June 30 is Blog About NBA Officiating Day

QUESTION: what does the McDonald's fast food chain and NBA Officiating having in common?

ANSWER: They are both run by a clown named Ronald.

Retiring U.S. Army General, Ronald L. Johnson, was hired to be the NBA's "senior vice president of referee operations," a newly created position, In the aftermath of the Tim Donaghy scandal.

Four things about this raised my eyebrows.

(1) During tough economic times, when the NBA has just laid off 9 percent of its workforce (80 jobs), it created a new position.

(2) The move totally ignored the kinds of remedies the fans and media have been clamoring for, including NBA heavyweights such as Phil Jackson and Mark Cuban: an organization for officiating separate from the NBA, and transparency in the process.

(3) Whatever the good general's virtues might be, basketball was not one of them.

Upon being hired, General Johnson made the following statement, "As I leave the military and return to civilian life, I can't imagine a more interesting and challenging position. Although I don't have a basketball background, other than as a lifelong fan, I am confident that my experience as an Army commander and engineer has equipped me to bring leadership and innovation to the NBA's exceptional officiating program.''

The new position was to take the responsibility of officiating oversight away from Stu Jackson in order to "formalize the separation of the NBA's officiating and basketball activities."

(4) Ronald Johnson actually referred to NBA refereeing as an "exceptional officiating program."

General Johnson, it has now been a year since you've been on the job. Specifically what evidence is there of "leadership" or "innovation?"



In fact, does anyone even know if Johnson is on the job still? I've looked for news articles stating that he has resigned, because the only two people you ever hear from with respect to officiating are Stu Jackson and David Stern.

There are three kinds of bad officiating in basketball: incompetent, belligerent and corrupt.

Likewise then, there are at least three different remedies, but David Stern acts like sending Donaghy to jail cures all three.

Now more than ever coaches, players, press and fans are all wondering: what IS a flagrant foul?

What is more, former NBA officials are publicly critical of General Johnson's troops as well.

In a New York Post article, former head of NBA Officiating, Mike Mathis, made some startlingly frank comments. So startling, they make you wonder what other officials would say if their jobs or FINES weren't on the line.

"Refereeing has gone downhill," said Mathis. "(We) accept unbelievable, mediocre and bad officiating, The commentator says, 'He must have seen something we didn't.' No, he didn't. It's either he's guessing, he's incompetent or there's some funny stuff going on."

There is definitely some funny stuff going on in the 2009 NBA Finals.



Could there be a more jump shooting team than the Orlando Magic?

For example, in game 1 of the 2009 NBA Finals, 71% of the Magic's shots were jump shots while 58% of the Lakers' shot attempts were jumpers.

Why do I bring that up?

Because in game 1, the jump shooting Orlando Magic had a 29 to 18 free throw advantage over the home team, the Los Angeles Lakers.

And that isn't a fluke.

Over the course of the 2009 NBA Finals, the Magic have benefited from a free throw advantage EVERY GAME, and over the course of the first 4 games of the Finals have a 133 to 84 advantage in free throw attempts.

It would be one thing if the Magic was an inside force, but they are a jump shooting team. It would be another thing if the Lakers were thugs and hackers, but they are a finesse basketball team that has often been criticized for being too soft.

This disparity is even more curious when you look at it in context. During the course of the long regular season (2008-2009), over 82 games the Magic shot a total of 1,611 free throws. The Lakers shot a total of 1,607 free throws!

Digest that!

Over 82 games, there was only a 4 free throw difference between the two teams, yet over the 4 games (so far) of the NBA Finals, there is already a 49 free throw disparity!

And you don't have to go to the statistical records to see this; ALL GAME LONG the most objective of fans witness jersey and shorts pulling, holding, arm pinning, hand checking, arm barring beyond the free throw line, shoving on rebounds, hacking on shots, etc. Both teams do this to a degree, for the most part, only one team is being called for it.

For the most part the NBA announcers try to stay out of the refereeing controversy, in part because both Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy would like to be head coaches in the NBA, but when a slow motion replay shows how blatant the infractions are, they are kind of forced into making comments about what all the world is witnessing: the refs suck.

The worst thing about how NBA Officiating is run, though, is how they are NOT innovating.

The only two things the NBA has done over this last year about officiating is expand the use of video replay, and fine people.

Why?

The NBA should WANT people leaving games and turning off their televisions at the end of games talking about the performance of the PLAYERS, not the officials.

The NBA should NOT want the spotlight refocused on officiating again and again as players and coaches criticize it, then the media covers it again when the fine comes.

On September 5, 2008 I posted 20 suggestions for improving the NBA that were very well received. Some of these ideas included:

o Having corner line judges (like soccer, tennis and volleyball have) to watch out of bounds and defensive and offensive 3 in the key, and players feet on the no charge circle under the basket so that the referees can focus on contact.

o Allowing coaches 2 plays a game where they can challenge a call on the floor and have it resolved with video replay.

o Adding a "video replay" ref who compiles clips of botched calls and no-calls and reviews them with the floor officials at half time so they can make adjustments.

