Thursday February 16, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

U.S. beats China 101-70 in men's basketball opener

Olympics Aug. 11, 2008 - 04:27AM JST ( 22 )

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22 Comments

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rjd_jrAug. 11, 2008 - 08:09AM JST

This is one instance where no matter what the country, I always root against "team USA, the dream team." A bunch of arrogant spoiled whiny brats that are the antithesis of the Olympic dream and ideals. They should never have taken it away from the Collegians, how fitting the world caught up to the U.S. and humiliated them.
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chibamanAug. 11, 2008 - 08:24AM JST

I'm not American, but I see an anti-American comment above from and so feel the need to retort. Jealous of their success much? Congrats to Team USA and may they bask in glory, much to the chagrin of some self-loathing posters.

A bunch of arrogant spoiled whiny brats that are the antithesis of the Olympic dream and ideals

Sorry that award goes to team Japan. Plus some tears.

Moderator: Readers, please keep the discussion civil.
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TerrikusAug. 11, 2008 - 08:57AM JST

Gee, and people said the Chinese wouldn't be polite to the non-chinese teams
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undecidedbout08Aug. 11, 2008 - 09:05AM JST

A bunch of arrogant spoiled whiny brats that are the antithesis of the Olympic dream and ideals. They should never have taken it away from the Collegians, how fitting the world caught up to the U.S. and humiliated them.

Some truth to that, but the same group of NBA stars have made basketball now even more popular in China than soccer is.

China gets to throw around its cultural weight, we get to throw around ours...
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flammenwerferAug. 11, 2008 - 09:43AM JST

Lots of mistakes in that game, very sloppy first half with both teams missing many shots, the US did look better as the game went on with plenty of razzamatazz. I guess the millions spent on educating the boorish Chinese fans was wasted as the crowd was lacking in Olympic spirit quite noticeably, booing the US players at the free throw line etc.

James has been very humble in interviews about the Olympics, hardly whiny.
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rjd_jrAug. 11, 2008 - 10:26AM JST

Take it easy fellas, I am hardly being "anti American." It's not anti anything to dislike a bunch of professional athletes that are paid gazillions a year to play in the Olympics. Sure, other countries have players that play professionally, and other countries have the assorted players that play in the NBA during the regular season.

The original dream team in 1992 was legendary and a great concept at the time. But the team in 2000 was the epitome of arrogance and grandstanding that the NBA is notorious for, showboating, one upsmanship, slam dunk in your face. It's fitting that the most "famous" olympic basketball moment from 2000 was Vince Carter jumping over some 7 footer and slam dunking and yelling and screaming like some idiot.

Ever since then I root against these arrogant people, I don't care how "nice" they appear in the media. What a great humble pie to see them get outclassed in 2004 and get the bronze medal, great team work and fundamentals always triumph over flash.
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TheguyNextdoorAug. 11, 2008 - 11:11AM JST

Whatever you say RJD jr.......don't hate.....its sport! WOuldn't you scream aloud if you jumped over a 7+footer when you are only 6'6". I certainly would, and then I'd go to the scoredboard and ask them to replay it again and again and again. You are a hater.....USA will have gold and thats all there is to it. College players couldn't hack it against the professional from Europe. They use pro's we go pro's.
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nigelboyAug. 11, 2008 - 11:26AM JST

rjd jr.

Those show boating days of U.S. Basketball teams are over. The current players are very serious and are not taking these opponents lightly as they have done in the past.
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Kreza23Aug. 11, 2008 - 01:46PM JST

The team's outside shooting was horrendous. They're gonna have to work on that and their perimeter defence if they're gonna win it.

Lebron is DIRRRTY!!! (in a good way! those blocks were disgusting!), and Dwayne Wade and Chris Paul looked great too. I think Wade is 10 times better than Carmelo, but having him continue to come off the bench may be a good idea. I thought Bosh played great against Yao too. He looked a lot better than Dwight Howard last night. Professionals they may be, but I'm just excited to see some good ball.

Chinese fans was wasted as the crowd was lacking in Olympic spirit quite noticeably, booing the US players at the free throw line etc.

