MVN - Most Valuable Network

Ellis injury and unhappy Jackson signal rough road ahead

It looked like the Dubs had a chance at something.

Despite the loss of their bearded leader, Monta Ellis was a young promising hope for the franchise and there was reason to be slightly excited for the next few years.

That hope however was shredded along with Ellis’ ligament as it becomes business as usual for the beleaguered Warriors. You really though they turned a corner. They might be fewer players getting massive injuries after signing big deals, there might be fewer boneheaded choices by the premising pillars of the team’s future.

Now with the swirling rumors and innuendo that Monta’s injury may not have come playing basketball like he originally said, another layer is put onto this. Not only is he hurt, but he may well have lied about how he got injured.

The Warriors are back to where they were earlier this off-season, one point guard on the roster. The difference is that, with Monta the question was, “can he run the point,” with Williams it becomes, “How the hell is a no-defense, low-percentage shooing, turnover prone point guard the only option for that spot?”

Combine that with Stephen Jackson asking for a new contract and this team is back where it was during the late 90’s, slowly sinking into one of the bigger messes in the NBA (at least the Knicks are there to absorb the impact at the bottom).

For Jackson, sorry but a new contract shouldn’t be in the cards. Stephen is a wonderful player. He is clutch, plays defense and is a real leader on the team. He has some flaws but that is not the reason why he shouldn’t get that extension.

The first factor is that there is not that much of a market for Jackson. He is thought of as a hot head and isn’t quite the game changer that would warrant big money (though with Maggette’s contract anything is possible).

Then throw in the fact that he won’t be the second best player on a good team. The third best is possible and the fourth is more likely. Why should he get big money for being a good part of a middle of the road team?

Jackson is earning more than $7 million in each of the next two years. In his time in Golden State he has probably outperformed the terms of his deal. This however is not an excuse to make him overpaid in the next few seasons.

Out of all this Chris Mullin has done a good job of not freaking out. He didn’t drop a pile of money into Jackson’s hands not did he throw cash at a mediocre free agent point guard. Criticize his signings all you want but he’s handled these last few weeks relatively well.

As fans we are entering a period of uncertainty for the Dubs. With all their youth, something positive could happen down the road. This season however already looks tumultuous and, as of now, the mess once known as the Golden State Warriors may be making a comeback.

US avenges ’04 loss to Argentina, one step from redemption

And four years later vengeance was wrought.

The US Men’s basketball team advanced to the gold medal game with a 101-81 win over rival Argentina. The game had an odd back and forth pace but much like in the quarterfinal win over Australia, a big play before halftime set the stage for the US win.

The Argentines stayed with the US four about three and a half minutes and then the US scoring machine went to work. The broke off an 18-0 run during which Argentina’s best player, Manu Ginobili, left with an ankle injury and fouls. He never returned while his countrymen could hardly stem the tide of the US, trailing by 19 at the end of the quarter.

Argentina’s bench had not been a factor in this tournament, as they basically played a six-man rotation, but in the second quarter they finally made their mark. Led by injured star Andres Nocioni, who did not start the game, the reserves unleashed an 11-0 run of their own and pushed Argentina back into the contest.

The established starters then cut the US lead to six and had a chance for more with 35 seconds left in the half. Carlos Delfino was given the job of running the end of half, dribble for 15 seconds and then make a move play, but instead of going to the basket, pulled up for a 25-foot jumper that predictably missed.

The US got the rebound, pushed up court and Carmelo Anthony got the chance for a three-point shot at the buzzer. What happened next is a matter of interpretation. Argentina’s Juan Gutierrez attempted to block the shot and tipped the ball away but subsequently made contact with Anthony’s hand.

The refs called the foul, all three free throws went down and the US led by nine. In the second half the game settled into a situation where Argentina was always threatening to make the game uncomfortable for the US (i.e. a single digit defect) but the North Americans had an answer at every turn and rolled to the 20-point victory.

Nocioni and Ginobili combined for only eight shots in 26 injured minutes so the scoring onus fell on Luis Scola and Delfino. Scola was a monster, scoring on mid-range shots and in the post while Delfino was always a threat to hit a big three. If he had been shooting as well as he had against Greece, the game would have been closer.

Argentina overall shot just 26 percent from beyond the arc, a number that all but assures a loss against the talented US team. They did manage to keep the turnovers low, no easy feet, but the US defenders were playing outstanding man-to-man defense.

For the US the scoring came form varied sources but the biggest game came from Jason Kidd. He had been quite for most of the tournament but poured in seven assists.

