Olympics: Argentina beats Brazil 82-77 as Varejao sits

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Ruben Magnano coached a game that made all of his fellow Argentinians happy.

Problem was, Magnano was coaching Brazil.

Magnano made the curious decision to sit Anderson Varejao for the entire fourth quarter, and Argentina held off a strong fourth-quarter run by Brazil and defeated their South American rivals 82-77 Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the 2012 Olympics.

Magnano, who coached Argentina to a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens but then had a falling out with the national federation, was not solely to blame. Unable to make proper use of their size advantage, the Brazilians played small in the final quarter and were undone throughout the game by their horrific 3-point shooting (5-for-20 through the first 39 minutes) and nearly-as-horrific free throw shooting (12-for-24, with Splitter going 3-for-8.)

Leandro Barbosa and Marcelinho Huertas led Brazil with 22 points apiece, but Alex Garcia committed a key offensive foul when he charged into Manu Ginobili on a fast-break with 52 seconds remaining and Brazil trailing 74-71. (Some might say it was a 50-50 call, but Ginobili appeared to get back and set up his defensive stance cleanly before Garcia ran into him.)

Ginobili, who scored 16 points, made both free throws for a five-point lead.

Argentina scored four points from the foul line in the next 21 seconds to clinch it.

(RELATED CONTENT: Spain defeats flagrant fouling France 66-59.)

(RELATED CONTENT: Russia defeats Lithuania 83-74 in Olympic quarterfinals)

Luis Scola led Argentina with 17 points, and Carlos Delfino also had 16. Argentina moves on to a likely semifinal matchup with Team USA, which played Australia in Wednesday’s final quarterfinal game.

Click here for the boxscore.

 

 

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Will Team USA lose at London Olympics?

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I am going to give you a Team USA gold-or-not prediction in this column, and I promise you a prediction that goes against the grain. That’s all I’ll say about that … for now.

First, I’ll hand over the podium and relay a quote that could be the defining declaration concerning the London Olympics:

“Let’s no longer beat about the bush. This summer’s Olympics Games are going to be a catalog of disasters. Not everything that can go wrong will go wrong. Only lots of it.”

That line was written by the editorial staff of the venerable Times of London, and it was published two weeks ago in the context of organizational difficulties, especially those related to security.

But it could be germane to Team USA if something unexpected happens.

If Ronny Turiaf commits a hard foul against ex-Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant in Sunday’s opener and it breaks a bone in Kobe’s delicate hand, the equation will have changed.

If LeBron James sprains an ankle in the semifinals and can’t play for the gold, then what?

If (when) Tyson Chander gets into foul trouble against an opponent with multiple NBA bigs, the next line of defense at the center position is Kevin Love, Andre Iguodala, James or Carmelo Anthony. All four of those guys have already played center in the Americans’ five exhibition games. What if foul trouble causes neophyte Anthony Davis to be called upon?

What if Team USA has to defend a Spanish front line of Pau Gasol, Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol all at once, should the fickle Spanish head coach choose to play that threesome together. Then what?

“I am a beast,” a supremely confident Pau Gasol told Larry Fine of Reuters.

If the Americans have to defend Anderson Varejao and Nene at the same time, can Brazil exploit it? Maybe, because it has the best non-NBA point guard competing in London, a guy by the name of Marcelinho Huertas, who dropped 13 dimes in D.C. two weeks ago with President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden watching from courtside seats. Team USA trailed for nearly the entire first half of that game.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski went into that Brazil game thinking it’d be a good idea to have Kevin Durant coming of the bench as the sixth man. That notion was quickly abandoned, and Anthony will have that role at the Olympics. (Dwyane Wade had to subjugate his ego and take on the sixth man role four years ago for Team USA in Beijing, and he was the Americans’ most valuable player, hands down.)

Durant or LeBron James will likely be the MVP for this U.S. team. Likely. But it could be Anthony, who presents a matchup problem as a stretch 4 playing against bigs unaccustomed to going out on the perimeter to defend.

Ironically, the 4 (power forward) spot is what should be the key position for the Americans. Their only true power forward is Love, who is teetering between being an impact player as the 9th man or a towel-waver backing up Davis. The choice is his, and it depends on his mental state — as discussed here.

