Team USA wasn’t nearly as dominant in their second tune-up as they were in their first, but that’s a credit to a step up in competition as the Dominican Republic is no Brazil.
Kevin Durant didn’t do much lighting up finishing with 11 points, but these two were very good as the U.S. fought off a pesky Brazilian side 80-69.
Russell Westbrook finished with just two, James Harden zero. Team USA is now off to England to continue training in prep for the Olympics which start in late July.
Oh, hey, Morning Bolts. http://www.dailythunder.com/2012/07/tuesday-bolts-7-17-12/#more-21286
Pretty interesting article this morning from Matt Moore posting at NBC sports. http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/07/17/the-inbounds-steve-nash-the-lakers-and-the-lawlessness-of-the-point-guard-wilderness/
Talking about how it's okay that Nash doesn't provide the Lakers PG defense because, really, since the hand-checking rule, that's been extremely few and far between. It's basically a shoot out at the PG position now. And Nash is nothing if not offensively capable.
I wasn't worried about Nash to the Lakers because I thought Russ still brought more to the table at this point in their careers than Nash did. This article doesn't change that feeling. However, it does make me look once again at the matchup league-wide and think about it from that point of view.
I still wonder as to the Kobe-Nash dynamic (as well as the Kobe-Gasol dynamic, and the Kobe-Bynum dynamic, and the Kobe-Brown dynamic). But perhaps Nash being an open door defensively is not as bad a thing as I'd thought for the Lakers.
(Cue Russ deciding to prove me wrong, much to my delight.)
@ou_sas the problem they will have is that nash and kobe have different styles are both ball dominant, if kobe can suck it up, and become more like the james harden role they will be really good, nash with bynum and gasol in pnr and pnp will be devastatingly good, they just have to hope they can build a big enough lead that the bench wont lose it, but they are the 2nd or 3rd best team in the west.
@f5alcon Totally agree. I'm still thinking our frontcourt handles them better - I think Perk's managed to get inside Bynum's head on that. I could see Russ playing Kobe in ball-denial role and Thabo on Nash to contain him in the back-court matchup as a change of pace, too.
@f5alcon I'm not even convinced that Metta's playing at a level anywhere near enough to stop KD over the course of a series any more. KD's offensive skillset grows by leaps and bounds every year, and as he gets more confident and more used to being bodied up on, Metta's going to be less and less effective.
@ou_sas kobe's defense is bad at this point, and if they get rid of metta nobody to stop durant, we will outscore them but it will be shootouts not defensive battles.
Pet peeve: People mispronouncing names.
Examples: Duh-wight Howard. Nay-nay (Heard that one this morning on the way to work).
LOL
Tom Ziller @teamziller
Mayo is a nice pick-up for Dallas, depending on price. But man, Tony Allen is licking his chops.
Anyone with a boxscore for the game?
@diddoff http://www.usabasketball.com/misc/12_mnt_exh_02_box.pdf
@ou_sas @diddoff Kobe was typical Kobe last night... wow.
@SoonerSpens he made some great plays though. His court presence really had an impact.
@ou_sas You're the man
@diddoff Heh, thanks. I remember blearily seeing someone linking that on twitter (maybe? Or maybe the previous thread?) while I checked my phone as I was getting up this morning.
(ugh. That sentence feels awkward. But I can't quite put my finger on anything grammatically wrong with it. :/ )
@diddoff KD with 25 mins, Russ with 15, Harden with 3. Maybe Brooks is bribing Coach K to rest them more following the finals. Meanwhile, Lebron plays 32 minutes (only person on team USA over 30 minutes - in fact, KD's got the second highest minutes on the game).
@f5alcon @diddoff Yeah, still, he's supposed to be getting rest. Just like when Spo was coaching him. No rest for the weary - which is great for us!
@ou_sas @diddoff lebron was needed, he was the only one playing well.
is it just me, or is everyone here anticipating a line up of maynor at point and russ playing pesky ass D~ . he seems to be getting better at that.
@Legendary_Dork I would love to see a starting 5 of Maynor Russ Thabo KD and Serge
@HookemKD @Legendary_Dork The all attack lineup of Maynor-Russ-Harden-Jones-KD (I trust KD to stretch to center more than I trust Jones at this point).
@Legendary_Dork we have so many freak line ups. it doesn't make sense. brooks better get creative this year.
@Legendary_Dork Nice seeing someone else awake this late (or early).
