Posts Tagged ‘Brazil’

< Older Entries

Love Rewards Krzyzewski For Going Big

August 7, 2012  ·  12:14PM

HANG TIME NEW JERSEY – After the U.S. Men’s Senior National Team had completed its five-game exhibition schedule, it was pretty clear that playing small was not a good idea. The U.S. won those five games by an average of 26.6 points, but had barely outscored opponents when playing small (without Tyson Chandler, Kevin Love or Anthony Davis on the floor).

Mike Krzyzewski and his staff seemingly took those numbers to heart. In its five pool play games in London, the U.S. played small for only 7.6 minutes per game, down from 14.9 minutes per game in the five exhibitions.

Love was the biggest beneficiary, seeing his minutes increase from 12.0 per game in the exhibitions to 16.5 per game in pool play. And he paid Krzyzewski back for the increased minutes. Not only has Love shot 24-for-36 in London, but the U.S. outscored its opponents 268-147 with Love on the floor. And that plus-121 was the team’s highest mark in pool play.

Overall, the U.S. is a plus-308 in 288 minutes over 10 games with Chandler, Love or Davis on the floor. And the Americans are just a plus-16 in 112 minutes with no bigs in the game.

USA efficiency with or without bigs (exhibitions + pool play)

On floor MIN Pace OffRtg DefRtg NetRtg +/-
At least one big 287.8 84.2 136.6 87.0 +49.6 +308
No bigs 112.2 80.7 113.4 103.9 +9.5 +16
Totals 400.0 83.2 130.4 91.7 +38.7 +324

Pace = Possessions per 40 minutes
OffRtg = Points scored per 100 possessions
DefRtg = Points allowed per 100 possessions
NetRtg = Point differential per 100 possessions

The one time that the U.S. played small for almost half the game was the narrow win over Lithuania. And the results were not good. In fact, in three of the five pool-play games, the U.S. was outscored when it played small. (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in London 2012, USA Basketball / Comments (26) /

Russia Beats Brazil On A Buzzer Beater, Spain Survives Great Britain’s Surge

August 2, 2012  ·  5:22PM

LONDON – The medals will be handed out when it’s all over, but Russia’s Vitaly Fridzon will leave here having secured at least one spectacular memory from this competition.

Fridzon knocked down an off-balance 3-pointer from the corner, on a brilliantly executed play with four seconds to play to cap a thrilling 75-74 comeback win over Brazil.

“Coach told me if I was open to shoot it,” said Fridzon, who had his legs taken out on the shot by Brazil’s Leandro Barbosa. “I shot it.”

Fridzon’s shot capped a furious comeback from Russia, which squandered an 11-point early only to see Brazil turn the tables on them late. Brazil point guard Marcelinho Huertas scored on a layup with 6.1 seconds to play.

Russia’s coach, American David Blatt, took a timeout after the shot from Huertas, and dialed up the perfect play.

“Good for him, really good for him,” Blatt said of Fridzon. “He made the coach look good. He had to catch and release the ball quickly. More important than the play was the execution. They executed it to perfection.”

Andrei Kirilenko led Russia with 19 points. Timofey Mozgov had 18 before fouling out late. Aleksey Shved, headed to the Minnesota Timberwolves along with Kirilenko, finished with 17 points.

Barbosa led Brazil with 16 points. Larry Taylor added 12 and Nene finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.

SPAIN TOPS GREAT BRITAIN IN A NAIL-BITER

If that Russia-Brazil finish wasn’t wild enough, Spain and the host nation team Great Britain tried to top them in the first game of the evening session, with Spain escaping with a 79-78 win when Jose Calderon dribbled the final seven seconds off of the game clock.

Luol Deng hit an off-balance 3-pointer with seven seconds left to pull within 79-78 and somehow Jose Calderon was allowed to dribble out clock. Deng had four fouls and had facilitated the comeback and did not want to pick up his fifth (five fouls ends your game in international competition).

