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Utah Jazz: No pain vs. Spain

I'm proud that our Jazz players were selected and are contributing to the success of the Olympic Team. Hooray!!!

U.S.A. all the way, baby!!

I'm sorry. Did I miss something? Are the Utah Jazz in the olympics? (sarcasm)

"Spain is loaded with NBA-caliber talent". Among the Spanish players NOT listed by the author is an amazing high-schooler -- 17-year old point guard Ricky Rubio. Any NBA GM who saw yesterday's game has got to have that kid in their draft sights as soon as he is old enough to be draftable.

"Spain is loaded with NBA-caliber talent"?? I guess we saw what "LEVEL" of NBA talent that was too. Mediocre role players.

I'm sorry but if this game after game pounding continues, this really shows where Euro/world basketball "talent" is in comparison to here in the USA. Sure they can play roles but put a bunch of them together and what do you get? Not much so far.

The Euros are getting beat at their own game. All the USA had to do was actually put their best players out there and have them practice together a bit.

I do have to say though, it has been refreshing not to see all the ridiculous NBA "superstar" calls. As sorry as the euro refs are, at least they don't show favoritism to the NBA annointed stars.

Go USA!!!!

"Iowa Jazz Fan 2" is right: Ricky Rubio did look good. matched up against he likes of Kidd, Paul and Williams, I was impressed. Rubio is not that athletic, he just has fantastic instincts and smarts. He's part of the reason Deron Williams fouled out.

"Moto X" I'm not sure I agree. Spain is about half the size of Texas. USA better be able to put more talent on the floor and bench.

Besides, this isn't about "best players." A lot of people feel Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce Tim Duncan, Shaq, Iverson, etc. are better than people on TeamUSA.

It's not about having the best players, it's about having the best TEAM.

It takes more than talent to be a consistent winner. It takes talent, effort, dedication, smarts, teamwork, selflessness, etc.

For years, USA won on talent alone, but when other countries improved their talent and started beating us, we realized we had to start sending teams that have these other winning qualities as well.

That's what this USA team is: talent, but with these other winning qualities.

re: basketballogy

I agree Spain is certainly smaller but I got tired of hearing that these teams were so much better and how USA teams/players/talent were just not as good as these Euro/International teams.

Your other points are accurate--more of the team qualities are evident in this squad and the results say so.

I guess I was commenting more towards those people saying USA did not generally have the talent ability and our basketball had been surpassed by international talent and teams. I dont buy it. We combined some of our top tier players that can play reasonably well together as a team and we are annihilating the competition.

Some people just got too Euro-happy saying how much better they were than American talent/teams. Not the case. It is basically back to the domination like it was when we first sent decided to send "pro" teams like everyone else had been doing all along.

The problem is that the teams we sent were not playing as teams. They were coasting on talent alone, and when you don't have plays to defeat the zone and your shooting isn't all that good, you can lose to good teams.

This team is so far doing well, but really isn't playing all that well. It says a lot that after a number of camps, they still don't look like they even have a few plays they all know and can execute.

They're essentially waiting for Kidd, Paul or Williams to create for the team and when that fails have Kobe, Wade etc... go one on two or three.

It's kind of strange that the US team still has a weakness in three-point shooting given that they failed to bring players like Mike Miller or Kyle Korver. Michael Redd is the only legit 3-point specialist they have. They also have only one legit center, which is taking the opposition very lightly and shows there is little thought given to dominating the post, even though this is a proven way to dominate international games.

The real Dream teams had David Robinsons and Patrick Ewings in them...