Watched the US final two games...

[Diesel]

Greece converted everything. IN the third and the fourth it was obvious that the US didn't have a good shooter or a good big man. For some reason, in both games, Coach K. didn't play big men. IN the Argentina game, when Brand Fouled out... You would think coach K would have got Howard to replace him... NO, he got Hinrich.

That was enough to sustain us then, but against Greece, we needed better scoring and better defense.

I wonder what would happen if instead of sending our best players, we sent the best team? What if we sent either the team that won the NCAA tourney or the team that won the NBA Finals PLUS substitutions for europlayers?

I think where Greece really beat us was that they knew each other better than we did.

[Eddielives]

"I wonder what would happen if instead of sending our best players, we sent the best team?"

Couldn't have said it better myself. Just like many professional teams, namely baseball, have tried to assemble dream-team like rosters, it boils down to a combination of skill and chemistry in order to succeed(in most cases.) Our USA basketball teams, for years now, have demonstrated declining team play and just plain b-ball lower iq.

[joannes3000]

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I wonder what would happen if instead of sending our best players, we sent the best team?

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That's the exact point I brought up yesterday. Sheer talent plus minimal practice time tends to not equal medals, much less gold ones.

[HAWKEYE]

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Maybe we should consider sending a NBA World Champion team crowned just before the future games to represent the USA to earn a truer designation as WORLD CHAMPIONS. I also understand that Greece ran a repeated pick and roll early in the game to get the lead capitalizing on the USA interior defense. Interior defense lapses...see 2005-2006 Hawks.

[exodus]

Can you really see Fatoine and White Chocolate representing the US?

There is also the added complication that a lot of the top teams have Europeans as important members of their rotation.

[Diesel]

Toine has done it before (if I'm not mistaken).

The real question is who would have stopped Shaqfu?

[HAWKEYE]

How would the 2006 Miami Heat possibly have done in these games. Would Shaq have to go to his finesse game because the international refs might call his physical game closer than the NBA. Wade would have been more effective with his own team and not playing second string which Coach K. had him playing. I think Haslem's game would have translated well to the international game. Posey would need to be "on" with the perimeter scoring to be effective. I think Antoine, unlike some others,could have done well. Payton would have had to ditch his running dialogue with the refs and his wolfing with the other players to see if with better concentration whether he has any thing left. Alonzo would be just Alonzo...great lockeroom, bench rah-rah and play important minutes. This is just hypothetical but I think they could have done well esp. with Riley and no international players they would have to do without.

[Plainview1981]

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Toine has done it before (if I'm not mistaken).

The real question is who would have stopped Shaqfu?

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The team lost cause they didn't play defense... Which is something that Shaq hasn't done in a few years. Plus, it isn't like he's even close to be as effective as he used to be.

He scored like 9 points in the finals game. That says alot.

I think these teams would pounce on the Heat. First thing, the Heat aren't real NBA champions. They didn't even ahve a winning record againest other teams with winning records.

They lacked depth, defense, and just aren't that good. The better team lost in those finals.

[HAWKEYE]

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First thing, the Heat aren't real NBA champions. They didn't even ahve a winning record againest other teams with winning records.

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The Miami Heat got the paychecks to prove it... they get to raise the banner next season... they will get those HUGE diamond rings to commemorate it... they will go down in the record books with the recognition they achieved... they also were assembled by Pat Riley for the sole reason of achieving the Championship which they accomplished... there will be no footnote in the record books with your explaination why they are NOT deserving of it and that's why they keep score and statistics will not crown a champion.

[Diesel]

Watching... What I saw is that DWade was probably the most unstoppable player we had playing against Argentina. He put the team on his shoulders in the 4th quarter of that game and they rode him on out. Defense would have been a question mark... However, I think that offensively, we would have been very hard to stop.

[Plainview1981]

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The Miami Heat got the paychecks to prove it... they get to raise the banner next season... they will get those HUGE diamond rings to commemorate it... they will go down in the record books with the recognition they achieved... they also were assembled by Pat Riley for the sole reason of achieving the Championship which they accomplished... there will be no footnote in the record books with your explaination why they are NOT deserving of it and that's why they keep score and statistics will not crown a champion.

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The Heat and average team at best. They won the championship because they didn't play a great team. The shouldn't have beat Dallas... Probably wouldn't have if the refs hadn't given Wade a foul call everytime he attacked the basket. But that's the NBA's WWE style refs for you.

If they Heat were really that good of a team they wouldn't have had a losing record againest winning teams in the regular season. They don't even have a legit 3rd scoring option.

The NBA championship hasn't mean't much for like the last 5 years anyway. The finals... Including this years has been dreadful for a long time.

And no... Watching Wade get calls he doesn't deserve doesn't count as exciting in my mind.

[Plainview1981]

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The Miami Heat got the paychecks to prove it... they get to raise the banner next season... they will get those HUGE diamond rings to commemorate it... they will go down in the record books with the recognition they achieved... they also were assembled by Pat Riley for the sole reason of achieving the Championship which they accomplished... there will be no footnote in the record books with your explaination why they are NOT deserving of it and that's why they keep score and statistics will not crown a champion.

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The Heat and average team at best. They won the championship because they didn't play a great team. The shouldn't have beat Dallas... Probably wouldn't have if the refs hadn't given Wade a foul call everytime he attacked the basket. But that's the NBA's WWE style refs for you.

If they Heat were really that good of a team they wouldn't have had a losing record againest winning teams in the regular season. They don't even have a legit 3rd scoring option.

The NBA championship hasn't mean't much for like the last 5 years anyway. The finals... Including this years has been dreadful for a long time.

And no... Watching Wade get calls he doesn't deserve doesn't count as exciting in my mind.

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The Heat winning the title has more to do with luck, timing, and calls from refs than it does them actually being a good team. That's just the way that it is.

The Mavericks should have won. Really, all this finals proved is that the better team doesn't always win.

You can't go telling that Antonie Walker and Jason Williams are team players. Never have been and never will be. They'll always be the ball hogging and low percentage shooting players that they've been for 10 years.