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Dwight Howard/ Pre-Olympic Games Thread
Topic Started: Aug 22 2007, 02:27 AM (1,106 Views)
ec23456
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Howard Named to USA Men’s Team For FIBA Americas Championship

August 20, 2007

LAS VEGAS, Nevada - Following six days of training in Las Vegas, Nev., USA Basketball announced its official 12-man roster that will represent the United States in the Aug. 22-Sept. 2 FIBA Americas Championship 2007.

Named to the USA Basketball Senior National Team were Carmelo Anthony (Denver Nuggets); Chauncey Billups (Detroit Pistons); Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers); Tyson Chandler (New Orleans Hornets); Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic); LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers); Jason Kidd (New Jersey Nets); Mike Miller (Memphis Grizzlies); Tayshaun Prince (Detroit Pistons); Michael Redd (Milwaukee Bucks); Amaré Stoudemire (Phoenix Suns); and Deron Williams (Utah Jazz).

Duke University Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski is head coach of the USA Senior Team program. Serving as assistant coaches are Syracuse University and Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim, Phoenix Suns head mentor Mike D’Antoni and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Nate McMillan.

"This is an extremely difficult decision because you have 14 guys worthy of being on the team. Someone says you have to have 12 and you try and figure out who the best 12 would be. With Kevin (Durant), one year in college and 18 years old, he’s made giant progress and he’s going to be one of the faces of the NBA and USA Basketball who will be considered next year because 10 months from now he’s only going to get better. Nick (Collison) wasn’t involved from the very beginning so to be this close to making it after being here for about a week shows what a tremendous job he did. This was an extremely difficult decision because for both kids you can make a case for either one.

"We’re pleased with the team we have and the thing that makes it difficult is people are playing well. We do have some shooters, so who do you not select? We do have depth at point guard and the physicality of the guard positions hurt us so we tried to respond to that. That’s a couple of the reasons why we selected the people we did," said Kyzyzewski.

"It sounds trite to say it was a tough decision but in all reality it was that and more because all 14 were deserving of being on this roster and unfortunately we didn’t have that luxury, we had to go down to 12," said USA Senior National Team managing director Jerry Colangelo. "The two that were not selected were really not selected to be with us the next couple of weeks and that’s the extent of it because they’re a part of our team and our team effort."

"We were a very young team last summer in the World Championship and it was because of injuries to players and some others who were not available and couldn’t participate so we’re much more of a veteran team and I think maturity means a lot in international play. Because of that leadership we’ll have with that maturity I think we’ll have a much better opportunity this go around." said Colangelo.

The USA team at last summer’s 2006 FIBA World Championship averaged 24.50 years of age. This time around, the USA team, by the end of the tournament, will average 26.16.

"The experience of the team helps us, there’s no question," stated Krzyzewski. "The good teams we play against are not only older individually, they’re older collectively. They’ve grown old together so maybe we can make up for some of that with the selections that we made.

"We’re healthy, we have great attitudes, and were anxious to play. We’d like to have more in and have more continuity with the team, but where we’re at (now) is a really good spot," added Krzyzewski.

The FIBA Americas Championship, featuring 10 men’s national teams, is one of five FIBA Olympic qualifying zone tournaments and will determine the two men’s teams from the Americas zone who will earn a qualification spot for the 2008 Olympic Games that are being held Aug. 8-24 in Beijing, China. Countries competing include 2004 Olympic gold medal champion Argentina, the 2007 Pan America Games champion Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, host United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The USA will open play against Venezuela on Aug. 22 (8 p.m. PDT), followed by games against the U.S. Virgin Islands on Aug. 23 (8 p.m. PDT), Canada on Aug. 25 (12 p.m. PDT) and Brazil on Aug. 26 (3 p.m. PDT).

The FIBA Americas Championship 2007 will be conducted in three phases. The first phase features the 10 teams divided into two groups of five teams each for the first round. The teams will play round robin within their groups over five days, with each team scheduled for one day off during the first round.

After conclusion of the first round and establishing first to fifth places for each group, the top four finishers in each first round group will advance to the second round. Teams finishing in the fifth position will conclude their participation in the tournament. The top four finishing teams of Group A and Group B will then form a single second round group, carrying with them the results obtained in the first phase.

