All Euro (Whitey) Team comment and other thoughts on recent blog articles I've enjoyed

I love readings blogs . . . that's actually the main reason why I created one as well -- because I wanted to give back. Unfortunately I don't have all the time in the world to read them anymore, but I try to keep abreast of blog posts via BallHype.com. (They are fantastic, I use BallHype.com more often than I use Google.com) Anyway, here's a selection of blog posts and my take on them --

Rebounding Differential Rankings in the NBA [Nov 6] -- Khandor's Sports Blog talks about something Jazz fans have been very lucky to have over the last few seasons, and actually positive rebounding differential. Utah is a strong rebounding club (currently #6th in the NBA in differential at +5.00 as of November 6th, 2008). Last season the Jazz were tied for 3rd over-all with the Boston Celtics at +3.1 rebound differential; Cleveland was at +4.2, and Houston at +4.0. Two of the clubs above the Jazz (Detroit and Philly) have played the Raptors though, and thus, those rebounding numbers look highly inflated. Khandor shows a nice chart and talks about it a bit. I tend to value rebounding differential more than actual average RPG because it shows how good (or bad) a team is compared to other teams -- as opposed to being an isolated number by itself. I wish the Raptors do get better rebounding, as they are one of the teams that I root for. Thanks Khandor for blogging about this, it's nice to know that I'm not the only crazy person out there who likes stats.

Zach at Gunaxin.com recently blogged about The All Whitey Basketball Team -- Zach describes and details a 12 man roster of purely American white guys. He comes up with Kirk Hinrich, Mike Miller, Mike Dunleavy Jr., David Lee and Chris Kaman as starters. The bench is comprised of Brad Miller, Kyle Korver, Steve Blake, Kevin Love, Wally Szcerbiak, Troy Murphy and Nick Collison. I don't think that team would suck. (It would be a whole lot better than an All-Asian Basketball team, for starters . . . and as a guy who's parents were born in Asia I can say that, I guess in that Russell Peters type of "i'm a minority so I can be racist" type of comedy that Sarah Silverman employs) That's a tangent though . . . I wanted to make an all European Basketball team to counter . . . this is what I came up with (In no order):

1. Tony Parker (PG) -- France/Spurs
2. Hidayet Turkoglu (SF/SG) -- Turkey/Magic
3. Andrei Kirilenko (SF/PF) -- Russia/Jazz
4. Dirk Nowitzki (PF/C) -- Germany/Mavericks
5. Pau Gasol (PF/C) -- Spain/LA Lakers
6. Jose Manuel Calderon (PG) -- Spain/Raptors
7. Sasha Vujacic (SG/PG) -- Slovenia/LA Lakers
8. Rudy Fernandez (SG/SF) -- Spain/Trailblazers
9. Predrag Stojakovic (SF/SG) -- Serbia (Croatia)/Hornets
10. Linas Kleiza (SF/PF) -- Lithuania/Nuggets
11. Mehmet Okur (PF/C) -- Turkey/Jazz
12. Zydrunas Ilgauskas (C) -- Lithuania/Cavaliers

If you want only "White Euros" then take out Tony Parker and put in Beno Udrih instead and start Jose instead. I think that team would be pretty comparable to the USA Whitey's team, though probably beat them in a 7 game series handily. The Euro team would surely flop a whole lot as well . . . the toughest guy on the European team would have to be either Kleiza or Okur, which says a whole lot.

"I was saying booo-urns . . . !" - Hans Moleman from The Simpsons. "Apparently" the NYC Crowd is not booing Chris Duhon. Or are they? Read it at What would Oakley Do? The Duhon/Fog Light analogy is as hilarious as it is apt -- and reason enough to read this article.

Apparently Jerry Sloan has been coaching the Jazz since the Ronald Reagan years . . . the Salt Lake Tribune brings the funk on that while I ponder just how many years I've been a fanatic fan of the NBA . . . and how much else I could have accomplished in my life if I was not . . .

