Olympics day 4.

France - Tunisia

1st Quarter


With 4:11 remaining in the quarter, Tony Parker has 5 points while Tunisia has 4 and France leads 11 to 4.  Tunisia can barely make a basket in this game, they have been blocked a couple of times, but also have missed wide open shots, just unacceptable.

At the end of the quarter, France leads 20-15.  France shot 50% from the field, while Tunisia shot 33% . Tony Parker scored 5, Nicolas Batum had 7 and Kevin Seraphin had 4.  Ben Romdhane scored 6 for Tunisia.


2nd Quarter


Less than two minutes gone in the second, Ben Romdhane keeps impressing, he had a blocked shot and went end to end and hit a layup and also got fouled. Tunisia is now only losing by a single point. Romdhane has 9 points, 5 rebounds and 1 block. 


Tony Parker got an extended rest, he came back with 5:20 left to go in the 2nd quarter and he took over, in those five minutes he managed to scored two baskets and dished  out two assists to help France get a 35-27 lead at the end of the half. Parker finished the half with 9 points (4-7 FG), 3 assists and a steal.  Ben Romdhane (4-10 FG) lead all scorers with 11.

3rd Quarter


With 4:28 remaining in the quarter France seems ready to put this game away for good,  they have a 50-35 lead,  they have outscored Tunsia 15 to 8.  


Tony Parker almost outscored Tunisia by himself, Tunisia ended up with 16 points in the period while Parker had  13.  France took a 60-43 lead with 10 minutes left to play.  Parker has 22 points and has only missed three shots in twelve attempts.  Mohamed Hadidane has been on fired for Tunisia.



4th Quarter 

Tunisia has cut the France lead to eleven with Parker resting on the bench and 6 minutes left to play.    The lead was cut down to seven points, but Nicolas Batum made a three followed by a steal and layup from Nando De Colo to take the lead back to 12.

With 1:05 remaining in the game, Tunisia isn't going away easily as they're down 7.  Tunisia has outscored France 21-11.  Tunisia scored yet another basket to cut the lead down to 5, however, France missed a shot and got an offensive rebound, which lead Tunisia to commit three fouls just to get France to go to the line with 16 seconds left in the game.

Nando De Colo made both free throws and France is leading 73-66 with 16 seconds to go.  Hahidane hit a three at the buzzer and France won the game 73-69. Tunisia outscored France 26 to 13 in the quarter and that wasn't enough. 

Final Stats: 

France
Tony Parker - 22 Points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists.
Nicolas Batum - 19 points, 8 rebounds.
Kevin Seraphin - 10 points

Tunisia
Ben Rondhane -  17 points, 8 boards. 
Mohamed Hadidane -  20 points.
Salah Mejri -  11 points 

I saw the NBC feed of the game and wanted to point out some stuff the announcers said because they were just out of it.

• Kevin Seraphin reminded them of Detroit Piston's Rick Mahorn. 
• Nando De Colo looked like a poor man's Danny Ainge (Nando hasn't even played a minute of NBA basketball yet) 
• They said it was the third quarter when it was actually the 4th.
• While praising Salah Mejri's potential, they compared him to Dan Gadzuric, not the ideal comparison if you want to praise someone's potential.
  

Russia - Spain

1st Quarter


After 91 seconds, Spain has a 7-0 lead, Pau Gasol has 5 points already, this lead Russia to call their first timeout.


Spain is leading 18-2 with 5 minutes remaining in the game, Spain, a team that doesn't create points from turnovers, already have 10 points from Russia's mistakes.  Spain's size has made all the difference in the world, Russia doesn't seem to react well against it.


Russia improved offensively hitting 3 three pointers, but they couldn't keep Spain from scoring either. At the end of the first quarter, Spain has a 28-11 lead.    

• Pau Gasol matched Russia's total first quarter points of 11.
• Juan Carlos Navarro returned from his injury and scored 4 points.
• Spain shot 58% from the field in the 1sr quarter, Russia allowed 38% in the other games.
  

2nd Quarter


Midway through the second quarter, Spain lead remains double figures (12) Everyone has been getting into the act for them, Sergio Rodriguez went coast to coast for a  layup & Sergio Llull banked a three pointer.


