2007 FIBA Americas Championship Tournament Begins

by TexSUN on Aug 22, 2007 5:15 PM MDT Comment 13 comments

The preliminary round of the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship tournament began earlier this afternoon with Uruguay taking an 88-84 overtime win over Panama. Puerto Rico vs. Mexico is up now as of 3:00pm Pacific/6:00pm Eastern. Later this evening, Canada will face off against Brazil at 5:30pm Pacific/8:30pm Eastern, and Team USA will face Venezuela at 8:00pm Pacific/11:00pm Eastern. All total there are 10 teams involved in the tournament, split into two groups of five each. Group A consists of Argentina, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Uruguay. Group B consists of Brazil, Canada, USA, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Venezuela. At stake are two spots at the 2008 Olympics. The top two teams will earn those spots, while the third, fourth, and fifth place teams will get another shot at the World Olympic Qualifying Tournament in 2008.

As for the Suns who are involved, it looks like we may be down to just Amare Stoudemire for Team USA and Leandro Barbosa for Brazil. It had been reported that Raja Bell was playing for the U.S. Virgin Islands, and this link on NBA.com still says he is, but he's not listed on the official team roster at FIBA's web site. He's also not included in NBA.com's list of NBA Players on National Team Rosters. I hadn't heard that he dropped out, though, so I'll try to find out more and post it here. Shawn Marion dropped out last month, reportedly to nurse a case of plantar fasciitis. More about each team is available at FIBA's website.

Much like they did with the summer league, NBA.com will be broadcasting the games on their web site. You can find the complete broadcasting schedule here, along with links for viewing the games online. I will be covering the tournament as much as my schedule will allow. Since I'm sure there will be plenty said about Team USA already, I'll be keeping much of my commentary focused on the Suns players that are involved. Depending on how many comments I get to this post, I may or may not post pre-game threads. (Consider this the first one, and we'll go from there).

Tonight's games of interest to Suns fans are Canada vs. Brazil and USA vs. Venezuela. The Canada-Brazil game would have been a bit more intriguing had Team Canada succeeded in convincing Steve Nash to join. But, I'm sure all Suns fans can live without a Nash-Barbosa face-off if it means preserving Steve's legs for the NBA season. Team USA's matchup against Venezuela should be a classic case of The Alpha Dogs vs. The Underdogs if you believe that the best players in the world play for the NBA. Team USA has a 12-0 advantage in that department, and not only that, nearly all are considered the face of their franchise. The guess here? Kobe Bryant will find a way to be the alpha among alphas. I see a repeat of his All-Star MVP performance (and perhaps that's why I'm not nearly as enthusiastic about watching these guys as I should be).

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barbosa

30 points against canada, maybe it was 32
awesome!! The announcers kept saying how he was the best player on Brazil and how the team is more based around him than normal with 1-2 other nba bigs not showing (chicago bulls guy, and another). Fun seeing him and Amare out there, I have a lot of respect for them. With Nash, his age, canada not really being a serious contender to get gold or silver, even with Nash it probably would be a mistake, glad he's not playing,

by jasonsuns1 on Aug 22, 2007 9:11 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

LB got 30

Full report coming after the USA-Venezuela game. Dwight Howard starting over Amare tonight. I guess somebody had to be the 6th man on that team.

I agree about Nash. I wasn't seriously suggesting he should play, just that it would have made the game more interesting. (And I'd really love to have seen more of him and Dalembert. They looked really good in that charity game footage).

by TexSUN on Aug 22, 2007 9:16 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

on usa

kobe, amare, and kid will make an impact that should make the U.S. do very, very well, which the previous U.S.A. team just didn't have. Yeah Lebron, Wade, and
Melo are good, very good, but Kobe, Kidd, and Amare among others (redd, etc) this should be a fun team to watch! I hope they play Brazil and I get to see it. I noticed running firefox and viewing nba broadcast, it boots out after 2-3 minutes, so I tried with I.E (rarely use it anymore) and it did the trick. Wasn't sure if it was firefox or just so many people viewing it. Looked for it on cable with no luck.

by jasonsuns1 on Aug 22, 2007 9:15 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

I'm not sure it was Firefox

I was using IE and I had the same problem. The game was on NBATV, which for some reason I don't have, even though I subscribe to the League Pass package to watch Suns games. Evidently, that's only good for the NBA season. Who knew... But the USA game is on ESPN Classic, in case you didn't already know.

I'll like Team USA just fine if it doesn't turn into "The Kobe Show" like the All-Star game did. Somehow, I have a hard time picturing Kobe as being able to play any other way, but maybe he'll surprise me....

by TexSUN on Aug 22, 2007 9:20 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

good point

Thanks for info about espn classic, it's time for me to ftp my sco unix code to ftp site, and download it to laptop, and use winvi to edit on couch so I can watch on bigger screen. Thanks again for info. Should be fun to see. One thing about Amare you have to love, he probably will come out and play harder since they didn't start him, Amare trying to make a statement, he's the man, and it's possible, he very well may be.

Thanks again TexSun

by jasonsuns1 on Aug 22, 2007 9:28 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

Awww shucks.

