USA Olympic Hoops Thread

Also the knock on him entering the league and early on was that he wasn’t a reliable outside shooter. He now has every conceivable fade away in his toolkit and hit 3s at 41% last year. There’s a reason he’s the all-time scoring leader, can score from anywhere on the court. That’s what putting the work in looks like

 

Lebron James is amazing in that at the age of 39, he is still one of the greatest players in the world. Hopefully he can put together another solid performance this afternoon.

There are obviously a lot of great young players in this country but going into the gold medal game, it is definitely the older stars (Lebron, Durant and Steph) who need to have big games today.

 

Right! His effective fg% has been north of 55% in 11 of the last 13 seasons. That's remarkable for a "non-shooter."

At 16, everyone drooled over his unique blend of athleticism, size, and skill. But he is a clinic in work ethic.

 

The two worst players for France are former Knicks, Evan Fournier (can shoot three's but that is about it) and Frank Ntilikina (former first round pick that can't shoot)

 

What a game. Curry doing what he always does.

 

Curry was fantastic.

 

Unconscious! Hard to believe his shots!

 

Great finish in the women's final, tied up, couple of minutes left.

 

Women did a good job hitting their free throws to keep that long streak of golds alive.

 

France had their chances down the stretch in the Women's Gold game but tried too much hero ball. They lost their poise while the American women kept theirs. That was the difference IMO.

 

They jacked up a bunch of 3s in the 4th, missing a bunch in a row. The commentator pointed that out. Of course, it was then some 3s in the last 2 minutes which got them back.

To think, just a few inches over the 3 and it would have been overtime.

Proud of my French-in-laws for taking the star-studded Americans right to the limit in both games.

 

He's lost a step athletically, but is still more athletic than many.

I agree with what many tv analysts have pointed out: LeBron is a great scorer whose greatest talent is actually his playmaking. If he always played with a roster as talented as the Olympic teams, his stats would have looked more like Magic's with less scoring and more assists. I would love to have seen that as I enjoy great passing even more than great scoring/shooting.

 

It’s also why the comparisons to Jordan and to Kobe never made sense to me. First off Lebron plays a different position than they did, second he doesn’t have the “I need to score 50 tonight” one-track mind that those guys had. He’s always said setting his teammates up and passing the ball brings him the most joy on the basketball court. The fact that he broke the all time scoring record and wasn’t even someone who looked to score is impressive in itself.

 

Those Miami teams of his were LOADED.

 

yes but Wade was near the end of his prime and often injured and Bosh wasn't as dominant as he was in Toronto (like Love in Cleveland vs Minnesota). Other than that it was an older Ray Allen and nearly retired Mike Miller. Neither had to create much on their own by the time they were in Miami, just hit open 3s. I'd say both Celtics teams were more loaded as well as Brooklyn a few years ago and Phoenix now, but both vastly underperformed. Looking at every Lebron team before, during and after his arrival, it is an unbelievably rise when he joins and fall after he leaves.

 

Jordan averaged over five assists a game through his career, he wasn’t just a shoot first guy. And that number also came in an era that had the grab and hold Knicks and other teams. Some of those games never got out of the 70’s points wise.

 

Add the Bad Boys Detroit teams in there as well.

 

A lot of those old school games stayed in the 70s and 80s because of all the big, clunky, offensively-challenged players clogging up the court. There certainly weren’t a bunch of power forwards and centers hitting 3s like they are today.

 

yes many couldn't hit wide open jumpers to save their lives