TEAM OF THE DAY: BRAZIL
Ranked 14th in the world in 2009.
Brazil and Team USA (ranked 2nd) came into today's game undefeated (2-0) and put on the the tournament's first meaningful "nail-biter". Brazil came out making it hard for the US to defend them, getting open for 3-pointer after 3-pointer. The game started out as a "track meet" with both teams running up and down the court scoring on fast breaks. Without going into a play-by-play, Brazil led by 3 (46-43) going into half-time, and were at the free throw line, down 2 points (70-68) with 3.5 seconds left in the game. Brazil would miss both free throws and Team USA would get the rebound for the win. Even though Brazil lost the game, they get "TEAM OF THE DAY" for being the first real challenge to the US. For anyone watching, it was clear that favored Team USA are not unbeatable.
Team Australia should also be recognized as "Team of the Day" for dominating Germany (7th) 78-43. Watching this game was like watching pros versus amateurs. NBA stars Dirk Nowitzki (Germany) and Andrew Bogut (Australia) were not playing which gave both teams an opportunity to show how they fair without them. Australia played most of the game with their bench executing flawlessly on fast breaks and half-court set ups. They played excellent defense forcing Germany to use up all of the shot clock on their possessions resulting in poor shooting. What made it even more fun to watch, was the terrible officiating that seemed to favor Germany. The great thing about that was Australia didn't complain, they just kept scoring. Had the game been close, it may have been an issue but, as I have always said; "The only way to protect yourself from bad officiating is to blow out your opponent". Australia kept their composure during bad calls and simply out played Germany.
TEAM OF THE DAY: AUSTRALIA
Ranked 11th in the world in 2009.
Team Australia should also be recognized as "Team of the Day" for dominating Germany (7th) 78-43. Watching this game was like watching pros versus amateurs. NBA stars Dirk Nowitzki (Germany) and Andrew Bogut (Australia) were not playing which gave both teams an opportunity to show how they fair without them. Australia played most of the game with their bench executing flawlessly on fast breaks and half-court set ups. They played excellent defense forcing Germany to use up all of the shot clock on their possessions resulting in poor shooting. What made it even more fun to watch, was the terrible officiating that seemed to favor Germany. The great thing about that was Australia didn't complain, they just kept scoring. Had the game been close, it may have been an issue but, as I have always said; "The only way to protect yourself from bad officiating is to blow out your opponent". Australia kept their composure during bad calls and simply out played Germany.
GROUP A
---------------
Serbia 112 Jordan 69
Australia 78 Germany 43
Argentina 91 Angola 70
GROUP B
---------------
Slovenia 91 Croatia 84
Iran 71 Tunisia 58
USA 70 Brazil 68
No comments:
Post a Comment