I can easily add to that list as well with ideas such as:

o Use the SAME reffing crew an entire series so that calls can be more consistant and players can adjust instantly to how things are going to be called each series.

o Stop already with fining coaches and players for TACTFULLY discussing officiating publicly. All that does is put the story in front of us again when the fines come down. Besides, this draconian practice seems very out of place in a land where free speech is a constitutionally guaranteed right.

o Get consistent. If it is a foul or a travel in the first 10 seconds of the game, it is still a foul or a travel in the last 10 seconds of the game, even if some highly partisan fans don't want that called in the critical closing seconds. If LeBron can crab dribble, then everyone else should. If Turkoglu and Ginobli are allowed to take 4 steps after the dribble almost every time they drive in traffic, then let the non foreign players do it too.

Suggestions made by others that are VERY good include:

o Phil Jackson wants NBA officiating taken over by an organization other than the NBA. What a great idea. Let a 3rd party competitively BID to provide officiating services each year, and if they don't meet a standard, fire them and let another contractor try.

o Phil and others such as Mark Cuban have asked for more transparency in decisions. This alone would mop up much of the mess, and all but crush conspiracy theories that the league is rigged, or at least tilted towards the likes of LeBron James.

Consider the most recent officiating controversy. In game 4 of the NBA Finals, Orlando's Mickael Pietrus gave the Lakers' Pau Gasol a dirty, cheap shot in the closing seconds of overtime. It is hard to conceive of a worse flagrant foul...

o Gasol was not expecting it
o Gasol was in the air
o Gasol was struck from behind
o The contact was very hard
o The contact was clearly deliberate
o There was no chance a play was being made on the ball
o The play was over, the ball was in the hoop, Peitrus wasn't going to stop a basket from being made
o The game was pretty much over (7 point lead with 3.2 seconds remaining)
o Instead of apologizing and seeing if Gasol was okay, Peitrus trash talked Gasol (imagine trash talk in English with French and Spanish accents)
o What is the call when a player hits another player with a FIST? Gasol was hit with TWO!

In EVERYONE'S book, that is a flagrant two, but the officials on the floor, and Stu Jackson in the head office didn't want the Orlando Magic to play an elimination game without their hired thug, so Stu Jackson made up a bunch of laughable excuses and let it stand as a flagrant 1.

With apologies to Pau Gasol and the Lakers, I am glad the NBA did not call it a flagrant two, because you could not ask for a more cut and dry, unimpeachable "Exhibit A" as evidence that the NBA has an agenda for its officiating that extends beyond calling whatever happens on the floor.

Clearly, the NBA has no interest in reforming its officiating, because doing so would lose them the opportunity to control circumstances, whether they be making a superstar more marketable, or extending a playoff series. Do you have any idea how much money is involved in extending a playoff series even by one game?

Follow the money.

One final and VERY IMPORTANT note: all over the world there are GOOD PEOPLE caught in BAD SYSTEMS.

I TOTALLY believe, and believe you should believe it too, that there are a good number of NBA officials who honestly want to do a great job.

Hopefully someday fan uproar, joined by the NBA franchise owners and the NBA Players' association, will force changes to NBA officiating that will allow these good people to do their job for a better system.

Until then, none of us should be pretending that General Johnson's organization, which appears to be in reality David Stern and Stu Jackson's organization with a figurehead propped up at the front of it, is doing a good job.

The more we allow this kind of officiating to occur without calling it out, the longer we enable it to go on.

If I were General Ronald Johnson, I wouldn't just live with this kind of world wide embarrassment. I would either aggressively and transparently enact reforms, or if I couldn't because of the resistance of my bosses, I would resign and tell the world WHY.

Why wouldn't the NBA be more aggressive about improving its officiating?


The only answer that makes any sense is that NBA must have an agenda for its officiating that extends beyond the objective calling of whatever happens on the floor.


The blogging world once had a "Kobe Bryant Day" where everyone blogged on Kobe Bryant. The last day of June, the month the NBA Finals happens each year, is 'BLOG ABOUT NBA OFFICIATING DAY."

On June 30 the blogging world should buzz about how they feel about NBA officiating, good or bad, and perhaps the mainstream press will cover it and get the NBA's attention.

Maybe nothing will happen, but if we all continue to do nothing, you can guarantee nothing will happen.

My NBA Wish List (version 1.0)

I've been rewatching Olympic Men's Basketball, wishing the NBA preseason were already here. To keep from going crazy, I've decided to list out 20 things I wish the NBA would do to improve itself. Nearly all of these ideas are whimsical, nevertheless, I'd like to know what you think about them. And what are some of your own ideas?

So, in no particular order, where is some of my wish list for the NBA...

1 - The sidelines would be cleared of photographers, videographers, etc. so the court would be safer for players.

2 - There would be "line judges" like in volleyball, soccer, tennis, etc. Basketball line judges would watch out of bounds calls of course, but they would also be responsible for calling things like backcourt violations, 3 in the key, the restricted zone under the basket, etc., freeing up the 3 referees to call fouls and traveling.

