is anyone else watching it? It's 1am here in Miami and I gotta go to work in about 6hrs so I can watch it. Melo's on fire like always and Wade is breaking the zone like it's nothing. Bosh is having his best game so far. USA up 29-11 after the 1st quarter. Wade with back2back 3s.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting NbaBaller:</div><div class="quote_post">I can't seem to find it. Is it one ESPN?</div>NBATV Wade and Melo with 19 of USA's 29pts in the 1st. In the 2nd quarter this offense looks lost and selfish This 2nd quarter team is just horrible, they don't rebound and they don't bother looking for a good shot. The players are Bosh, LeBron, Paul, Howard, Joe Johnson. LeBron and Paul have like 6 turnovers combined. Lithuania's got some great FT shooters. LeBron just bricked a dunk.
B/c they blew them out. Carmelo is playing at a very high level and the U.S. looks poised to make a serious run at the gold medal. The Lithuanian team was very thin at the guard spot and I know had Sarunas Jasiekavus been available this game would have been much more competitive. The U.S. rebounded well after their struggles w/ Brazil and I attribute that solely to Carmelo being able to come back 100%. Their bracket is relatively easy as well so I don't anticipate them playing any stiff competition until they reach the quarterfinal round.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Iron Shiek:</div><div class="quote_post">B/c they blew them out. Carmelo is playing at a very high level and the U.S. looks poised to make a serious run at the gold medal. The Lithuanian team was very thin at the guard spot and I know had Sarunas Jasiekavus been available this game would have been much more competitive. The U.S. rebounded well after their struggles w/ Brazil and I attribute that solely to Carmelo being able to come back 100%. Their bracket is relatively easy as well so I don't anticipate them playing any stiff competition until they reach the quarterfinal round.</div>I disagree with the "soley" comment, even in the Brazil game, Wade continously broke down the zone defense and made great plays that had equal impact. Is it no suprise that: a)USA struggled with both Wade and Mel out against Brazil? Wade was leading Assist getter in that game with 4 despite only 10 minutes of play, and Anthony was leading scorer (16) with only 12 minutes of play. With those 2 guys early in the game, USA blow the lead away and never looked back. Without those two, the other team was able to get back in the game. b)USA had little-to-no answer for the Zone after Wade fouled out with only 10 minutes of play against Brazil? Wade is having a field day just making teams pay for playing zone as his athleticism and ball handling forces the Zone to collapse. He's seen the zone a million times since his 2nd season in the NBA and is the best player in USA at reading the zone and breaking it down. Anthony has been MVP but USA's offense will struggle against the Zone without Wade busting it open and Carmelo knocking down the open jumpers. Even Coach K has gone to Wade exclusively at PG during most of the stretches. He knows that Wade is the guy making the best plays at PG and guys like Hinrich and Paul just end up dribbling around a lot and getting trapped which forces the ball outta therre hands. It eventually leads to low % shots or turnovers.
I'm very impressed with what Carmelo has done in these games. He appears to be the team's best pure scorer. He doesn't quite have the quickness and athleticism of LeBron or Wade, but in a way that helps because he plays more in control on offense. Very little wasted movement.
Melo is playing at a higher level than anyone else on the USA team at this moment. His game has been phenominal.
Yea ^^..Even after the injury. He seemed to shake it off. He has been the most consitent player on the team so far. He has played great.
Carmelo has been great so far. Box Score: http://usabasketball.com/seniormen/2006/06...ition_box4.html
