SAITAMA, Japan -- Stuck in yet another bronze-medal game they never planned for, Dwyane Wade and his teammates could have come out with a lackluster effort.Instead, Wade treated the game as if it were the NBA Finals. Then he played like it.Wade scored 18 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter, helping the United States pull away for a 96-81 victory over Argentina on Saturday night in the third-place game at the FIBA World Championship."This game was everything it was pumped up to be if it was in the finals," Wade said. "I give credit to my teammates for playing their hearts out when a lot of people didn't think so. This was a big step. We gained a lot of respect and love for each other. This summer was not a waste. We learned a lot."Playing one night after a 101-95 loss to Greece ended their title hopes, the Americans delivered a strong performance and avoided leaving the championships empty-handed for the second straight time. They finished sixth in 2002.After collecting their bronze medals, LeBron James and Chris Paul threw their sneakers into the crowd of more than 16,000 at Saitama Super Arena."You never want to be satisfied, but I'm happy we didn't lay down," James said. "We didn't mope and moan about what happened yesterday. We moved on and played a very good team today and we played probably our best game of the tournament."The championships end Sunday with Greece and Spain going for the gold medal. Pau Gasol, Spain's leading scorer and rebounder, will not play because of a partial fracture in his left foot. The Memphis Grizzlies star was injured in the semifinal win over Argentina.James added 20 points for the U.S., which could only match the bronze it won two years ago at the Athens Olympics. The Americans (8-1) defeated the team that had beaten them in the semifinals two years ago.In a spectacular performance similar to those he delivered while winning MVP honors at the NBA finals, Wade was 10-of-14 from the field and made all three 3-point attempts -- he was 2-of-15 behind the arc coming into game. He fell three points shy of the American record Carmelo Anthony set during the tournament."It was fun for us to watch," Shane Battier said. "I don't know if he thought he was back in American Airlines Arena in Game 6 of the playoffs, but he was something special tonight."Anthony capped a strong tournament with 15 points while James finished with nine rebounds and seven assists."We haven't been together very long and for these guys to show the character it took to come back the next day after a tough loss is terrific," U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We built unity and handled adversity well."Argentina (7-2) was trying for its third straight medal in a major event after winning silver in the 2002 worlds and gold two years ago in Athens -- with victories over the U.S. during both.But the Argentines couldn't overcome foul trouble to Manu Ginobili, Fabricio Oberto and Luis Scola, the mainstays of those teams. All three spent significant time on the bench in the second half.Though Argentina was called for 12 more fouls than the Americans, Ginobili refused to blame the officials."They probably had a better game than we did," the San Antonio Spurs star said. "They had nothing to do with the result."Ginobili didn't make a field goal until midway through the fourth quarter and finished with 10 points. Scola led Argentina with 19 points and Andres Nocioni, who plays for the Chicago Bulls, scored 18.Ginobili and James hugged as the game ended, while Nocioni shared a laugh with Kirk Hinrich, his Bulls teammate.The U.S. trailed for most of the first half before finally beginning to pull away late in the third quarter. Then Wade took over.Slashing to the basket or beating a zone from outside, he scored 14 of 16 U.S. points during one stretch. His back-to-back 3s gave the Americans their biggest lead at 91-75 with 2:52 to play. The U.S. outscored Argentina 46-32 in the second half."The last quarter was like NBA showtime with Wade and James dunking the ball all the time," Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez said. "When you are tired like that, it's impossible to win."Wade made his first start of the tournament, joining James, Anthony, Dwight Howard and Hinrich. They couldn't solve the Americans' defensive woes from Friday, as Argentina started 8-of-10 to lead 17-9.Argentina was up 27-21 after one quarter and remained ahead much of the second despite playing with only one starter most of the period. The U.S. trailed by nine with just more than four minutes left before halftime, but rallied to take its only lead of the half when Anthony's 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds left made it 50-49. The Americans were 10-of-15 in the second quarter, including 3-of-4 behind the arc.Leading by two in the third, the U.S. finally got some breathing room with a 10-2 burst. James dunked on an alley-oop pass from Wade, then converted a three-point play that made it 67-57 with 3:33 remaining in the third. With Ginobili sitting the entire period, the U.S. led 69-62 entering the fourth quarter.Copyright 2006 by The Associated PressLink
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mavsfan1000 @ Sep 2 2006, 01:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Lebron lives up to his name. Lebronze.</div> :HAHAHA: I'm glad to see that even though Team USA didn't go all the way to the championship, at least they went out strong... :rock:
Hmmm....Spain without Pau beats Greece by over 20 points. The team that lost only by 1 to Spain (with healthy Pau) lost to the USA, the team that lost to Greece who was trampled by the team that almost lost to Argentina. Interesting....USA had a terrible game against Greece, and will have to improve their weakness in next 2 years, but it has got to be sweet knowing that if they didn't have their worst game when it mattered most they probably could have won this whole tournament. And as always, give ball to Wade and let him do his thing in 4th quarter and you WILL win :beerchug:
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nitro1118 @ Sep 3 2006, 06:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>And as always, give ball to Wade and let him do his thing in 4th quarter and you WILL win :beerchug:</div>bullsh**, the dude sucked all tournament. Melo's the reason that team only lost one game.
