Dream Team

svats · 09-01-2006, 05:13 PM

For one more time this dreamed team us made proud, the team dream GREECE!!! USA out of gold medal race, Greece faces Spain in the final !!! - Sep. 1, 2006 - by Eurobasket

Semifinals:

Greece - USA 101-95

Fed up with its recent failures, the United States assembled a new program with new plan.
The end result was all too familiar.
Greece used a sizzling stretch of shooting across the middle two quarters to turn a 12-point deficit into a 14-point lead, and beat the Americans 101-95 Friday in the semifinals of the world championships.
"To lose any game is a shock to us," U.S. star Carmelo Anthony said. "We came in with the mentality to win the game and the gold medal."
Instead, the best Anthony can do now is add another bronze to his collection.
Greece (8-0) can earn a world title to go with the European championship it won in 2005 with a victory over Spain in Sunday's gold-medal game. Spain (8-0) beat Argentina 75-74 on Friday night.
"They played like a champion plays," U.S. forward Shane Battier said of Greece.
The Americans will have to wait at least two more years to remember what that feels like.
Done in again by their inept 3-point shooting -- and they weren't much better from the foul line -- the Americans will fall short of a championship in a major international tournament for the third straight time since winning gold at the 2000 Olympics.
The Greeks -- with no current NBA players on their roster -- danced in a circle at halfcourt after their victory.
"Big players play big games," said guard Theodoros Papaloukas (200-G-77), the MVP of the European final who had 12 assists Friday. "And today I think we played very good."
The U.S. (7-1) will return to the court Saturday against Argentina (7-1), hoping to match the bronze medal it left Athens with in 2004.
"Those guys are hurting," said USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo, who was put in charge of the program after a sixth-place finish in the 2002 worlds preceded the disappointment in Athens. "It's probably a better thing we have to come back tomorrow and play again instead of sitting on this for two days."
Anthony scored 27 points for the Americans, who couldn't overcome their 32 percent shooting from 3-point range or 59 percent from the foul line. Dwyane Wade added 19 and LeBron James had 17, but the three U.S. captains were unable to make up for their disappointment from Athens.
Vasilis Spanoulis (193-G-82, agency: Beo Basket), bound for the Houston Rockets, scored 22 points for Greece. Michalis Kakiouzis (206-C-76) added 15 and 6-foot-10 Sofocles Schortsianitis (206-F-85) -- nicknamed "Baby Shaq" -- added 14, shooting 6-of-7.
"Basketball is not just about dribbling and shooting," said Greece coach Panagiotis Yiannakis , who took a congratulatory call from Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis after the game. "You can come off the bench with a clear mind and give the best of your talent and that's what our players did today."
In Greece, thousands gathered in the streets, waved flags and honked car horns. Traffic information screens flashed the final score, and drivers abandoned cars to join celebrating crowds.
Continuously burning the Americans' poor defense against the pick-and-roll, the Greek team shot 63 percent (35-of-56) from the field and made 31 of 44 shots over the final three periods.
"We didn't make the right adjustments," U.S. center Chris Bosh (211-F-84, college: Georgia Tech) said. "They ran the same play. We made it easy for them."
The U.S. hasn't even played for a world championship since winning the last of its three titles in Toronto in 1994. Mike Krzyzewski -- who was looking for gold after winning bronze with the 1990 team -- and a few American players walked to midcourt to congratulate the Greeks, while most of the U.S. roster quickly headed to the locker room.
The Americans, who put together a national team program this year for the first time, now will be forced to qualify for the 2008 Olympics next summer in the FIBA Americas tournament in Venezuela.
"This one hurts," said Colangelo, who assembled the team. "We had the gold medal as our goal and anything short is disappointing. We go back to work and get ready for qualifying next summer."
The U.S. seemed in control after Joe Johnson's 3-pointer gave the Americans a 33-21 lead with about 6 1/2 minutes left in the second quarter. It was around then that James told his teammates on the bench: "They don't know what to do."
Well, they figured it out in a hurry.
Greece scored nine straight points, pulling within three on Papaloukas' drive with 3:51 left and forcing Krzyzewski to call a timeout. Dwight Howard (207-F-85) converted a three-point play, but the Greeks answered with a 13-2 surge, featuring eight points from Schortsianitis, to open a 43-38 lead and force Krzyzewski to call a second timeout.
Greece hit nine straight shots -- its only miss in the last 5 minutes was a heave from halfcourt as time expired -- and led 45-41 at halftime. The Greeks shot 56 percent (15-of-27) in the half.
The Americans were 2-of-10 from behind the arc -- after going 10-for-40 in their quarterfinal victory over Germany -- and trailed at the break for only the second time in the tournament. Italy had a nine-point cushion in a group play game.
Greece kept it up in the third quarter, hitting 14 of its 18 shots, including all four 3-pointers in the first 5 minutes. Kostas Tsartsaris (210-F-79)' 3-pointer with 5:45 left in the period gave the Greeks a 65-51 lead -- the biggest deficit the U.S. faced in the tournament.
After shooting 4-of-12 in the first quarter, Greece was 25-of-33 (76 percent) in the second and third and led 77-65 heading to the final period.
"It seemed like they didn't miss the whole third quarter," Wade said.
Anthony, Wade and James combined for the first 18 U.S. points in the quarter, and the Americans eventually got as close as 95-91 on Kirk Hinrich (191-G-81, agency: Octagon, college: Kansas)'s 3 with 36 seconds to play. But the U.S. missed its final two attempts from behind the arc, capping a 9-of-28 night.
Courtesy of AP

