Rio-Cap: USA 113, Venezuela 69 (or, One Bad Quarter… Then No Quarter)
2016-08-09
There are plenty of reasons one might attribute to why Team USA has gotten off to slow starts thus far in Olympic pool play. It could be overconfidence, it could be boredom, or maybe they’re just a little seasick from staying on their luxury cruise ship off-shore.
While it was just a lackluster first five minutes against the Chinese on Saturday night, the malaise lasted a bit longer when the Americans took on Venezuela Monday. A combination of early foul trouble, careless turnovers (six in the period!), poor shooting and some scrappy defensive play by the Venezuelans kept the teams deadlocked at 18 after one quarter. Fortunately, Team USA woke up in the second quarter, going on a 30-8 binge en route to an eventual 44 point rout to stay unbeaten and take another step on the road to their goal of a third straight golden finish.
With DeMarcus Cousins and Klay Thompson racking up early fouls (Boogie wound up fouling out and scoring just six points), DeAndre Jordan and Paul George were required to step up and contribute. Both came through, as Jordan threw his weight (and a few elbows… as seen above) around in the paint (scoring 14 on 6-7 shooting with nine boards), and PG-13 got his jumper going from the outside, tallying a game high 20 also on 6-7 from the field (3-4 from downtown).
Meanwhile, Kevin Durant paced Team USA early, finishing with 16 points and five assists, while Carmelo Anthony provided a spark in the second quarter barrage and scored 14 for the U.S. (passing Michael Jordan for third all-time in Olympic scoring in the process). Jimmy Butler also chipped in 17 points off the bench to help salt things away in the second half.
It was a quieter game for Kyrie Irving, who spent his time dishing and facilitating the offense more than generating his own. He made a few terrific passes, including two that set up Melo for huge triples during the big second quarter run. Though he only scored seven, his shots were timely, and he had this long kiss off the glass following some shake and bake dribbling…
https://vine.co/v/5b7iJdK7QK7
Venezuela, despite having no NBA players on their roster, was paced by John Cox (a cousin to Kobe Bryant) and his 19 points. They were able to keep things close (at least for a quarter) with their scrappy defense and slow-it-down offense. The game was similar to the meeting between the teams during the U.S. team’s pre-Olympics tour in late July, when the U.S. shot poorly and still won by 35. The slow start could be a wake up call for Wednesday’s matchup with surprising and unbeaten Australia. The Aussies improved to 2-0 on Monday with an impressive 95-80 win over Serbia (thanks in no small part to a 23 point, 13 assist outburst from Matthew Dellavedova).
It should be a fun showdown on Wednesday between Kyrie and his former backup from down under… Stay tuned!
Cols, just so you don’t think we’re the only site touting Delly’s usefulness… Here’s what ESPN’s Jeremias Engelmann and Steve Ilardi had to say about the man with the most Surplus Value in Free Agency… http://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/17259662/best-nba-free-agency-deals-2016-offseason (and in case you don’t have an Insider subscription…) Matthew Dellavedova (Surplus value: $18.7 million) The 2016 playoffs propelled Kyrie Irving to superstardom. And while it’s obvious that Irving’s ability to create shots under difficult situations was crucial to the Cavs’ success in the Finals, we feel the need to point out that in most other situations — including the bulk of the regular… Read more »
Yeah, I don’t believe this stuff at all. If the Cavs were so much better with Delly, don’t you think the Cavs (who are one of the most analytically focused NBA organizations out there) would’ve played Delly more? They would’ve matched the contract?
Articles like this imply that the Cavs were dumb which goes against everything we know about their front office. Griffin is a huge believer in analytics. He knows what he’s doing.
It stuns me just how often you miss the point of these things… but just for argument’s sake, I still think the Delly decision had a lot more to do with Ty Lue’s usage of him not being worth the price in luxury tax DanG would have to pay… Even you wrote on this very site that they should pay Delly and keep him… even you.
Yeah, I would’ve matched because why the heck not? But I also don’t think losing Delly is going to mean any less wins for the Cavs this year.