3 - Coaches would each get 2 opportunities per game to question a call and have it resolved by video replay. Yes, that would slow down games a bit, but still, that's less frustrating than having a blown call affect the outcome of a close game.

4 - In addition to the 3 referees, and 2 line judges, there would be a video ref, who watches the same feed the fans are fed. The NBA keeps a spare ref at every game anyway, this would just give the guy (or gal) something meaningful to do. The video ref wouldn't have authority to stop play, but could OCCASIONALLY communicate via radio to ear pieces on the floor refs what he sees... such as physical play off the ball that isn't being called, so that the floor refs can watch for it.

5 - Flopping would be a technical foul.

6 - Face guarding would be without question a technical foul.

7 - The NBA would assess sportsmanship fines without needing technical fouls to do so. For example, if a player like Kobe, or a coach like D'Antoni, or an owner like Cuban acts up but doesn't get a tech, the league should still fine them upon game tape review. That would clean up some of the whining without overly penalizing teams, players and fans.

8 - Unruly and abusive fans should be dealt with MUCH earlier on, so as to curb bigger problems. Everyone has a limit to their patience, and players in the heat and passion of "battle" should not be subjected to what many fans are doing at games.

9 - If an incident happens at a game, alcohol sales should immediately be suspended for that game.

10 - The regular season would consist of exactly 3 games against every other team in the NBA, that way teams records wouldn't be skewed due to a particular division or conference being exceptionally strong or weak. (By the way, this was Hoffman's idea originally.)

11 - The pass leading to an assist would be an officially kept stat, thus encouraging unselfish play (because players would still selfishly get credit in stats for passing).

12 - All NBA games for each season should be archived to the web, commercials and all, 2 days after the game has played. The web player could prohibit skipping forward, so advertisers can be assured their messages are getting out, but once watched, you could skip back video at will, loop it, and slow it down. That way fans could watch games not shown in their areas and see what the buzz was.

13 - All non-merchandising revenue would be shared, divided equally between all teams. A rising tide lifts ALL boats, regardless of size. If revenues were shared, not only would teams be more competitive, but they'd do more to help everyone succeed. For example, if a large market team like the Lakers were visiting a small market team like the Jazz, Lakers players would benefit the whole league by promoting the game, doing things such as school visits, television commercials, etc. This would be even more important to teams that are struggling. Losing teams have a hard time selling tickets, but opponent promotion of home games would raise attendance for the struggling team and increase revenues for all.

14 - All players would have to play a minimum of 30 games in the d-league before becoming eligible for the NBA draft, that way college players, high school players and international players would all be evaluated on a level playing field before being drafted into the NBA.

15 - All players would have to not only take courses which in effect train them in the perils of being an NBA player (drugs, alcohol, money management, hoes, leeches, handling press, etc.), but the courses would all have tests that players would need to pass as well. The tests would need to be passed again every 5 years a player is in the NBA (retaking the courses would be optional). Whether or not players comply remains to be seen, but at least we'll know they knew better.

16 - Player suspensions are too frequent in the NBA, and are unfair to fans who paid to see certain players play. Fines aren't effective because some players make too much to care, and those that don't wouldn't be getting equitable treatment paying a fine that a superstar has to pay as well. Alternative punishments should be sought that are just as serious a deterrent, but don't punish the fans as well. Alternative punishments could include community service in NBA Cares (painting alleyways or something), ushering at NBA games their team isn't playing in, etc.

17 - There should be more than just a single MVP award. Let the press vote for their MVP, but then let players vote for a POY (Player of the Year), and coaches selected a coaches' "Auerback Award" winner. Share the love! Most years, more than one player deserves the accolades anyway, and when someone has been especially dominate, they stand a chance of sweeping all three awards: by the players, by the coaches and by the media.

18 - (This is another Hoffman idea): Once the fans choose the NBA All-Star starting 5 for each conference, let the coaches select the rest of the all-star team without regard to position, that way the most deserving players get the recognition, and someone doesn't sneak in just because that position in his conference doesn't have many dominate players. Yeah, the coaches will have to be creative with minutes, but they are anyway as it is.

19 - After winning the NBA Finals, the champs would then participate in a tournament against the winners of the international leagues to REALLY earn the title "World Champion." To minimize the wear and tear on NBA players, the world would play a single elimination tournament (FIBA rules) to determine the NBA team's opponent. Say Spain's CB Girona won, and was to play the Boston Celtics. That final matchup would be a best of 3 series, with the first game played by FIBA rules, the 2nd game played by NBA rules, and the 3rd game played by the rules of the biggest point differential. Right now, Spain can stack a team with the Gasol brothers, Ricky Rubio, Rudy Fernandez, etc. but spread those players out to their normal professional teams, and have them play the NBA champions, and just watch how the world realizes how dominate USA basketball still is.