longtran · 09-01-2006, 05:15 PM

GAaaAR · 09-01-2006, 05:26 PM

We suck. Too much one on one basketball. We have bad team chemistry. We just dont shoot the ball as well as these other countries. Their big men can shoot, our big men are trained to post ppl up and get inside. Something seems to be fundamentally wrong with the way americans play basketball now. Most of the points we get are from lay ups and dunks. Kids grow up these days in america trying to learn how to dunk a basketball more than they want to learn how to shoot the 3 pointer well... thats the main problem with us. ANd we tend to glorify one on one basketball when that is whats wrong with us. Nba plays too much one on one basketball. And we make it such a big deal when we see kobe scoring 81 points in a game. In fact thats the problem, basketball is a team game, there really shouldn't ever be one player scoring 81 points in a game, that just shows how much lack of ball movement there was. We shouldn't come to be proud of things like this. We need to play smarter basketball and be more fundamentally sound. WE just simply suck right now, what can i say.

And when you watched the game, theres really no excuses America could of made, they just simply got beat.

Ghunger · 09-01-2006, 05:29 PM

Cliff notes plz.

MrSilver · 09-01-2006, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghunger

Cliff notes plz.

USA Basketball sucks dick.

>.<

NaTuReB0Y · 09-01-2006, 10:38 PM

Insignificant......

Where's Larry Bird.....David Robinson.....Christian Laettner...etc?

ryanmangos · 09-02-2006, 02:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NaTuReB0Y

Insignificant......

Where's Larry Bird.....David Robinson.....Christian Laettner...etc?

lol christian who??? after college he didnt do too much

ska///235i · 09-02-2006, 10:32 AM

USA B-ball = Hood Ball = Thug Ball = No Team work

Quote:

Originally Posted by NaTuReB0Y

Insignificant......Where's Larry Bird.....David Robinson.....Christian Laettner...etc?

Yea....bring back Bird, Magic, Jordan

MrSilver · 09-02-2006, 10:40 AM

I went to school with Laettner.

Back to Back State championships.

Arguably the greatest player in the history of the NCAAs.

All time leading scorer in the tourney.

Greatest shot off all time.

And he was an NBA All Star...

Can't say he was a total bust in the pros.

ward · 09-02-2006, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NaTuReB0Y

Insignificant......

Where's Larry Bird.....David Robinson.....Christian Laettner...etc?

I'm pretty sure those 3 couldn't do a better job than the guys playing now

they're OLD

ward · 09-02-2006, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSilver

I went to school with Laettner.

Back to Back State championships.

Arguably the greatest player in the history of the NCAAs.

All thime leading scorer in the tourney.

Greatest shot off all time.

And he was an NBA All Star...

Can't say he was a total bust in the pros.

where was laetner a star in the NBA, did he ever even start

MrSilver · 09-02-2006, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ward

where was laetner a star in the NBA, did he ever even start

He was an NBA All Star in 1997 when he played for Atlanta.

bimmer4me · 09-02-2006, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSilver

He was an NBA All Star in 1997 when he played for Atlanta.

