Posted on 08/26/2004 12:59:16 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
OFFICIALS had to separate the US and Spanish coaches when an argument erupted at the end of the game as the United States beat Spain 102-94 in the Olympic men's basketball quarter-finals overnight.
"It was like having an argument with my son. I tried to explain but he just wouldn't listen," said U.S. head coach Larry Brown, who had asked for a stoppage with 23 seconds to go.
"I called the time out and then saw the clock and tried to cancel it, but (the officials) wouldn't let me. I tried to explain this to (the Spanish coach), that I meant no disrespect."
Spanish coach Mario Pesquera disagreed saying Brown could have refused to take the timeout and send his players right back out on the court.
"I had a lot of respect for coach Brown, but when you do something wrong, you can't always say 'I'm sorry'. If he asked for a timeout wrongly, he could send the team back again and not spend 20 seconds giving them instructions," he said.
In the second quarter-final, Lithuania beat China 95-75, spoiling another dominant performance by Yao Ming who had 29 points and 11 rebounds. The result leaves Lithuania as the only unbeaten team in the tournament with a 6-0 record.
The ending of the US game marred a record setting performance by Stephon Marbury, who finally found his shooting touch.
The New York Knicks guard fired in 31 points, a record by an American player at the Games. He also set an Olympic record with his six three-pointers, several of which came at key moments of the game.
The defending champions and three-times gold medallists had gone into the game in the unfamiliar role of being underdogs, after losing to Puerto Rica and Lithuania in the preliminary round. Spain were undefeated.
"Coming into the Olympics I hadn't played all summer so I wasn't in my rhythm. But I have taken some extra shooting practice to get it back," said Marbury.
"As everyone who knows basketball knows, repetition is the key," the New York Knicks guard said.
The Americans put together their best effort of the tournament, with Marbury breaking out of his poor form to score 31 points.
The United States came out aggressively, running up a five- point lead in the first minute.
But with Tim Duncan once again in foul trouble, Pau Gasol began to dominate inside, racking up 18 points and six rebounds in the first half alone.
Clinging to a one-point lead to start the third quarter, the Americans once again went on an early run to open up an eight point lead, only to see Spain level the score at 63-63 and then take a seven-point lead to start the fourth quarter.
But Spain could only get as close as four points in the final frame before Marbury's three pointer closed the door.
"We were there for about 35 minutes. I'm hurt. That was a big chance for our team to make a statement, to get a lot of respect," said Gasol, who ended with 29 points and six rebounds.
Italy put paid to Puerto Rico's hopes this morning with an 83-70 victory in their quarter-final and will play the Lithuanian favourites in the last four.
Argentina or Greece awaits the US.
I heard Glenn Beck talking about this earlier.
So just what was the problem? The Spanish thought they were getting 'dissed' by Brown calling a time-out with an eight-point lead and twenty-three seconds left?
It sucks to have your hopes put paid!
From cnnsi.com:
As long as the United States was playing the part of inept Colossus, bricking 3-point shots, getting dazed and confused by international rules, generally looking like a team that was going home without a medal for the first time in Olympic history, everything was all right in the world of Olympic basketball. But when the U.S. kicked it into gear on Thursday afternoon against Spain in the quarterfinals of the medal round, all hell broke loose.
Playing in front of an anti-American crowd that booed and whistle-jeered them throughout -- King Juan Carlos of Spain was there but I don't know whether he was booing -- the Americans finally found their shooting touch, and their aggressiveness, during a 102-94 victory over Spain, which was the best team in the tournament during pool-round play and now finds itself playing for seventh place. Spain's players and its coach, Mario Pesquera, have reason to be peeved at a system that has them go unbeaten in five games, then get eliminated by a team that had lost twice.
Not surprisingly, the U.S. emerged as the bad guy, but not merely for ending Spain's medal hopes.
Enraged by a late timeout that Team USA coach Larry Brown had called with America leading by a comfortable margin, Pesquera (a) said his respect for Brown was a thing of the past because of the late timeout, (b) charged that "the game had been played by NBA rules and not FIBA rules," which permitted too much traveling and physical play, (c) hinted that the Americans had laid down in the pool round and (d) stuck the knife even deeper into Brown by commenting that Dean Smith, one of Brown's coaching heroes, "would've never done anything like that."
I've been a consistent critic of the U.S. play in Athens, but Pesquera was out of line for a variety of reasons.