If Durant, James, ‘Melo, Love and Iguodala can play well on the defensive end as the rotating 4s and 5s, the victories will come easily.

If a team with multiple bigs can consistently get the ball deep into the low post, it’s trouble.

“It’s sort of a double-edged sword,” Gasol said. “You have to try to punish them at one end, then adjust at the other end. And they’re loaded, so you have to be alert at all times.”

It should be a relatively easy opening night for Team USA against France, which is a 24 1/2-point underdog. (Argentina was a 28 1/2-point underdog last Sunday in Barcelona and lost to the U.S. by just 6.)

But the French are coming with confidence even though they do not have all of their NBA players. If you throw the missing Joakim Noah, Ian Mahinmi and Rodrigue Beaubois onto Les Blues roster, they would be scary. But they try to play the same speed style as the Americans, and even with a roster of current and former NBA players Tony Parker, Turiaf, Nicolas Batum, Nando de Colo (who will play for the Spurs next season), Boris Diaw, Mickael Gelabale and Yakhouba Diawara, they are going to be overmatched.

Of course, everyone thought Puerto Rico was going to be overmatched in the opener of the 2004 Olympics against an American team that included Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson, James, Anthony, Wade and Amare Stoudemire, and we all remember what happened in Athens, right?

The Americans lost by 18 points to Carlos Arroyo and Co.

Nobody saw that coming, and although what happened in 2004 is largely irrelevant to what will take place in London in 2012, there is always some connection.

Because you never know what is going to happen in these tournaments. Every team is bound to have one bad game – even the Americans. It’s a rule of thumb in FIBA competitions that Manu Ginobili once explained to me in great detail. You can make the case that Team USA had its one bad game in Beijing in the gold medal match against Spain, when it surrendered 107 points and it was a four-point game with 3 minutes left.

That’s where the sphincter factor comes into play, and in 2008 it was Spain that tightened up in those final 3 minutes. When the game was out of reach with a minute left, the coach kicked the scorer’s table and took a technical foul. The Americans drained the two free throws, and it was over. Team USA ended up with 118 points and won by 11.

But the 225 combined points in a 40-minute FIBA game was astronomical. Again, nobody saw that high of a number coming.

That’s the thing about the Olympics: You never know.

All you can know is that the Americans’ opponents will respect them but not fear them. Ginobili and Luis Scola have already defeated Team USA before – twice, in 2002 and 2004.

Sarunas Jasikevicius has already defeated the Americans before (in 2004), and he had a shot to knock them out in the semifinals of the 2000 Sydney Olympics but was defended superbly on the final possession by Jason Kidd.

Watch this video of the tense final minute of that game if you want to see how close the Americans can come to losing against an upstart. Then read on for some background of what happened before that final shot by Jasikevicius sailed wide left.

_ Before Ramunas Siskauskas missed two of three free throws with the score 80-80 and 43.4 seconds left, he had not missed a free throw during the entire Olympics.

_ With 25.9 seconds left, the aforementioned sphincter factor came into play for Kevin Garnett, who missed two straight free throws before Antonio McDyess scored on the putback. (Also, go back to the 3:50 mark of that video and check out the Greco-Roman wrestling going on on the other side of the paint between Vince Carter and a Lithuanian player. That kind of physicality is common in FIBA basketball).

_  After Jason Kidd missed the second of two free throws with 9.4 seconds left, the ball was loose for four  seconds before Siskauskas and McDyess were on the floor scrambling for it and a jump ball was called. Watch how quickly the ensuing jump ball violation (at the 6:40 mark of the video) was whistled – giving the Lithuanians their final shot.

_ Little-known fact: That US-Lithuania game was the second semifinal of the day. The French had won the first to make it to the gold medal match. Afterward, one of the referee assignments was changed for the US-Lithuania game. The replacement referee was French.

Why does any of this matter 12 years later?

Again, because you never know.

The scope and pressure and exhaustion factor of the Olympics is enormous, especially when you are at the event, on foreign soil and haven’t been home for 35 days by the time it ends. It is so much bigger, in such a different way, from the pressure of an NBA Finals game – with the exception of Game 7.