With their defense finally woken up and 11 points from Vitaly Fridzon, the 18 point lead Spain once had in the first quarter has been now cut to 8. At the end of the 1srt half, Spain leads 40-32. 

• Russia outscored Spain 21 to 12.
• Fridzon lead all scorers with 14. Pau Gasol had 11, Marc Gasol contributed with 8.
• Andrei Kirilenko has only 2 points.
  

3rd Quarter



Khryapa has made 3 three pointers in the quarter in less than 6 minutes, Vitaly Fridzon's still hot from the first half and Spain's lead is down to two.  Spain has only been getting offense by Pau Gasol, the others haven't helped much.


Russia has been remarkable, they outscored Spain 24 to 13 in the period, they played outstanding defense and were able to knock down shot after shot. Fridzon, Khryapa & Mozgov were Russia's best players in the period.  After the third, Russia leads 56-53.



4th Quarter 

With 6:48 remaining Spain has a 63-57 lead. Juan Carlos Navarro made a three pointer, Sergio Rodriguez hit two free throws and had some nice passes.  Russia started the quarter 0-5.

Just when Spain had a comfortable 7 point lead, Russia came back with two baskets in a row by Timofey Mozgov and Andrei Kirilenko.   There's only 3 minutes left to play


Russia was down three,  but Victor Khryapa tied the game by hitting his fourth three pointer of the game. Rudy Fernandez missed a three at the other end, Timofey Mozgov grabbed the rebound off the missed shot and the dunk that put Russia up by 2 with 18 seconds remaining.

Russia leads 75-73 and Pau Gasol will go to the line for a chance to tie, he missed the first free throw, made the second one. The Russians have a one point lead with 5 seconds left.  


Spain fouled Vitaliy Fridzon to stopped the clock, he hit both. Spain with no timeouts left, couldn't inbound to a three point shooter, so it ended up in Marc Gasol hands, when he tried to pass the ball, it got deflected and time expired. Russia beats Spain 77-74.  Russia closed the game on a 17-5 run.


Final Stats:


Russia

Vitaliy Fridzon 20 points
Timofey Mozgov 12 points, 9 rebounds.

Spain 

Pau Gasol 20 points
Marc Gasol 10 points

USA - Lithuania

1st Quarter


With less than 5 minutes to play in the quarter, the United States only lead by five points. Linas Kleiza has been on fire, he scored 13 out of Lithuania's 25 points,  he's keeping them in the game.   Carmelo Anthony is still shooting the lights out, he came off the bench and scored 10 points.  At the end of first, USA leads 33-25.


2nd Quarter


Both teams are scoring at will, Linas Kleiza has 15 points. With 3:36 left in the quarter, Lithuania is down by just 5.  Lithuania has moved the ball well, have hit open shots and have contested shots against the American team. Team USA is falling in love with the three point shot and aren't making as many as they did against Nigeria.



After the first 20 minutes, team USA leads Lithuania 55-51.  Former teammates Carmelo Anthony and Linas Kleiza are leading their team in scoring, Melo has 14 while Kleiza has 16





3rd Quarter

Lithuania had a 5-0 run to get a one point lead over team USA, but team USA responded with a 7-0 run in less than 40 seconds  to go up by 6.

Lithuania has been in the penalty for awhile but team USA is missing a lot of free throws, they are also forcing a lot of shots, especially Carmelo Anthony & Kobe Bryant.
  
Deron Williams hit a driving layup at the buzzer giving team USA a 78-72 lead at the end of three.

4th Quarter 

Team USA insists on shooting threes, even though they keep missing. They are 7-28 from beyond the arc. Coach K has gone to a small lineup to have more offense at the same time, but this is helping Lithuania as they're taking the ball to the hoop every chance they get, especially Martynas Pocius.

Just when Lithuania got a brief 2 point lead, Lebron James took over, he had three field goals along with a Deron Williams three to give them a 9 point lead with two minutes remaining.

Final score:  Team USA 99, Lithuania 94.

Final Stats:

Team USA
Lebron James     20 points
Carmelo Anthony  20 points
Chris Paul  7 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals.

