Personally, I've very proud of the way Nate McMillan represented the United States and the Portland Trail Blazers. I couldn't be happier for Coach.
But Rudy Fernandez was the story. Just ridiculous. His performance throughout the Olympics, capped off by last night's stellar game against Team USA, is going to make the wait for his arrival all the more difficult. The dead-eye shooting from long range. The visionary alley-oops and assists. Dunking on Dwight Howard's dome. The constant motion on offense. The straight fearlessness against Kobe Bryant. His play was nearly flawless, save fouling out while giving up a four-point play to the Mamba.Check the line. 22 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal with just one turnover in under 18 minutes against the greatest collection of basketball talent in the world. That's hooping. But shooting 54% from the field and 56% from three? Wow. Just ... wow.
In the end, it was a great night for Trail Blazers fans. As Americans, we get to celebrate our nation's return to basketball supremacy. As admirers of Nate McMillan, we get to see a great coach rewarded for years of hard work. And as Trail Blazers fans, we get a glimpse what Rudy Fernandez can bring to the court in Portland. From my perspective, that's the best we could have hoped for.
7 comments:
USA had the talent?? USA had the referees in their side!! That's all!!
If NBA players don't know FIBA rules, they should learn them!! The whole game was full of non called travelling fouls, illegal defenses.. but hey! USA HAD TO WIN.. no matter the cost!! The whole world have seen it.
WOW on that dunk. Straight FILTH EEEEEEEE!!!!!!
Here you can see the video of the dunk. I haven't found a youtube version yet.
http://foros.acb.com/viewtopic.php?t=318905
Rudy is God and Spain deserved the victory.
How many posts have we read "Rudy is good enough for the Spanish league, but when he will face NBA players..."
No comment
It's amazing how all European media are talking about the role of the referees in the match and you cannot find anything about it in American mainstream media...
The image of the Spanish coach looking at the referees and they looking back as by saying "I know, that was travelling, but what can we do?" is priceless.
Anyway the match showed that the difference of level between the best American basketball and the best European basketball is today... extremely small.
And remember how many millions of people live in the US and how many in Spain. Just for fun.
Now enjoy Rudy in Portland!
Casey,
GREAT GAME! I have never had so much fun, sitting in my living room, alone at 1 am on Sunday morning! No joke, you have to post the details of when/where/how he is coming to PDX (im assuming it is going to be earlier than camp for PR purposes..right?)
Anyway, Im envisioning our "second" unit right now.
5 Joel Przybilla
4 CFry/Diogu
3 #25/Batum (b/c I <3 him)
2 Rudolfo (G)
1 Bayless
Whoa...
Jesus: The USA had to win at all cost? Tell that to the Sydney team. I could be mistaken, but I saw more than a few extra steps taken by the Spanish team too. Your boys played a hellava game. Don't taint their efforts by complaining about what was an evenly officiated game.
Sophia: You might as well envision Batum doing the Charleston on top of the Empire State Building, because neither that scenario or him playing with the second unit is likely. That said, I fully support your <3 of Nic B.
USA got all the calls? Did you guys happen to see the two best players in the world (Kobe and LeBron)both sitting on the bench in foul trouble a few minutes into the game?
holy rudy!!! i love how he is constantly moving. i hope its infectious to the rest of the blazers. if you had 5 guys on the floor working and moving as hard as rudy did in the olympics the blazers would be impossible to beat.
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