5 reasons why Australia pushed Kobe, LeBron & Team USAAugust 05 08  On Tuesday, Team USA got tested. While it wasn’t pretty, they passed. Playing its final exhibition tune-up before Beijing, stars-and-stripes got through a resilient Australian team 87-76 in Shanghai, China. Well, why was the score so close? After all, ‘the Aussies’ were missing Andrew Bogut. Below is your answer. - Team USA couldn’t buy a basket. Coach K’s crew went 3-for-15 from three-point land and converted only 20-of-33 free throws.
- At times, the Americans lacked focus. For example, the Australians rattled off a 13-2 run to start the second-half, which kept things close.
- Team USA is still experimenting. The starting unit continues to change and the coaches are searching out the best combinations. The line-up of Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Deron Williams looked effective in a second quarter cameo.
- They forgot about the middle. Too often, Team USA played without a center or simply went away from Chris Bosh and Dwight Howard even though the duo shot a combined 7-for-7 from the floor.
- The Australians lack Team USA’s individual talent, but they have excellent national development programs with the country’s Institute of Sports known as AIS. Elite teenage athletes are sent to AIS to hone their craft and train. Their senior national team would’ve balled together for years and, as a result, had on-court chemistry to burn.
Despite a mediocre showing, Team USA’s defence helped them prevail. Getting tested and passing is positive. After all, further challenges lie on the road to gold. Should Team USA be concerned after getting pushed by Australia? get at us in the comment box below and come back to HoopsVibe The Blog for more NBA tidbits. Photo courtesy of 3 Musketeers’ Corner.
Posted by
Jack
on 08.7.2008 | Steve said it. Jams, you’re a fool. Only about a month ago was I at the district team thingy to play for the state team, and the plays coaches ran were insane! I played all the 1st game & half of the 2nd but I asked if I could sit the 3rd, because I had the flu. I didn’t get selected, but it’s all good, most of the guys I was playin against were a year or 2 older than me & they were from actual sport schools. You obviously have no clue of Aussie b’ball bro so shut your silly arse up. . | Posted by
rjd
on 08.7.2008 | Yeah, you can’t credit years playing together as a strength of the Australian team. That simply is not true.At junior levels, Bogut and Newley played together (though Newley came off the bench on that 2003 gold medal-winning junior team). Nielsen and Anstey played together way back in 1997 (another gold medal junior team), but, again, Nielsen was a mere benchy at that time. More recently: Anstey hasn’t played on the national team for quite some time, with almost noone still around from the last time he was on the team. Boomers bench players Worthington and Saville, along with starters Bruton and Barlow, have represented Australia together, but really only for the past 3 or 4 years. Andersen represented Australia during the Oceania series. That’s pretty much it. With USA’s 3 year plan, and plenty of decent competition to qualify in the Americas, the USA really should have a lot more experience playing together than the Aussies. I expected a lot more from the US. In my opinion, USA really underachieves because of their style of play. The international game (and the Australian game) includes lots of ball movement, as well as off-the-ball movement. It’s structured unselfish offense. Real team play. With a smaller court, a shorter 3 point line (tending to lead to more cramping of the defense close to the basket), there’s a very good reason why international ball relies less on individual brilliance. There is less room to move. There are fewer opportunities for brilliant athletes. The ability to knock down the 3 ball becomes important, from position 1 to 5 (to highlight this, look out for Bogut to put up some 3s in the tournament). USA could absolutely dominate these Olympics, if they learned to play the international style of game. Instead, they will get by on sheer talent. In comparison to other teams at the Olympics, USA’s chemistry is like an all-star lineup. (apologies for the single paragraph — the site imposed it on me) . | Posted by
Steve
on 08.6.2008 | Hey Jams,Obviously you didn’t play at a high level in Australia. In the Junior Championship levels ALL teams run set offences and defences. The set up in Australia is different to the U.S. where it isn’t High School and college ball. It is actually suburban teams which kids are selected from to make district teams (Junior Championship) then you go to State Team level, Then if you’re good enough the National team. Australia is ranked no 2 in the world overall in b’ball (taking all levels into consideration). They have ITC programs (Intensive Training Centre Programs) where kids train up to 30 hours a week. Your comments show you know nothing about b’ball in Australia as the sport is the 2nd most popular team sport in participation. The only place basketball is weak in Australia is the NBL and that’s not because of the talent (nearly all those players that played the U.S. could play NBA - if given the opportunity to actually prove themselves. They wouldn’t be superstars but they could hold their own). Our NBL suffers because lack of finance, no FTA TV and poor administrators. We would have over 200 kids playing in various colleges in the U.S. and more players playing in the European leagues. Mate next time get your facts straight and don’t under rate Aussie b’ball. There is one area Aussie b’ballers in the NBL are better than the NBA - the referees don’t kiss the a$$es of the stars of the league - everyone is treated equally whether they shoot 30pts a game or 3pts. Oly, if you want more FACTS about Aussie b’ball I can e-mail you if you like. . | Posted by
on 08.6.2008 | Team USA Will Lose. They’ll choke . | Posted by
ronh
on 08.6.2008 | the us team was bored with the aussies. The us is going to win the gold medal cause no one can check kobe wade lebron and melo.Redeem Dream Team ’08 Baby!! . | Posted by
Jams
