Team USA 87, Australia 76

The best test Team USA would face during their exhibition schedule would come in the final game. The Aussies held them to the fewest points of any team so far playing without their star big man, Andrew Bogut, who was out with an ankle injury. The Americans shot an abysmal 16.7% from deep while Australia made 40% of their attempts from three-point range.

The Achilles' heel of USA has to be their free throw shooting, which could hurt them in the Olympics against good teams such as Spain. They shot only 60.6% from the line today and Dwight Howard alone went 0-for-6 from the free throw line.

Team USA was also turnover-prone at times especially when the backcourt group of Deron Williams, Chris Paul, and Dwyane Wade entered the game simultaneously. Two passes were thrown away and then another inbounds pass was almost picked off by the Aussies. Most of USA's 11 turnovers for the game, however, happened in their halfcourt offense. They were struggling to score because of Australia's packing their defense in the key and cutting down on USA's one-on-one isolation play opportunities, which are much harder to come by in international play than in the NBA.

For the Aussies, five players scored in double figures and all shared the scoring load, which made them tougher to defend. Their team featured a few Division I college players who were certainly not backing down to the Americans. In the second quarter, there was actually an exchanging of words that featured some pushing and shoving that broke out between some of the players. Personally, it was good for USA to experience something like that before they head to Beijing to begin Olympic play.

For Team USA, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James led the way with 22 and 16 points, respectively. LeBron also added four assists, five steals, and three blocks to his impressive stat line. Chris Paul had a game-high five assists while his teammate, Deron Williams, had zero assists and three turnovers.

As usual, USA had a few defensive lapses that gave the other team easy baskets. On one particular play, they doubled the post and left the weak side vulnerable. It was Carmelo's job to drop into the key but he decided to stay out on the perimeter and attempt to make a steal. An Aussie cut the middle, got the ball, and made a wide-open layup. Little things like that simply cannot happen if Coach K's team wishes to win gold.

I also think it was ludicrous for Carmelo and LeBron to guarantee gold and then for Wade to go out and announce that he has a gold medal tour planned already. They are just adding pressure to themselves when they really aren't so good as many people are believing and hoping they will be. If they play Spain like they did today, they will lose. Mike Krzyzewski and his coaching staff definitely have to make some adjustments such as working on their halfcourt offensive execution and their pick-and-roll defense. It wouldn't hurt to work on their defensive rotations either.

This game against Australia was another win for USA, but other teams like Greece and Spain and Argentina are watching these games and learning how to beat Team USA. It's no coincidence that their two toughest games were the two final friendlies on their exhibition schedule. As of right now, I don't see the Americans winning it all. Nevertheless, they most certainly have the potential and ability to do so.

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Basketball Writing on Helium: Look-In Vol. 1

Recently, I have found a new site to write articles on. This site is Helium.com. I like it because, after posting, other members of the site rate the article and each piece of writing is ranked among others of the same topic. So every once in awhile, I will be giving a look-in to my writing on the site. This is the first of (hopefully) many.


Topic: Who would you rather have on your NBA team: LeBron James or Kobe Bryant?

My Take: I wrote this a couple weeks ago and went against the grain in arguing for Kobe. Currently, it is ranked 3rd out of the 15 articles written in favor of Bryant over LeBron.


Topic: Exciting NBA basketball players to watch

My Take: In this particular piece by me, I talked about not only the obvious choices of Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant but also those you wouldn't expect such as Gerald Wallace and Brandon Roy. As of right now, it is ranked 2nd out of the 24 written on exciting NBA players.


Topic: Should Kobe Bryant become the NBA's MVP for the 2007/2008 pro basketball season?

My Take: I said no and argued for Chris Paul to win the award. I felt as though I brought up some pretty good points. Too bad Kobe has been proving me wrong in the playoffs. My article is ranked 5th out of 8.


Topic: The most underrated NBA player

My Take: I really don't want to give it away on whom I picked so I'll let you follow the link and find out for yourself. You may be somewhat shocked though. (My finding him was shear luck.) It is ranked 3rd out of 17 right now.


Topic: The best NBA point guards

My Take: Finally, you have my newest article. I am ranked 1st...but so far I am the only one to write on that topic so don't be fooled. The top three are pretty obvious, but after that it gets a little shaken up.


There you have it. Those are my latest and greatest (yeah, right) works of writing. I hope you enjoy. Leave a comment if you'd like.

NBA Point Guard Preview

The season is coming. Fast. As a point guard myself, I like to compare players at that position. Some players that flew up since the beginning of last year are Deron Williams, Baron Davis, and Mo Williams. To start this season I will rank the top eight point guards. All the stats are courtesy of 82games.com. The passing rating is a combination of assists, passing turnovers, and bad passes. The 'hands' rating is a combination of offensive fouls, bad passes, and ball handling turnovers. All clutch stats must be in the last 5 minutes of either the 4th quarter or overtime and the game must be within 5 points either way.