Lithuania
Linas Kleiza  25 points


Brazil - China


1st Quarter


China was held scoreless for the first three minutes of the game and with 4:58 remaining in the first, they only have scored 3 points.


Brazil's 5 out 7 from three point land. Everyone got into the action,   Leandro Barbosa made two triples and one apiece for Marcelo Huertas, Guillherme Giovannoni and Marquinos.  After one Brazil leads 25-9.


2nd Quarter

ZZZZZZzzzzzzZZZ. Brazil outscored China 17 to 12 in the period and now lead 42-21.  Both teams had long droughts without scoring a single point, it was almost embarrassing at one point.



3rd Quarter


Five minutes have passed and China has scored only four points, Brazil has scored 11.  Brazil has double China in scoring, they lead 52-26.

Brazil finished the third quarter with a 70-38  lead over China.


4th Quarter 

Blowout city. Brazil won by over 1000 points.

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Quick Recap: Olympics Day #3

United States 156, Nigeria 73 

Just when we all thought the debate regarding who was the best USA team of all time was over, something like this happened. Carmelo Anthony scored 37 points, including 10-12 from three,  in 14 minutes of play to set a record for most point scored in a game by a Basketball player from the United States in an Olympic game, the previous record was 34 by no other than former Knick Stephon Marbury.  More records were set, largest margin of victory ever (83), most three pointers in a game (29) & three points attempts (46) Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant started hot in the first quarter, but no one was hotter than Anthony.  The only positive for Nigeria was former NBA player Ike Diogu had a nice showing with 27 points and 7 rebounds.

France 82, Lithuania 74


Tony Parker had his best game of the Olympics so far with 27 points (2 three pointers, 7-10 from the FT line), and 5 rebounds. Nicolas Batum contribute with 21 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 steals. Lithuania was very cold in the 2nd half (France's defense had something to with that) but they also missed some shots they normally make, you can read more about this game here.


Australia 81, China 71

Wang Shipeng made 7 three pointers for China, he finished with 21 points, but they weren't enough to beat an Australia team that was hungry for a win.  Patty Mills got rid of his poor three point shooting, he went 4 out of 8 from downtown and 21 points, David Andersen had 17 and 7.


Argentina 92, Tunisia 69 

Argentina started really poorly, after one quarter of play they were behind 28-14.. Yes, they were losing by 14 against Tunisia.. But they quickly recover from the 2nd quarter on to defeat them by 23 points.  Manu Ginobili was perfect from the three point like (4-4) and 24 points, 6 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals.  Luis Scola had a double double of 20 & 10, Carlos Delfino scored 21 points.  Salah Mejri had 19 points, 14 boards and 7 rebounds for Tunsia.


Russia 75, Brazil 74 

This was definitely the game of the day, Russia was leading almost all game until suddenly Brazil tied the game in the 4th quarter and went up by 5, but Russia didn't panic, they remained playing with composure.  Alexey Shved made a three pointer to tie the game, Marcelo Huertas gave Brazil a one point lead with a few seconds to go, however, Russia had one final timeout to draw a final play and they did just that. Vitaly Fridzon made the three pointer (and getting fouled in the process, which they didn't called) to give Russia the win.  For Brazil,  Larry Taylor played really good, he scored 12 points (5-7 FG) off the bench and Leandro Barbosa scored 16.  Andrei Kirilenko finished with 19 and Alexey Shved with 16 for Russia.



Spain 79, Great Britain 78 

Spain played poorly for the second game in a row, it could be because of the absence of star player, Juan Carlos Navarro, who sat down due to an injury he has fought during the entire season (Plantar)  or maybe they were underestimating their opponents.  Spain took a 9 point lead in the first half, only to see it slip away and almost came out with the defeat. Luol Deng and Joel Freeland played outstanding when it mattered most for Great Britain. Deng finished with 26 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, and 1 steal. Freeland with 25 points, 7 rebounds.  Spain was lead by Pau Gasol 17 points and his brother Marc had 12. 

