Depth Perception: Power Forward

The NBA game is a dynamic game where over time, the nature and necessity of different positions have changed. Conventional ideas suggest that you need one really good ball handler, one really tall guy to prevent teams from getting easy stuff inside, one guy who is really good at shooting, one guy who is really versatile, and one guy to do all the dirty work. It's easy to see this being the ever popular PG, C, SG, SF and PF concept of a team. Some positions are obviously more important than others -- every good team needs a competent PG on offense to runs things. Similarly, teams without someone who can score usually lose a lot (a talented SG or SF is absolutely necessary). Some teams prefer to do things inside out, and thus, a good C is often a road to the title (Shaq, Hakeem, Kareem, Wilt, Mikan, etc). That said, these positions have changed quite a bit over time.

Previously the point guard was just the guy who could beat the press, drive, and dish to the right guy at the right time. Individuals like Bob Cousy and John Stockton clearly displayed this pass first motive. Other, arguably more flashy and talented lead guards took upon the concept of being a complete player, and endeavored to score more frequently -- while still passing the ball and being the primary ball handler. Isiah Thomas was one of the best at this -- but surely not the only one to bring a balanced offensive attack from the PG spot.

Another spot on the floor that has changed over time was the power forward spot. For the longest time it was dominated by beefy characters who could bang, play defense, get boards, and get out of the way on offense. Individual talents like Bob Pettit and others tried to bring scoring into the fold; though guys like Maurice Lucas / Kermit Washington always seemed to find a home in the NBA being lunch-pail types at the 4. The evolution of the power forward took a quantum leap forward with Elgin Baylor -- a superb scorer par excellence. Elvin Hayes brought the toughness, but the examples of these individuals and Charles Barkley, Karl Malone and Chris Webber pointed out that it was really difficult to win the NBA title by focusing on a power forward.

Kevin Garnett won a title with the Boston Celtics as a top level power forward; however he was far from the primary offensive force for his club. Tim Duncan has won quite a few titles as a power forward; though one gets the feeling that had he been drafted by a club that was bereft of a David Robinson type that he would never have played there.

Today most teams look to the 4 spot to contribute on the glass and with defense -- like always; but now expectations for power forwards to score a bit more have been raised. Not many power forwards are known for being great shot blockers, though some exceptions to the rule exist. Most surprisingly the evolution of the power forward has branched out into seemingly different species as the needs of teams have changed.

Jason Maxiell is a power forward and so is Vladimir Radmanovic. The only similarities that these two guys seem to have is their heights, and that their talents are so focused that they are not capable of playing the three or the five. In some respects, the four spot is the utility spot. If you need extra athleticism, start Josh Smith there. If you need shot blocking, you've got Elton Brand. Shooting skills are easily found with Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki. Lamar Odom is a fantastic passer who has a great handle for a power forward. That said, which team is the best equipped (as far as the current make up of teams exist today) at Power Forward?

Atlantic Division:

Boston Celtics	New Jersey Nets	New York Knicks	Philadelphia 76ers	Toronto Raptors
Kevin Garnett	Yi Jianlian	Zach Randolph	Elton Brand	Chris Bosh
Glen Davis	Eduardo Najera	David Lee	Reggie Evans	Jermaine O'Neal
Kendrick Perkins	Stromile Swift	Wilson Chandler	Marreese Speights	Andrea Bargnani
Brian Scalabrine	Sean Williams	Malik Rose	Jason Smith	Kris Humphries
	Josh Boone	Jared Jeffries		Nathan Jawai