Game 4 Recap: Utah 103, Portland 96

Game at a Glance:

The young and inexperienced Portland Trailblazers own a number of double digit leads over the Jazz in Salt Lake City, but are unable to close the deal as the Jazz (again without veterans Deron Williams and Matt Harpring) come from behind in the 4th quarter to win it -- the classic battle of experience and poise against youth and enthusiasm. Somehow this game reminded me of a game between the 1998 Jazz and the 1998 Spurs -- the Jazz won the battles back then, but you can see the potential for Portland to eventually win the war (they have a lot of potentially awesome young players), just as the Spurs clearly have. Portland fans don't have much to be upset with here (I fail to see why they are so down -- read their reactions here, here and here); they almost won a huge game against a division rival on the road -- without having their best player play their best game. Brandon Roy had 18 points (6-16 fg, 0-2 3pt), 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal -- if you guys pull off upsets without Roy scoring 20 you should be happy. And that's almost exactly what happened last night.

[ ESPN's Boxscore -- NBA.com's Highlights ]

Jazz Quartet -- Top Four Players of the Game:

Andrei Kirilenko	Brevin Knight	Mehmet Okur	Carlos Boozer
Photographed by Melissa Majchrzak for NBAE/Getty	Photographed by Melissa Majchrzak for NBAE/Getty	Photographed by Melissa Majchrzak for NBAE/Getty	Photographed by Melissa Majchrzak for NBAE/Getty
Like every game this season, in the 4th quarter he's shut down the other team's best offensive player. He also finished with 17 points (5-8 fg), 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, and countless drawn fouls against Portland early in the 4th to put them in the penalty. AK-47 went 7-8 from the FT line to boot.	Maybe he gets more credit than he deserves, or maybe he gets less -- it doesn't matter, we don't win this game without his steadying influence and ability to be a disruptive force on defense. Brev finished with 6 points (3-4 from the floor), 6 assists, 3 steals and a board. Moreover, he ran the team and helped us get back from being down 11.	If it wasn't for his end of the shot clock magic in the 1st half, the Jazz go down by 20 instead of just 11 in this game. Okur is finally hitting some outside shots, and had a team high 22 points, and was 1 rebound away from a double double. (And a 20-10 game) He drew the defense to him, and allowed the Jazz to get offensive rebounds and post up wings in the 4th.	Like Memo, Boozer was just short of a double double and 20-10 game, he finished with 20 and 8. He was not as aggressive as I wanted him to be, and he took a lot more fading jumpers than he should have -- but with the game hanging in the balance he scored inside on a layup with less than 30 seconds left and made all of his free throws -- he had several key rebounds as well.

Hon. Mention:

Ronnie Brewer -- Brewer had 16 points (6-12 shooting, 1-1 from three, 3-3 from the FT line), 6 rebounds and 2 assists . . . and was instrumental for the win (that three was huge), but when it counted Brandon Roy was scoring on him / getting by him with ease. On the other hand, Brevin was much more active on defense and was big on both ends of the floor. If it was Jazz Quintet then Ronnie Brewer would have been there, but then I would end up feeling bad at some other game down the line where 6 guys for our club did something good, and lament about it not being a Jazz sextet, and that's just dumb, and potentially not work safe. I gotta draw the line somewhere, and Ronnie will have plenty of opportunities to make it down the line. He had a great game, and helped us on offense when we were making our run, and had some nice dunks -- but even more impressive where his confident outside jumpers in the 3th.

Digging Deeper:

I'm happy that we got this win, and I felt as though doing so without Deron was a distinct possibility. (Scroll down to week 3) That said, I tend to agree with Hammy over at True Blue Jazz -- this game was a European Rookie's open three point attempt away from being all tied up with 20 seconds to go -- we really could have used Deron's offense tonight. The good news is that we didn't need him, we won the game, and we're a game against the Thunder away from going 3 weeks without Deron Williams -- and haven't lost yet. The better news is that our bench is winning games for us. We've had a good bench for a few seasons now -- last year he did pretty okay (save for the playoffs) with Ronnie Price, Kyle Korver, Matt Harpring and Paul Millsap. (And CJ for emergencies)

This season we have Brevin Knight, Kyle Korver, Andrei Kirilenko and Paul Millsap -- this has been the line up that gets the Jazz on runs where we claw back into games, or go on and distance ourselves from the other team, with. Those four guys average 39.6 ppg (Only Korver is shooting under 46 fg% in that group at 43%), 18.3 rpg, 10.9 apg and 5.25 spg. Oh yeah, and those four guys get to the line an average of 12.9 times per game. Not too shabby for the first 4 guys off your bench.

