schmiggens
Outrageous
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Registered: Apr 2003
Local time: 08:07 AM
Location: In The Zone
Posts: 18704
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Boomers scare Dream Team
United States 89 Australia 79
AUSTRALIA flirted with a basketball miracle last night before losing valiantly at the Athens Olympics.
The American men's team has only ever been beaten three times at Olympic level, twice by Russia and once by Puerto Rico five days ago in a massive boilover.
For much of the match the Boomers looked like joining that select group.
Australia led at the end of the first three terms before the latest incarnation of the Dream Team belatedly came to life in the final quarter.
The US scored the first 10 points of the last term to ease the fears of coach Larry Brown who had been staring down the barrel at a possible second loss from three matches.
Teenage Boomers centre Andrew Bogut enhanced his burgeoning reputation as an NBA star of the future with 11 points, eight rebounds and a huge block to deny Dwayne Wade Jr.
Shane Heal – known to most of the US line-up from his two stints in the NBA – scored a team-high 17 and ran the point with aplomb.
Matt Nielsen, fresh from trialling with the Denver Nuggets, scored 12 points before fouling out early in the final term.
The US was best served by Tim Duncan (18 points) and Allen Iverson and Shawn Marion (16 apiece) while LeBron James thrilled the capacity crowd at the Helleniko Indoor Arena with a couple of massive dunks.
The Boomers were deadly from outside in the first half, hitting eight three-pointers from 12 attempts and shooting at 63 per cent from the field.
Inevitably they were unable to repeat those numbers in the second half.
Having lost to Puerto Rico, the US team – whose NBA contracts total a staggering $US678 million ($949.25 million) – were slated as the worst outfit to represent their country since professionals were admitted to Olympic basketball 12 years ago.
For much of the first three quarters today such criticism looked justified.
Australia must now regroup for Saturday's clash with Puerto Rico, while the United States' next opponent is Lithuania, which came within a shot of beating it at the 2000 Sydney Games.
Australia has never beaten the United States in international basketball.
Let's go with this freak show. It's outrageous.
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08-20-2004 04:00 AM
