2008 Olympics Blog: Day 7
Submitted by Jon_Pastuszek on Sun, 08/17/2008 - 1:25am.
Yesterday was quite a day. First, the weather was absolutely perfect. After three days of off and on rain, Beijing’s skies cleared up and the air cooled down, providing people with a perfect day.
I also was lucky enough to obtain a ticket to enter Olympic Green Park, where among other things, the Water Cube and Bird’s Nest Stadium are located. Standing next to these wonders of architecture really made me realize the gravity of the Olympic games, and it also made me realize how fortunate and lucky I was to be in the city during this momentous occasion.
I also had my first and possibly last encounter with an Olympic athlete. Last night while in the zoo that is Beijing’s bar district, San li tun, I ran into the Angolan basketball team at a dance club.
Let me tell you this: The scouting report doesn’t lie. These guys were all physical specimens that looked as if they were chiseled from stone, and nobody was over 6-6.
Their cover was blown and my conjecture confirmed when a woman yelled “Oh my goodness, that’s the Angolan basketball team!” and ran up to get pictures.
Maybe being my only moment to strike up a conversation with some Olympic athletes, I decided I should approach the group to get a few words in. About an hour after entering the club, I went over to the group for a chat.
The conversation went something like this.
“Hey, how do you ya’ll like Beijing?” I ask. Nobody responds. The three look off at the dance floor. It’s loud, maybe they didn’t hear me. After a good ten seconds of awkwardness, one player notices me and leans down to my level. I repeat my question a little louder.
Me: “How do ya’ll like Beijing, man?” He looks me blankly for a second. Then he rises back up and looks off onto the dance floor again.
“…No English…” he says. I know how to say two sentences, “You smell” and “I love you” in Portuguese, but I try nonetheless to think of something to say in their language. I decide that I’d better not profess my love or comment on their odor. After ten more seconds of awkwardness, I drop my parting words.
“OK,” I say. I give dude a pound, give a thumbs up to show my appreciation for the rest of the squad, and go outside. A very brief Olympic moment, but a moment nonetheless.
Links:
There are more cheerleaders right now than there are people in Fort Lauderdale.
I wasn’t lying when I told you that riding the subway in Beijing during rush hour stinks.
Zaza Pachulia the instigator has turned into Zaza Pachulia the peacemaker. Our hats are off to Zaza on this one, as his heart is definitely in the right place.
Jannero Pargo joins the long list of American NBAers headed overseas next season.
Members of Team USA go to watch Michael Phelps break world records.
Interesting article on government censorship and television events in China.
The NBA will not allow teams to sign 7-2 Iranian standout Hamed Ehadadi until the NBA has been granted a liscense from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control
Matchday 4 Recap:
Saturday’s round of games determined the final eight teams that will be participating in the medal-round. China and Australia both won their critical games to clinch the final spots in their group, and Lithuania and the United States both clinched the top positions. Here’s a recap of the day’s action.
Greece 102 – Angola 61
As expected, Greece romped to a huge win over Angola. The Greek’s were a ridiculous +17 on the glass, and Ioannis Bourousis had 22 points on a perfect 9/9 shooting day. The two teams combined for only 23 points in the first quarter, but then Greece turned it on, scoring 31 points in the second quarter and 38 in the third.
The members of the Angolan at the club I was at weren’t acting too depressed about the loss. In fact, they were smiling and talking almost the entire night. Free drinks all night and a club full of scantily clad women can do that.
Box score
Australia 95 – Russia 80
Well, I guess the Australian media and I were a little quick to criticize Andrew Bogut. The Aussie center scored 22 points and snatched 8 rebounds to lead the Boomers to a shock victory over the reigning 2007 Eurobasket champions, Russia. C.J. Bruton also scored 22 for the Australians, and hit 4/8 from three. With the win Australia advances to the quarterfinals, and ends Russia’s tournament.