Boston is anchored by KG and it quickly goes downhill from there. Big Baby, Perk (shifting over from the 5)and Scal are all bangers, and there is no real versatility here. New Jersey sports average talent in a number of bodies, Yi has the upside, Najera is a scrappy player, Stromile can sky in for dunks, Boone is a disappointment and Sean Williams (more of a true center) blocks shots. The Knicks manage to have both talent and depth -- Zach is a 20-10 guy when he wants to be, David Lee never gets tired, Jeffries is very versatile and Rose and Chandler are on opposite sides of the age/experience spectrum. Philly is interesting because they have Brand, who is a top level PF, and is backed by other bangers who can be rotation guys on almost every team. Evans and Evans Jr. (Speights) may seem a bit redundant, however Smith can shoot it well enough to give Philly an edge over the Knicks or the Nets. Toronto, though, is the class of the Atlantic when it comes to their power forwards. Chris Bosh is very underrated, he can do everything from hit game winning threes, to running up and down the court to block shots, and he makes all of his free throws. Behind him there is Bargnani (who will bounce back) and has unlimited range for a 4, Humphries hustles and bangs and rookie Jawai can play the 5 or the 4. Then there is Jermaine O'Neal who is a heck of a talent who does many things well. The Raptors have good defenders in Bosh and O'Neal, scrappy energy types like Humphries and Jawai and a very deadly outside shooter in Bargnani. All of these guys are tall, Jawai is the shortest, and he's only 6'10.

Winners:	Toronto	Raptors
Chris Bosh	Jermaine O'Neal	Andrea Bargnani	Kris Humphries	Nathan Jawai

Central Division:

Chicago Bulls	Cleveland Cavaliers	Detroit Pistons	Indiana Pacers	Milwaukee Bucks
Drew Gooden	Ben Wallace	Antonio McDyess	Troy Murphy	Charlie Villanueva
Tyrus Thomas	Anderson Varejao	Jason Maxiell	Josh McRoberts	Joe Alexander
Andres Nocioni	LeBron James	Rasheed Wallace	Shawne Williams	Malik Allen
Joakim Noah	JJ Hickson	Amir Johnson	Maceo Baston	Luc Mbah a Moute
Cedric Simmons		Walter Herrmann	Jeff Foster	Dan Gadzuric

Chicago has quite a bit of talent here. Gooden is gooden enough to be a 15/10 guy with enough playing time, Tyrus has prime time athleticism, Nocioni is a heady player who can rebound, pass and shoot the ball, Noah (a center) can slide over and be a Tyrus clone, and Simmons shows a lot of potential as well. Cleveland is a special case, as they start Ben Wallace there, who while a shell of his former self, can still be counted on to at least intimidate. I don't know anything about JJ Hickson (or Lance Allred), but I know that Anderson Varejao can slide over from the 5 to play some 4. Cleveland really sucks at the 4, save for the fact that if they needed (or wanted) to, they could plop LeBron down here, and they'd be quite okay. Detroit has a good mix of veteran savvy (McDyess), tenacity (Maxiell), shot blocking and outside shooting (Wallace), a utility man (Herrmann) and potential (Johnson). Depending on the situation, Detroit has a variety of guys they can go to at the 4. Chicago (save for Nocioni) only has guys with limited ability outside of the paint. I am giving the edge to Detroit here. Indiana is the opposite of Chicago. they are all guys who are better outside of the paint than inside. Milwaukee is like the Nets, in that they have the ability to show a lot of different things at the 4, but they are all pretty average to poor. Detroit wins!

Winners:	Detroit	Pistons
Rasheed Wallace	Jason Maxiell	Antonio McDyess	Amir Johnson	Walter Herrmann

Southeast Division:

Atlanta Hawks	Charlotte Bobcats	Miami Heat	Orlando Magic	Washington Wizards
Josh Smith	Emeka Okafor	Udonis Haslem	Rashard Lewis	Antawn Jamison
Al Horford	Gerald Wallace	Michael Beasley	Hidayet Turkoglu	Oleksiy Pecherov
Solomon Jones	Jared Dudley	Shawn Marion	Brian Cook	Darius Songaila
Randolph Morris	Sean May	Joel Anthony	Tony Battie
	Alexis Ajinca	David Padgett	Marcin Gortat