Deng finished with 26 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, another valiant effort in defeat for the best player on Great Britain’s team. Joel Freeland played a huge game as well, finishing with 25 points and making three of his seven shots from beyond the 3-point line, as well as seven rebounds in a head-to-head matchup against Spain’s superstar frontline of Pau and Marc Gasol.

Pau Gasol finished with 17 points and five assists and Marc Gasol 12 points and three rebounds, but it was Calderon who did the most damage for Spain. He knocked down the free throws down the stretch and had that heady play to finish the game. He led Spain with 19 points, four rebounds and two assists.

PARKER, BATUM LEAD FRANCE PAST LITHUANIA

Tony Parker scored 27 points, including seven of the last eight of the game, and Nicolas Batum 21 Thursday as France beat Lithuania 82-74.

Parker’s 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter sealed a 10-2 run that gave France the lead for good. Lithuania never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.

And that’s two straight impressive wins for France since their 27-point blowout loss to the U.S. in their opener. Much of that is due to Parker finally finding his rhythm after spending just 10 days in full preparation for the competition after a June nightclub incident left him unable, at the behest of team doctors, go through the normal process.

“I am feeling better and better,” Parker said.  ”I feel like I’ve found my legs again, but in the last game (against Argentina) I was already feeling better. I felt like the shots I was taking would go in. Today I felt in rhythm, I tried to be aggressive but patient without getting frustrated and wanting to do too much.”

Boris Diaw had a solid game with 10 points, eight assists and six rebounds. Ronny Turiaf finished with 1o rebounds.

Martynas Pocius led Lithuania with 18 points and Linas Kleiza added 17.

A three-time Olympic bronze medalist, Lithuania is 1-2 heading into Saturday’s showdown with the U.S.

GINOBILI LEADS ARGENTINA PAST PESKY TUNISIA

Manu Ginobili made sure a 40-40 halftime score was a footnote for the Argentina, scoring 24 points to help his team run away from Tunisia for a 92-69 .

He got help from his NBA friends as Carlos Delfino chipped in with 21 points and Luis Scola 20 as Tunisia simply couldn’t sustain their effort against a second straight team stocked with NBA players. The U.S. waxed them by 47 points Tuesday night.

Tunisia’s lead was 14 points after the first 10 minutes but Ginobili went to work in the second quarter, scoring all but three of Argentina’s 15-0 run that completely changed the momentum of the game. He knocked down a 3-pointer to start the second half and Argentina led the rest of the way.

Salah Mejri finished with 19 points for Tunisia. Mourad El Mabrouk had 16.

AUSTRALIA THUMPS CHINA, YI INJURES KNEE

China didn’t just lose the game to Australia, 81-61, Thursday morning. They also lost their best player to injury when Yi Jianlian took a lick above his right knee.

“He took a bang just above the knee, not on the knee,” said China coach Bob Donewald. “We’ll have to see how he is.”

Patty Mills led Australia with 20 points. David Andersen added 17 points for Australia.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in London 2012 / Comments (6) /

Huertas, Brazil Drop Great Britain 67-62

July 31, 2012  ·  2:09PM

LONDON – Any hopes the host nation team had of pulling off an upset here Tuesday faded in the final two minutes against Brazil, as Marcelinho Huertas upstaged NBA All-Star Luol Deng before a raucous hometown crowd at the Olympic Basketball Arena.

For the second straight game, the Brazilian point guard made the plays down the stretch to preserve his team’s 67-62 victory, much as he did the same against Australia Sunday.

Huertas sealed the game with two free throws in the final seconds and finished the contest with 13 points and eight assists, two more than the rest of his teammates combined and just one shy of Great Britain’s final tally.

Tiago Splitter led Brazil with 21 points on 9-for-11 shooting from the floor. Splitter, Nene and Anderson Varejao — all NBA big men — grabbed six rebounds each.

