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

Monday 11th August, 04:27 AM JST

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rjd_jr at 10:26 AM JST - 11th August

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.
TheguyNextdoor at 11:11 AM JST - 11th August

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.
nigelboy at 11:26 AM JST - 11th August

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.
Kreza23 at 01:46 PM JST - 11th August

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.
TheguyNextdoor at 03:16 PM JST - 11th August

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.
TheguyNextdoor at 03:17 PM JST - 11th August

meant play spain
SuperLib at 05:26 PM JST - 11th August

rjd: But the team in 2000

My calendar says it's 2008.
pathat at 05:39 PM JST - 11th August

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.
USNinJapan2 at 11:08 PM JST - 11th August

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.
Wolfpack at 10:21 AM JST - 12th August

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.
TheguyNextdoor at 12:18 PM JST - 12th August

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.
rjd_jr at 08:55 AM JST - 13th August

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?
undecidedbout08 at 10:27 AM JST - 13th August

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.
Kijimuna at 10:43 AM JST - 13th August

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.
boobug at 12:52 PM JST - 23rd August

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.