13 points, and Chris Paul finished with 10 points and some nice dishes for some dunks to LeBron and D12.This was a really exciting game and both teams played a fast break style of offense and once the olympics start up, I can see Lithuania playing the United States in the gold medal match because they seem to be the two best teams out there.Kristof Lavrinovic led all scorers with 26 points while Macijauskas finished with 14 points.
Melo is showing that he can adapt to the international game. 2004 was an abberation, Melo is showing his worth. Time for him to get some respect.
This is the only win that mattered. China and Brazil didn't matter, Lithuania is a top 5 team in the world, this proves that America can actually compete. However, they're going to have to do it again in the WC, where it actually counts.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Melo061 @ Aug 13 2006, 03:21 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Melo is showing that he can adapt to the international game. 2004 was an abberation, Melo is showing his worth. Time for him to get some respect.</div>melo is by far the best player on the team hands down.
Well you have to remember Japanese time is hours ahead of us so when I watched it last night at 12:00 am it was about noon in Japan so you're going to have to stay up a while to watch these games live but does anyone know if another rerun of this game is going to be shown today?
Melo stepped it up this game. And, it seems like everyone has been saying. If they drive inside that's how were gonna beat teams. And, it looks like it worked this game. Now if we can keep the gameplay up and keep winning games we should win most of are games.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (dsounG @ Aug 13 2006, 05:53 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Any words on Battier?</div>From what I saw, Battier didnt do much at all.CB4 had a pretty nice game. I think he finished with like 6'8 points, but he got to the line well, and was posting up pretty well. He just missed a few inside shots. I was impresses with Chris Paul the most. He was hitting his jumper with ease, and he was great at driving and dishing. I think he had the best game even though Melo scored the most.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (JoshBosh @ Aug 13 2006, 06:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>A game upload on this would be useful .. if anyone finds it, let me know</div>Ahh man, I could of had you but I need to know before the game starts so in the future if anybody needs a game and doesn't have nba tv just please let me know and I'll get the game for you.