Deng simply never could get going, finishing just 3-for-13 from the floor and scoring 12 points to go along with his eight rebounds and seven assists. He was just 1-for-11 until he nailed two late jumpers, was 1-for-7 from beyond the 3-point line, and only made four of his eight free throws.

Pops Mensah-Bonsu (13 points, 12 rebounds) led the way for Great Britain inside, while Nate Reinking knocked down three of his shots from deep and also finished with 13 points.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in London 2012 / Comments (10) /

Brazil, Spain, Russia, Argentina And Nigeria Impress In Olympic Openers

July 29, 2012  ·  11:03PM

LONDON – The U.S. Men’s Senior National Team wasn’t the only crew to walk away from the first day of Olympic competition with an impressive win, theirs coming in a 98-71 thumping of France in the third game of the day.

There were familiar faces (to NBA fans) on the court all day and night, as Brazil, Spain,Russia, Argentina and Nigeria all made good first impressions at the Olympic Basketball Stadium.

A quick round-up of the action …

NIGERIA 60, TUNISIA 56:

The Aminu brothers, Alade and Al-Farouq combined for 25 points and 18 rebounds as Nigeria, the last team to qualify for this 12-team field, held off a late rally from the African champions in the first game of the day. Ike Diogu added 13 points and 10 rebounds. Amine Rzig scored 15 of his 18 points in the second-half to lead Tunisia in what was the Olympic debut for both teams.

BRAZIL 75, AUSTRALIA 71:

Leandro Barbosa scored 16 points but it was his backcourt mate, Brazilian captain Marcelo Huertas, who played the hero as they held off a late push from Australia on two free throws from Huertas with five seconds to play. David Andersen scored all 14 of his points after halftime and Patty Mills led Australia with a game-high 20 points, but it wasn’t enough.

SPAIN 97, CHINA 81:

Pau Gasol was dominant, scoring 21 points and grabbing 11 rebounds and Serge Ibaka added 17 points, as the silver medalists and two-time European champs whipped China. Yi Jianlian was impressive in defeat, scoring a game-high 30 points for China, which had no answer for Spain’s depth and quality backcourt duo of Juan Carlos Navarro (14 points) and Jose Calderon (12).

RUSSIA 95, GREAT BRITAIN 75:

The gracious hosts were no match for the Minnesota Timberwolves-bound duo of Andrei Kirilenko (35 points) and Alexey Shved (16 points and 13 assists, who sparked Russia’s dominating performance. Luol Deng scored the first basket of the game, the first for the British in the Olympics since 1948, and finished with 26 points. But he and Pops Mensah-Bonsu (22) couldn’t help the home team overcome Russia or an ugly 4-for-26 effort from beyond the 3-point line.

ARGENTINA 102, LITHUANIA 79:

Luis Scola scored 32 points, Manu Ginobili finished with 21, 10 rebounds and six assists and Carlos Delfino added 20 points for the 2004 gold medalists, who struggled in their exhibition run-up to this competition but celebrated Ginobili’s 35th birthday in style. Linas Kleiza scored 20 points to lead Lithuania, which defeated Argentina in the opener for both teams four years ago in Beijing.

***

For a look at Tuesday’s schedule, click here!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in London 2012 / Comments (12) /

James, Defense Help U.S. Beat Brazil

July 17, 2012  ·  12:29AM

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In front of President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden, the U.S. Men’s Senior National Team picked up an 80-69 exhibition victory over Brazil on Monday.

As the score indicates, the win was neither easy nor pretty. Brazil led 27-17 after the first quarter, and the U.S. scored an even 80 points on 80 possessions, not too efficient given all the offensive talent on the roster.

Shooting was the issue. The U.S. shot just 9-for-33 (27 percent) from outside the paint and players not named LeBron James shot just 4-for-21 (19 percent) from 3-point range. Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant, three of the U.S. Team’s four best scorers, combined to shoot just 9-for-31 overall.

James picked up the slack though, scoring 30 points on 11-for-20 shooting and adding six rebounds and four steals. And while he flourished in transition, he also took advantage of several matchups with the 6-3 Alex Garcia.