20 - After every game, coaches should fill out a score card on the officiating. Each year, all referees (and line judges) with a GPA less than 2.0 should be fired so as to let new blood have a shot at it.

USA Basketball: 8n't It Great?

It had been EIGHT years since USA Men's Basketball had won an international competition. Then, in USA's EIGHTH game of the Olympics, the so called "Redeem Team" joined Michael Phelp's EIGHT gold medal performance as the biggest stories of the 2008 Olympics, which started on... 08/08/08.

That said, here are 8 observations about USA's 2008 gold medal run think about.

--- 1 ---

If Team USA proved that USA Basketball is still number 1 in the world, it also proved its players have a short attention span when it comes to playing defense.

At the beginning of Olympic competition, USA was serious about defense, but then visibly and statistically let up as time went by. Check it out:

70.8 = Points per game allowed by USA in their first 5 games
91.0 = Points per game allowed by USA their last 3 games

36.7% = USA opponents shooting percentage first 5 games
46.2% = USA opponents shooting percentage last 3 games

Putting this in perspective, no other team in the 2008 Olympics allowed a team to score as many as 107 points like USA did versus Spain in the gold medal game, and Spain is less than half the size of Texas.

In fact, 107 points would have won every other game in the 2008 Olympics, and would be enough to have beaten USA in 5 of our 7 previous 2008 Olympic games.

And USA's statistics for the gold medal game against Spain looked less like a "redeem team" performance based on the first 5 games of the Olympics, and much more like USA basketball has looked these last 8 years, when a talented USA team would sometimes fail to outgun their opponents.

Had USA not come up with enough points to win its shoot out with Spain, there would forever be doubt in the minds of USA basketball. If a 3 year commitment, a coach focused on TEAM play, and a group of players like this couldn't bring home the gold, who could?

Spain will be back (see #5), and when it does, USA better have a longer lasting commitment to defense than it did this year.

--- 2 ---

Praise and accolades are being heaped upon Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade for their heroics in the gold medal game.

Dwayne Wade carried USA early, when Bryant and LeBron James were benched with foul trouble, scoring 21 of his 27 points in the first half.

Then at clutch time Kobe Bryant came through, scoring 13 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter.

HOWEVER!

The rest of the truth is that those two shooting guards allowed Spain's 2 shooting guards to combine for 40 of Spain's 107 points. (Fernandez 22, Navarro 18)!

In fact, they allowed Spain's shooting guards to score so much that despite their heroics, Bryant and Wade were actually only +7 over their counterparts for Spain.

Remember, Navarro washed out of the NBA after playing 1 year for the Memphis Grizzlies, and Fernandez will be an NBA rookie this fall!

There is something seriously wrong when THOSE 2 players combine to score just 7 points less than the scoring performance everyone is praising Kobe and Dwayne for, and the thing that was seriously wrong was Kobe and Dwayne's defense.

Earlier in the tournament, when USA cared about defense, Fernandez and Navarro combined for just 13 points against USA.

And while Dwayne Wade did have 4 steals, most if not all came by leaving his man and gambling on a pass. In reality, Spain's guards were never pressured.

The gold medal game was the least number of turnovers a USA opponent ever committed in the 2008 Olympics.

--- 3 ---

The final score was a little bit deceptive. Spain was actually better this game than the final score would leave you to believe.

With 26 seconds left, USA got 4 free throws in a row, and possession of the ball, thanks to a foul and a technical foul on Ricky Rubio.

The flustered 17 year old Rubio then missed a lay up on the following possession.

Additionally, Spain's highest scorer, Rudy Fernandez, fouled out with 3:10 left in the game.

There are easily AT LEAST 6 to 10 points in those end of game events, for which USA can take no credit. USA was just the beneficiary of some fortunate breaks.

After Spain's first defeat to USA in pool play, Spain started playing better, and began holding its opponents to 59 and 50 points, including opponents that USA allowed to score 76 points.

Excluding their meltdown against USA, Spain is the only team that averaged less turnovers per game than USA (13.4 vs. 13.9). Given Spain's improvements, USA should not have been surprised it would present more of a challenge than it did in their first meeting, and USA should have been prepared to defend better, rather than ease up.

28 = Turnovers by Spain vs. USA in pool play
14 = Turnovers by Spain in gold medal game

82 = Points by Spain vs. USA in pool play
107 = Points by Spain vs. USA in the gold medal game

39.4% = Spain's shooting percentage against USA in pool play
51.4% = Spain's shooting percentage against USA in gold medal game

--- 4 ---

Who did Coach K trust to bring home the gold?

On the floor at crunch time were:
- Chris Paul
- Duane Wade
- Kobe Bryant
- LeBron James
- Chris Bosh

And considering Kobe Bryant and LeBron James were in foul trouble since the first quarter, it is interesting who still ended up playing the most minutes:

28 minutes - LeBron James
27 minutes - Kobe Bryant
27 minutes - Dwayne Wade
24 minutes - Chris Paul
23 minutes - Chris Bosh

* Notice how USA starters Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard and Jason Kidd are not in either of those two lists?

