Basketball - Day 5 Game Thread Aug. 10th

[Benedict_Boozer]

All I'm gonna say is, Durant's play against Australia was REALLY disappointing. This guy is supposed to be the alpha on this team and when things got tight you saw him shrink like a bitch. This is worrying because we are likely at some point to be in a tight game during the elimination rounds and he can't be pulling that ****.

You could see the guys realize that Durant wasn't gonna get it done and then thank God for Melo having some balls out there. I'm not a Melo guy but he wasn't afraid of the moment. Kyrie you know will close.

Props to Australia, they have a really solid team and played their hearts out.

[Mr. E]

All I'm gonna say is, Durant's play against Australia was REALLY disappointing. This guy is supposed to be the alpha on this team and when things got tight you saw him shrink like a bitch. This is worrying because we are likely at some point to be in a tight game during the elimination rounds and he can't be pulling that ****.

You could see the guys realize that Durant wasn't gonna get it done and then thank God for Melo having some balls out there. I'm not a Melo guy but he wasn't afraid of the moment. Kyrie you know will close.

Props to Australia, they have a really solid team and played their hearts out.

Forget their reps in the NBA.

When it comes to FIBA ball, Carmelo Anthony is THE man for the US team.

Kyrie Irving looked great as well, and I can understand how that bothers our Australian friends!

[Sedale Threatt]

All I'm gonna say is, Durant's play against Australia was REALLY disappointing. This guy is supposed to be the alpha on this team and when things got tight you saw him shrink like a bitch.

He had a bad game. He'd been shooting like 80 pct up to that point, and has had plenty of great games for Team USA. Leading scorer/MVP in 2010 Worlds. Leading scorer in 2012 Olympics. He'll be fine.

[zeeb]

Yeah, I wouldn't be worrying about Durant. He is one superstar I rate very highly in the FIBA game. My only concern is that he was forcing up shots while playing hero ball. But then that seems to be USA's game plan for everyone on the team.

[KD35Brah]

All I'm gonna say is, Durant's play against Australia was REALLY disappointing. This guy is supposed to be the alpha on this team and when things got tight you saw him shrink like a bitch. This is worrying because we are likely at some point to be in a tight game during the elimination rounds and he can't be pulling that ****.

You could see the guys realize that Durant wasn't gonna get it done and then thank God for Melo having some balls out there. I'm not a Melo guy but he wasn't afraid of the moment. Kyrie you know will close.

Props to Australia, they have a really solid team and played their hearts out.

Before this game he was leading USA in scoring averaging 21ppg on 95% TS.

He has 1 bad game and you jump out of your seat to post a hot take.

[Zombiesonics]

All I'm gonna say is, Durant's play against Australia was REALLY disappointing. This guy is supposed to be the alpha on this team and when things got tight you saw him shrink like a bitch. This is worrying because we are likely at some point to be in a tight game during the elimination rounds and he can't be pulling that ****.

You could see the guys realize that Durant wasn't gonna get it done and then thank God for Melo having some balls out there. I'm not a Melo guy but he wasn't afraid of the moment. Kyrie you know will close.

Props to Australia, they have a really solid team and played their hearts out.

Before this game he was leading USA in scoring averaging 21ppg on 95% TS.

He has 1 bad game and you jump out of your seat to post a hot take.

He got more engaged on defense as the game wore on, but he was completely off mentally and physically it seemed( im guessing it's hot af in the stadium because he spent the whole game wiping down) Bringing up his numbers before this game is a bit of a pointless exercise because the us hasn't played anyone really. He isn't beating anyone off the dribble right now , all he is doing is getting up shots. Pg was mixing it up on the glass atleast, I'd like for kd to impact the game more than his jumpers off pnr. i think it's fair to say he looked better in 2010 and 2012 than he does now, hopefully that changes.

[Sedale Threatt]

Yeah, I wouldn't be worrying about Durant. He is one superstar I rate very highly in the FIBA game. My only concern is that he was forcing up shots while playing hero ball. But then that seems to be USA's game plan for everyone on the team.

It's not the game plan so much as it's hard to play cohesive offensive ball when you have so many elite scorers on the court at the same time. Kyrie, Melo, Durant...all of those guys are used to taking charge for their teams in the NBA. So when you get into a situation where you need buckets, their first instinct is to go iso and try to get it themselves instead of giving the ball up to get it back. That's always going to be an issue for USA Basketball. On the flip side, they have such an abundance of talent it's rarely going to matter.

[Zombiesonics]

It's really funny to watch melo and cousins try and mesh with elite defensive players like pg green and Lowry, they look lost. Melo had some steals and scored well but the dude was cooked on d, cousins too.