Except when it came to LeBron, Brazil had the matchup advantages inside. Big men Tyson Chandler and Kevin Love combined to play less than 25 of the 40 minutes, so the U.S. went small for almost half the game, and wings Andre Iguodala, Bryant and Durant often found themselves matched up with Tiago Splitter, Anderson Varejao and Nene in the paint.

U.S. head coach Mike Krzyzewski believes that the defensive matchups were partly responsible for the offensive struggles. (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in USA Basketball / Comments (47) /

USA Women Cruise Past Brazil

July 16, 2012  ·  9:14PM

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Women’s Senior National Team has only been back together for three days following the first half of the WNBA season. And in Monday’s exhibition against Brazil, they were missing starting point guard Sue Bird, out ecause of a death in her family.

The result was some sloppy play and trouble with pressure defense. The U.S. committed 22 turnovers in the game, including 10 in their first 15 possessions of the second half.

That doesn’t mean that they had any real trouble with Brazil, a team with medal aspirations in London. Holding Brazil to just 32 percent shooting, the U.S. cruised to an easy 99-67 victory.

However, Monday’s game made it clear to the U.S. where there is work to be done, as well as how valuable Bird is to this squad. Starting in Bird’s place, Lindsay Whalen was the only point guard the U.S. had on Monday, and she played great, filling the boxscore with a team-high 21 points, five rebounds and five assists.

But Diana Taurasi, the team’s starting shooting guard and best scorer, was forced into back-up point guard duties and committed six of the team’s turnovers. And as a group, the U.S. just didn’t handle it well when Brazil decided to give them a taste of their own medicine with some full-court pressure in the second quarter.

The U.S. pressure was still better than Brazil’s. Tamika Catchings is a four-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, and she clearly made an impact on that end on Monday, picking up two steals, two blocks and few more additional deflections. In fact, she didn’t even let Brazil get the ball across half-court on their first possession of the game, stripping Adriana Pinto at the foul line and cruising in for a layup to put the U.S. up 4-0.

The U.S. led 21-5 midway through the first quarter, but never really poured it on until late, because of their struggles in taking care of the ball.

With the WNBA season keeping them apart while other teams have been working together, the U.S. Women know they are at a disadvantage. And as they leave for Manchester for their next exhibition game against Great Britain, they have just 10 days to clean things up.

Monday’s game against Brazil was a gentle reminder of just how much needs to be done before they get to London.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in USA Basketball / Comment (1) /

Brazil A Test For The U.S. On Monday

July 15, 2012  ·  11:08PM

WASHINGTON, D.C. – From every angle, Spain, featuring a frontline of Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka, is the biggest threat to the U.S. Men’s Senior National team in its quest to win a second straight Olympic gold medal.

Argentina, with its generation of international stars playing one last tournament together, is a dangerous threat. France has as much NBA talent as any team outside of the U.S. And Lithuania and Russia are two more tough teams who won’t be eliminated easily.

But the team that gave the United States their toughest game at the 2010 World Championship was Brazil, who the U.S. will play Monday in an exhibition game at the Verizon Center (8 p.m. ET, ESPN2). It’s the U.S. Team’s final action on American soil before they travel to Manchester and Barcelona for three more exhibitions, and then to London for the Olympics.

The U.S. Women will also play Brazil as part of a double-header. The women’s game precedes the men on ESPN2 at 5:30 p.m. ET.

The Brazilian men finished ninth in Turkey, but they gave the U.S. a real scare in preliminary round action before falling 70-68 in a game that was inches away from going to overtime. It was also a game that was played without two of Brazil’s best players, Nene (not on the roster) and Anderson Varejao (injured).