But Dunleavy is the perfect replacement for him.
Cols is the kind of guy who enjoys arguing. His gold mine is Delly, about whom he can count on getting the CtB regulars to try to talk some sense to him about. I doubt if he has actually convinced himself that it is true.
I love how you are trying to make Delly and Kyrie into rivals. As if they are even close to each other in production and talent. One guy is a superstar who helped the Cavs win the title and the other was a benchwarmer.
Kyrie does not think of Delly as a rival or even close to him.
“It should be a fun showdown on Wednesday between Kyrie and his former backup from down under… Stay tuned!” You sure read a lot into things…
To me, Delly was (sigh) like one of those mostly forgotten members of a cycling team in the Tour de France whose job it is to set the pace and act as a windbreak for “the guy” who is able to rest and conserve his energy during the long slog of a mountain stage until the end (when it counts) when he can break out and get the win for himself and the team. I think that Delly shouldered a lot of the playing time during the regular season so that Kyrie could stay rested, fresh and healthy. Delly also… Read more »
Just for you Cols…
My kids have started to say suck. I’ve been demanded to stop saying it by my worse half. Sucks b
I can’t help but imagine an infant holding up a bottle and saying “This sucks! Gimme the boob!”
Something tells me she’s the better half.
Yeah, I’m pumped for the Delly/Kyrie matchup. I think we’ll see what practice sessions were like at Cleveland Clinics Courts these past few years.
Just for kicks, I’m gonna predict that the Aussies lose to the good guys by less than 20, and hold the U.S. under 100. This is in spite of the fact that the U.S. may come out pretty motivated to not stink up the joint for the first half. So, I’ll go with U.S. 96, Australia 80. And Delly? He will put up 17 points and have 10 assists (and have me feeling sorry that we didn’t pay him during the last off season).
Like the prediction. I don’t see Delly scoring much, but def the assists. I think this game looks like a regular season matchup between a hungry bottom dweller (Timberpups?) and a contender( I don’t know, let’s just say Cavs): a close game moves steadily out of reach in the second half. If Klay shows up, it’ll be over even sooner.
Man… Spain is hurtin for certain…
I’m pretty nervous about the Australia match-up. I think Delly’s combination of play-making and shooting is going to be a challenge for us; plus the way he defends Kyrie. Expecting a very close game.
I wouldn’t be too nervous. You guys have all the talent. For example, we relied on Joe Ingles knocking down long range shots to overcome Serbia. Joe Ingles.
US by 30
This is clutching at straws a little but if the women’s teams play each other it might be close. Australia has a couple of all stars in the WNBA and a number 1 pick who is 6’8 (but now plays in China).
Jingles is a bit like Delly in that he is an unlikely plus/minus champion. He shoots nearly 50% on corner threes for Utah though and the FIBA 3pt line is closer than the NBA line.
“Team USA has gotten off to slow starts” I guess beating teams by 40+ = slow starts.
Missing their first five shots (vs. China) or turning the ball over six times and being tied after one quarter (Venezuela) = slow starts… Not sure how much clearer that could be?
But it doesn’t matter at all.
I don’t believe I said it mattered… just an observation
Since when does “slow start” = final score? Team USA clearly got off to a slow start against Venezuela. They were fouling like crazy, and not playing great defense. After the first quarter they buckled down and blew them out. But I don’t understand the nitpicking of some posters who say that because Team USA wins by a lot, they didn’t have a slow start. The two things are not mutually exclusive… please be logical.
I wonder if Delly will even get in the game considering his wilting under the spotlights of the Finals the last two years.
Especially that awesome wilt when he totally schooled Curry in game 3 two years ago.
Yeah. He had one decent game and shot 20% for the Finals. If we had Irving or a better backup PG that year we are probably back to back champs.
Don’t really know why this continues to mean so much to you… Anyone who’s ever visited this site is pretty clear on your stance, I assure you, so no need to continually spout this…
Delly was a huge reason we even won 2 games in the 2015 Finals.
Delly shot 7/8 and had 13 assists and 0 turnovers last game. I’m guessing he’s going to play.