Sucked? He was around 20PPG if I remember, and was the only playmaker against Greece who was breaking down the defense and getting the ball to the open man.
Yeah, he played well in like two games. I don't know what all the people in Miami are talking about, they must know nothing about basketball, because Wade isn't the best, isn't the most clutch and didn't play his best in the WBC.
Neither did Bron, neither did Chris Paul, etc... Wade hasn't gotten rest in over a year where Melo had 2 months, Bron had a month, Paul had a few months, etc... You didn't happen to see the NBA Finals, did you? 35PPG, had 2 of the greatest 4th quarters in Finals history, and if it wasn't for HIM (Shaq averaged 12PPG) they wouldn't have beaten a VERY tough Dallas team. His numbers of 27/7/6/2 on 50% shooting in the regular season is the best stat line next to Bron, so I seriously don't know why you are trying to put the man down.
Yes, LBJ played like crap, but Wade has still been getting so much hype.Chris Paul was a decent playmaker for them so, that is something.I saw the Finals, yeah, Wade saved the day but it wasn't the greatest performance ever. Jesus, sometimes a player just gets everything. and those weren't the greatest 4rth quarters ever, come on. There has been more performances in the finals that were better.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Michael Bryant @ Sep 4 2006, 04:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Yes, LBJ played like crap, but Wade has still been getting so much hype.Chris Paul was a decent playmaker for them so, that is something.I saw the Finals, yeah, Wade saved the day but it wasn't the greatest performance ever. Jesus, sometimes a player just gets everything. and those weren't the greatest 4rth quarters ever, come on. There has been more performances in the finals that were better.</div>And Bron hasn't!?!?!I never said greatest performance, I said 2 of the greatest 4th quarter performances. You'd be hard pressed to find better 4th quarters in the Finals. As a matter of fact, please, I'd love to see what you got there. Name some 4th quarters by other players in Finals that were greater. You won't find anymore than 1 or 2 moments greater. And remember, Wade's game 3 4th quarter was when they were down 0-2 in the series, and down by 10+ points with 5min left. That is clutch.
That's what I'm saying, Wade has now surppassed LBJ in hype. His performances were not better than Magic's 42, 15 and 7 as a rookie, MJ with the flu, Wilt Chamberlain's 24 points and 29 rebounds on two broken hands, Walt Fraziers 36 points and 19 assists in 1970, Bill Russells 30 points and 40 rebounds in 1960, Jerry West in 1969, Elgin Baylors 63 against the Knicks.Wade's performances aren't even close, in fact, there isn't a player on the planet more clutch in the Finals than Jerry West. That is a fact. No offense, but I don't think he'd have much trouble beating the Mavericks, I mean, Kobe f*cking outscored them.
It's a good start. We shouldn't degrade the U.S. for coming in 3rd. They won every game except that game against Greece. They played excellent, and hopefully will gain better chemistry once the Olympics roll around.They had one bad game, and that's it. It was 1 game. I dont see the fuss.
