Taken to school

Argentina uses fundamental hoops to upset U.S. squad

The streak couldn't go on forever. The NBA-led Americans had gone 58-0 in international play before falling to Argentina 87-80 at the World Championships on Wednesday. CNNSI.com spoke with Sports Illustrated's Alexander Wolff about the game.

CNNSI.com: How did this happen?

Wolff: Argentina got ahead early and with terrific guard play was able to stave off any run that the Americans were going to make. They have a guy in Pepe Sanchez, who many people may remember from Temple, who is a very good ballhander. Emanuel Ginobili was superb with the ball and off the ball. Basically, they got an early lead, stretched it to 20 points and the U.S. never got closer than six. Argentina spread the floor well. They had good spacing and did the simple things, like pick and rolls. They scored off of inbound plays twice in the second half, which doesn't happen very often. It was like watching a real well-coached high school team, the kind of thing Hoosier fans would have appreciated if anybody had bothered to attend these games. The United States was real slow in defending these basic basketball plays. To put it bluntly, they got schooled.

CNNSI.com: Why couldn't the Americans just flip the switch, so to speak, and blow out this team the way they have done in previous international games?

Wolff: In this game, you just had this feeling that this was slipping out of reach. Whereas against some teams you can play harder and win, against this team the U.S. needed to play better as well as harder. To their credit, the Americans did play harder in the second half but they didn't play better. They still didn't defend the pick and rolls and the inbound plays, and you're not going to defeat a team that executes as well as Argentina does that way. Argentina is leading the tournament in field-goal percentage and assists. Every single guy on the team plays professionally in Europe. They have all the hallmarks of a European team. People in the States don't realize how many big games these guys play in the European Leagues, where the seasons are shorter and therefore the games are that much bigger.

CNNSI.com: Having been served a wakeup call, will the U.S. team now regain its focus and blow through the rest of the tournament?

Wolff: They haven't really blown anyone out since the Algeria game and perhaps you can say New Zealand, too. The U.S. is going to try to regroup, but it won't be easy. Yugoslavia has to be looking at this and thinking there's no reason it can't take them out too. Plus, the Americans don't have any sort of homecourt advantage. Conseco Fieldhouse will not be full tomorrow with fans yelling for this United States to bounce back, so it will be a real task ahead for this team to win three more games in the knockout round and win the gold medal. Spain is a team that is also poised to give the U.S. team a battle. Spain's team is not as offensively gifted as Argentina but it is very strong defensively.

CNNSI.com: So you are saying that this loss will give other teams confidence against the NBA-led Americans?

Wolff: It's like sending a signal to the sharks that there is blood in the water. For a lot of people the rest of the world pulled even in the Sydney Olympics when Lithuania came within a three-pointer of beating a better U.S. team than this one. And that Lithuania team had no NBA players on it. The U.S. was beatable, that signal had already been sent. There is symbolism in this win by Argentina but also the realism that NBA players can come from anywhere now. There are a lot of really good leagues and basketball nations around the world.

CNNSI.com: With defensively oriented players like Ben Wallace, Antonio Davis and Jermaine O'Neal on the roster, does the U.S. team lack the scoring punch in the frontcourt they need?

Wolff: You certainly could make the case that, other than Elton Brand, they don't have any low-post scoring threat. That might have been a bit of a liability. The reason for that is this team has been put together more subtly than previous U.S. teams. It has more role players. For instance, the U.S. has a blue-collar guy like Wallace as a shot blocker. So they are without as much star power, but at the same time it is a good team. People who say they would have won this game if Allen Iverson or Shaq or Kobe were on the team, I'm not sure any of those guys would have done a better job defending inbound plays, or rotated better on defense or covered the pick and roll any better. These are basic basketball areas in which they got beat.

CNNSI.com: If the U.S. does not win the gold medal, should we expect to see more first-tier NBA stars on the national team the next time around?

Wolff: I'm not sure that it was a lack of national pride that kept these guys from playing. It was more personal things like burnout or advice from their agents. But it's only fair to mention that a lot of these other national teams are not at full strength either, although Argentina definitely is. Canada's team has been decimated and China would be much better if Wang ZhiZhi had played, so it's not only the U.S. that can complain about not having its best players.

CNNSI.com: What does this say about the quality of basketball around the world now?

Wolff: This is definitely part of a continuing trend this year that includes Yao Ming going No.1 (in the NBA draft), and the Mavs and Kings having good seasons thanks to several non-Americans. Five of the 10 rookies on the first- and second-team All-Rookie squads were non-Americans, and Pau Gasol was rookie of the year.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Alexander Wolff is author of Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure, available online and in bookstores everywhere. He can be reached at http://www.biggamesmallworld.com.

 

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