Between AD last weekend, Dez Bryant tonight, & many, many others in the past, the Texas police prescence is oppressive as hell. Majority of the new jobs in my field are happening in tx but I'll go back to manual labor before I move there. Would end up in jail fo'sore. Anyone driven from Dallas to Houston before? It's friggin 55mph on a 6-8 lane road just so they have a reason to pull you over & get up in your business. Worst state in the USA.
@Tequila or Failure I don't mind a few speed traps as long as the economy doesn't suck like the rest of the country's.
@Tequila or Failure Um, Dez was arrested on a domestic violence charge... how does that relate to overly oppressive policing?
Lay off the tequila?
@Tronchaser Dez also turned himself in. OPPRESSED!
@Tequila or Failure dont forget perk last summer lol
@Tequila or Failure Okay...lets not jump all over Texas because of an aggressive police force.
Sorry, Mavs fans...but this whole Kaman/Brand/Collison/Jones/Mayo offseason thing just reeks of throwing together a bunch of misfit/has-been/never-were/spare parts that aren't/weren't wanted by anyone else and then expecting them to suddenly compete for...something/anything. They'll be lucky to get in the playoffs.
@courtsense i just like that the Harden-Mayo rivalry wil live on
@OBoymuzik What Harden Mayo rivalry? Harden shits on Mayo
@MisterJohnsonOKC they dont like each other
@courtsense Disagree. This is a playoff team, albeit 6-8 seed. But these moves didn't hurt their financial flexibility either...
@Grolgar @courtsense What I'm saying is, some or even most of those guys would be fine if they were the finishing pieces on a good team...but as the team itself, just surrounding Dirk? Sorry...I'm not buying whatever it is they're selling.
@Grolgar @courtsense Maybe a playoff team in the East...but look at all of the teams fighting for a 4-8 seed in the West. Its a war.
@courtsense I dunno. They may be misfits, but that's really solid personnel. Not championship caliber, but certainly a strong team. They still could use a starting point guard though.
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m78mjukV391qi9aqjo1_400.gif
@OkcBaby Sick wit it.
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story?id=8170866&_slug_=nba-western-conference-teams-salary-cap-situations&action=upsell&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fnba%2fstory%3fid%3d8170866%26_slug_%3dnba-western-conference-teams-salary-cap-situations unlock please?
@ou_sas Im too stupid to mod the whole article, but this is what he said for the thunder:
Oklahoma City Thunder
Maximum cap room: $0
Midlevel exception remaining: $3.3 million
Biannual exception remaining: $1.96 millionTrade exceptions remaining: $1.3 million (Byron Mullens)
Significant free agents: None
Notes: The Thunder signed Hasheem Thabeet from Portland, but other than that, it's been a pretty quiet offseason in Oklahoma City. The team's bigger worry is going to be budgeting for extensions for James Harden and Thabo Sefolosha.
@EatSleepThunder Huh? I think we still have full MLE. Thabeet and Thompson are paid minimum salary.
@gnaygg @EatSleepThunder Neither qualify as minimum exception because of the number of years. Minimum contracts can only be for two years. Thabeet will be on $3.65/3 with only the first year and $500k of the second year guaranteed (so little more than the minimum anyway) and Thompson on three years at minimum salary with only $75k guaranteed.
@EatSleepThunder Thanks for reading between the lines that I was curious as to the Thunder side of things. :)
@EatSleepThunder @ou_sas lol they mentioned Thabo but not Serge Ibaka or Eric Maynor?
http://screen.yahoo.com/the-lego-wire-29977908.html?pb_list=f98d7405-694c-44f4-99c7-e6d7f1032375
Miss this show.
@MD4Okc I actually like that second season with the union dock workers.
I know it's in the past and I have to move on but, do any of u think the Finals would have turned out any different had the format been 2-2-1-1-1 like the rest of the playoffs? *run on sentence*.
@Jameswade99 I have never been a fan of the format, even way before the Thunder existed. Even the furthest possible matchup, probably like a Miami-Portland or New York/Boston- (Cali team) is about 6hrs.
The only reason I could find for its current format is so the away team team and media can travel less. Total crap since flights are such common place.
@Jameswade99 Its essentially to eliminate home court advantage during the Finals, so the two best teams are evenly matched. The higher seeds get HCA throughout the playoffs to help assure they get farther, to provide higher quality basketball, to make the league money. You can root it all back to money.
@Jameswade99 Yes. I think everyone who calls themselves a basktball fan agrees it needs to be changed.
@Bryson @Jameswade99 Except for miami fans.... but then again they dont have any real fans