Atlanta is exciting with younger players like the hyper athletic Josh Smith and center worthy Al Horford. Aside from those two guys it's pretty much useless. Horford should play more center anyway, so it's pretty much just Josh Smith. He's a good player, but his limitations are obvious. The Bobcats are much more deep and versatile. Okafor is a defensive stalwart who is getting better offensively. Gerald Wallace is no slouch on defense, and he has the occasional ability to hit the three. He's mainly a slasher. Outside of these two are a few individuals playing out of position -- Jared Dudley is more of a 3 in the way Melo is, he can shoot and posts up, but isn't a full time 4. Sean May is a 5, but he can play a slow, but thick, 4 for a bit. The skinny but quick Ajinca is a 7'0 French player who can't possibly be thinking of playing the 5 over here in America. The Bobcats are pretty good here. Miami has three solid guys that could start: Haslem is one of the last Oakley types in the NBA, Beasley has all the potential in the world and Shawn Marion is very capable to do many different things well. It doesn't really matter after that. Marion cancels out whatever Gerald Wallace can do, Okafor is better than Haslem though. Is Beasley better than Dudley, May and Ajinca? Most definitely, so Miami is in the lead so far. Orlando is troubling. They basically play two small forwards (who are 6'10 and 6'11) here, and both of them are perimeter oriented offensive players who leave all the dirty work to Dwight Howard. That said, they won quite a few games for Orlando this season -- their clutch shooting was a great help to their team. Cook can also shoot it from the outside, and everyman Tony Battie can still get up there to block some shots (but he's mostly a 5). Marcin Grotat is probably a solid pick and pop guy as well. If you are looking at pure scoring, it's hard to say no to Orlando. Washington has Antawn Jamison, who is (statistically) one of the best PFs in the Eastern Conference, even if no one talks about him. Oleksiy Pecherov will one day pan out to be a poor man's Detlef. Darius Songaila is a poor man's Jamison. All three are capable outside shooters, and all three are solid rebounders. They don't have much depth and versatility -- all are basically differing talent levels of the same type of power forward archetype. Miami's lack of depth is a worse problem than Orlando's lack of inside muscle, or Washington's lack of versatility.

Winners:	Miami	Heat
Shawn Marion	Udonis Haslem	Michael Beasley	Joel Anthony	David Padgett

Southwest Division:

Dallas Mavericks	Houston Rockets	Memphis Grizzlies	New Orleans Hornets	San Antonio Spurs
Dirk Nowitzki	Luis Scola	Hakim Warrick	David West	Tim Duncan
Brandon Bass	Carl Landry	Antoine Walker	Melvin Ely	Kurt Thomas
James Singleton	Chuck Hayes	Darrell Arthur	Julian Wright	Matt Bonner
	Ron Artest	Darko Milicic	Ryan Bowen	Ian Mahinmi
	Mike Harris		Hilton Armstrong	Anthony Tolliver

Dallas begins and ends with Dirk. He is one of the Top 5 power forwards in the league. Behind him is the inside brute Brandon Bass. Singleton almost has to bring nothing, and the Dallas power forwards are one of the better ones in the league. Singleton is apparently very athletic, so he only makes Dallas stronger. Houston has a legion of guys 6'9 and under to throw at teams. Scola is the best of the bunch, and guys like Landry, Hayes and Harris are all inside players. Landry is quite a good defender. Speaking of crazy defenders, the Rockets may elect to play Ron Artest at the 4 in spurts. He is capable of playing good off the ball and man to man defense against taller players. In the absence of Ron Artest, Dallas is much better than Houston, even though Houston has many more fouls to go around. (Keep in mind that some of these guys on the Rockets are also their back-up centers) Memphis has Warrick, who is an exciting young player; alas, he's not good enough to elevate this rag-tag group of power forwards over any of the other groups in his division. Walker is crazy talented, but he's not playing in many games. Darko can slide over, but I doubt that he would -- unless Marc Gasol is really good. The Hornets have one of the best mid-range jump shooting bigmen in David West. Their back-up is really Ryan Bowen (think Harpring, but taller, and less capable), but I've include the ability for them to shift people around a bit (like centers Ely and Armstrong). The Hornets are good -- but not because of their fear inducing power forwards for certain. The Spurs have Tim Duncan, Kurt Thomas (like McDyess but better), Bonner (a guy for threes), Mahinmi (one of the better NBA-DL players out there) and this Tolliver guy. I know next to nothing about this guy, but I know he was drafted by the Spurs, and they rarely make mistakes. Dallas vs. San Antonio for this one . . . and . . . well, Duncan is way more clutch than Dirk in the playoffs.