World class blogger, Basketballogy, known for his astounding basketball intellect (not to mention his fine collection of mouse pads and his lovely singing voice), once pointed out that USA basketball's problem is not talent, it is decision making. This is especially true of Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard, although both are young and have lots of time to grow in this regard.

--- 5 ---

While USA disbands this team, searches for a new coach, and organizes its next group for a 3 year commitment, it hopes the pattern set by the "redeem team" will keep USA on top.

However, Spain promises to be a force the London Olympics as well. Spain's young back court includes Rudy Fernandez (23), and Ricky Rubio (17), Jose Calderon (26), and Juan-Carlos Navarro (28), and its front court includes Pau Gasol (28), Marc Gasol (23), and Felipe Reyes (28).

And next time, Spain will be bringing the "redeem team," in a push to get their gold medal back.

--- 6 ---

Dwight Howard shot 45.9% from the free throw line for the Olympics, which is worse than Spain's 3 point percentage in the gold medal game (47.1%).

I am still high on Dwight Howard, but clearly he was not the best center (after Yao Ming) at these games. In fact, Dwight wasn't even the best center playing for USA.

It will be interesting to see how NBA fans vote for the 2009 All-Star game, with both Chris Bosh and Dwight Howard in the east.

Additionally, Pau Gasol probably upped his stock in the eyes of NBA fans. In fact, I'd be very surprised if Shaq didn't take a back seat in the 2009 NBA All-Star game to both Yao Ming and Pau Gasol.

--- 7 ---

Why don't more players learn to shoot the runner? Juan Carlos Navarro, and his 18 point gold medal performance against world champion USA, certainly showed how effective the runner can be at the highest levels of basketball... as if France's Tony Parker hadn't already proved it.

Opposing defenses don't even get their knees bent to jump before the shot is off.

The runner makes dribble penetration so much more deadly, and causes defenses to back off and give you open 3s.

If you had a deadly runner, a deadly 3, and were a good passer, I'd let you play on MY team!

--- 8 ---

This was a 2 point game in the fourth quarter.

It was a 4 point game with 2:29 left to play.

It was a 6 point game with 1:52 left to play.

USA was just +2 in the fourth quarter, +1 in the third quarter, and +1 in the second quarter.

USA had to shoot an insane 70.3 percent from 2 point range to pull this win out.

All of Spain's statistics, including its shooting percentage were within normal ranges.

And Spain was +6 on rebounds.

The odds of USA pulling off a performance like this again are not at all has high as Spain's odds at hitting their numbers again.

USA has superior depth, quickness and athleticism. If it will put that to use on the defensive end of the court, it won't have to rely on unlikely performances to bring home the gold from London in 2012.

--- Bonus ---

Lately I've been noticing that the number of comments on a blog is in inverse proportion to the amount of time I spend on it, so I'll be lucky to get 8 comments.

Nevertheless, here are 8 great Mike "Coach K" Krzyzewski quotes for your enjoyment.

(1) "A basketball team is like the five fingers on your hand. If you can get them all together, you have a fist. That's how I want you to play."

(2) "A common mistake among those who work in sport is spending a disproportional amount of time on "x's and o's" as compared to time spent learning about people. Making shots counts, but not as much as the people who make them."

(3) "I don't look at myself as a basketball coach. I look at myself as a leader who happens to coach basketball."

(4) "I believe God gave us crises for some reason—and it certainly wasn’t for us to say that everything about them is bad. A crisis can be a momentous time for a team to grow—if a leader handles it properly."

(5) "I had a really bad temper, when I was growing up. Sport helped me channel that temper into more positive acts."

(6) "I always won in my imagination. I always hit the game-winning shot, or I hit the free throw. Or if I missed, there was a lane violation, and I was given another one."

(7) "A leader may be the most knowledgeable person in the world, but if the players on his team cannot translate that knowledge into action, it means nothing."

(8) "A leader has to be positive about all things that happen to his team. Look at nothing in the past as failure."

We Did It

To my surprise, I started crying when the game ended, just a little, as I watched USA coach Mike Krzyzewski cry.

Good job, Coach Krzyzewski. Good job USA.

Game analysis will come other time; I'm just going to drink in this moment for now.

I love this game, and I love this country... it couldn't be any better, could it?

USA Men's Basketball: What Everyone Should Know Prior to the Gold Medal Game

Whenever there's a conversation about USA Basketball, there's always someone pontificating about the 1992 "Dream Team" There should really be a special website for people who live in the past so they don't keep cluttering up conversations about international basketball.

And then there are the guys always harping on USA because it sends NBA players instead of college guys. Sigh.

Today the best player on the floor when USA played Argentina was an NBA player that had 28 points, 11 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks... and didn't play for USA.

It's a new world, and it is time to acknowledge and embrace it!

For years, USA smugly took its basketball superiority for granted and paid little if any attention to the fact that the rest of the world was getting better... until it was too late. And now, in these 2008 Olympics, history may be repeating itself.

