Olympics Baksetball Observations....

As I sit here watching the gold medal game I had a few observations:

~ I love that they use the NBA on NBC theme music... It makes me all reminiscent... It's still bizzare to me that John Tesh wrote that (Yes.... THAT John Tesh)
~ The horn sound they use that sounds like an airhorn combined with a train whistle is so damn annoying, haven't they ever heard of a buzzer??
~ Marc Gasol looks like a caveman... He's a damn solid post presence
~ Dwayne Wade is most definitely healthy... Its going to be interesting to see him Beasley and Marion combine.... not a bad 1,2,3...
~ Do we seriously have to wait 2 years for Ricky Rubio to be in the NBA?? The kid is phenomenal, once he finds an outside shot, second coming of Chris Paul...
~ I'm really stoked for Rudy Fernandez next year, he plays a solid all out attacking offensive game, and as I typed this he just hit a 3 pointer from Shanghai... with Kobe guarding him... So he plays matador defense, well he's Spanish soooooo it makes sense.... and who doesn't when they are guarding the likes of Kobe and Chris Paul???
~ They keep lauding all the team USA players for there defense and saying their teams have to be excited for how well they play defense... Haha its pretty easy for them to buckle down and play defense when they don't have to "save" themselves for offense because the entire team can score...
~ I love the intensity of Coach K, and how much the players respond to him... you couldn't ask for a better/more respected coach to lead these guys. You gotta wonder how hard it is for head coaches like Nate, Boeheim, DiAntoni, etc. to stay glued to their seats... as "assistants"
~ Can David Stern retire already??
~ I would like Doug Collins to read me stories while i fall asleep... he's so calm and soothing...

OK I'm done for now....

Post game:
~ Did anyone see that dunk Rudy had on Dwight Howard??? Wow...
~ It was pretty refreshing to see just how excited those players were to win that medal and how the whole team came over and thanked Doug Collins after the game (He was part of that 72 game where refereeing shenanigans basically lost the game for the American squad)
~ Chris Paul, Kobe, Deron Williams and Chris Bosh have ALREADY said they would love to play again if they have the opportunity... Pretty cool... Would be cooler if a few players from a certain team wearing red and black were represented as well...
~ I know the LA Galaxy are having a sub par season, but what is David Beckham doing in the middle of Beijing mid-season watching a basketball game?? I mean I know he had a friendly earlier in the week in London, but uhhhh I think there's a quicker way back to LA.... (OK I'll admit it, I'm jealous... but it was still weird)

Watching the game I several times thought to myself, "Didn't the Blazers hold a draft pick with both Chris Paul and Deron Williams available but instead trade down so that they could draft LaRue Martin? Or was is Billy Joe Carroll?"

~ I know the LA Galaxy are having a sub par season, but what is David Beckham doing in the middle of Beijing mid-season watching a basketball game?? I mean I know he had a friendly earlier in the week in London, but uhhhh I think there's a quicker way back to LA.... (OK I'll admit it, I'm jealous... but it was still weird)

Beckham is there to participate in the closing ceremonies. The mayor of the current host city always passes the Olympic flag on to the mayor of the next host city (in this case, London - 2012), and then the next host city does a 5-10 minute program on their town/country. Traditionally, the next host city/country has a few athletes and celebrities participate in the process...and since David Beckham a) is bigger than Yao Ming or any other Chinese athlete in China, and b) was a huge part of backing London's Olypmic bid, it made sense to have him there. Seriously, listen when he walks out or is first introduced--you won't be able to hear a freaking thing, the roar from the crowd will be THAT deafening.

Good summation Rochin. It was a great game. I'm glad I stayed up to watch. Fernandez will add to the firepower here; I did see his one handed tomahawk dunk on Howard--whew . . .his threes are from long distance.

I also thought many of our millionaires would not have known where to turn at the end but for Kobe . . .can't say for sure but I wonder if we would have been left the silver without him. Wade is the one who carried USA in the first half. Lebron is a force too. Paul did not dominate from the point and got burned on D, at least last night . . . That game could have gone the other way with a few bounces, calls or threes. Spain definitely looked like they belonged on the same court. One thing I am sure of: the Dream team never had this kind of competition.

I thought Tashaun Prince looked steady . . .I thought Dwight Howard showed poorly. One has to wonder whether the hype machine here in the contiguous 48 sometimes exagerates a players ability. For my money, Chris Bosch was the better player during the Olympics, not Dwight Howard. Howard is big and if he can get away with fouling and muscling down low, maybe a force, but not so much in last night's game, though he did have some nice rebound putbacks. Of course, he had both of the friendly Gasol brothers to contend with, who, in tandem, were a force on the boards and at the hoop. Did Spain dominate down low in the last half or what? Is Marc Gasol a beast? Bring on Oden . . .after last night I am not so sure he will not ultimately be better than Howard. Marc Gasol and Oden will be an interesting match next year.

Rubio and Navarro tore up our guards time after time. We could not stop their dribble penetration. Navarro's "floater" was devastating. Spain has some players.

Good to see the gold return to the us. I can see we will need to keep our international squad loaded cause the competition is serious.

OK so Beckham is a GLOBAL icon... I get it... Not like his team is doing that great with him anyway (although you can blame that on the defense and inability of Landon Donovan to finish all of Becks pinpoint crosses and passes... Donovan is so worthless...) Oh and I think I remember hearing something about Michael Phelps being in London for the handoff (I guess I never watch either of the ceremonies... the usually bore the hell out of me)

And yeah I second that on Dwight Howard... he just looked overwhelmed in that game, I was far more impressed by Bosh personally... Although Spain pretty much had an entire forest of trees to send after them, while the US had 2 taller players and then Boozer (who didn't play.... did he say something mean to Coach K or something???) The refs were calling a REALLY tight game last night at times, I think it threw Howard off his game personally, although that didn't seem to hinder the Gasol bros from throwing their weight around...

P.S. Did you hear the note that Marc Gasol had lost like 50 pounds?? He must have looked like a hairy Stay Puft Marshmallow Man before that....

That poster shot Rudy put on Howard was downright nasty. I am getting even more excited for the Blazers season to get here.

I was pretty impressed by Ricky Rubio.

For a 17 year old, that kid has game.

I definitely agree with the sentiment about Rudy...
If he can provide spacing by stretching out defenses it will be phenomenal for our bigs to go to work down low... And if rudy can grow solid enough at the 2, I could definitely see him pushing Roy to the 1, and thats just scary. It will be interesting seeing how the back court settles out... Roy, Rudy, Bayless, Sergio, Blake, Martell (I don't care what anyone says he IS a SG...) Something has to give... or at least be traded at some stage...

Rubio is a flat out stud... and for 17... Paul, the quickest guy in the NBA, couldn't contain him at all... Rubio is going to be a special player down the road for sure, think we can get some Chinese athletic commissioners to forage his birth certificates so we can see him next year??