When you are one-and-done, it’s a whole different ballgame. Anyone recall what happened the last time there was a Game 7 in the NBA Finals? Kobe Bryant was 6-for-24, Pau Gasol was the best player on the court for the final 3 minutes, and the best player for the Lakers overall was Ron Artest, a guy who is so borderline nuts that he thanked his psychiatrist at the conclusion. (Artest will forever be immune from the sphincter factor for that Game 7 performance).

But back to these Olympics, this American team, and whether they can be defeated.

Continue reading …

 

 

 

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SH Blog: Dwight Howard might not get traded, Kevin Love losing role with Team USA

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After all the rumors and possible trade talks with the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers, the Orlando Magic appear to be holding off on dealing Dwight Howard. At this point, general manager Rob Hennigan appears to be as indecisive as his malcontent superstar center. See what the franchise has in mind, along with today’s transactions and updates on Team USA below:

  • Posturing or not, the Magic don’t appear ready to part with Dwight Howard any time soon, according to Chris Broussard: The Orlando Magic have told rival executives that they might not trade Dwight Howard after all, according to league sources. An executive who has had discussions with the Magic regarding Howard said Orlando only will trade the star center in a deal that is great for the franchise. The executive said this has been Orlando’s stance for the past “week or so.” Another executive who has talked with Orlando said he thinks the Magic may start the season with Howard and wait until the February trade deadline to move him. Each executive left the door open for posturing, noting that the Magic may be bluffing in hopes of coaxing better offers out of opposing teams. But the overriding sense is that Howard may not be moved for weeks, if not months. The Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets both covet Howard, but each team has come away from trade discussions thinking the Magic — at least for now — are not interested in trading the six-time All-Star, according to sources.
Nets have officially signed CJ Watson. He'll be introduced to the media tomorrow.
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Stefan Bondy
  • Carmelo Anthony has worked with trainer Idan Ravin, who has helped the small forward shed 12 pounds since the end of the season, according to Jared Zwerling: “For Melo, that meant losing 12 pounds (he now roughly weights 239) and gaining more quickness — on top of his strength — thanks to renowned NBA trainer Idan Ravin, who’s worked one-on-one with nearly half of Team USA, including Kobe Bryant, LeBron James,Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Kevin Love and Blake Griffin. That doesn’t include Dwyane Wade and Dwight Howard, who were left off the roster due to injuries.”
  • Team USA has not been impressive over its recent exhibition games against Brazil and Argentina, making Andres Nocioni doubt their ability to win gold in the Olympics, from Jason McIntyre: “Team USA put together another unimpressive performance in an Olympic exhibition, beating Argentina 86-80. On the heels of an at-times unimpressive victory over Brazil – after trailing by 10 in the first half – there’s mild cause for concern about the USA bringing home the Gold next month in England. Argentina cut the US lead to four in the 4th quarter, and afterward, Andres Nocioni had this to say about the Americans: “The U.S. team will have to work very hard for the gold medal and I’m not so sure they will get it.”
  • Kevin Love is supposed to be a big part of Team USA, but the All Star power forward could prove to become irrelevant if his play does not improve, according to our Chris Sheridan: “Memo to Kevin Love: If you don’t knock someone on their ass tomorrow, and if you continue to play as though you have a sense of entitlement rather than a job to do, you are going to be watching Anthony Davis take your minutes as the last big man off the bench. That advice is based on solid intel, because the powers that be at USA Basketball are not happy that the Kevin Love they came to appreciate two years ago in Turkey has somehow morphed into a Kevin Love who didn’t even leave his feet Sunday night when he got outworked for a rebound by Andres Nocioni in Team USA’s closer-that-it-should-have-been 86-80 victory over Argentina.