It is very easy to be blasé about USA's weaknesses when it is beating opponents by 20+ points per game, but a disturbing fact about these wins is that of the 7 games the USA Men's basketball team has played so far in the 2008 Olympics, its worst two games were its last two.

If it happened once, it could be a fluke. But if it happened twice, it could be a trend.

The large margins of victory are lulling USA into bad habits and it is getting complacent, and sloppier.

Meanwhile, since its defeat to USA, Spain has been getting better. A lot better. In fact, Spain has held its opponents to 59 and 50 points, including opponents that USA allowed to score 76 points. And Spain has been having games with as little as 9 to 11 turnovers, as opposed to the 28 turnovers it had against the United States.

Think about USA's last game against Argentina.

After the first quarter, USA was up 19 points.

When the game ended, USA was up 20 points.

That means that after USA's big first quarter, Argentina played dead even with USA for the last 3 quarters, and they did it without Manu Ginobli, and with an injured Andrés Nocioni.

USA's last two games were against Australia and Argentina.

Prior to playing Australia, USA's opponents had been averaging 70.8 points per game. Argentina scored 81, ten more than that average. Australia scored 85, which is enough points to have won 12 of the games played so far in these 2008 Olympics.

And prior to playing Australia, USA's opponents shot just 36.7 percent from the field. Australia shot 43 percent and Argentina shot 44.1 percent, again without Manu Ginobli, the scoring leader of the Olympics, and with Nocioni hobbling.

USA used to own the second quarter against its opponents, but today USA was outscored by Argentina in the second quarter 10 points! Outscored by 10 in 1 quarter?!

And while USA defense is visibly and statistically getting worse, so is its offense.

Argentina has ONLY played man to man defense in the Olympics, but after the first quarter injury to Manu Ginobli, Argentina packed the paint with zone defenders and gave a green light to USA from the arc. Not coincidentally, that is when USA's breakdown started.

With 40 seconds left in the first half, USA was up by only 6 points and Doug Collins mentioned that 20 out of USA's 33 shot attempts were 3 pointers! In other words, 61 percent of all shots taken, including put backs and face breaks, were from beyond the arc! That is incredibly bad shot selection.

You don't think Spain is intrigued that USA basically took the shots Argentina told it to?

USA's problem is not talent, it is decision making.

Kobe had no free throws. None. Question: was it bad officiating, or was he settling for outside jump shots? Well, Kobe shot 5 of 14 (35.7%) overall, and was 2 of 9 (22.2%) from the arc. Since 9 of 14 of his shots were 3-pointers, it is safe to say Kobe made some a lot of very poor decisions.

I just wish Kobe was the worst culprit this game.

Carmelo Anthony shot 3 of 14 (21.4%) overall, and 2 of 8 (25%) from the arc, and conducted himself in a manner that was an embarrassment to everything USA Basketball claims to stand for.

At half time, NBC aired an interview with USA coach Mike Krzyzewski. Coach K said that Jerry Colangelo and he want USA to "win on and off the court" and to "show respect to the rest of the world."

With Coach K's words about respecting the rest of the world still hanging in the air, track this 3rd quarter action:

8:15 - Carmelo Anthony and Luis Scola got in a tussle.

7:09 - Anthony ran from near the sidelines to pick a fight with Scola for giving a hard foul to Dwight Howard. It took all 4 of Anthony's teammates to walk Anthony to half court and get him to knock it off.

6:30 - After a made jumper by Scola, with players running back down court, Anthony sought out Scola and unnecessarily bumped him, provoking another tussle.

5:38 - Anthony made contact with Scola then flopped to the floor. Anthony was called for the foul, gave up 2 points to Argentina and was finally benched by Coach K.

Carmelo Anthony is the poster boy for everything I hate about the NBA. He is disinterested in defense, plays hard only to score, is a thug on the court, and is an idiot both on and off the court, but no one cares because he is talented.

One of the most surprising things about this game was that, for the first time in the 2008 Olympics, this very deep team saw players play more than 30 of the 40 game minutes. Both Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony were granted that honor. While Kobe at least played defense and was a peace maker, Anthony was totally unworthy of the trust Coach K put in him that game.

Speaking of bad decisions, look at the turnover statistics of USA's primary ball handlers:

Turnovers per Minute Played:
0.188 Jason Kidd
0.154 Lebron James
0.154 Deron Williams
0.095 Chris Paul
0.063 Kobe Bryant

On Sunday, USA faces Spain again. I hope USA has learned its lesson about taking opponents for granted, especially since there were anomalies in that first meeting that USA should not count on happening again.

- Spain committed 28 turnovers versus the United States, a number it hasn't come close to before that game or since.

- USA shot 7 of 11 (64%) from the arc in the first half that game. For perspective, USA averages 36.4% from the arc for the Olympics.

- In the first meeting of USA vs. Spain, Marc Gasol had early foul trouble so Spain couldn't press its size advantage.