on 08.6.2008 | The Australian team is garbage. They haven’t played together that much and the point you made about an excellent development programme in Australia is simply pure fantasy. Basketball is a non-issue in Australia, it only became popular briefly during the Jordan years. I played basketball in Australia throughout highschool and university it the top squads and not once did we even bother learning how to run any specific plays. The coaches in Australia simply have no idea so they don’t even try teaching such things. In the NBL (the national competition) they run proper offence and all that but its really a pathetic league that is going is dying in the a-------(I think 2 teams folded recently). I’d say the main reason the national squad plays ok as a team is because all the players realise they’re not that talented so are willing to fully accept the team concept as their only chance of playing decent basketball. . | Posted by
Cyan
on 08.6.2008 | Big European team with some physical play will give the Yanks a real run. I was there at the game in Shanghai, the Aussies were physical with their play, the US team was a little uncomfortable. Overall, I did think the Yanks were taking it easy, and not really put on the defense at all, they did some tough D in Q3, that was it. . | Posted by
on 08.5.2008 | As long as Kobe, Lebron, Melo and Dwyane gets their thing goin’... Howard, Bosh and Boozer dominates the paint... Michael Redd is on target for his 3-pointers... Prince defends and Jason Kidd, CP# and Deron dictate the game’s tempo... there is NO single TEAM that can beat USA Basketball... . | Posted by
O. Sandor
on 08.5.2008 | Hi Will, Your right. Part of it has to do with the Australian identity of being in it all together. This national approach which translates on-court is different than say how basketball is approached in the USA and North America, where young players are rated individually and ranked against each other. For example, the many high school All-Star games and AAU rankings emphasize each player. Does this translate on-court, I’m not sure it does so much with Redeem Team, but it has from 2001-2004 with Team USA. Thanks for commenting. Glad I could provide a laugh. Cheers, . | Posted by
Will
on 08.5.2008 | On the topic of the Aussie team fostering a ’national identity’, I think its just because of who we are. Everyone are mates and we are all in it together! That has nothing to do with being ’trained’ in any sense!Also, the only people who have probably played together would be Andrew Bogut and Brad Newly. Joe Ingles may also been part of the junior national team too but I don’t think anyone else has played together much. If you look at the Aussie roster, you have people who play all over the world and are at different points in their careers. So as no name and Aussie C stated already, I was laughing at that fifth point.People say Americans are patriotic and the what not. Aussies just have heart. . | Posted by
that one guy
on 08.5.2008 | D-wade has been the best player in these games. usa needs to try to get the ball to the big men like u said.. they went 7-7... usa thsee past two games has been hurtin itself because they are not moving the ball enough and their being somewhat selfish.. . | Posted by
that one guy
on 08.5.2008 | thank you Oly . | Posted by
O. Sandor
on 08.5.2008 | Hi Aussie C and no-name poster: Thanks for reading and commenting. Perhaps, the fifth point is overstated, I had to write quickly after the result was posted and it has been modified. However, looking from the outside, the idea is that Australian national teams seem to foster more of a national identity, while AAU and college systems of America produce top individual talent, but do not foster a sense of team. That has been the issue with Team USA against Greece in 2006 and the 2004 Olympics. Just watching today, the Americans were out of sync on offense because their game and style still promotes and favours too much individual play. It’s not a product of selfishness, but rather a systemic issue. Anyway, that’s only my take. Thanks for reading ... . | Posted by
kobe
on 08.5.2008 | nah we were just off our game and they were breaking down our offense really well . | Posted by
on 08.5.2008 | I have to agree with Aussie C. Our team has hardly played together. We have at least a third of our team playing overseas, and most of the rest have been playing in our national league for a good few years. 5th point is a crock. . | Posted by
mc
on 08.5.2008 | USA’s biggest problem is their inability to run the half-court offense well. Their 1/2 court offense usually breaks down into 1v1 matchups which doesn’t work that well vs those zone defenses, as we have seen in these 5 warm-up games. . | Posted by
Jarrad
on 08.5.2008 | Im really proud of how we played... i remember when i heard that bogut wouldnt be playing my stomach sunk and i was thinking,... here we go the whole worlds watching them and there about to be obliterated... to even be competitive with a lineup that only really has local players is a testament to us and i think it shows that we could be a dark horse. USA has a few glaring issues to address,... but nothing should be taken from the Australians who shopuld now atleast be getting SOME credit. . | Posted by
Aussie C
on 08.5.2008 | You probably need to remove that fifth point. Any Australian who reads that is probably laughing. Our team hasn’t played together any longer than Team USA given the commitment this US group made to this Olympics. Our development programs leave a lot to be desired, I would trade it for your high school, AAU, college to the pro’s system anyday!Chemistry is simply easier when you don’t have as much depth. . | Posted by
on 08.5.2008 | Yeah, Team USA is far from perfect right now . | Posted by
Nate
on 08.5.2008 | Australia played quite decent without Bogut, which surprised me. . |
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Oly Sandor | Daily take on NBA Oly Sandor is an NBA analyst and sports journalist based out of Vancouver, Canada.After years of the free-lance game, Oly Sandor is bringing his unique brand of NBA analysis exclusively to (...) More |
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