Despite shooting poorly, Anthony led the US in scoring 21 points, mostly on the strength of hitting all 13 of his free throws. That was a theme for the US as they took 36 shots from the charity stripe and hit 26.

Seven US players scored ten or more points including three off the bench while both Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh grabbed at least nine boards.

The game had special significance for several US players who four years ago were eliminated by this Argentine team in this stage of the tournament. It was the first time US professionals were knocked out of an Olympics and set in motion a series of changes in the Team USA program.

One More Challenge ahead

The last thing standing between the Redeem Team and the redemption it is seeking is the talented yet somewhat erratic team from Spain. These teams have already played in first stage and the US won in a rout.

This game will be a chance for Spanish vengeance since the US upset a 5-0 Spanish team in the quarterfinals in 2004, denying a very good squad the chance to medal.

The Spanish style of play however makes them less of a challenge than Argentina, Greece and maybe even Australia would have been.

First the Spanish like to run and play up-and-down basketball. This can cause problems for teams used to playing at a slower pace but the US likes to run and get more individual match-ups where their talent advantage can shine through. Unless Spain keeps the turnovers way down, this modus operandi could back fire.

Likewise, the Spanish press will do more harm than good for them. The US has three great point guards, a great point forward (LeBron James) and a shooting guard who can help break the press (Kobe Bryant). The US simply will not be flustered, rattled or warn down by any kind of pressure defense.

Furthermore this philosophy creates a large amount of open space on the floor and the US thrives in open space. They have trouble with tightly packed defenses that can jump passing lanes and giving them more space only plays into their hands.

The only way Spain stays in this game is by running the offense through Jose Calderon (who is one of the few point guards who can weather the US pressure defense) and Pau Gasol (just a great scorer) and hit a ton of threes.

Calderon however is hurt and did not play against Lithuania. Raul Lopez and Ricky Rubio went 0-for-9 shooting in their last game and will have an extremely tough time with the US.

The Spainsh team clearly has the players to be a good long-range shooting team but have yet to produce. Fernandez, Navarro, Calderon and Garbajosa are all capable of draining three-pointers, yet as a team the Spanish are hitting a tournament worst 29.8 percent of their attempts form beyond the arc.

They could have a breakout game but don’t count on it.

Expect the US to run, dunk and in general wreak havoc. The three biggest advantages Spain possesses are talent, depth and style and the US out paces them in each category.

Prediction: US wins gold 121-87

The first step: US blows open contentious game against Aussies

For Team USA it’s one down, two to go.

The spunky Australian team stayed with the US for more than a quarter but fouls and a 38-14 third period kept the Boomers from hanging around. The final score of 116-85 belies how competitive the game was early on.

Australia trailed by just one after the first quarter but the US slowly built the lead to 12 in the second. The second half began with a 14-0 US run and the game was over at that point.

One of the stranger elements of the game came in terms of rebounding. Australia had a number of very tall front court players but lost the rebounding battle 57 to 28. Entering this game the US had only been out-rebounding opponents by 1.8 boards per game, mostly due to their smaller lineups.

The final numbers make it look like both teams shot decently from beyond the arc but when the game was competitive that was just not that case. The Aussies would have needed to shoot very well from distance (something the had done in the tournament) to stay in it and could not.

Guard Patrick Mills was one of the few bright spots for Australia as he could help start a run every time he stepped on the court. The Australian big men could do little as foul trouble plagued them for most of the game.

LeBron James was rebounding and dunking like a manic but it was Kobe who in was a barometer for the play of the US. Kobe seems to need to hit some lay-ups before his shooting kicks into gear. Once his gets on a roll from 3-point range it really is over.

Kobe’s early play however was a cause for concern. He and D-Wade fired up a number of fade-away mid-range shots which they did not convert at a high clip.

Is that really necessary? They can get that shot any time they want at it really is pretty low percentage. Only a few players in the history of the game have been somewhat efficient fading, and Kobe is not on that list.

As for the US centers, it was weird that Dwight Howard came out grabbing boards and drawing fouls but missed free-throws and turnovers kept him form playing more than 14 minutes. Chris Bosh was spectacular again, scoring 15, moving in transition and just putting himself in position to make easy dunks and lay-ups.

The US free-throw shooting woes continued with a 58-percent performance. Australia’s success came when they kept turnovers down early. It was a spurt of giveaways that fueled the US runs in the late second and early third quarters.

Another odd theme in this game was how the Aussies tried to get under the skin of the US. They made sure to knock down the Americans frequently and words were frequently exchanged with either opponents or refs.

To that end the Australians also showed little respect in the friendly meeting between theses teams by referring to the NBA stars by their number rather then their names. This apparently enraged the members of Team USA.