Kirilenko clanked his way to a putrid 1/10 for the match, and J.R. Holden turned the ball over six times. The two lead the tournament in minutes, with Holden averaging 38.3 and Kirilenko 36. AK-47’s shooting percentages went down every single game, and I think fatigue may have had something to do with that. Blatt played the pair quite a bit at Eurobasket, so this is something that the two have to be used to, but I still think it was unwise to play these guys for so many minutes, especially early in the tournament.
Box score
Lithuania – Croatia
Lithuania successfully clinched first place in Group A, despite getting a combined 16 points from Rimantas Kaukenas, Sarunas Jasikevicius and Ramunas Siskauskas. Mindaugas Lukauskis netted 20 points in 21 minutes, and Linas Kleiza continued his strong play with 18 points. Lithuania outscored Croatia 28-11 in the decisive fourth quarter. The Lithuanians are 4-0, and will likely play China in Wednesday’s quarterfinal round.
In losing their last two games, the Croatians have definitely been exposed as a team that relies heavily on the three. Since starting the tournament 2-0, they have gone for a combined 8/32 from beyond the arc. They’ll need to avoid a letdown against Iran on Monday to stay in 3rd place in Group B, which would set them up with a quarterfinal matchup against Spain.
Box score
Argentina 97 – Iran 82
Manu Ginobili scored 32 and Luis Scola added 20 as Argentina brushed aside a pesky Iran squad to get to 3-1. The win puts the Argentines in 2nd place in Group A. Hamed Ehadadi had 21 points and 16 points for Iran, who now stands at a winless 0-4. Ehadadi (mentioned earlier in links) has now had games of 9 and 8 against Russia, 15 and 8 against Australia, 21 and 9. Pretty impressive.
Assuming Greece beats China on Monday, the Argentines and the Hellas will meet up in what could be a great quarterfinal matchup. Argentina may be the second best squad in Beijing right now – Scola is playing consistently well, and Ginobili is officially back. The latter development is particularly bad news for the rest of the field.
Box score
China 59 – Germany 55
China didn’t play as poorly as Germany did, and now the Chinese are celebrating a birth into the quarterfinals. Yao Ming’s 25 points and 11 rebounds spurred China to a close victory, overcoming a great individual performance by Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki. The Big German had 24 points and 17 rebounds, and led a fourth quarter comeback that he almost completed singlehandedly.
This was an ugly, grind it out affair from the start. Yao was the only Chinese to score in double figures. Only five Germans put the ball through the hoop. There were 89 total rebounds been the two teams. China’s anemic 32.8% shooting from the field was narrowly better than Germany’s 29%.
I predicted yesterday that the raucous Beijing crowd and Yao would be the difference maker, and I was right. Credit Yao for staving off Dirk’s one-man show in the final frame. He hit some clutch shots to break-up momentum. The thing to take away from this sloppily played game was the individual matchup of Dirk and Yao. The two of them were going toe-to-toe the entire night, and both guys refused to let their countries go off into the night as losers.
Box score
United States 119 – Spain 82
The United States topped their sensationally dominating performance against Greece on Thursday by completely annihilating Spain, leaving no doubt who the favorite is in this tournament. LeBron James had a killer 18-5-8 line and Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony each had 16. The Americans shot 58% for the game, and made Spain pay dearly when they went to zone, shooting 12/25 from behind the three point line.
More on this tomorrow, but I think we have something special on our hands here. This team’s athleticism and defense are ten notches above everyone else at this point. Team USA outscored Spain 32-0 on fast break points and forced 28 turnovers. I don’t think there’s a way to slow down Coach K’s team. They have been excellent at forcing the issue, making teams submit into playing their style of hoops. Coach K said that this team would be playing to their strengths, and they’re doing a superb job of doing just that.
Hopefully, we haven’t seen the best of “The Redeem Team.” In the next round, there cannot be any letdown and the Americans will have to bring this level of intensity to every game from here on out.
Box score
That’s it for today. Zaijian.
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