Brown was too cautious in calling for the late timeout and, in retrospect, probably wouldn't do it again. But he says that he tried to signal for the timeout earlier, with the U.S. up eight, but didn't get the attention of the refs until 23 seconds were left and the lead had grown to 11. Then Brown tried to cancel the timeout, which can be done in international rules, but the refs granted one anyway. I don't know whether that is true, but I do know that teams have blown big leads in short amounts of time and that this American team is not particularly reliable at holding onto the ball or making free throws.
Brown and two of his assistants, Gregg Popovich and Roy Williams, tried to explain all of this to Pesquera after the game, but the Spanish coach would have none of it. There was an angry exchange as the teams left the court, and Pesquera may well have gone after Brown physically had there not been a crowd around.
Second, the game was indeed physical and, for wont of a better term, NBA-ish. But that's partly because Spain plays that way, too, a fact that Brown had talked about the day before the game. Though no one in the U.S. camp would say it publicly, the Americans were ecstatic with this first-round draw because they knew it was an ideal matchup.
Third, the U.S. didn't lay down in the pool round; it just played abysmally, primarily because it couldn't shoot, an aspect of the game that is inevitably beginning to improve. (It could hardly have gotten worse.) Pesquera's implication is that the U.S. laid down to arrange a certain matchup; otherwise what's the point of laying down? That charge is groundless. The Americans had no way of knowing what team would end up where in the other group and, in fact, didn't even know that it had finished fourth in Group B until the results were in on games over which they had no control.
Finally, the comment about Dean Smith was simply bush. Pesquera should've directed his anger at the system; I had some sympathy for him in that regard. After five preliminary games, the pool winners, in this case Spain from Group A and Lithuania from Group B, should be allowed to come back and contest for the bronze if they lose a first-round game in the medal round. But Pesquera chose to lash out at the obvious target, which is certain to amp up the anti-American feeling for Friday's semifinal game, probably against Argentina.
(its (like I'm (Reading) some (LISP computer code)))
Anyone know why there was no US baseball team this Olympics?
| Coalition of the Willing | 419 |
| Commies/Despots/Axis of Evil | 73 |
| Appeasers/Surrender Monkeys | 192 |
| Unknown | 18 |
Yeah, because no team has ever made up an 8 point deficit in 20+ seconds.
Well, in fairness to the Spanish coach, Reggie Miller was not playing in this game...
The Spanish coach made an ass out of himself, but I fully expect the world media to take his side.
They were eliminated by Mexico in the qualification round.
Ironically, they were eliminated in nearly the same fashion Spain was...they were beat by a several loss team in an elimination game.
But of course, we didn't whine like this jerk is.
Having your undefeated Olympic record ruined is enough of a reason to get PO'd. This doesn't mean anything. It's trash talk. Someone ask Phil Jackson.
This "dream team" in basketball is laughable.
"OFFICIALS had to separate the US and Spanish coaches when an argument erupted at the end of the game as the United States beat Spain 102-94"
Spanish fans immedietly surrendered and ran for the exits!
Living well is the best revenge.
The taco-eating surrender monkeys get their just reward. Boo-hoo-hoo.
Well they lost a couple of times and were humbled...now I can root for them!
Ha ha ha, what a wonderful way of showing you are clueless!!
You only failed the aim by around 7000 miles, that's roughly the distance between Spain and Mexico that is where tacos are eaten. Mexico, that country next to yours. Any bell ringing?
Don't be surprised if the rest of the world believes that you are the emperors of ignorance for anything outside your borders.
Man, some day you have to try to travel more than 5 miles away from your farm. There is a whole world there and you would keep yourself away from embarassing signs of being utterly clueless like this one.
By the way, I think you were defeated by Mexico in baseball, should I say that "do what I want or I bomb you" monkeys got their reward? I think so, at least we didn't invent basketball. It has to be hard to check that a foreigner plays your "national sport" better than you do.
It's going to be funny when your beloved Muslims take over your country in another 10 years. Say goodbye tacos and hello Sharia law.
I see you insist in your obsession to show that you don't know anything about the things that you judge. You see why it's said that ignorance is daring.
Should I care about a opinion about my country coming from someone who believes that our national food is one that corresponds to a country that lies next its own? By the way, one of the things that I like when I go to the US is that I can find tacos anywhere while in Barcelona I can't.
In any case, why should I worry? In 10 years in your country spanish will be the oficial language so I can always move there. Well, the only thing that is assured is that in 10 years you will be still paying this war, the imports from China will have been multiplied at least by 3.
You spend so much time watching the neighbour's house that you don't realize that thieves are going into yours through the back door. There should be a parable in the Bible to keep people away of behaving like you.
I'll keep these posts to show them to my kids when they are teenagers. Negative examples will also help them to know about good or wrong.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
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