Man, that guy just gave up. All that talent and the only thing you hear about him now is being suspended for drugs.

ryanmangos · 09-02-2006, 05:54 PM

well i do admit christian was good...but he didnt live up to the hype in the nba...maybe lack of teammates...but he still didnt produce as much as he should have

09-01-2006, 05:13 PM	#1
svats Private 4 Rep 51 Posts Drives: E90 320i Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Thessaloniki Greece iTrader: (0) Garage List 2005 320i [0.00]	Dream Team For one more time this dreamed team us made proud, the team dream GREECE!!! USA out of gold medal race, Greece faces Spain in the final !!! - Sep. 1, 2006 - by Eurobasket Semifinals: Greece - USA 101-95 Fed up with its recent failures, the United States assembled a new program with new plan. The end result was all too familiar. Greece used a sizzling stretch of shooting across the middle two quarters to turn a 12-point deficit into a 14-point lead, and beat the Americans 101-95 Friday in the semifinals of the world championships. "To lose any game is a shock to us," U.S. star Carmelo Anthony said. "We came in with the mentality to win the game and the gold medal." Instead, the best Anthony can do now is add another bronze to his collection. Greece (8-0) can earn a world title to go with the European championship it won in 2005 with a victory over Spain in Sunday's gold-medal game. Spain (8-0) beat Argentina 75-74 on Friday night. "They played like a champion plays," U.S. forward Shane Battier said of Greece. The Americans will have to wait at least two more years to remember what that feels like. Done in again by their inept 3-point shooting -- and they weren't much better from the foul line -- the Americans will fall short of a championship in a major international tournament for the third straight time since winning gold at the 2000 Olympics. The Greeks -- with no current NBA players on their roster -- danced in a circle at halfcourt after their victory. "Big players play big games," said guard Theodoros Papaloukas (200-G-77), the MVP of the European final who had 12 assists Friday. "And today I think we played very good." The U.S. (7-1) will return to the court Saturday against Argentina (7-1), hoping to match the bronze medal it left Athens with in 2004. "Those guys are hurting," said USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo, who was put in charge of the program after a sixth-place finish in the 2002 worlds preceded the disappointment in Athens. "It's probably a better thing we have to come back tomorrow and play again instead of sitting on this for two days." Anthony scored 27 points for the Americans, who couldn't overcome their 32 percent shooting from 3-point range or 59 percent from the foul line. Dwyane Wade added 19 and LeBron James had 17, but the three U.S. captains were unable to make up for their disappointment from Athens. Vasilis Spanoulis (193-G-82, agency: Beo Basket), bound for the Houston Rockets, scored 22 points for Greece. Michalis Kakiouzis (206-C-76) added 15 and 6-foot-10 Sofocles Schortsianitis (206-F-85) -- nicknamed "Baby Shaq" -- added 14, shooting 6-of-7. "Basketball is not just about dribbling and shooting," said Greece coach Panagiotis Yiannakis , who took a congratulatory call from Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis after the game. "You can come off the bench with a clear mind and give the best of your talent and that's what our players did today." In Greece, thousands gathered in the streets, waved flags and honked car horns. Traffic information screens flashed the final score, and drivers abandoned cars to join celebrating crowds. Continuously burning the Americans' poor defense against the pick-and-roll, the Greek team shot 63 percent (35-of-56) from the field and made 31 of 44 shots over the final three periods. "We didn't make the right adjustments," U.S. center Chris Bosh (211-F-84, college: Georgia Tech) said. "They ran the same play. We made it easy for them." The U.S. hasn't even played for a world championship since winning the last of its three titles in Toronto in 1994. Mike Krzyzewski -- who was looking for gold after winning bronze with the 1990 team -- and a few American players walked to midcourt to congratulate the Greeks, while most of the U.S. roster quickly headed to the locker room. The Americans, who put together a national team program this year for the first time, now will be forced to qualify for the 2008 Olympics next summer in the FIBA Americas tournament in Venezuela. "This one hurts," said Colangelo, who assembled the team. "We had the gold medal as our goal and anything short is disappointing. We go back to work and get ready for qualifying next summer." The U.S. seemed in control after Joe Johnson's 3-pointer gave the Americans a 33-21 lead with about 6 1/2 minutes left in the second quarter. It was around then that James told his teammates on the bench: "They don't know what to do." Well, they figured it out in a hurry. Greece scored nine straight points, pulling within three on Papaloukas' drive with 3:51 left and forcing Krzyzewski to call a timeout. Dwight Howard (207-F-85) converted a three-point play, but the Greeks answered with a 13-2 surge, featuring eight points from Schortsianitis, to open a 43-38 lead and force Krzyzewski to call a second timeout. Greece hit nine straight shots -- its only miss in the last 5 minutes was a heave from halfcourt as time expired -- and led 45-41 at halftime. The Greeks shot 56 percent (15-of-27) in the half. The Americans were 2-of-10 from behind the arc -- after going 10-for-40 in their quarterfinal victory over Germany -- and trailed at the break for only the second time in the tournament. Italy had a nine-point cushion in a group play game. Greece kept it up in the third quarter, hitting 14 of its 18 shots, including all four 3-pointers in the first 5 minutes. Kostas Tsartsaris (210-F-79)' 3-pointer with 5:45 left in the period gave the Greeks a 65-51 lead -- the biggest deficit the U.S. faced in the tournament. After shooting 4-of-12 in the first quarter, Greece was 25-of-33 (76 percent) in the second and third and led 77-65 heading to the final period. "It seemed like they didn't miss the whole third quarter," Wade said. Anthony, Wade and James combined for the first 18 U.S. points in the quarter, and the Americans eventually got as close as 95-91 on Kirk Hinrich (191-G-81, agency: Octagon, college: Kansas)'s 3 with 36 seconds to play. But the U.S. missed its final two attempts from behind the arc, capping a 9-of-28 night. Courtesy of AP Attached Images
	Appreciate 0 Tweet Quote