Ah comeon, i have never seen a player single handedly destroy his oponent in an nba finals series in a long time. The guy's play in the nba finals however tarnished it may be was something to behold. He's obviously a bonafide clutch player, saying otherwise is being a hater.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Michael Bryant @ Sep 4 2006, 04:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>That's what I'm saying, Wade has now surppassed LBJ in hype. His performances were not better than Magic's 42, 15 and 7 as a rookie, MJ with the flu, Wilt Chamberlain's 24 points and 29 rebounds on two broken hands, Walt Fraziers 36 points and 19 assists in 1970, Bill Russells 30 points and 40 rebounds in 1960, Jerry West in 1969, Elgin Baylors 63 against the Knicks.Wade's performances aren't even close, in fact, there isn't a player on the planet more clutch in the Finals than Jerry West. That is a fact. No offense, but I don't think he'd have much trouble beating the Mavericks, I mean, Kobe f*cking outscored them.</div>You make it sound like it was a cruise for Dallas to get to the finals, I don't get what your whole arguement against Wade is. LeBron still has MORE hype then Wade, during the finals was the only time Wade was getting more. Also, the people you stated are entire games not just fourth quarter performances.Nitro was talking about the fourth quarter and you bring along game stats. You still haven't showed any other great fourth quarter performances that beat what Wade did. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>I don't know what all the people in Miami are talking about, they must know nothing about basketball, because Wade isn't the best, isn't the most clutch and didn't play his best in the WBC.</div>A top 5 player in the entire league isn't nothing special? :HAHAHA: I can only laugh at your ignorance.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Melo061 @ Sep 4 2006, 03:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Ah comeon, i have never seen a player single handedly destroy his oponent in an nba finals series in a long time. The guy's play in the nba finals however tarnished it may be was something to behold. He's obviously a bonafide clutch player, saying otherwise is being a hater.</div>I'm not saying it wasn't great, but it wasn't as great as some Heat fans have indicated. Good God, there are people out there who worship him based on that performance. All I'm saying is, his performance needs to be put into some perspective.<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>It's a good start. We shouldn't degrade the U.S. for coming in 3rd. They won every game except that game against Greece. They played excellent, and hopefully will gain better chemistry once the Olympics roll around.They had one bad game, and that's it. It was 1 game. I dont see the fuss.</div>You are exactly right, I agree with you 100%.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Michael Bryant @ Sep 4 2006, 04:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>That's what I'm saying, Wade has now surppassed LBJ in hype. His performances were not better than Magic's 42, 15 and 7 as a rookie, MJ with the flu, Wilt Chamberlain's 24 points and 29 rebounds on two broken hands, Walt Fraziers 36 points and 19 assists in 1970, Bill Russells 30 points and 40 rebounds in 1960, Jerry West in 1969, Elgin Baylors 63 against the Knicks.Wade's performances aren't even close, in fact, there isn't a player on the planet more clutch in the Finals than Jerry West. That is a fact. No offense, but I don't think he'd have much trouble beating the Mavericks, I mean, Kobe f*cking outscored them.</div>No he hasn't. Not by a LONG shot. People around here still think Bron is the greatest player in the world, and he simply isn't. He still gets by far more coverage on ESPN. And Wade's pair of 4th quarter performances, and averaging 40PPG for last 4 games of series when down 0-2 with his second option only scoring 13PPG is so impressive that I feel it is at least top 3 all time in terms of throughout a whole series/stretch of 4 games for Finals. And again, you are listing whole games, not 4th quarter performances and not considering the situation Wade was in.Don't put words in my mouth, I never said Wade is most clutch ever. But his pair of performances, considering the circumstances, are just as/more impressive than anything we have seen. If they went down 0-3 it woulda been over. If they lsot to Mavs in game 5 they would have went down 3-2 going back to Dallas for 2 straight games. And it wasn't just against the Mavs....his amazing series against the Pistons in playoffs and the 17 straight points and GW in season, against Wizards and Pistons the year before, against the Pacers in his rookie season and GW's against Hornets in those playoffs, in NCAA tournament with Marquette, and now add this game with 18pts in 4th to his list.
It's real hard to find stats on just 4rth quarters that date back to some of the performances I want to tell you guys about. The best fourth quarters in Finals history have mostly come from Jerry West. Although, for a single quarter, nothing comes close to Isiah Thomas' performance in the 3rd quarter against the Lakers in 1988. Wade didn't come close to that. Sorry.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Michael Bryant @ Sep 4 2006, 04:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>It's real hard to find stats on just 4rth quarters that date back to some of the performances I want to tell you guys about. The best fourth quarters in Finals history have mostly come from Jerry West. Although, for a single quarter, nothing comes close to Isiah Thomas' performance in the 3rd quarter against the Lakers in 1988. Wade didn't come close to that. Sorry.</div>In terms of points, no he didn't match Isiah. He didn't have as many points as Isiah did, but he had GW's and game tying shots down the stretch, and they WON despite the extremely tough circumstances. Isiah didn't have any GW's and they LOST that game and the series. Wade carried his team to victory both games in last quarter and to a championship.
I'm not trying to say Wades performance wasn't great, I'm saying it wasn't as great as some people say. How about some perspective. I hate how after only 4 games he's now considered some amazing hero.