Is that really the best response? These players have more money, respect and play in a far better league than most of the Aussie players. Why they would let something as stupid as not knowing their names both them is beyond me.

Then again, Coach K referred to the Greek players by number after losing in 2006.

Now the US can sit back and wait to see who there next opponent will be.

Undefeated Team USA now must prepare for Boomers after crushing Germany

The Destruction Wrought was total and utterly complete.

Entering the final game of pool play, Team USA had little to play for. They could not improve their seed and in past competitions might have let up a bit, playing a sloppier game.

Germany had only pride to play for. Two days after losing their most important game in the Olympics to China, they were just bidding farewell to long time stars Dirk Nowitzki and point guard Patrick Roller.

The Americans came out strong with a 20-3 run and led by 19 after the first quarter. After that they kept rolling, the lead growing to 30 and then 40. By game’s end the US defense had hounded Germany into 30 percent shooting and carried home a 106-57 victory.

The half-court offense looked especially sharp but that may have been linked to the German defense. They ran a 2-3 zone which needs quick players who can move and shift fairly well; these are not the kind of players the Germans specialize in. 

Furthermore most of the German bigs model their game around Dirk’s soft perimeter oriented style. This is not conducive to good defense and as such the middle of the court was vulnerable.

One US player who took advantage of this was Dwight Howard who recorded the first double-double for Team USA with 22 points and 10 rebounds in just 19 minutes on the court. Howard had been struggling before this game but when he commits to moving more without the ball and flying around for rebounds he becomes a very valuable asset.

Four other players scored ten or more for the US including LeBron James who had a sub-par game with only 3 rebounds and zero assists (he did however hit four threes). It’s a testament to the lack of competitiveness of the game that no American played more than 20 minutes and that was Tayshaun Prince, the consensus 11th man on the team.

The only real flaw for the US was underwhelming free throw percentage of 61.1 percent. They were the second worst shooting team in pool play, finishing better than only Iran.

The worst performance for the Germans during pool play had to be Chris Kaman. After a 24-point first game he shot just 35 percent and never scored more than 10 points. He broke double digits in rebounds against Spain and China but did not have much of an impact for a team than failed in their primary goal of getting out of pool play.

Attention moves to Boomers

The US now enters the most difficult stage of this tournament, the knockout stage.

Simply put, the US will probably win any game unless that a play poorly (turnovers, cold shooting, forcing drives into zones, allow opponent’s offense to operate), run into a hot shooting team that is executing well and allow the opponent to control tempo and limit their running game.

The first opponent will be Australia, the team that played a very competitive game in the final exhibition before the Olympics. They run a nine-man rotation that boasts a fair amount of talent.

For Australia it starts with the front court of Andrew Bogut, Chris Anstey, David Anderson and Matt Nielson. All four can step out and stretch the defense with their shooting and pass well.

The swingmen all contribute in different ways, nice passes, timely threes and a good plays within the offense. The top player there is Brad Newley who has been a slashing and scoring machine (13.2 PPG) in this competition.

The Australian point guards are Patrick Mills and C.J. Bruton. Mills is an excelled scorer who reputedly burned the US point guards the last time these teams played. Bruton is the distributor, adept at feeding the slew of Australian forwards and centers in good position to score.

The road to the game has been a strange one for the men form down under. They were routed by Croatia in their first game, a big loss at the time because it appeared that those two teams would be competing for one spot in the second stage.

The lost their second game to Argentina but struck back with wins over Iran and Russia, the later of which was a 15-point blowout that eliminated the Russians and clinched Australia’s spot in this game.

In their final game against 4-0 Lithuania, the Aussies had nothing to play for (neither did the Lithuanians) but still put on an impressive performance, cruising to a 106-75 win.

In that game Australia showed a different tactic defensively that they had earlier. For most of their games they have been content to pack the lane and surrender outside shots. Against Lithuania, however, they extended their defense, probably because of Lithuania’s proclivity for hitting three-pointers.

The Australian offense is based in the Princeton offense and features a plethora of off-ball cuts and screens. They have been the second best 3-point shooting team in the Olympics and have also excelled at the free-throw line.

If the US concentrates on disrupting the movement it will have a far greater effect than trying to snipe the passing lanes.

Australia is a competent team though they are not in the top echelon of the teams on this tournament. The US should beat them and if they don’t the players probably should be required to walk/swim back to the states.

Looking ahead, in the likely event that the US wins their first game, they will face the winner of Argentina/Greece. Those are the last two teams to beat the US but have both fallen to Team USA once since then.

Both teams control tempo and could give the US trouble if things come together for them.