09-01-2006, 05:15 PM	#2
longtran Lieutenant General 1472 Rep 16,625 Posts Drives: E90 M3 Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: CA iTrader: (105) Garage List 2006 325i [0.00]
	Appreciate 0 Quote

09-01-2006, 05:26 PM	#3
GAaaAR Captain 33 Rep 671 Posts Drives: 2009 E92 335i Join Date: May 2006 Location: NYC iTrader: (1)	We suck. Too much one on one basketball. We have bad team chemistry. We just dont shoot the ball as well as these other countries. Their big men can shoot, our big men are trained to post ppl up and get inside. Something seems to be fundamentally wrong with the way americans play basketball now. Most of the points we get are from lay ups and dunks. Kids grow up these days in america trying to learn how to dunk a basketball more than they want to learn how to shoot the 3 pointer well... thats the main problem with us. ANd we tend to glorify one on one basketball when that is whats wrong with us. Nba plays too much one on one basketball. And we make it such a big deal when we see kobe scoring 81 points in a game. In fact thats the problem, basketball is a team game, there really shouldn't ever be one player scoring 81 points in a game, that just shows how much lack of ball movement there was. We shouldn't come to be proud of things like this. We need to play smarter basketball and be more fundamentally sound. WE just simply suck right now, what can i say. And when you watched the game, theres really no excuses America could of made, they just simply got beat.
	Appreciate 0 Quote

09-01-2006, 05:29 PM	#4
Ghunger Major 56 Rep 1,024 Posts Drives: 330i Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Seattle, WA iTrader: (0)	Cliff notes plz. __________________ 330i Monaco Blue, Terra /w aluminum trim, SP, PP, CA, PDC, Nav, Folding Seats, Sat Prep European Delivery Blog Picture Gallery
	Appreciate 0 Quote

09-01-2006, 10:38 PM	#6
NaTuReB0Y Powered By 36DD 366 Rep 7,369 Posts Drives: 2006 E90 Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Inland Empire iTrader: (12)	Insignificant...... Where's Larry Bird.....David Robinson.....Christian Laettner...etc? __________________ 2006 E90 330i Jet Black \| 20" WORK VS-XX \| FK452 \| H&R Sport on Koni Yellow \| REMUS QUAD
	Appreciate 0 Quote

09-02-2006, 10:40 AM	#9
MrSilver Judge Advocate General 102 Rep 1,128 Posts Drives: e92 335i Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Buffalo, New York iTrader: (0) Garage List 2007 e92 335i [0.00]	I went to school with Laettner. Back to Back State championships. Arguably the greatest player in the history of the NCAAs. All time leading scorer in the tourney. Greatest shot off all time. And he was an NBA All Star... Can't say he was a total bust in the pros. __________________ '07 E92 335i "Over-Heating" and "Blowing Up" since 9-5-06 6MT, Space Gray, Gray w/ Dakota Leather, Dark Burl, ZSP, ZPP, ZCW Comfort Access, Sirius Satellite (Howard is not optional) '07 X3 3.0si - Black on Black, ZPP, ZCW, Step. - Wife's car Last edited by MrSilver; 09-02-2006 at 12:13 PM..
	Appreciate 0 Quote

09-02-2006, 05:54 PM	#14
ryanmangos member of LongTran Fan Club 14 Rep 247 Posts Drives: '13 335i M Sport Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Walnut, CA iTrader: (2)	well i do admit christian was good...but he didnt live up to the hype in the nba...maybe lack of teammates...but he still didnt produce as much as he should have
	Appreciate 0 Quote