  • Jeremy Lin took  some time with Marcus Thompson II to talk about his offseason experience as well as Linsanity: “As he looks back on the craziest year he could imagine, Bay Area native Jeremy Lin had no choice but to concede to the truth of hindsight. He did let Linsanity go to his head. ”If I’m being honest, in some ways, yes,” Lin told this newspaper in an exclusive interview. “I fought it every day. But I think subconsciously, it had its effect, everyone catering to you. People were saying only good things for so long that when people said negative stuff, it was like, ‘Whoa, what’s going on?’ “ After Lin signed a three-year, $25 million contract with Houston, a lot of negative stuff was said. He’s selfish. He’s all about the money. His ego is out of control. And, to top it off, many deemed him a basketball fluke who already has maxed out on the court. Despite it all, Lin is happy. He said he’s thankful for his time in New York, the ride of a lifetime. He said he’s eager about his future in Houston and the possibilities with his new team.”
  • LeBron James spoke with HoopsHype’s Jorge Sierra about his plan to utilize the post more moving forward: “You took fewer three-pointers this season. LJ: I just changed my approach. I decided to stay away from the three-point line and going to the post. Make it a little bit easier for myself and for my teammates. I got more and more comfortable going down there and it was a success. How do you think your game is going to evolve in upcoming seasons? Are you going to become more of a post player? LJ: I can see that happening. I feel very comfortable down there, more comfortable than I’ve ever felt in my career. So I would see myself down there a lot more, and work my game from there. You averaged almost 10 rebounds in the playoffs this year. Is it a goal for you to average 10 rebounds during the regular season? LJ: I’ve never set a statistical goal. I just don’t do that, I set team goals.”
Marco Belinelli's deal with the Bulls is for one year at the bi-annual exception of $1.96 million, sources say. The deal has been agreed to.
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Ken Berger
  • The Bulls have also acquired veteran point guard Kirk Hinrich and will sign Nazr Mohammed, while deciding to let Omer Asik walk to the Houston Rockets. K.C. Johnson explains the reason behind the moves: “The move will be the first of many announced in the coming days. The Bulls will decline Omer Asik’s three-year, $25.1 million offer sheet from the Houston Rockets because they will be hard capped at $74.3 million while paying the luxury tax for the first time in history. By using a portion of the $5 million midlevel exception for Hinrich and earmarking the biannual exception of $1.9 million to sign Marco Bellinelli, it’s impossible for the Bulls to match even Asik’s $5 million starting salary and stay below $74.3 million. La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that Belinelli’s deal will be two years for $3.8 million. Kenwood Academy product Nazr Mohammed will be signed to a one-year, $1.4 million deal to replace Asik, sources said. As for Hinrich, he turned down more years and money from the Milwaukee Bucks to return to the franchise that drafted him.”
  • Carlos Delfino is upset with the Milwaukee Bucks for their unwillingness to reach out to him, from HoopsHype: ”I expected to have at least a conversation [with Milwaukee],” Delfino told HoopsHype. “I ended up aggravating my injury because I wanted to play with the Bucks. It hurts me a little bit that they have not even reached out to me. That’s life, things happen. I learned from the experience. Coach Scott [Skiles] and the owner [Herb Kohl] have been very good to me. The rest… I expected a little bit more. Sometimes you expect not to be rewarded, but to be recognized for your effort, playing through injury and doing things for the group… When that doesn’t happen, I don’t say that I feel betrayed, but I feel overlooked. Even though it’s a business, I think the general manager should have maintained the personal relationship and put value on other things aside from a contract. As a veteran player, I thought it was always good to play no matter what [despite the injuries] and so far it has only played to my disadvantage.”
  • Michael Beasley shared his thoughts about joining the Phoenix Suns and said he likes the team’s style of play. Perhaps he hasn’t heard about Steve Nash’s move to the Lakers. Here is a transcript of the interview, from Chris Fedor: ”On what attracted him to Phoenix: “First it was the offense, the style of play and it kind of fits my game to a ‘T.’ Then it was the fact that Coach Gentry and the organization believes in me and still has confidence in my game. That made me feel good as a person and feel great as a player.” How he feels coming into this new situation in Phoenix: “It feels great. I actually feel great coming into a situation like that. I get a chance to not be the main guy but you know to be the go-to guy. Not just scoring but the go-to stopper and whatever my team needs, me to get a bucket or get a defensive stop, I feel good and confident that I can be that guy.”