Winners:	San Antonio	Spurs
Tim Duncan	Kurt Thomas	Matt Bonner	Ian Mahinmi	Anthony Tolliver

Northwest Division:

Denver Nuggets	Minnesota Timberwolves	Oklahoma City Thunder	Portland Trailblazers	Utah Jazz
Kenyon Martin	Al Jefferson	Chris Wilcox	LaMarcus Aldridge	Carlos Boozer
Nene	Ryan Gomes	Donyell Marshall	Channing Frye	Mehmet Okur
Renaldo Balkman	Craig Smith	Jeff Green	Ike Diogu	Andrei Kirilenko
Linas Kleiza	Brian Cardinal	Nick Collison	Travis Outlaw	Paul Millsap
Chris Anderson		Joe Smith	Raef LaFrentz	Kosta Koufos

Denver is talented here, K-Mart can run, jump and dunk. I'm not a fan of his, but on paper is he good enough to start on most teams. Nene -- probably the starting center -- can fit in well here as well. Balkman escapes from New York to bring his all around hustle to the Mile High city. Kleiza is a very accomplished shooter and international player who even put up something like 42 points against the Utah Jazz last season. The Birdman returns to the NBA as part of the Nuggets. All in all, they are very talented, have a solid outside spot up shooter in Kleiza and a couple of inside only guys. The T-Wolves are no slouches either. If Chris Bosh is one of the most under rated 4's in the league, Al Jefferson is not even mention at all. He is a beast on the inside. Gomes is very talented as well, and can do almost anything on the floor from hitting threes to blocking shots. Craig Smith is in that Maxiel/Millsap mold, but plays in relative obscurity. Brian Cardinal is Ryan Bowen with an outside shot. A solid group, but Gomes is not quite good enough to be a running four (like what Kleiza would be great at). Oklahoma is actually pretty good. Wilcox is the starter who can score in the paint. Donyell is a three point specialist to the point that he doesn't bring anything else to the table anymore. Jeff Green can slide over from the three to rebound and play well. Nick Collison is a rugged interior defender and Joe Smith is a very capable inside scorer. Portland just has LaMarcus -- and while he is a good young player, I'd rather have any other group of power forwards from the Northwest division than what Portland puts out there. Lastly, we have the Utah Jazz and, well, let's put it this way: three of these guys have been All-Stars. Carlos Boozer, for his defensive faults, is one of the best power forwards in the game -- he is a monster on the boards and is able to shoot from 18 feet or work inside with solid post moves. (Does David West have any post moves?) Mehmet Okur was a power forward up until Carlos Boozer finally got healthy two seasons ago. In Detroit he was a power forward and he was in Utah as well. He has great range, can block shots (like his game winning block), is an under rated man to man defender (like how he locked down Yao in games 5, 6 and 7 in 2006-2007) and can even drive. Andrei Kirilenko is very versatile, can guard guards and block the shot of centers. He shot 38% from deep last season and was European player of the year in 2007. He's also a very good shot blocker. Paul Millsap is the back-up of Boozer (because Ak is at the 3, and Memo at the 5), but in a true test of ability, he is farther down the depth charts. He is a tough defender who hustles for loose balls and is an energy player like Tyrus Thomas and others. Koufos is really a center, but his college game seems to translate better to the four. He's over 7' feet tall and can block shots and hit jumpers. I like what Oklahoma City has, I'm surprised at how good they are as a group. Denver is always tough, and they got much better by adding Balkman and Anderson -- though I can't vote against the Jazz. Not when three of their five guys at power forward have been All-Stars, and that any of their top three guys would start for almost every other team in the league.

