gold or bust, world or dust

i'm a little bit late here, the eighthfinals of da worlds are behind
the corner, but i couldn't write sooner, because the group-phase games
were constantly flowing day-by-day.
last six days i felt like a schoolboy, getting up at six o'clock and
then watching eight hours almost without movin'!
i fairly miss nash's canada, kirilenko's russia, giricek's croatia or
halperin's izrael.
the worlds have a strong tv ratings, broadcasters are even in the most
backward places in the globe (burkina faso, somalia, mongolia; over
150 countries is covered), however i feel like slovakia is a part of
the fourth world, without a tv channel which would emit some
basketball waves.
god bless czechia - they, the czechs, have a chance to follow at least
from the eighthfinals.
i'm still discontended with bruce bowen's cut (ahem, shame, k & jerry)
several days before the championships.
maybe i'm biased, rather not, but he should make the u.s. club.
arguably, he isn't better player than anybody from the "12" and if i
have alleged this, that would have denied my hoop knowledges.
but his defense, loyalty, experience and threes should give him an edge
over battier or somebody.
and lebron isn't just kind of staunch great player when the fiba-rulez
rule.
my criticism continues, because these middle-european areas (ahem, svk)
have so small basketball knowledge that even speedy claxton's amount
of dunks is bigger.
there are a sport news in the prime-time and, wonder, no mention about
japan 2006.
it's very sad.
one example for all: in slovakia's only sport daily have been quoted
some slovak basket-players - their take on the wbc.
marek andruska said that *i don't know exactly the roster of usa*,
michal tarabus said *the greatest opponent of the usa will be the
defending champions serbia*, *even the japanese can shuffle cards* and
martin micka said *the greatest weakness of the usa is that they don't
play collectively*.
and he, a basketball performer, says it after all that tons of paper
which have had the teamwork-like headlines and it hasn't been some
token crap.
when coach k talks about *our go-to guy is our team* + *everybody must
play all-out style*, he do NOT lies.
and now guess how basket-wise ordinary people have to be...
let's move to da tourney, eventually.
in the group "a", argentina (5 wins - 0 losses) was an unstoppable
force; france (3-2), without t-parker with a broken index (yuck!), got
the second place; nigeria's (2-3) eagles showed their power with the
3rd slot; scg (2-3) was somewhat dull, able to finish in the fourth
berth; lebanon (2-3) presented a big heart and venezuela (1-4) was
simply the worst.
"b": espana glided all the way to 5-0; deutschland (nowitzki), 4-1,
was able to finish off very good palacas negras, black antilopes, from
angola (3-2); the 4th room was secured by new zealand (2-3); on the
trip home are japan's samurai (1-4) and faint panama (0-5).
"c": the country of olives (5-0); incredible turkish sultans (4-1);
mysterious lithuania (3-2); the antipodes from australia (2-3); a
disappointment - brazil coffee (1-4) and abysmally weak qatar (0-5).
the persians had to rather sell carpets in the middle east.
and, hallelujah, the box "d": meanwhile amazing americans, 5-0 (a
wake-up call against the italians), conquered the 1; young squadra
azzura (4-1) - 2; happy slovenia (2-3) - 3; people's republic of china
(2-3) - 4 (an advice: if you want to advance, give all what you have
in the hands to yao, dump all to yao's hands in the middle, i think
he's well within sight); sad puerto rico (2-3) - 5; deluged senegal
(0-5) - 5.
the game among germany and angola, 108-103 after three-overtimes, won't
be topped in this tournament.
if this match has been played in the nba - it'd have been the game of
the year and bill simmons would have written again his ususal stuff
about nowitzki, "the greatest pf of all times".
but back to the game... super-duper!
end of the regulation - 66:69 for angola, dirk -> pass -> demirel ->
3 -> 69:69 (26 sec left).
end of the 1st ot - 80:83, garrett -> 3 -> airball (7 sec left) -> out
of bounds off angola -> inbounds pass to dirk -> 3 -> 83:83 (0.8 sec).
end of the 2nd ot - 93:95, dirk -> 2 free throws -> 95:95 (5.1 sec).
the 3rd ot - 95:95, dirk -> 3 -> 98:95 (3:35 left); 98:95, dirk -> 3
-> foul -> 3 fts -> 101:95 (2:52); 103:101, dirk -> 3 -> 106:101 (38
sec).
have dirk ever been so CLUTCH?
outstanding game, outstanding effort, 47 pts!
so far, so good.
tomorrow, we'll know the first piece of knockout-stage puzzle.
the black horses are angola and turkey.
i mean there weren't many people 10 days ago who would say they have a
shot on the quarterfinals.
carmelo surprises me; my brain talks me usa is gonna win it all (i'm
looking forward, because they definitely deserve it), my eyes talk me
the same about spain, my heart talks me about argentina and my gut is
for greece.
so, once more, who's gonna be the world champion?
brain, eyes, heart or gut?
we'll find out soon.
and i bet my cousin adriana that serbians won't hoist that sweet and
nice james naismith trophy.
all in all, for team usa, gold or bust, world or dust.
last thought: two full yrs and al harrington finally realized that
being a minor player on the winning team is FAR better than being a
major player on the losing squad.
whoa, it's 12:17 am and 8:00 am is the 1st game of the 8th-finals,
arg vs. nze.
i have to take a nap.
that's a must-do thing, uh-oh.
good night.

p.s.: *iverson plays with pure heart.* (-andre iguodala)
p.s.2: *i'm what you call a tweener.
if i play together with eddie curry, we can be like david robinson and
tim duncan.* (-channing frye)
p.s.3: in any case, the most significant factor working in the
americans' favor is the astounding depth of their roster.
if team usa does win the gold, this will be the reason.
don't bet against them. (-charley rosen in his wbc preview)
p.s.4: mavs still should compete for the western conference title
again - but are they as solid as the san antonio spurs?
don't count on it. (-mike kahn on dallas' offseason deals)
p.s.5: some stalwart intellectuals belong to sportswriters who think
the match-up zone is a dating website. (-randy hill)
p.s.6: syracuse coach jim boeheim is the ben kenobi of zone defense.
(-randy hill)
p.s.7: [qatar]
i am a basketball junkie but i would be lying if i said i knew a lot
about these guys. (-fran fraschilla)
p.s.8: [puerto rico]
this team is the dog that bites your pants leg and won't let go. (-fran
fraschilla)
p.s.9: even though chinese guards couldn't handle, they frequently
over-handled. (-charley rosen, usa vs. china)
p.s.10: *it's not that i don't want to play.
i can't play.
gregg popovich would kill me if i hurt it again and had to miss three
months.* (-tony parker)
p.s.11: yes, the officiating was absurd. (-charley rosen, usa vs.
slovenia)

Posted by Foreigner in CS - Aug 25 2006 12:25AM