- Spain foolishly tried to play at USA's pace rather than slow the pace down to their advantage, a lesson Spain seems to have learned now given that opponents are only scoring 50 and 59 points since.

Because of the large margins of victory, USA's 67 percent free throw shooting hasn't been a factor. (Argentina shot 15 of 16 (94%) from the free throw line by the way). But that 67 percent number is a little deceiving. For instances, in this game against Argentina, two players combined to shoot 18 of 18 free throws, skewing the team's overall free throw shooting performance.

If Spain wants, it can foul Dwight Howard (48.4%) and others with bench players, and pretty much count on getting the ball back while giving up just 1 point at the most.

With 20+ point margins of victory, it is very easy to be blasé about USA's weaknesses.

Then again, in the past USA has smugly taken its basketball superiority for granted and paid little attention to the fact that the rest of the world was getting better... until it was too late.

It's a new world, and it is time to acknowledge and embrace it, respect our opponents, and EARN the gold, and not just assume they plan on handing it over to you because you dominated in the past!

Playing basketball is a lot like shaving: no matter how good a job you did yesterday, you've got to get up and do it again today.

USA vs. Australia: USA Rebounding Advantage Obscures Defensive Let Down

redeem (verb) - to do something that makes other people have a better opinion of (you), especially after you have behaved badly or failed at something. -- Cambridge Dictionary of American English.

Whoever first coined the phrase, "The road to redemption" must have understood that redemption is almost never a single act or gesture. Redemption is a road that, like all roads, must to be traveled a step at a time. Today USA took another step towards redemption with its 31 point defeat of Australia. There are 3 steps left to go.

The story line to this game is an interesting one. USA led by just 1 point at then end of the first quarter, and would have taken just a 6 point lead into the locker room at the half, were it not for a missed 3 pointer by Australia's Mark Worthington, a rebound by Chris Bosh, then a buzzer beating 3 pointer by Deron Williams. That buzzer beater is more remarkable when you realize that Williams was only 1 of 5 from the arc against Australia, the buzzer beater was his only successful 3 pointer.

After a close first half, Kobe Bryant took control for USA by scoring 9 of USA's 14 to 0 run. After that, USA slowly built on its advantage.

Australia probably thought it was playing well against USA in the first quarter, but I didn't see it that way. For some reason every American but Jason Kidd started off the game completely infatuated with dribbling. I was really frustrated.

The ball movement was so stagnant, that USA did not have an assist the entire first quarter. In fact, with 2:51 left in the third quarter, Mike Breen and Doug Collins mentioned that USA had only 1 assist the entire first half. USA moved the ball considerably better after the break though, and had 15 assists in the second half.

Also, defensively this was the worst game of the 2008 Olympics for Team USA.

Never in these Olympics has USA allowed an opponent to score so many points. Opponents have been averaging 70.8 points per game, USA but allowed Australia to score 85.

Opponents had been averaging just 36.7% from the field but Australia shot 43%, easily the highest shooting percentage allowed by USA.

And Australia was actually -2 in turnovers, and +2 on points off of turnovers!

The closing play of the first quarter was typical of USA's defense: after a MADE free throw by Chris Bosh, Australia put the ball in play and ran the ball the length of the court and made a lay up while collecting a foul on Chris Paul.

Australia had only 1 turnover in the first quarter, had 7 turnovers in the second, and only 3 turnovers in the entire second half. Think about that. Australia's biggest let down was in the second quarter, when Coach K played a very quick, defense minded group consisting of Williams, Wade, Bryant, James and Bosh.

In other words, when Coach K forced USA to play defense, Australia coughed up the ball like the other teams have.

USA's defense definitely slipped in this quarterfinals game from its previous performances, which troubles me. It should be getting better as games go on and mean more.

But USA's offense struggled to get going as well.

When Kobe Bryant shot his first shot of the game, 3 minutes into it, USA was already 3 of 9 (33%). That's a lot of quick and poor shots for 3 minutes.

LeBron James started 0 of 3, Dwight Howard was 1 of 3, and Carmelo Anthony was 2 of 3. And although Bryant made that first shot, he missed is next 3 and was 1 of 4 for the first quarter. For the first quarter: LeBron was 1 of 5, Howard was 3 of 6, Anthony was 3 of 5, Kidd 1 of 1, Wade 0 of 2, and Paul and Williams were 0 of 1.

And watching the game, it was clear the poor shooting was not due to Australia's defense, but due to USA's poor shot selection, particularly from the arc, which Australia's defense was daring them to take.

Defensively, Australia packed in their zone and dared the Americans to shoot from the outside (3 of 13 from the arc in the first half. And when USA did get the ball inside to Dwight Howard, they quickly hacked him; Howard had 5 free throw attempts in 14 minutes of play. And why not? Prior to this game Howard was shooting just 45% from the free throw line.

Observations:

- All 12 USA players scored.

- Australia sent in a scrub named Worthington to hammer Carmelo Anthony. To Anthony's credit, he smiled and walked away and left Howard and James to jaw with the scrub.