Winners:	Utah	Jazz
Carlos Boozer	Mehmet Okur	Andrei Kirilenko	Paul Millsap	Kosta Koufos

Pacific Division:

Golden State Warriors	Los Angeles Clippers	Los Angeles Lakers	Phoenix Suns	Sacramento Kings
Al Harrington	Al Thornton	Pau Gasol	Amare Stoudemire	Mikki Moore
Brandan Wright	Tim Thomas	Lamar Odom	Boris Diaw	Kenny Thomas
Rony Turiaf	Brian Skinner	Vladimir Radmanovic	Louis Admunson	Shelden Williams
Anthony Randolph	Steve Novak	Luke Walton	Robin Lopez	Shareef Abdur-Rahim
Richard Hendrix	Marcus Camby	Josh Powell	Matt Barnes	Jason Thompson

Golden State is interesting, they have a Jamison type with Al Harrington, and occasional center Rony Turiaf is quite good as a backup. They've channeled the Department of Redundancy Department with Brandan Wright and Anthony Randolph. Unfortunately for this group, I think the whole is less than the sum of their parts. The Clippers will probably have to use either Kaman or Camby here -- I guess Camby as he used to be a PF back in the olden days. Novak and Thomas can shoot it, and Thornton has potential to be something. The Lakers, on the other hand, have guys who are something. Gasol will have to move to the 4 to make room for Bynum. This makes Odom one of the most talented back-up power forwards of all time. He is great when he is on. Vlad Rad is all about shooting, and Luke struggles at time, but over all, he's not that bad. Phoenix has Amare, the ultra versatile Diaw, the monumental punk Matt Barnes (but he can sometimes hit a three), Mr. Hustle Louis Admunson and if they really need him, Robin Lopez. Over all, it's a solid group, but Gasol and Odom are greater than Amare and Diaw. Sacramento is were somewhat talented power forwards go to die. Easily the Lakers win this one.

Winners:	Los Angeles	Lakers
Pau Gasol	Lamar Odom	Valdimir Radmanovic	Luke Walton	Josh Powell

The question remains though . . . which of these six groups is the best? (remember to think about strengths, depth, versatility, offensive diversity, defense, star power, awards, and chemistry)

Olympic Ball Previews: 2nd games

I need to re-evaluate how I was listing my games. (As seen in the last post which suggests that those 6 games were over 2 days --- which they were if you follow the rules suggested by Sir Sanford Fleming in terms of this hypothetical international date line) Now I'm just going to blog about it in a different way -- so behold: the preview for the 2nd games for each team!

Here are the games comin' up:

