OFFICIAL FIBA World Cup Spain 2014 Thread

[based mod]

Even Plumlee looking dominant

 

[rck3sactown]

I wonder if Durant hadn't pulled out, if we would have seen Faried emerge the way that he has.

Or would Durant have just slid over to the SF position and Faried would still start?

Less awkward undersized backcourt line ups?

Less Harden/Curry/Irving playing hero ball?

 

[nelson999]

Maybe USA should just roll with a 5 big man lineup and gut out all the chucking guards 

.  Plumlee and Cousins can throw lobs 

 

[bigmike23]

Harden is hands down the best passer and playmaker on the team

and when he plays like today all that doesn't matter

 

[lawdog1]

Marc Stein ‏@ESPNSteinLine · 3m
RT @sam_amick: Goran Dragic (Slovenia, Suns) on who is the favorite at this point in FIBA World Cup: "So far, Spain"

 

[xbiker47]

Cant wait to see if we do get a chance to play Spain, with all the hero ball were playing I expect a very difficult match up

 

[noblekane]

Still mad at kd

 

[darthska]

^ Faried ain't. 

 

[lawdog1]

Cant wait to see if we do get a chance to play Spain, with all the hero ball were playing I expect a very difficult match up

I didn't realize this until I looked at the complete roster today, but all but 2 guys on Spain are playing, have played or will play in the NBA. I don't think that's ever been true of a team other than the US before.

 

[rook]

^ Faried ain't. 

nope. never expected this when he was at morehead

 

[do work son]

You know you would hate watching him if he wasn't on your team

The irony in you posting this gif on the topic of James Harden

Still got love for you though 

don't get me wrong, harden is definitely one of my favorite players being that he's a rocket. i do disagree with the premise that i'd hate him if he wasn't on my team. he's not doing anything manu hasn't been doing the last 10 years. biggest difference being manu plays more of a passing role because he's been coming off the bench all these years, and harden isolates more because he's the teams #1 offensive option with an inept coach. it's become the cool thing to hate harden because he looks to draw contact. every time he drives, he sweeps through and usually gets contact, and gets to the line. no different that lebron driving like a bowling ball into the lane and getting FTs. it's just the presentation of it. harden sells calls and gets calls. he doesn't only flourish because of the free throw line. he's an extremely gifted offensive player. the way yall tell it, it's a bad thing to get to the FT line.

lastly, i mostly posted the gif because between the time the game started, and my post quoting nelson there were about 40-45 posts. i quoted nelson 6 times, all about harden. 10-20% of the game posts were nelson talking about harden. we get it. you don't like him. no need to basically free post about it every time he touches the ball.

Spoiler: yes i'm slightly upset and this is petty of me

Marc Stein ‏@ESPNSteinLine · 3m
RT @sam_amick: Goran Dragic (Slovenia, Suns) on who is the favorite at this point in FIBA World Cup: "So far, Spain"

he's just being honest. it wouldn't be an upset if they beat us. we literally are trotting out our B team, and still destroying opponents.

westbrook/cp3
?
lebron/durant
love/bg/LMA
dwight

that team might beat the team that's actually playing by a healthy 20 points.

 

[rck3sactown]

Is this your first time seeing @Nelson999  post? 

let him be great

 

 

[nelson999]

Harden deserved all 6 of those negative posts and probably more 

 

[ballinsam23]

I kinda want Spain to win tbh. Would be a real wake up call.

 

[nelson999]

I kinda want Spain to win tbh. Would be a real wake up call.

They probably will if the US guards try to play Hero ball

 

[everysingletime]

A wake up call? Who is sleeping?

 

[dmbrhs]

I kinda want Spain to win tbh. Would be a real wake up call.

Stop using the term "wake up call". The wake up call was from 2000-2004. It's 2014, and we've experienced two close gold Olympic medal games against Spain, who looks stronger this year than ever before.

 

[aepps20]

Wake up call for what? This isn't 04 when dudes weren't buying in and were taking games for granted. Guys are doing the best they can out there. Nothing you can do when the players that were supposed to be on the team were too injured or didn't want to play.

 

[rck3sactown]

Srs question, for some of you, is this your first time watching international basketball??

Team USA has been put on notice for over a decade now 

 

[dmbrhs]

Wake up call for what? This isn't 04 when dudes weren't buying in and were taking games for granted. Guys are doing the best they can out there. Nothing you can do when the players that were supposed to be on the team were too injured or didn't want to play.

Yeah, these guys are trying, but they're caught in a tough spot because while all of them have bought into the program (unlike ten years ago), the team was slapped together in a manner similar to ten years ago.

 

[noblekane]

Rck settle down

 

[rck3sactown]

I'm def on edge right now.

~16 hours to go till the 5 day bachelor party I planned kicks off.....

I am feeling old.

But seriously, some of yall act like the USA needs a waking up still 

 the waking up has happened, its about how we adjust now; and thus far we haven't adjust enough. 

As @dmbrhs  said, our teams don't have the time to build the team chemistry, cohesion, or even the game plan/strategy to have a definitive leg up on international competition.

 

[noblekane]

Wait your getting married??

 

[cato312]

It'll be interesting to see if this current grouping of players (KD, Curry, AD, etc.) continue committing to the program as long as some of the European teams have.

 

[noblekane]

About the wake up call most of these guys are new to team usa. They really havent had a real wake up call yet