Olimpiadas - Pekin 2008

Team USA's quest for gold begins with a few questions



With Jason Kidd and Kobe Bryant in the mix, Team USA is feeling good about its chances in Beijing.
LAS VEGAS -- The biggest question facing Team USA is whether it will win the gold medal, but the answer is 33 days from being realized.

So as we begin the long trek to Beijing, here are some of the questions that have arisen as Team USA starts the final phase of its quest for gold:

Q: How is this team better than the team that lost to Greece in the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan?
A: First of all, the point guard position is much more solid. Instead of Kirk Hinrich (who finished as the starter in Japan) and Chris Paul (who began as the starter), the Americans now have Jason Kidd, Paul and Deron Williams as their playmakers.

They also have added Kobe Bryant, who will concentrate on being a one-on-one defensive stopper more than a scorer.

Q: How is this team worse than the 2006 team?
A: Can't really say the Americans are worse in any way. What they are, just as they were in Japan, is untested. They made it through last summer's Tournament of the Americas without playing a single close game, and they won't play a tough opponent in Beijing until their third and fourth games of the first round, when they'll face Spain and Greece.

And when they play the Greeks, keep an eye out to see whether Team USA's lack of size is a problem; it was two years ago when the Greeks stunned the Americans in the World Championship semis.

D-Wade is bald and beautiful, but is he healthy enough to ball?

Q. Is Dwyane Wade healthy enough to help?
A: That's a major, major question as camp gets under way. Wade is expected to be the team's sixth man, but Michael Redd, Williams and even Tayshaun Prince could usurp that title if Wade is as shaky in the next few weeks as he was for Miami last season coming back from knee and shoulder surgeries.

Q. What is the general take on Mike Krzyzewski's coaching Team USA in the Olympics?
A: That's an open-ended question, and it probably will be best answered after we see how Coach K responds to adversity when it first arises in Beijing.

In Japan, it didn't come until the semis, and Coach K did not acquit himself well by stubbornly sticking with a small lineup against Greece when either Dwight Howard or Elton Brand could have made a big difference.

Q: Why is Jason Kidd in the starting lineup instead of Williams or Paul?
A: Because he's the quintessential facilitator, and he'll bend over backward to make sure the team's best scorers get the ball in position to put up points. He also has an undefeated record with the U.S. senior national team, going 38-0 in major competitions. He's the only member of the U.S. team to have won an Olympic gold medal, which he did eight years ago in Sydney.

When the team's bigwigs sat down after their 2006 third-place finish, they decided that upgrading the point was the most important adjustment they needed to make.

Q: There was a lot of drama (Stephon Marbury, Allen Iverson, Larry Brown) the last time Team USA played in the Olympics. Should we expect anything like that this time around?
A: Depends on whether this team runs into the same type of early adversity that the 2004 team did. Brown suspended two players for the first exhibition game four years ago because they were late to a team meeting, which got them off to a rough start. And when that Olympic squad landed in Germany and got trounced by Italy in its second exhibition, panic began to set in.

By the end of the first week of August, we'll see how Team USA looks in friendlies against two very strong teams -- Russia and Lithuania. If they struggle, the drama will begin to become self-evident.

Q: Will Kobe be able to subjugate his game, or at least adjust it for an entire month-plus?
A: Another open question. It'll be interesting to see who will take the last shot if they're ever in a tight game in the final seconds. Three guys -- Bryant, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony -- probably feel they most deserve to shoot for the win.

Q: Who is Team USA's leader?
A: Kidd is the leader, for age and experience reasons. But if he struggles on the road to Beijing, it'll be interesting to see who will try to step up and fill that position. A lack of leadership has been a problem for the U.S. in the past. In Athens, the team tuned out its leader -- Coach Brown.

Q: Which Team USA member will turn the most heads in Beijing (a la Vince Carter eight years ago in Sydney)?
A: The safe guess is Anthony, who has proven the past four years to be a better FIBA player than an NBA player. The dark horse is Kobe, who never has been asked to subjugate his offensive game as he will this time.

Q: What are the keys to Team USA's bringing back the gold?
A: The biggest key is to peak at the end, not the beginning. Only three games really matter -- the quarterfinals on Aug. 20, the semis on Aug. 22, and the gold-medal game on Aug. 24.

The team also needs to keep its bigs healthy and hope they stay out of foul trouble. Aside from Howard, Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer, Team USA doesn't have any other true power forwards or centers.

BALONCESTO | JUEGOS OLÍMPICOS - Yao Ming: "Nuestro grupo es el peor imaginable"


Foto de Yao Ming tras salir de copas y pedirle la entrevista

El pívot chino cree que será difícil clasificarse ante España, Estados Unidos y Grecia
El pívot chino Yao Ming ha sido claro al describir el grupo que le ha caído en suerte a China para el próximo torneo olímpico, y asegura que es "el peor imaginable", por la presencia de selecciones muy potentes, aunque indicó que los objetivos de los chinos "deben seguir siendo los mismos". "Éste es el peor grupo que podía haber imaginado", destaca, contundente, el pívot de los Rockets de Houston, que no dudó al incidir en el "gran potencial" de todos los rivales de grupo de China, que está encuadrada junto a España, Estados Unidos, Grecia, Alemania y Angola.

Yao, que reapareció hace escasas fechas tras estar apartado cinco meses de las canchas por una lesión en su pie izquierdo, ha admitido que tendrán que luchar con angoleños y alemanes por una plaza en los cuartos de final, principal objetivo chino a día de hoy. "Nuestro objetivo debe seguir siendo el mismo, a pesar de la dificultad del grupo", ha expresado el jugador, que comentó que los africanos "no son tan competitivos como los otros", y destacó que no les ve con opciones de ganar partidos en ese grupo, algo de lo que sí ve capaz a Alemania.

"Alemania es fuerte, pero no me asusta, Yi Jianlian ha mejorado mucho tras jugar una temporada en la NBA y está capacitado para limitar a Nowitzki, y yo puedo encargarme de Chris Kaman", destacó el jugador de 27 años, consciente de que ganar esos dos partidos podría meter a los chinos en los cruces de cuartos de final.

PRENSIL escribió:Los partidos de la selección USA se van a poder ver por tve, mañana de madrugada a las 02.00 h peneinsular dan el USA vs Canada

Hoy dan el España vs Lituania en la sexta.

oreimono escribió:No pone nada en su web mentirosos!!

mokujin21 escribió:

oreimono escribió:No pone nada en su web mentirosos!!

En la programación en elmundo.es sí que sale

PRENSIL escribió:Otra pachanguita de España que ha vapuleado 101-45 a Hungría (se dice que quieren a orei de entrenador )