Bulls face uncertain future due to Derrick Rose’s injury 

Kobe Bryant holds court in Barcelona


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Scola: Rockets said they wanted to go younger

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BARCELONA — Courtesy of Luis Scola, we bring you a small piece of tangential news today regarding the Dwight Howard saga, this from the player who was amnestied by the Houston Rockets in what appeared to be a clear cut attempt to clear cap space to acquire the Orlando Magic center.

“They (general manager Daryl Morey and VP of player personnel Gersson Roses) called me right around draft day and they said they had drafted power forwards, and they told me they were going to get some big player to help us right now, which I could be a big part of that,” Scola told SheridanHoops.com Sunday night after Scola’s Argentinian national team lost to Team USA 86-80.

“But then failing to do that, and getting some power forwards , they believed they needed to go young,” Scola said. “They told me they don’t think they’re going to be doing nothing in the next 3-4 years, which is when I’m going to be a player. They’re trying to go younger, and they’re looking 3-4 years ahead.”

Did they say it was a signal they were going to get Dwight Howard?

“I don’t know. I don’t know that much.”

Did they mention him?

“No, they didn’t. But I know they’re looking for him. and I know they told me they may need to clear some cap for something that comes up. But I don’t know for a fact,” Scola said. “When I knew I wasn’t going to be on the team, I stopped asking questions about the team. They stopped telling me too.

“Usually, they used to tell me what was going to happen, and what they were looking to have happen. And they told me I wasn’t going to be a part of the team anymore, then they didn’t tell me nothing.”

Scola was amnestied by the Rockets and was claimed on waivers by the Phoenix Suns.

The Rockets, meawhile, have been playing the restricted free agent market to rebuild their team. They added Jeremy Lin with a backloaded $25 million contract that the New York Knicks declined to match, and they are awaiting word from the Chicago Bulls (the deadline is Tuesday night) to learn whether their similarly backloaded offer sheet to center Omer Asik will be matched.

Houston currently lists more than 20 players on its roster, including the three players they acquired from Boston in the Courtney Lee sign-and-trade transaction (E’Twaun Moore, Sean Williams and JaJuan Johnson). The Rockets also acquired Charlotte’s 2013 2nd-round pick in that deal.

So Morey is sitting on a pile of young players and future draft picks which could conceivably be piled together in a trade for Howard, if the Rockets are still inclined to do so. (It would be a risky move, as Howard’s agent, Dan Fegan, has said his client will not sign a contract extension with any NBA team and will become an unrestricted free agent next summer).

But that list of assets includes:

_ Toronto’s first-round pick in 2013 (top-3 protected, then top 2 protected in 2014 and 2015, and unprotected in 2016); a future first-rounder from Dallas (top 20 protected through 2017, then unprotected in 2018); the Bobcats 2nd-round pick in 2013, the Knicks’ second round picks in 2014 and 2015, and a conditional second-round pick from the Clippers in 2015.

_The right to three players selected in the top 18 picks in the 2012 draft: Jeremy Lamb of UConn (12th overall), Royce White of Iowa State (No. 16) and Terrence Jones of Kentucky (No. 18).

_Two young players, including two centers, acquired in the sign-and-trade deal that sent Marcus Camby to the Knicks — Toney Douglas and Josh Harrellson, along with another center, Lithuanian Donatas Montiejunas, who was a first-round pick in 2011.

_ Two young players acquired from the Milwaukee Bucks on draft night in the Samuel Dalembert trade — John Brockman and Shaun Livingston.

Aside from Kevin Martin and Livingston, no signed player among the names on the current roster has more than 4 years of NBA experience. And if Morey is willing to bundle a bunch of those assets in a trade with Orlando, which is looking for a bundle of young players and draft picks, you can’t completely count them out of the Howard sweepstakes.

As Scola said: “I know they’re looking for him.”

 

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Team USA wins by 6 vs. Argentina, but no need for panic

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BARCELONA — “Was that was the final margin was? Six?”

Usually the reporters ask the questions and the players provide the answers. But the tables were turned as I spoke with Chris Paul after Team USA’s 86-80 victory Sunday night over Argentina, and those questions came from him.

Yes, the final margin was six – 86-80, to be precise.