Portland is a good team, and I'm happy that we beat them. They have a few guys injured right now -- though I think that losing Deron (not to mention a valuable bench guy in Harpring) is worse than losing Oden (who you guys didn't need to beat us 3 times last year) and Webster. I think that Outlaw, Batum and Fernandez gives Portland some of the best young wings out there -- and that's not even counting Brandon Roy. Aldridge has a very effective offensive game (inside and out), but seriously . . . 2 boards? Total? Kyle Korver out-rebounded LaMarcus. This is just something the Blazer fans should not tolerate. Especially when guys like Batum crash the boards and get 6 for their effort (no need to even mention Przybilla who was a one man wrecking crew in the paint with 7 points, 16 boards and a million blocks). Portland harried the Jazz into 16 turn overs (so many in the 1st and 2nd quarter alone) and were on their way to a solid road win. I wouldn't be surprised to see the season series end in a split, or even 3-1 in favor of the Blazers if this first game is any indication. How often are the Jazz going to go 21 for 22 at the free throw line in a game? We needed every one of those to get back into this game and secure the win.

The under-appreciated positive is that Jerry Sloan is making some really good changes to the rotation depending on the situations of the game. And older version of Sloan would keep pounding away at the square peg and try to make it fit in a round hole (which results in a loss) -- but he was confident enough in our roster's make up (props to GM Kevin O'Connor) that he could keep switching people in and out to work for advantages. Need defense? Plug in Knight. Portland bringing the zone? Put in Okur and Korver. Is Przybilla out of the game? Put in Boozer and Millsap to score inside. As Siler points out, it worked out for us in this game. Hopefully Sloan will keep doing this all season long.

Next Game: Friday November 7th, 2008 -- Oklahoma City Thunder @ Utah Jazz [9:00 PM EST]

Looking at the Top five 6th men so far . . .

According to ESPN.com, or at least a poll on their website, the Top 5 sixth men candidates are:

1. the LA Lakers' Lamar Odom,
2. Chicago's Ben Gordon,
3. Philly's Lou Williams,
4. Portland's Rudy Fernandez
5. and Utah's Andrei Kirilenko.

Predictably, as of right now, Odom is number one with 33% of the over 9,000 votes. Coming in second is Portland's rookie Fernandez at 26% of the vote. Next is AK-47 with 21%. Ben Gordon and Lou Williams round out the top 5 with 10% each. I think I've already made myself pretty clear when looking at how dumb some people are, so let's not even bother with the results of this vote. Let's, instead, look at how these guys are actually playing right now.

Player	Lamar Odom	Rudy Fernandez	Andrei Kirilenko	Ben Gordon	Lou Williams
Team	LA Lakers	Portland Trailblazers	Utah Jazz	Chicago Bulls	Philadelphia 76ers
ESPN Vote	33%	26%	21%	10%	10%
MPG	26.0	27.0	32.7	26.8	23.0
Games	3	3	3	4	4
PPG	8.3	14.0	14.0	14.3	12.5
FG%	45.0%	48.3%	53.6%	41.3%	39.6%
3PT%	0.0%	40.0%	50.0%	43.8%	23.1%
FT%	77.9%	88.9%	73.3%	85.7%	69.2%
Shooting Worth *	1.25	1.45	1.50	1.24	1.04
Shooting Frequency **	3.85	2.83	3.50	2.30	1.92
APG	2.33	1.33	3.00	3.00	2.50
A:TO	1.4	2.0	1.5	1.33	1.25
RPG	5.67	2.00	8.67	1.50	1.50
SPG	0.33	1.00	2.33	0.50	0.25
BPG	0.33	0.0	1.67	0.0	0.0
B+S/PF ***	0.33	1.00	1.71	0.29	0.33
PFPG	2.0	1.00	2.33	1.75	0.75
TOPG	1.67	0.67	2.00	2.25	2.0

N.B. These stats may look different than what you see on NBA.com or ESPN.com because these stats are not rounded to the tenth place, but the hundredth place -- they are derived from the total value over the number of games as usual, but to two decimal places. For example, ESPN.com rounds Lou Williams fouls per game to be 0.8, where as he has 3 fouls in 4 games, which is actually 0.75.

