Basketball is the one sport in the Olympics that I have made a point to watch. I am a huge basketball fan and a huge LeBron fan. Coming off arguably the best shooting performance in basketball history, it was to be expected to have a little trouble early against Lithuania. They were taking far too many bad shots early in the shot clock, but the real problem was with the defense. They played terrible. Time after time they would give up wide open shots and drives. It's like they forgot how to play defense. The offense only got worse in the second half, and that is why Lithuania took the lead.
Although it was close throughout, I never got the feeling that the US would lose. I just couldn't see that happening. Sure enough, with 4 minutes to go, LeBron decided enough was enough, and he was going to take command and that he did! LeBron has showed that he is the leader of this team and when they need someone to step up, he can do it and will do it. Earlier in the exhibition games against Brazil he did the same thing. They're offense was struggling so he took over and had 31 points that game, I believe.
I am a little worried about the defense though. That is 2 straight games they haven't done that well. Last game, Nigeria shot 41%. That might sound low, but for a team that only averaged 29% shooting until that game, that is quite good. I understand that was in a blowout, so they weren't as engaged as they might have been. Also against Tunisia, the same team that scored 15 points in the 1st half against Nigeria, held the lead late into the first quarter. It could be because of the perceived lack in competition that they are being kind of lackadaisical, but if they play like this again against Argentina, they will not win. I don't think they will lose because they will come out prepared, but the game today was just embarrassing.
No comments:
Post a Comment