119-82, US beats Spain

No better way to spend a lazy Saturday morning than coming back from playing some basketball and firing up nbcolympics.com to watch the US beat up on Spain 119-82.

Random thoughts I jotted down while watching:

• I still don’t understand the officiating. Lots of very bizarre calls. Lebron chested up a guy the entire way down court on defense, held him as he tried to cut, and they called the foul on the offense. At least it goes both ways, sort of.
• Jason Kidd obviously is starting these games as a lifetime achievement award. Chris Paul does a lot better pushing pace and pressuring on defense.
• In general, the ball pressure by the US is the best part of their game. Lots of forced turnovers, lots of traps off of ball screens. I think the official number ended up being 28 turnovers - that’s ridiculous.
• Spain’s superstar youngster, Ricky Rubio, hasn’t looked that impressive, though he is 17. Scouts think he could go number one overall when he gets old enough. So far all I’ve seen him do is get flustered by Chris Paul and Deron Williams pressuring him and get bailed out by two shitty foul calls by the refs. He does appear to be pretty skilled, but he certainly doesn’t look like an elite athlete in ANY way. Not sure how that’s going to translate to the NBA, where it’s just really hard to dominate as a point guard without top-shelf athleticism in some way. His shot is also way too slow. It’s a pure set shot and he winds up for literally a second on catch.
• By the way, Rubio’s jersey says “Ricky” on the back. No last name, just “Ricky”.
• Pau’s brother Marc Gasol looks and plays like a fatter, longer-haired version of Brad Miller
• Dwyane Wade looks GREAT. Definitely doesn’t look like he has any lingering injury effects. He’s doing a tremendous job in help defense and is getting his hands on a lot of balls. He just had one dunk that actually made me exclaim “Whoa!” Yes, I’m also sitting by myself in my room.
• Lebron can jump very high. He’s also ripped. When you see him playing against guys who aren’t as physically gifted as all the usual NBA superstars, you’re just reminded that he was clearly genetically-engineered to be a basketball playing machine.
• The Spanish use the dirty rec center play of slowing the game down by haphazardly chucking the ball away every time they make a bucket. They also flop a lot, though not quite as much as the Greeks. I guess this is just standard International basketball and it really explains a lot about how Manu Ginobili plays in the NBA.
• Hey, there’s been a Tayshaun Prince sighting! Hooray!
• Spain has switched to a zone. It’ll be interesting to see how the US team, full of a ton of guys who like having the ball in their hands, are able to attack it with the pass. Or Lebron can just hit a 24′ three-pointer, like he just did.
• In general, the US is doing a good job defending the high pick-and-roll at the top of the key, in which Spain usually seems to want to hit one of the Gasol brothers rolling straight down the lane. Lots of helping and recovering from the other defenders, leading to other Spanish players getting the ball in awkward places. Seems like they should be sticking some shooters in the corners to counteract, but haven’t seen it yet.
• It’s amazing how easy it is to beat a full-court press when you have Chris Paul and Deron Williams on the floor at the same time. I’m not sure what Spain’s accomplishing by pressing, unless they just want to speed up the game.
• An AWFUL traveling call that a ref just made on Kobe. So bad that Coach K went to the head shake and “get that shit out of here” wave.
• Dwight Howard is on a mission to block every shot that he sees. He just picked up his third goaltending call, on an outrageous volleyball swat into the stands.

Time for the medal round. From the looks of it, our guys just need to avoid injury, foul trouble, and choking. Yikes, I think I just jinxed them.