* Shooting worth was previous my erroneously named "points per shot" stat. This is derived by dividing the total number of points scored (not just from FGA, but also FTM) by how many total FGA the player has made. This 'worth' inflates the scores of players who get to the line and make their free throws, while penalizing players who need a lot of shots to score. The higher the number the better. For example: Lamar Odom has scored a total of 25 points (10+9+6) and shot the ball  20 (6+5+9) times. This is then 25/20, for a shooting worth of 1.25 points for each shot.

** Shooting frequency is what I used to call "shots per minute", which is wrong; this stat is how many minutes needed to take a shot. Or in plan English, "Player ______ shoots the ball every x number of minutes on the floor". The lower the number the more frequently the player shoots. Again, with Odom being the example he has shot the ball 20 times this season. He has played a total of 77 (29+23+25) minutes this season. Here we divide the total number of minutes played by how many shots were taken. In this case (77/20) we get 3.85. That means that Odom shoots the ball once every 3.85 minutes played. (or every 3:51, if you want to figure out how many seconds 0.85 minutes is). If we compare this to Kobe's shooting frequency (which is calculated out to 1.83 <-- 97 minutes played / 53 FGA) we can see that this is not a very high number at all.

*** Blocks + Steals / Personal Fouls is another "Amar stat" that is very easy to understand. It's simply the total number of blocks + the total number of steals all divided by the total number of personal fouls. [The equation is: (blocks + steals) / PF ] It's a stat that attempts to gauge how effectively a player gambles on defense by how often they are tagged for fouling. If you just stand there on defense you probably are not going to pick up a lot of fouls. If you try to go for steals, or challenge shots you have a higher chance of getting called for a foul. So in a way, this monitors activity on defense as a product of how well they avoid fouling. I'd love it if the NBA officially recorded deflections though . . . they don't. So this is the best I can do. The higher the number the better. So, using Odom as an example here: so far he has 1 block and 1 steal. He has fouled 6 total times this season (1+2+3). So this becomes 2 / 6, or 0.33. He has more fouls than steals and blocks combined. He may be playing good defense, but he's not recording defensive stats for it.

So yeah, it doesn't take a Rocket Surgeon, or John Hollinger, to figure out which one of these five guys is actually playing the best right now. It's Andrei Kirilenko who is 1st or 2nd in all the categories. But if you like Hollinger's PER stat, here are the breakdowns: Rudy Fernandez 24.66; Andrei Kirilenko 23.97; Ben Gordon 15.90; Lou Williams 15.66; Lamar Odom 12.49. The same size of 3 or 4 games is really small though, but right now it's an easy call. I will be watching this race as the season goes on though . . .

Brevin Knight had a really good 4th quarter

It's "only" the preseason, and it was probably against bench guys, but Brevin Knight had 2 points, 7 assists and 4 steals in the 4th quarter. It was so good that the SL Trib even got off of their "214 best Jazz players ever" article kick to write about it. If you followed the game (I did not), or read the play-by-play than you can clearly see Knight developing some consistency and experience working with several of our key bench guys (Korver, Millsap and Kirilenko). I think that's pretty necessary as he has to pick all of the nuances of running our offense with our guys as soon as possible. Furthermore, I think he's doing a pretty good job if this game (his first real game without injury) is any indication.

The following is from the play-by-play of the 4th quarter that's up on ESPN's website:

Photograph by Melissa Majchrzak for NBAE/Getty Images

• [11:06] Kyle Korver makes jumper (Brevin Knight assists) -- Portland 78 - Utah 75
• [9:06] Brevin Knight defensive rebound -- Portland 79 - Utah 78
• [8:57] Kyle Korver makes 23-foot three point jumper (Brevin Knight assists) -- Portland 79 - Utah 81
• [8:27] Brevin Knight misses layup -- Portland 79 - Utah 81
• [7:50] Kyle Korver makes 23-foot three point jumper (Brevin Knight assists) -- Portland 79 - Utah 84
• [6:58] Andrei Kirilenko makes two point shot (Brevin Knight assists) -- Portland 81 - Utah 87
• [4:18] Kosta Koufos makes 18-foot jumper (Brevin Knight assists) -- Portland 87 - Utah 92
• [3:55] Jerryd Bayless lost ball (Brevin Knight steals) -- Portland 87 - Utah 92
• [3:28] Shavlik Randolph lost ball (Brevin Knight steals) -- Portland 87 - Utah 94
• [3:06] Paul Millsap makes 18-foot jumper (Brevin Knight assists) -- Portland 87 - Utah 96
• [2:35] Kosta Koufos makes slam dunk (Brevin Knight assists) -- Portland 87 - Utah 98
• [1:39] Jerryd Bayless lost ball (Brevin Knight steals) -- Portland 89 - Utah 98
• [1:08] Rudy Fernandez bad pass (Brevin Knight steals) -- Portland 89 - Utah 98
• [0:35] Brevin Knight makes 9-foot running jumper -- Portland 89 - Utah 100

If this game happened in the regular season, and on the road, then the Mayor of Portland would have almost be forced to give Brevin Knight the key to the city . . . but there really would have been no need as Knight would have probably swiped it already. I think I like Knight playing with this group better as he's a pure point guard in that pass first mold. When you have Korver on the floor it's probably best to have a pass first guard anyway. Also a pass first guard is able to lead marginal offensive talents to the right spots where they can score. I don't really conceptualize Price being able to help get Kosta Koufos dunks, but I could be wrong about that.

I also appreciate how Knight isn't against throwing the lob pass to AK going for alley-oops. This is something that Andrei used to get a lot of back when he was playing 37 mpg and an All-Star. It really started with Mark Jackson passing the rock to AK when AK first began to score big points in some games. (And there once was a time where he used to be getting 20 like nothing) In past seasons AK hasn't been getting the rock from his PGs, and he's being passed over for receiving alley-oops in favor of Deron throwing it to Brewer instead. Astute Jazz fans may remember that the Jackson to Kirilenko oop was very successful and caught a lot of team off guard. The Knight to Kirilenko oop seems to be doing that -- all the while making Andrei feel more involved in the offense.

Knight is a stabilizing force for the 2nd unit, much like I theorized. This is very true on offense, but even more so on defense. You don't usually luck into 4 steals to close out a game . . . I'm sure part of it would have to deal with his pressure defense against younger players. If we're going to hold off the young Portland Trailblazers it would serve us well to have a cagey vet who can strip them of their pride as often as he strips them of the ball.

Utah Jazz on National TV -- what to look for!

I guess this is improvement on some level, you know what I'm talking about . . . I've been a hardcore Jazz fan for 20 years or so now, and I've never seen them on National TV so much in one regular season. How many times are the Jazz going to be seen nationally? 11 times! That is really a lot, as I'm used to the 3-6 games a season that I may get a chance to see (mostly on TNT double headers). Anyway, let's take a look at what to we're bound to see:

November 12th, 2008		December 5th, 2008
	Utah @ Washington on ESPN -- This is the first game on National TV for the Jazz and they face off against a team of excellent outside shooters, led by Gilbert Arenas. He and Deron will feature prominently in this game.		Utah vs. Toronto on ESPN -- I don't know the last time that the Raptors won in Utah, but they are not to be slept on. This game has two deep teams, starting with All-Star Power Forwards Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer.
Photograph by Pablo Martinez Monsivais for AP Photo		Photograph by Unknown for NBAE/Getty Images
December 11th, 2008		February 5th, 2009
	Utah vs. Portland on TNT -- Roy, Aldridge, Oden, that Spanish kid and more . . . why don't we just give them the NBA Title already? (Oh wait, didn't the media already give that to the Rockets or Lakers? I keep getting confused with all the conflicting hype.)		Utah vs. Dallas on TNT -- For some silly reason I think the Mavs will be better (and more desperate) this season. This should be a good match where the good guys should hopefully win. This could be projected as a potential 1st round match up, hence TNT picking this game
Photograph by Unknown for NBAE/Getty Images		Photograph by Melissa Majchrzak for NBAE/Getty Images
February 19th, 2009		March 6th, 2009
	Utah vs. Boston on TNT -- Hopefully the Jazz can avenge their loss to the C's in Utah with a win against the NBA Champs on their home floor. Boston didn't get better this off-season, while we did. Hopefully Ray Allen is shooting blanks.		Utah vs. Denver on ESPN -- Denver really got worse over the off-season, no Camby means that Boozer will probably have a big game, which would be nice seeing how it has become an increasingly rare thing lately.
Photograph by Melissa Majchrzak for NBAE/Getty Images, remixed by Basketballjohn.com		Photograph by Unknown for AP Photo
March 24th, 2009		March 28th, 2009
	Utah vs. Houston on TNT -- I fully expect something insane to happen between Ron Artest and Matt Harpring. I also half expect one of the other two stars on Houston to be injured for this game. Yet, I can easily see Houston winning this game.		Utah @ Phoenix on ESPN -- Memo vs. Shaq, Nash vs. Deron and two power forwards who don't play any defense . . . the perfect TV Game if there ever was one. The team that makes it first to 110 will probably win the game.
Photograph by Harry How for NBAE/Getty Images		Photograph by Unknown for NBAE/Getty Images
April 2nd, 2009		April 8th, 2009
	Utah @ Denver on TNT -- Remember this guy? Hopefully he doesn't go for 40 again as the Jazz face off for the 2nd time on National TV against Northwest Division Rivals Denver.		Utah @ Dallas on ESPN -- The Jazz need to start beating home teams on the road (besides Detroit and Boston). Dallas would be a good place to display this on TV for all the see. Look for Kidd to get the business from Deron.
Photograph by Unknown for NBAE/Getty Images		Photograph by Unknown for NBAE/Getty Images
April 14, 2009
	Utah @ LA Lakers on TNT -- As it's a televised game against the Lakers on the road I fully expect the Jazz to lose. No doubt this game will have playoff implications, most likely are we in the 3 vs. 6 bracket, or the 4 vs. 5 bracket.
Photograph by Unknown for NBAE/Getty Images

Ideally, I would like the Jazz to play games on national TV against crappy teams, so that I can watch the Jazz win. Each of these contests (save maybe for Denver in SLC) should be very close. I'm happy to see Utah getting some TV time though, so I shouldn't complain.

Gold Medal Game: Spain vs. USA

	USA beats  Argentina 101 - 81
	Wow! The United States had a tougher than expect fight against an Argentinean team that only had Manu for 6 minutes of action, eventually winning 101 - 81. Luis Scola had a great game for his nation, with 28 points, 11 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Carlos Delfino added 17 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals to the cause -- though his shooting percentages were inefficient (33.3 fg%, 30.0 3pt%) to say the least. The American side was, once again, a balanced attack that features 7 players in double figure scoring (Anthony 21, James 15, Wade 12, Bryant 12, Paul 12, Bosh 11, Howard 10). The USA team won the battle of the glass 43 to 32, but that was really it. Both teams shot in the mid 40s (Argentina 44.1%, USA 47.1%); and both teams had the same number of turn overs (Argentina 16, USA 15) -- the difference, though, was the surprising proficiency the Americans had at the three point line (they made 10 threes this game, while Argentina only made 6), and the fact that the free throw disparity was ridiculous. Argentina went to the FT line 16 times and made 15 of them. The United States went to the free throw line 36 times (and made 27 of them). I didn't watch the game, so I don't know how it went -- but the more aggressive team usually gets to the line more. The boxscore suggests that this team was the USA.
	Spain beats Lithuania 91 - 86
	The other game ended up being (to me at the very least) an upset victory by Spain over Lithuania. Sure, Spain has all of those high profile players, but Lithuania is (usually) a better team. (Lithuania is like the Detroit Pistons -- they are always at the final four stage, but hardly ever break through) Spain was up by 2 at the end of the 1st quarter. Then Lithuania was up by 2 at the half. Then Lithuania goes up by 4 at the end of three. Spain had a 4th quarter come back and ended up outscoring the Lithuanians by 9 to finish the game with the 91 - 86 win. The first thing that is interesting is that Spain wins by 5 points in a game where Lithuanian workhorse Linas Kleiza plays only 11 minutes and doesn't score at all. Why is this important? It is because in previous games this Olympics he had scored 13 (+ game winner), 22, 18, 12 and 15 points. He was a major cog for this team -- and despite his absence (due to an ejection early in the game), the Lithuanians were able to go into the 4th quarter with the lead.
	Spain was, of course, playing without Jose Calderon, so it should cancel out, right? (Except Spain is deeper at PG than Lithuania is behind Kleiza) Raul Lopez had 7 points, 3 assists and 2 steals for Spain, and Ricky Rubio had 4 points and 4 assists in Calderon's absence. Together they also totaled 8 rebounds -- not too shabby from your 2nd and 3rd string point guards. Aside from that, the usual suspects did their things (Pau Gasol had 19, Rudy Fernandez with 18, Sarunas Jasikevicius had 19 and 6 assists, and Simas Jasaitis had 19 points and 8 rebounds)