Five players on this year’s U.S. Team were there in Istanbul and remember that game pretty vividly. The other seven got a taste of it when the team watched film Sunday morning before practice. (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in USA Basketball / Comments (29) /

Argentina Tops Brazil For Title

September 12, 2011  ·  7:56AM

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – If the championship game of the FIBA Americas didn’t really mean anything, since both teams had already locked up their Olympic bids, someone forgot to tell the players from Argentina and Brazil. Because Sunday night’s game in MarDel Plata, Argentina didn’t look anything like a friendly exhibition.

Luis Scola scored a tournament-high 32 points to lead Argentina to the 80-75 win and their second FIBA Americas title, their last coming a decade ago. Scola earned MVP honors after carrying his team in a tight game for the win. Carlos Delfino added 16 points and nine rebounds for the winners. Marcus Vinicius led Brazil with 17 points and Tiago Splitter added 12.

Scola was joined on the All-Tournament team by his Argentina teammate Manu Ginobili, the Dominican Republic’s Al Horford, Puerto Rico’s Carlos Arroyo and Brazil’s Marcelo Huertas.

By virtue of making the title game, Argentina and Brazil earned spots in London next summer for the Olympics. Horford led the Dominican Republic with 23 points as they topped Puerto Rico 103-89 in the third-place game. The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Venezuela all earned invites to the qualifying tournament next July with their top five finishes in this competition.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in FIBA 2011 / Comments (12) /

Argentina Wins Battle Of Unbeatens

September 2, 2011  ·  10:26PM

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS (NEW JERSEY BUREAU) – Day 4 of the FIBA Americas Championship 2011 in Mar del Plata, Argentina brought the two biggest matchups of the tournament thus far. Neither game disappointed, though a couple of guards (Marcelo Huertas and J.J. Barea) did.

Trending up: Dominican Republic (3-1)
Trending down: Brazil (2-1)

Canada 84, Cuba 62 (Boxscore)

Canada went back to shooting poorly (4-for-15) from 3-point range, but that didn’t matter, because Cuba was much worse (1-for-14). After the teams each scored a bucket in the first two minutes, Canada went on a 15-0 run and never looked back, earning their second straight win.

After hitting some big threes against the Dominican Republic just 17 hours earlier, Andy Rautins was 0-for-5 from beyond the arc, but he got to the line eight times in 21 minutes.

If Canada beats Venezuela on Saturday, they’d finish in a three-way tie for first with Brazil and the Dominican Republic. But thanks to the tie-breaker (see below), the best they can do is finish third in Group A (unless Cuba pulls off a miracle upset of Brazil).

Uruguay 77, Panama 61 (Boxscore)

Uruguay established itself as the third best team in Group B with a comfortable victory. The game was close until early in the third quarter, when Uruguay took control with a 19-6 run. Esteban Batista was the star of the game, finishing with 24 points (on 9-for-13 shooting) and 10 rebounds.

Dominican Republic 79, Brazil 74 (Boxscore)

After the way the Dominican Republic played against Canada just 24 hours earlier, this was maybe the most surprising result of the tournament. Brazil led by seven late in the third quarter, but a pair of Francisco Garcia threes highlighted an 11-2 Dominican run that gave them the lead heading into the fourth.

The fourth quarter was tight throughout, but the Dominican defense was at its best and never gave up the lead. Garcia sealed the game when he stripped Tiago Splitter in the post in the final minute.

  • This was easily Garcia’s best game of the tournament. He hit four of his five attempts from beyond the arc and finished with 14 points.
  • This was easily Marcelo Huertas‘ worst game of the tournament. He shot 7-for-11 from the field, but was sloppy with his passing, committing 10 turnovers.
  • One of those turnovers was a clean strip by Dominican big man Jack Michael Martinez, who switched out on Huertas on the perimeter at the end of the second quarter. Martinez stole the ball and found Al Horford under the basket on the other end to give D.R. a four-point lead going into the half.
  • Brazil was an efficient 25-for-41 from inside the arc, but made just five of their 22 shots from 3-point range and just nine of their 16 free throws.
  • Despite the loss, Brazil is still in position to win Group A. If both Canada (2-1) and Brazil (2-1) win on Saturday and there’s a three-way tie with the Dominican Republic (3-1), the tiebreaker is determined by the ratio of points to opponents’ point in the head-to-head games between the three teams. Brazil’s ratio was 143/136 (1.05), the Dominican’s was 151/147 (1.03), and Canada’s was 130/141 (0.92).