I missed the game :( How'd Amare do? I just heard it was a complete obliteration of the Venezuelan team. Anyone know when the next games are and on which channels they'll be televised?

by whatisboxhappening on Aug 22, 2007 11:36 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Here's the schedule

Here's the complete schedule: http://www.nba.com/2007fibaamericas/schedule.html

Amare had a solid game. I'm just about done with my post-game report, which I'll post shortly.

by TexSUN on Aug 22, 2007 11:43 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

Amare at FIBA

Personally, I found Amare's preformance, overall, underwhelming.

I mean, sure, he was drawing fouls against Venezuela at a decent clip while he was in, but his timing on D, so far, has shown zero progress: Instead of beating his man for position, he waits until his man gets position THEN tries to muscle him out of it, which is the main reason for the fouls he picked up himself.

Yeah, this is just the first game and he's still getting used to his teammates and the international game, but I still wasn't impressed overall. One dunk during garbage time does not a good showing make. Hell, if that were the case, Pat Burke would be Reggie freaking Miller.....

All that said, it sure would be nice to see Amare fed a bit more. I mean, with Anthony, Bryant and James, Amare damn near has to go out of his way to get a touch, especially against such a diminutive team as Venezuela.

Always remember to keep one foot in the groove

by SwingMan on Aug 23, 2007 12:02 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Amare

I think a spectacular performance by Amare wasn't really necessary tonight. He didn't stand out like some of the other guys did, but in all honesty, Venezuela provided so little competition that it was probably as hard to play against them as it was to evaluate anybody's performance in this game. :) I give him props for accepting a lesser role on the team like a man, and NOT trying to "take over" when it wasn't really needed. Sure we all would have loved to see him dominate, but with so many "alpha dogs" on the team, I think the tone of the game and who was "the man" was already set before he ever entered. Maybe I'm just in a forgiving mood because I'm tired, but that's how I saw it. Anyway, welcome to the board! Sorry to semi-disagree on your first comment. :)

by TexSUN on Aug 23, 2007 12:11 AM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

Amare

No worries. What the hell fun would it be if we all agreed 100% of the time?

Nah, I wasn't expecting a super dominating performance from Amare - I wasn't looking to get my socks knocked off or anything - but I was expecting a little more "pop" and intelligence (read: floor game) in his play.

But, this is his first game with the team, under international rules - I'll give him a pass for now.

Now, who's got NBA TV? We need to check up on Diaw - has he really dropped 10 pounds? How's he moving? Has he found his own pulse yet?

Always remember to keep one foot in the groove

by SwingMan on Aug 23, 2007 1:14 AM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

swingman

you make a great point about Amare and rebounding. Watching Howard clear so many boards vs Amare rebounding, it really makes the differences between a great rebounder and an ok one stand out. I have the highest respect for Howard. If Amare and Marion want to get better, one thing that stands out above others, besides good positioning on rebounds (Amare mainly), is dribbling skills. Look at Lebron, whatever you think of him, he handles the ball very well, if Amare and Marion could handle the ball like that they'd be more of a threat than they already are. Great to see Barbosa do so well.

by jasonsuns1 on Aug 23, 2007 5:53 AM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

Great point on the ball handling and rebounding

I did ding Amare a bit on his rebounding last night. He had "butter-fingers" early in the game for some reason. He got better, but with the tiny lineup he was playing against, there's no reason he shouldn't have had more rebounds than he did (and he would have if he hadn't fumbled a few out of bounds). I didn't ding him on on the ball handling because it was no worse than usual, but you're right about Amare and his ball handling. It's exactly why I cringe every time I hear that talk about making him a "point center". We already have two guys on the team that can do "point" anything--including passing--a lot better than Amare ever will (Nash, of course, and Diaw even on a bad day). I did read that ball handing is something Amare is working on, though, so maybe he'll be better at it by the time the season starts.

by TexSUN on Aug 23, 2007 7:49 AM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

yep

to me, that's Lebrons biggest strength, that he can handle the ball like a guard, same with Jordan. If either Amare or Howard could handle the ball like Lebron or Jordan, they'd be on another level.

Nice to see deron williams on this team, liked how he played against Golden State.

I'd like to make a small comparison between the dream team (1992 I think, usa) and this USA team. Both had a lot of talent, silly to say which team had more, both are really stacked, but the 1992 team probably wins there. If I recall both Bird and Magic were on that team, and Jordan. Quite possibly three of the best 5 players to ever play. But one of the things that made the 92 team better than this team (which could change, teams grow and improve and I'm thrilled about the 2-3 yr commitment thing they're trying to do), is that their leaders, the 3 I just mentioned were equally unselfish and didn't care about which person scored more, they just wanted to represent the USA and demolish their opponents. This USA team, you get the feeling Lebron, Kobe, Melo, and others are battling each other to see who scores more, who becomes the main player, etc. Pretty selfish. If they woke up out of their me me me parade, it's quite clear to me, Kidd and Williams should be the leaders, and Kobe if he can play with others. I think Lebron actually may be a better play maker than Kobe.

by jasonsuns1 on Aug 23, 2007 10:17 AM MDT up reply actions 0 recs