• Lithuania (1-0) vs. Iran (0-1) [11.08.08 -- 9:00 PM EST]: I really want to like the Iranian team. They have heart and they have class. They aren't bad guys, they are guys who just want to play ball and represent their country. One of their best players recently died in a car accident (his brother is the star of their squad, Mohammad Samad Nikkhah Bahrami), and that's gotta totally suck. They are a quick, fast team that is very Golden State-like in that they live by the long ball and die by it too. Their stamina and depth are in question, and will not be able to handle the assassin like tenacity and cold blooded decision making ability of Lithuania. It wouldn't surprise me to see Ramunas Siskauskas or Sarunas Jasikevicius totally own the Iranians. They may have to put Linas Kleiza (hero of game 1) on Hamed 'Who's your daddy?' Ehadadi who is very long and very fast for a bigman. Lithuania should win this game going away.
• Russia (1-0) vs. Croatia (1-0) [11.08.08 -- 11:15 PM EST]: These two teams have a recent history of good games. Croatia is the (obviously) more talented offensive squad, while Team Russia is all about their shifting zone defense. If you haven't seen Russia play let me explain why what they do is effective. They are all long and quick. The whole point of the defense is to get a hand on passes and make deflections that result in steals for their side, and turn overs for the other team. Getting a steal (hypothetically) every 4th or 5th time on defense doesn't seem like much in a 100 possession game -- but Russia slows it down and grinds it out so it makes it that much more important to handle the ball (kinda like those "Czar of the Telestrator" Mike Fratello led Cleveland teams during the 1993-1994 to 1998-1999 seasons).  The last time that these two teams played for anything that mattered, Russia won 83-70 (11.09.07), and a motivated Russian squad took care of business in the 4th quarter in a very tight game. Hopefully history repeats itself and Russia wins.
• Germany (1-0) vs. Greece (0-1) [12.08.08 -- 2:30 AM EST]: Germany powered their way through a shrimpy Angolan team (tallest guys are 6'7) thanks to their two 7' NBA stars. They didn't play against Greece in the 2007 EuroBasket 07 tournament, but they will face a very hungry and humiliated Greek team that sports six guys who are at least 6'9. It is early, but you don't want to get too down in the preliminary rounds, so I implore the coaching staff to release the kraken Sofoklis Schortsianitis (aka. Baby Shaq) upon the bigger German squad. Greece should come back strong and win this game due to their above average guard and forward play. I'm still shocked at how badly Spain beat them down.
• Spain (1-0) vs. China (0-1) [12.08.08 -- 4:45 AM EST]: Things just don't get easier for Team China. Yao vs. Pau is fun. But Yao vs. Pau, Jose, Rudy, Ricky, Jorge and Marc is just not good TV. Yi better step it up, otherwise Nets fans (and China) are going to start getting worried. There's more to being a good player than being the best 24 year old 21 year old. The Spanish Armada continues to destroy all within its path.
• USA (1-0) vs. Angola (0-1) [12.08.08 -- 8:00 AM EST]: Maybe guys like Tay-Tay and Booz can get off the bench for this one? USA wins this one, by a lot.
• Argentina (0-1) vs. Australia (0-1) [12.08.08 -- 10:15 AM EST]: At the end of this game, one team will still remain winless. That team will most likely be Australia. For some reason the Aussie's went away from their only NBA guy and suffered a loss to Croatia. Argentina lost a highly contest match to Lithuania on a buzzer beater. They are going to come out and quickly establish they they are for real. Manu, Noce' and Carlos are just too dynamic for the Aussie guards.

Men's Olympic Basketball -- Day 1 + 2

USA 101 - China 70

Pretty much everyone saw this coming, you know, the redeem team coming out and winning despite showing some flaws. All that really needs to be said is that the final score was USA 101 - China 70. The United States had 54 bench points, and if it wasn't for an early three point barrage by the Chinese, this game would have been over much before halftime. The Americans shot 54.3% from the field, had a +3 rebounding margin, +5 on assists, made the Chinese turn it over 18 times and won steals 14 to 2. Yi, particularly, played like ass when it counted. Yao Ming can't do it all by himself. LeBron had 18/6/3/1/3, and was pretty much a beast. Dwyane Wade (off the bench) "was unstoppable" (KOGOD, via Deadspin), and had 19,0,2,2,0 off of perfect shooting (5-5 fg, 7-7 ft). Both bench point guards (Chris Paul and Deron Williams) clearly outplayed Jason Kidd. Kidd played only 13 minutes, but managed to have zero assists and 3 turn overs. He also added 2 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block. He did not take a shot and did not score. Deron had 9 points (3-7, 1-3, 2-2), 4 rebounds, and 1 assist. Chris had 3 points, 3 rebounds, and 6 assists.