But the margin earlier was 20, and the score was 16-1 in the early going as the Americans were making their first seven shots, three of them from Kevin Durant in a performance that was reminiscent, according to coach Mike Krzyzewski, of the one-man wrecking machine that Durant was for Team USA at the 2010 World Championship in Turkey.

The shot that made them 7-for-7 came from Kobe Bryant and made the score 19-3, and a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Deron Williams (who went back to a reserve role behind Paul) produced a 31-16 lead after one quarter.

From there, Argentina chipped away and the United States moved a step slower in what would be expected from a team trying to play with a big early lead and not let it entirely slip away.

Slip away it did, but not entirely, and when Luis Scola missed a pair of free throws with 53 seconds left that could have cut the deficit to five, victory No. 4 for Team USA on their pre-Olympic tour was secure.

Durant scored 27 points, Bryant had 18, and LeBron James scored 15 despite missing six of nine foul shots. The Americans took 34 3-pointers and just 30 2-pointers as their offense stagnated. They failed to produce a ton of points off of turnovers (both teams had 14) as they had done in their previous three games.

But again, this was an odd game with the Americans jumping out to a big early lead. The stagnancy was somewhat understandable given the circumstances.

Everyone in this city is looking forward to the game two nights from now (Tuesday) when the U.S. and Spain go head-to-head in the final tuneup before the London Olympics.

“Oh yeah, it’s going to be a big problem for us. I’m looking forward to it,” Bryant said. “They’re going to be very, very big and they’re going to be very, very strong and smart, and they’re going to shoot the ball well and pass the ball real well, so it’s going to be a good game for us.”

(RELATED CONTENT: Will LeBron James be King of the Hill in Barcelona)

If a panic button is going to be pushed back home in the States, it will only come if that game against Spain is lost. And Spain may not be at full strength, with Marc Gasol suffering from a shoulder injury and Juan Carlos Navarro nursing a nagging case of plantar fasciaitis. If both those players sit out Tuesday night’s game and it is a close one anyway, then the panic button can legitimately be pushed.

As for this six-point win?

In a lot of ways, it was better than the 11-point win over Brazil in Washington last week because the lineup has changed since then and players have begun settling into their roles. Durant won’t be coming off the bench anymore as he did in D.C., and there is not a player in the world that can guard him. The Americans are going to ride him early in pretty much every game from here on out, and if they can play from ahead they way they are accustomed to, they’ll be in their comfort zone.

What was disconcerting about the win over Brazil was the fact that the Americans trailed for almost the entire first half. As I told you that night, it had been six years since they had to play from behind for an extended stretch. And when you see something you haven’t seen for six years, alarm bells start to go off.

But on Sunday night, there truly was no need for alarm.

“Man, it was up and down. For us, we just concentrate on playing the right way and winning the game,” Paul said. “We made a lot of shots early, and the reason we were up so much early was our defense. After that we put them on the line a lot for a lot of easy points. You just have to win the game, and it’s not always going to look pretty, and that’s a good team we played against out there.

(RELATED CONTENT: Remembering the Dream Team in Barcelona, 20 years later)

“We understand that we left a lot of baskets out there. We had a lot of good looks, and they just didn’t go. We’ve got to attack a little more, that’s me D-Will and Russ. We’ve got to do a better job of getting into the gaps, and that’ll come. That’ll come. We’re still a little bit fresh, and we’ll get it right.”

Argentina is the only team the Americans will play in a “friendly” that they are certain to face in London. And the next game between these teams won’t be until Aug. 6.

Argentina has gotten into the habit of falling behind by big numbers in several of its recent games (that’s what happened to it against Team USA in 2008 in the Olympic semifinals, too, although it came back and made a game of it). So if you are sitting in front of the telly on Aug. 6 and the game is close all the way through the first half, then and only then will it be time to press the panic button.

For now, rest secure in the knowledge that this was about as lopsided of a six-point win as there has ever been in the history of basketball.

Chris Sheridan is publisher and editor-in-chief of SheridanHoops.com. He has covered every version of Team USA since 1996, covering them at the Olympics in Atlanta, Sydney, Athens and Beijing, as well as the World Championships in Indianapolis, Japan and Turkey. Follow him on Twitter.

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