B Team? More like the A- team.
The speed and athleticism of Team USA was just amazing to watch earlier this morning. Their quickness closed down on open Slovenia players, cutting off would-be open shots before Slovenia could shoot them. Their athleticism collapsed all over the Slovenia players, which included some nice at-the-rim defense. Their quickness AND athleticism combined for some unstoppable fast break attacks from steals and in transition. I expect other teams to start employing the hack-a-fast-break just to slow down USA.
There are a couple of areas of concern. First, complaining to the refs. USA is spending too much time complaining and arguing with the refs. Second, that ugly 2nd qtr lull. USA lost their focus, got sloppy and careless, and gave up a bunch of turnovers. When the Knockout Round comes in the one-and-done format, there'll be no time for arguing or sloppiness.
Anyway, on to the next game. The word is that these 1st 3 games are the top opponents of Group B, and so far, USA has dismantled 2 of them. Brazil is next on their list. After that, a well earned relaxing day off. Unless we lose to Brazil. Then a well deserved video-tape watching day off.
Familiar names on Brazil: Leandro Barbosa, Anderson Varejao, Tiago Splitter
Preliminary round lineup:
| Day | Date | Opponent | Live PDT | Live Chan | Replay PDT | Replay Chan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | Aug 30 | Brazil | 11:30am | ESPN, espn3.com | 8:00pm | ESPN2 |
| Wed | Sep 01 | Iran | 9:00am | ESPN, espn3.com | 8:00pm | ESPN2 |
| Thu | Sep 02 | Tunisia | 6:30am | ESPN2, espn3.com | 9:30pm | ESPN2 |
11:30am - I get to sleep in for this one!