Isn't that what you're supposed to do? That's just basketball culture.
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TheguyNextdoorAug. 11, 2008 - 03:16PM JST

Kreza-

Yeah, USA didn't shoot well in either half (except REDD), but its ok. There were so many dunks, it was funny hearing in on Japanese tv last night, announcing was funny. Ever other word was here goes the USA and some show time(not specifically in those words, but similar). Dwight is too strong for any center or power forward, Wade and Paul are so quick, the steals were just as good as the dunks. Kobe played well, LB whatelse is there to say about him. Carmelo will warm up, but they looked good overall....we'll see the adjustments when they plain Spain this weekend. Should be a good 1st quarter, then the Gasol brothers will get man handled, the 17 pt guard(ricky) will get nervous and turn the ball over, its going to be fun.
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TheguyNextdoorAug. 11, 2008 - 03:17PM JST

meant play spain
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SuperLibAug. 11, 2008 - 05:26PM JST

rjd: But the team in 2000

My calendar says it's 2008.
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pathatAug. 11, 2008 - 05:39PM JST

The U.S. learned its lesson-finally-from some poor performances in the past couple World Championships/Olympics and will be ready to do what is necessary as a team to win Olympic gold this time. There are many great players in other countries around the world, and a bunch of them play in the NBA, but when the U.S. brings its "A" team playing its "A" game, it is still the best overall.
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USNinJapan2Aug. 11, 2008 - 11:08PM JST

flammenwerfer

I guess the millions spent on educating the boorish Chinese fans was wasted as the crowd was lacking in Olympic spirit quite noticeably, booing the US players at the free throw line etc.

I think that's an acceptable part of basketball culture. It's not golf or tennis where the crowd has to keep quiet. Also, despite their home teamn getting crushed, you could here the Chinese crowd cheering whenever one of the American NBA stars executed an obviously sensational play. I thought that was commendable sportsmanship and just plain cool.
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WolfpackAug. 12, 2008 - 10:21AM JST

This game was exciting at the beginning but emotion could only take the Chinese so far. They will close the gap with the US - and I don't think it will take long before they are much more competitive. However, the US team looks unstoppable. As already noted, their only weakness is their poor outside shooting. I expect to see opponents playing tight zones forcing the US to take jumpers. They can only be beaten if they have an especially bad shooting night.
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TheguyNextdoorAug. 12, 2008 - 12:18PM JST

It will be hard to play tight zones on guys that can penetrate any defense off the dribble. it will be interesting when the play spain, but .....once they get going, its all over.
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rjd_jrAug. 13, 2008 - 08:55AM JST

O.K., I need to change my opinion this once. It is making big news now but the Spanish national basketball team was photographed making 'slanty eye' gestures, ostensibly to mock their Chinese hosts. How sickening is this?

Now there IS another country's team that I despise more than Team USA, I hope team Spain gets their butts handed to them over and over. Where is the world outrage?
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undecidedbout08Aug. 13, 2008 - 10:27AM JST

It's fitting that the most "famous" olympic basketball moment from 2000 was Vince Carter jumping over some 7 footer and slam dunking and yelling and screaming like some idiot.

No one likes gloating but in Carter's case anyone who follows the game could overlook and understand his display, undoubtedly a reaction to being stuck in Toronto.
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KijimunaAug. 13, 2008 - 10:43AM JST

Vince Carter's dunk was possibly the greatest basketball play of all time. LeBron's blocks on Angola, et. al have been amazing. Although US-style play is generally rougher than international ball, intimidation and physicality are important parts of elite basketball anywhere. Greece-Germany had some fouls today when Nowitzki couldn't get himself free.

The quality of play will get better in the medal rounds when teams have to play defense and execute. The US simply can't trap and run to win then.
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boobugAug. 23, 2008 - 12:52PM JST

So what's the deal here at Japantoday and Japan in general ? Why the boycott of basketball news ? Aside from this story the news has been absolutely nill ! This in spite of the fact that the basketball tournement has been ranked as one of the top three, actually #2, events of interest by the host nation as well as others. So why is Japan avoiding the news altogether. I haven't seen one highlight on J news nor has NHK or any other terrestrial channel shown a single game. Instead of a highly entertaining basketball tournement we are getting replay after replay of judo, kitajima, and now a third place finish by Japan in the mens relay. Japan's coverage continues to be more about genetic make-up and less about the games themselves. No surprise, we see this every four years. The Japanese lovefest with themselves, what a pity.