Photographed by unknown, FIBA.com

Boozer (or Betrayal Skull Dude, according to the Cleveland Plan Dealer's interpretation of Chinese  nicknames for NBA players) played 8 mins (2nd least of all Americans to Tayshaun Prince) and managed to get 5 points, 3 boards, 1 assist and 1 steal in that time (shooting 1-2, and 3-4 from the ft line). Michael Redd was great off the bench and hit a lot of threes -- something the Americans will need a lot of, as the rest of the teams are going to zone against the USA.

USA faces Angola on next, and China fights for their lives against Spain -- both on Tuesday.

Russia 71 - Iran 49

The Russian team (that won the FIBA Europe tournament, even beating Spain on their homecourt in the finals) is a good team. They are a good team because they control the tempo of the game and really slow it down and play super defense. After the 1st quarter it was Russia 24 - Iran 5. They only won by 22 points, but they (like the Americans) shot 50% while holding the other team in the 30% range. Russia had a +12 turn over mark, had +9 more steals and did it on defense. We've seen this Iranian team before, and know that they aren't at full strength. They are fast and can catch fire from deep (like the Golden State Warriors, in that regard), they did manage to hurt the Russian zone by shooting 43.8% from deep. (Something the Americans would not be able to do, methinks) That Hamed Ehadadi guy had 9/8/2/1/2 in 34 minutes of action. Mohammad Samad Nikkhah Bahrami did his Iverson impersonation and had 16 points off of 16 shots. This is the Russian defense displaying their ability to play other teams' tendencies against themselves. Andrei Kirilenko did his all around point forward thing by getting 15 (5-7, 1-2, 4-5), 5, 0 assists (surprising!), 1 steal and 3 blocks. Viktor Khryapa and Sergei Monya had bad games, but American born point guard John Robert Holden (or as ESPN thinks, "Kholden") had 19 points, 3 boards, 3 assists and 5 steals.

Photographed by unknown, FIBA.com

Russia faces off Croatia next, while Iran faces the Lithuanian team -- both on Monday

Lithuania 79 - Argentina 75

Manu goes down! Linas Kleiza hit the game winner in this game, making a shot but leaving the Argentines enough time to respond -- but they botched the play while Ginobli (totally out of character) complained to the refs. "It was not a difficult shot . . . I was able to knock it down," (Linas Kleiza,via FIBA.com webpage) said after the game. The NBA players for the losing team all had solid games: Luis Scola had 10 and 6, Andres Nocioni had 15 and 9, Fabricio Oberto had 9 and 11, and Manu had 19 (but he and Noce went a combined 2-14 from downtown). Recently departed Carlos Delfino had 13, 6, 2 and 3 off the bench. Yet they still lost as Ramunas Siskauskas, Robertas Javtokas, Sarunas Jasikevicius (also 8 dimes), Kleiza and Marijonas Petravicius all had 10 or more points in a balanced attack. The Lithuanians (as some Americans have not completely blocked out) are a great outside shooting team and almost shot better from three than they did overall: 40% 3pt to 43.1% fg !!!

Photographed by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

Lithuania looks to go 2-0 when they play Iran (on Monday), while Argentina faces Australia on Tuesday