- USA's next opponent won't likely be intimidated by the "Redeem Team, seeing as Argentina has 4 NBAers in its starting 5.

- In the second quarter, Kobe rebounded the ball under the rim, and took such a severe fade away on his turn around jumper that he literally landed on his back on the 3 point line. I groaned that he attempted the shot, and laughed as it went in. Kobe is the best maker of bad shots I've seen.

- The NBA should change its terminology for the playoffs from "first round, second round, etc." to "quarter finals, semi-finals, conference finals, and finals." The Olympics have figured it out: that repeated uses of the word "finals" leading to the NBA Finals would be stronger product branding.

- After the game, LeBron James had this to say of Kobe Bryant, "He's the one guy on our team that's not afraid to take the final shot or guard anyone. Kobe is the No. 1 athlete out here. Beyond basketball, I think people are starting to see his personality."

- Team USA had 13 offensive rebounds in the first half, which was allowing them additional shots and a shot at staying in the game.

- Team USA was +29 in rebounding, astounding considering it was -4 in rebounds over the course of the first 4 games.

- Australia's coach, Greg Goorjian, "Going into the game, I thought we had one advantage, and that's a lot for us. I thought it was Patrick Mills. . . . I thought he was someone their point guards would have trouble with."

- USA's coach, Mike Krzyzewski, said this of Patrick Mills, who will be a freshman at St. Mary's this fall, "I'm glad my Duke team doesn't play St. Mary's this season. (Patrick Mills) is a great guard. He’ll be an NBA guard and I’m very, very impressed.... he really has great quickness. I love him defensively; I’m sure Brian does too. I’ve been a defensive coach my whole life and there aren’t very many people who stay with a guard – like right on him – when he has the ball – and if he’s beaten, he doesn’t retreat; he continues to play the play. He’s got to be an extremely tough-minded kid. As good as he is offensively, I think he’s got a chance to be a great defender. I think the kid has got a big time future, to be quite frank with you. He’s an impressive player. He’s got great quickness and great strength. What else can I say? he can shoot, he’s tough-minded, he’s so competitive. I mean the kid’s going to be an NBA player, there is no question about it. What a great thing to build your future on (speaking of Australia's basketball team)."

USA vs. Germany: Different Formula, Same Result

Perhaps the two most notable things about this game against Germany are:

1. How sharp USA played in a "meaningless game," and
2. How USA strayed from the winning formula it has been using so far in international play.

Because USA could force themselves to play with such sharpness in a meaningless game like this, I'm thinking there won't be any let downs in the medal games to come.

But it's really remarkable how USA strayed from the winning formula it used in previous games. So I should remark on it.

<> Up until now, USA was -4 in rebounding against their opponents, but today USA was +15 in rebounding over Germany! Everyone pretty much rebounded as they have been, except Dwight Howard, Carlos Boozer and Tayshaun Prince stepped up their rebounding efforts considerably.

<> USA found points inside from their big men, most notably Dwight Howard. He scored 22 points in 19 minutes! Carlos Boozer, though, had 6 points and 6 rebounds in just 9 minutes.

<> 59 of USA's 106 points came from forwards and centers, and Carmelo Anthony was only 4 of those 59 points. However, because Kobe Bryant has been playing small forward at times, that number is probably higher.

<> The 18 turnovers USA got from Germany is the lowest of the Olympics. And USA had only 18 points off of turnovers against Germany, which is their lowest point total off of turnovers in the Olympics (they had 28 against Spain, 25 against Greece, 25 against Angloa).

In other words, Germany slowed down the pace, cared for the ball better than other teams so USA scored less in transition, and tried to force USA's bigs to beat them from inside... and USA did!

Because USA has been leveraging their transition game, creating easy points for themselves off of turnovers, I've been wondering if opposing teams would start to slow down the pace, care for the ball better, and try to force Team USA's bigs to beat them from inside in a half court game, and if USA's bigs were up to the challenge. Well, they sure were against Germany.

Other observations:

- This was the first game USA took control of right away. The other games, teams had success against USA until USA found their way, then had their way with their opponents.

- Germany missed 9 of its first 10 shots, and went down 18 to 3 in the early going.

- USA never allowed Germany to score more than 17 points in a quarter.

- Michael Redd, USA's shooting specialist, was 1 of 9 from the floor and 0 of 4 from the arc in his 13 minutes of play.

- USA shot 61.1 percent from the free throw line. Dwight, you are embarrassing us! Germany's Dirk Nowitzki was 5 of 5.

- The player with the most minutes this game was... Tayshaun Prince! Only Prince and Chris Paul had more than 20 minutes of playing time.

- Kobe missed two dunks?! Maybe someone ought to bring out an Aston Martin to motivate him to get jumping.

- The last time USA basketball was beating teams by this much, Color Me Badd and Right Said Fred topped the charts, Wayne's World and Batman Returns were in theaters, and Eric Clapton won a grammy for "Tears in Heaven." That was the original 1992 Dream Team, and their competition then was no where near as good as the "Redeem Team's" competition is now.