Argentina 81, Puerto Rico 74 (Boxscore)

This was the game to determine first place in Group B, and it lived up to the billing. It was tight until early in the third quarter when Argentina was finally able to corral Carlos Arroyo and used a blistering 16-0 run to turn a five-point deficit into an 11-point lead.

Arroyo didn’t get nearly enough help from his teammates. Meanwhile, Argentina played like a cohesive unit, getting big contributions from Manu Ginobili (23 points), Luis Scola (16 points, seven boards and two blocks) and Carlos Delfino (14 points and three steals).

  • Arroyo had a pretty amazing minute of basketball late in the first half, when he was wholly responsible for a 7-0 run that gave Puerto Rico a 33-27 lead. It started with a pretty pick-and-roll feed to Daniel Santiago. Then, after Ginobili missed a shot, Arroyo hit Alex Galindo with a nifty touch pass on the break. And on the possession after that, he stepped into a three on another high pick-and-roll. Less than two minutes later, he hit Santiago with another pretty dish for a three-point play.
  • Arroyo is about 10 times more entertaining (and aggressive) when he plays for Puerto Rico than when he plays in the NBA.
  • J.J. Barea is far less so. For the second straight game, Barea struggled from the field, shooting 3-for-10 after a 1-for-8 game against Uruguay on Thursday. And when Argentina double-teamed Arroyo in the second half, Barea wasn’t able to pick up the slack.
  • Delfino was just 1-for-4 from 3-point range, but had two incredible and-ones under the basket in the third quarter.
  • After scoring 10 points in the first quarter in each of Argentina’s first two games, Scola had just 10 through the first three quarters on Friday. But he hit three straight shots midway through the fourth to help put the game away.
  • After sitting out the first two games, Fabricio Oberto got his first action of the tournament. He scored two points in 12 minutes.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in FIBA 2011 / Comments (3) /

Another Dagger For The Cavs

January 10, 2011  ·  2:05PM

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – With all the Carmelo Anthony chatter and the hideout being buried under nearly two feet of snow, we almost missed the news of Anderson Varejao‘s season being over in Cleveland.

What a cruel stretch this has been for Varejao and the Cavs. We won’t bother digging up the mess that was their summer. But Varejao has been in the blender since training camp, as Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Plain Dealer reported:

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse for the Cavaliers, the team announced Sunday that center Anderson Varejao will miss the rest of the season with a torn peroneus longus tendon in his right foot that will require surgery.

“It’s devastating,” said Mo Williams. “Obviously he’s a big part of what we do offensively and especially defensively. It’s a tough one to swallow. It’s hard.”

Coach Byron Scott said he had not talked to Varejao, their defensive anchor who was averaging 9.1 points and 9.7 rebounds this season.

“When I heard the news, I’m not going to say I didn’t buckle,” Scott said before Sunday night’s game against the Suns in USAirways Center. “A lot of it was because Andy’s been playing great. He’s been unbelievable. He’s arguably our best player and for him to go down that way — in practice on the last drill just running up and down the floor, no contact whatsoever — that’s tough.

“I feel more saddened for him because of what he has put into this season and all the other stuff he’s been through. He’s been through a lot this season. To come out and play the way he’s been playing all season long, I feel real bad for him.”

Varejao left the team during training camp when his grandfather died in Brazil. A short time later, his father had heart surgery. On Dec. 29, he broke his cheekbone during a game in Charlotte and has had to wear a mask to protect it.

In the name of Dr. Naismith, something good needs to happen to that team and those fans in Cleveland!

Enough is enough.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized / Comments (17) /

< Older Entries