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Quick Recap: Olympics Day #2

Russia 73 - China 54

Russia had yet another strong defensive effort against  China, they allowed the Chinese to score just 54 points (Yi Jianlian had 30 against Spain)  in the game and didn't let them reach 20 points in any of the quarters.  Andrei Kirilenko, Alexey Shved, Sasha Kaun and Timofey Mozvov had 53 points between them while China had 54.  Yi Jianlian, China's best scorer, only had 16 points.

Spain 82 - Australia 70

Spain didn't started the game that well, they missed Juan Carlos Navarro's offense terribly in the game. Australia kept the game close for two quarters, but Rudy Fernandez exploded in the third quarter, he made three shots from downtown, he finished with 17 points and the Gasol brothers combined for 29 points.  Patty Mills shot 5-16 from the field and only scored 11 points.

Lithuania 72 - Nigeria 53

Lithuania took advantage of Nigeria's poor shooting right from the start. Nigeria made 1 out of 16 three pointers and shot a bad percentage from the line.  Lithuania was lead by Linas Kleiza 11 points and Darius Songaila 12, however, Jonas Valanciunas kept struggling for the second straight game. Ike Diogu had another double double for Nigeria with 12 points and 10 boards.

Brazil  67 - Great Britain 62


Tiago Splitter lead Brazil with 21 and 6, this game was much closer than what everyone was anticipating, the Brazilians scored just 4 points in the first quarter and shot horribly from the three point line, they made 3 out of 22 attempts.  Luol Deng had 12 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals.

France 71 - Argentina 64

This was the first time Spurs teammates, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, played against each other and they both had  very good games.  Ginobili scored 26 points to lead Argentina in scoring, but Tony Parker saved his best for last, despite shooting a horribly 4 for 17 from the field,  Parker had 11 out of his 17 points in the 4th quarter to beat Argentina. Luis Scola struggled against France's athleticism, he finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds.

USA 110 - Tunisia 63

The Americans weren't playing a smart game in the beginning of the game and it showed, Tunisia had the lead more that once in the first quarter, including a 15-13 lead.  Coach K had enough of his team coasting and once he brought the bench into the game, the game was over for Tunisia.  Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Love had 16 points and Kevin Durant had a double double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Makrem  Ben Romdhane had a good game with 22 and 12 for Tunisia.

Standings

Group A

United States                    2-0                              France                                1-1

Argentina                          1-1                              Lithuania                             1-1

Nigeria                             1-1                              Tunisia                                 0-2

Group B

Spain                              2-0                                China                                 0-2

Brazil                              2-0                                Australia                             0-2    

Russia                             2-0                                Great Britain                       0-2

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Lin is a Rocket.

The Jeremy Lin saga in New York is now over. The Knicks decided not to match the three year,  $25.1 million offer made by the Houston Rockets.   The decision by the Knicks of not matching Jeremy Lin's contract is very odd, it doesn't make any sense.  

Lin single handily put the New York Knicks in a position to succeed after the team was left for dead and falling out of the playoff picture pretty fast.  One of the main reasons the Knicks didn't matched Lin's offer was because of the "Poison Pill" the Rockets made to Lin, the contract is set to give Lin 14.9 million during the third and final year of his contract, Knicks weren't so sure Jeremy was worth that, Carmelo Anthony called it "Ridiculous" so that's one player that wasn't too happy with it.

The Knicks traded for Raymond Felton to replace Lin. Felton played for the Knicks 2 seasons ago, but he isn't the same player as back then and also Mike Woodson wasn't the coach. It's unclear how Felton will fit in a Knicks team that still has players that always look for their shot first, Anthony, Stoudemire and JR Smith primarily. 

Jeremty Lin has upside, he still has a chance to be a better player, he loved making his teammates better (Just ask Tyson Chandler) he wasn't scared of taking shots in pressure situations, i don't think Felton will play any better than what he's done in his career so far.

New York is now in a not so good situation at the point guard position, Raymond Felton averaged 11.4 Points per game, but played as horribly as any other PG in the league last year with the Portland Trailblazers, Jason Kidd also had a rough year in Dallas,  avg 6 points and 5 assist and newly acquired Pablo Prigioni has been a solid point guard in Europe for many years, however, he hasn't played a minute of NBA basketball and that takes time to adjust no matter how good you are.

The Knicks made a  big mistake not keeping Jeremy Lin.

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