I fully expect Lithuania to win the Bronze now, especially how close they got to the Gold Medal game, this is a certainty if Manu can't play in that game. As for the big show, well, you have to think that the USA team will try to embarrass Spain a 2nd time on their way towards achieving International redemption.

Olympic Men's Basketball Stats Leaders

After three games have gone down this is who's doing what for each team:

	Points per Game				Rebounds per Game
1	Dwyane Wade		18.3	1	Yao Ming		8.7
2	Yao Ming		18.0	2	Hamed Ehadadi		8.3
3	Emanuel Ginobili		18.0	3	Andres Nocioni		8.3
4	Pau Gasol		17.7	4	Yi Jianlian		7.7
5	Vasileios Spanoulis		17.3	5	Robertas Javtokas		7.0
6	Carlos Morais		17.0	6	Pau Gasol		6.7
7	Andrei Kirilenko		16.7	7	Linas Kleiza		6.7
8	JR Holden		16.3	8	Antonios Fotsis		6.3
9	Mohammad Samad Nikkhah Bahrami		16.0	9	Joaquim Gomes		6.0
10	Dirk Nowitzki		15.7		Fabricio Oberto		6.0
					Oshin Sahakian		6.0
	Assists per Game				Steals per Game
1	Emanuel Ginobili		5.7	1	Jonas Maciulis		3.5
2	Sarunas Jasikevicius		5.3	2	Dwyane Wade		3.0
3	LeBron James		4.7	3	Andrei Kirilenko		2.7
4	JR Holden		4.3	4	Pablo Prigioni		2.3
5	Chris Paul		4.0		Ricky Rubio		2.3
6	C.J. Bruton		3.0		Ramunas Siskauskas		2.3
7	Rudy Fernandez		3.0	7	C.J. Bruton		2.0
8	Andrei Kirilenko		3.0		Sergei Bykov		2.0
9	Dimitrious Diamantidis		2.7		JR Holden		2.0
	Steffen Hamann		2.7		LeBron James		2.0
	Rimantas Kaukenas		2.7
	Marko Popovic		2.7
	Pablo Prigioni		2.7
	Ricky Rubio		2.7
	Vasileios Spanoulis		2.7
	Roko-Leni Ukic		2.7
	Deron Williams		2.7
	Blocks per Game				Minutes per Game
1	Andrei Kirilenko		3.0	1	JR Holden		38.0
	Hamed Ehadadi		3.0	2	Andrei Kirilenko		36.0
3	Yao Ming		2.7	3	Hamed Ehadadi		35.7
4	LeBron James		2.3	4	Hamed Afagh		34.3
5	Ksystof Lavrinovic		2.0	5	Mohammad Samad Nikkhah Bahrami		34.0
6	Robertas Javtokas		1.7	6	Yi Jianlian		32.7
7	Pau Gasol		1.3	7	Andres Nocioni		31.7
8	Andrew Bogut		1.0	8	Eduardo Mingas		31.0
	Patrick Femerling		1.0	9	Pablo Prigioni		30.7
	Dwight Howard		1.0		Yao Ming		30.7
	Carlos Jimenez		1.0
	Darius Lavrinovic		1.0

Bolded = NBA player