1. Steve Nash - He is the greatest playmaker in the game today. Nash makes everyone around him better. This year he will have three new teammates: Grant Hill, Brian Skinner, and Alando Tucker. Yes, he is getting older but with age comes wisdom. He knows what he's doing out there and can still play the game. This year may be the year for the Phoenix Suns. When Nash was on the floor last year, his team got 119 points every 100 possessions. When he wasn't on the court they were getting 106 points every 100 possessions.
Stats: Passing Rating- 22.3
'Hands' Rating- 41.3
Clutch Scoring per 48 min.- 36.4
Clutch Passing- 21.2
Clutch 'Hands'- 39.4

2. Jason Kidd - No matter how old this guy gets he'll still be able to make a difference in games. Last year he averaged 13 points, 9 assists, and 8 rebounds a game. Kidd hit a career high in rebounds last year and is still racking up the triple-doubles (he is third on the all-time list and had 12 this past season). Because of that, he joined the Big O and Magic Johnson as the only players to ever average 9 assists and 8 rebounds in the same season.
Stats: Passing Rating- 15.1
'Hands' Rating- 30.3
Clutch Scoring per 48 min.- 15.4
Clutch Passing- 14.4
Clutch 'Hands'- 25.4

3. Deron Williams - Last year's breakout star should have another successful season in Utah. Williams raised his assists per game average from 4.5 to 9.3 last year. He also averaged 16.2 points per game. Last season, in clutch situations, he played 94% of all the minutes which is a testament to endurance and fatigue.
Stats: Passing Rating- 14.9
'Hands' Rating- 27.7
Clutch Scoring per 48 min.- 25.7
Clutch Passing- 20.1
Clutch 'Hands'- 36.8

4. Chauncey Billups - He is the "assists-per-turnover-ratio" king. Billups led that category the past two season. Last year, he averaged close to 4 assists for every turnover of his. Also, he was getting 17 points a night. This year, he will have some young legs to work with in the backcourt with the acquisition of Rodney Stuckey.
Stats: Passing Rating- 12.5
'Hands' Rating- 25.3
Clutch Scoring per 48 min.- 34.6
Clutch Passing- 13.9
Clutch 'Hands'- 35.2

5. Chris Paul - He should have a good bounceback year after he battled some injuries last year. Paul was the unanimous Rookie of the Year in the 2005-06 season. Playing for the Hornets, he hasn't gotten much help in making it to the postseason though. However, that should change with a healthy Peja Stojakovic and a new backcourt mate, Morris Peterson.
Stats: Passing Rating- 16.1
'Hands' Rating- 30.1
Clutch Scoring per 48 min.- 26.2
Clutch Passing- 7.7
Clutch 'Hands'- 53.5

6. Tony Parker - He had a breakout Finals appearance but I really don't think he'll be able to sustain the level of play that he was it. If he can, he deserves to be number two or three on this list but that happening is unlikely. Besides, he wasn't outstanding in the regular season last year averaging 18 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 assists each game.
Stats: Passing Rating- 8.5
'Hands' Rating- 18.3
Clutch Scoring per 48 min.- 18.8
Clutch Passing- 4.8
Clutch 'Hands'- 10.2

7. Gilbert Arenas - You're probably thinking, "why the hell does he have this guy so low?" right? Well, I'm wondering if he can actually help his team and win games, or is Gilbert Arenas going to just be a sideshow attraction this year and only score points? He's very concentric and can be a ballhog at times which definitely does not fit the description of a point guard. That's why he is where he is right now.
Stats: Passing Rating- 8.4
'Hands' Rating- 19.6
Clutch Scoring per 48 min.- 47.8
Clutch Passing- 1.2
Clutch 'Hands'- 9.8

8. Baron Davis - Can he stay healthy? That is the big question lingering around about Baron Davis. It's been a problem of his in the past. We know what he can do when's he healthy (see first round of 2007 playoffs against the Mavs), but can he play 70 or 80 games in a year? Well, he hasn't played in more than 67 games in a season since his third year in the League.
Stats: Passing Rating- 16.7
'Hands' Rating- 32.0
Clutch Scoring per 48 min.- 34.6
Clutch Passing- 13.3
Clutch 'Hands'- 31.6

That's it. I hope you liked it. If you have any questions just leave a comment and I'll be sure to answer. Also, here's a little something from an up-and-coming point guard, Mike Conley:


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Deron Williams & the Best Point Guards

This is a copy from another blog I do on FanNation.com. It was posted about 4 months ago. I hope you enjoy it.

I'll start of by saying I am amazed at how well Deron Williams played in his first Conference Finals. I will zero in on Game 3. He became the youngest player in the history of the NBA to have 20 points and 10 assists in a conference final game. He was scoring at will by driving by the labeled "fastest" player in the NBA. Then when Bruce Bowen, the labeled "best" defender in the NBA was on him he made him look foolish by either driving by him or pulling up while Bowen was trying to retrieve his jockstrap. Next, the Spurs defense started collapsing on his drives where he then dished to open teammates for good looks at the basket. He is thriving in Sloan's system. The most important thing is that he can take over and make his teammates better at the same time. Which leads to my ranking of the top 8 point guards in the NBA:

1. Steve Nash, Suns.
2. Jason Kidd, Nets.
3. Deron Williams, Jazz.
4. Tony Parker, Spurs.
5. Chris Paul, Hornets.
6. Baron Davis, Warriors.
7. Chauncey Billups, Pistons.
8. Mo Williams, Bucks.

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