Spain 81 - Greece 66

Beatdown city, Beijing, China. This game was supposed to be as entertaining as the Lithuania vs. Argentina game, though this was quite one-sided as Spain exploded in the 3rd quarter to solidify a 16 point lead heading into the 4th. Hardwood Paroxysm took the time to LiveBlog this game, and you can read it here. Spain is just too talented for the Gestalt approach that Greece brings (maybe they need Kosta Koufos after all?), as Pau Gasol, Jose Manuel Calderon, Rudy Fernandez, Juan Carlos Navarro and alternate stars Raul Lopez, Marc Gasol and Jorge Garbajosa are all capable of playing excellent ball. Spain is both big (Marc Gasol), talented (Pau Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro), fast (Jose Manuel Calderon, Ricky Rubio) or really athletic (Rudy Fernandez). In fact, Spain may be the 2nd best team (on paper) in the entire Olympics. The game would have been much closer had Greece not shot 11-24 from the Free Throw line, or alternatively, if Spain didn't shoot 22-25 from the stripe. I don't even need to go over the stats for this one. Needless to say, Vasileios Spanoulis, Dimitrious Diamantidis, Konstantinos Tsartsaris, and Antonios Fotsis need to regroup and play their style of ball -- ball that has been very successful in previous years.

Photographed by unknown, FIBA.com

 Spain faces China, while Greece will have their hands full with Germany, both on Tuesday

Croatia 97 - Australia 82

Some may suggest that the Boomers awful start (down 14 - 21 after one) killed them, in an otherwise really close game. I, rather, point to the fact that their 2nd quarter showing (down 17 to 26) was much worse. It's going to be hard for Australia to beat any team -- let alone teams that are better than they are, like Croatia -- when their best player (Andrew Bogut) only shoots the ball three times, and finishes with 10 points, 1 rebound and no blocks. The Aussie's still shot 50.8 fg% for the game, but need to learn to play defense -- Croatia worked the ball for good shots and ended up shooting 66.7 fg% for the game, and even shot 12-16 (75.0%) from three. That's never going to get it done. Croatia is a strong squad -- and didn't even bring all of their best players to this tournament. In fact, there are no NBA guys on this team (as Gordan Giricek isn't even asked to play for them, and Zoran Planinic is no longer playing for the shitty US dollar). There will be enough time to say good things about the play of Zoran, Roko-Leni Ukic and Marko Banic during the rest of the games -- lets focus on the bench. Nikola Prkacin (16 points, 5-5 and 6-7), Marko Tomasovic (12 points, 4-6, 4-4 from three) (aka. Marko Tomas) and Kresimir Loncar (10 points, 10 rebounds, 1 three) really brought it for Croatia, and arguably, played better than the three best Aussie starters.

Photographed by unknown, FIBA.com

Croatia faces Russia on Monday, Australia will tip off against the Argentines on Tuesday

Germany 95 - Angola 66

While Angola held tough in the first quarter, Germany exploded for 29 points in the 2nd, and the rout was on. The German twin towers had 24 (Chris Kaman) and 23 (Dirk Nowitzki) respectively. The Rhinelanders were just too big for the quick, but smaller Angolans -- Jan-Hendrik Jagla came of Germany's bench to have collect half as many rebounds (11) as the Angola had all game (22) ... and he did so in only 18 minutes. Germany displayed a very efficient attack (58.6 fg%, 55.0 3pt%), but one wonders just how well they would perform against a larger club (like China or Russia), or a more talented one (like Spain, Argentina or the United States). For Angola, only Eduardo Mingas (think Gilbert Arenas, but shorter) shot above 50%, as he finished with 24 points. The rest of the starters for the FIBA Africa champions shot 5 for 25 combined. That's not going to get it done. I fully expect Olimpio Cipriano, Milton Barros, Joaquim Gomes, Armando Costa and Carlos Morais to play better in the next game. Well, I actually don't. They will play the United States in the next game. Poor poor Angola still hasn't recovered from the abuse Barkley gave them.

Photographed by unknown, FIBA.com

Germany faces off against a hungry Greek squad, while Angola gets to tangle with the USA on Tuesday

Standings!

Group A		Wins	Losses	Points		Group B		Wins	Losses	Points
	Croatia	1	0	2			Germany	1	0	2
	Lithuania	1	0	2			Spain	1	0	2
	Russia	1	0	2			USA	1	0	2
	Iran	0	1	1			Angola	0	1	1
	Argentina	0	1	1			Greece	0	1	1
	Australia	0	1	1			China	0	1	1