In the second round, each team will play the four advancing teams from the other first round group. At the conclusion of the second round, the top four placed teams will advance to the third phase, and the bottom four teams will conclude their participation in the tournament.

Source:www.orlandomagic.com
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MAGICMANEVAN
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http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug...ov=ap&type=lgns
Quote:
 
Anthony scored 17 points, Bryant added 14, and the United States rolled to a 112-69 victory over Venezuela on Wednesday night in the FIBA Americas tournament.

The Americans were dominant for the final three quarters after scoring only 21 points in the first. Bryant, the NBA scoring champion the last two seasons, didn't even score in the opening period.

Michael Redd also had 17 points, Amare Stoudemire scored 16 and Dwight Howard 12 for the Americans, who improved to 27-0 in the regional Olympic qualifier. The Americans face the U.S. Virgin Islands in the final game Thursday night.

Jason Kidd and Howard started along with James, Bryant and Anthony, the three starters coach Mike Krzyzewski had already named. All 12 players saw action in the first quarter, which ended with the Americans up 21-8 after some shaky shooting.


Dwight also had 8 reb and 3 blocks.

Here is the full BOXSCORE.
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Black and Blue
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Yowza. Our boy seems pumped for this. As always, I must say: STAY HEALTHY DWIGHT!
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Ben Q Rock
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12 points, 8 boards, and 3 blocks in 14 minutes. Fantastic, IMO.
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zuppafly
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Drafting Marbury + Foyle = Championship. \o/
Yep, I watched the game last night (stated at 4am, GMT) and he was great in everything except FTs... His FT attempts were horrendous in the start of the game, but he picked it up in the start of the third.
His direct defender had 3 fouls on Dwight's first three times he got the ball in offense. lol There was simply no way to stop him down there except for fouling him and pray it wouldn't be a +1 play.
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iceveins333
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Rocks blocking shots on guys with dreadlocks
i like how bill walton said dwight and amare have not post game skills whatsoever and that it will be a liability and then he goes off and talks about how he cant wait to see dwight play under SVG
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MAGICmanSAM
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iceveins333
Aug. 23 2007 11:36 PM
i like how bill walton said dwight and amare have not post game skills whatsoever and that it will be a liability and then he goes off and talks about how he cant wait to see dwight play under SVG

Bill Walton flip-flops more than John Kerry.

On a side note: I remember a few years ago the Magic opened the season on the road against the Knicks when T-Mac was here. This game was televised on ESPN and Bill Walton said at the beginning of the game that he thought the Magic had the best team they have had since the Shaq era. The Magic ended up going 21-61.
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MAGICMANEVAN
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Yeah we KILLED them: :haha:

Virgin Islands 59, United States 123

Dwight's Statline: 2/4 FG 5/9 FT 4 REB 3 FOUL 1 STL 2 BLK 9PTS

BOXSCORE

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MAGICMANEVAN
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United States 113, Canada 63

Dwight: 17 min 3/3 fg 2/2 ft 5reb 1stl 2blk 8pts

BOXSCORE
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MagicMadness
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Man, we are dominating. I haven't seen these kinds of scores from the U.S. team in years.
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Ben Q Rock
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When I turned tonight's game off, Dwight had 0 points and 4 fouls. :/
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MAGICMANEVAN
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Ben Q Rock
Aug. 26 2007 11:01 PM
When I turned tonight's game off, Dwight had 0 points and 4 fouls. :/

He didnt score much in tonights blow out win, but that shouldnt pose any concern to us. Its not like hes getting worse because he didnt have 30 points. Its great that hes involved in basketball and hes staying in NBA shape for next season.

FINAL - USA 113 Brazil 76

Dwight: 3pts 1blk 2reb
BOXSCORE
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iceveins333
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yeah but he doesnt look like hes getting any better on offense (thanks to wasting his summers w/ team usa instead of working on his game) and he still sucks at FT's :no:
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MAGICMANEVAN
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http://www.nba.com/magic/news/FIBA_America...235086-800.html
Quote:
 
Howard's 19 Points Help Team USA Defeat Mexico

LAS VEGAS - Coming off the bench for the first time during these FIBA Americas Championship 2007, Dwight Howard responded with a big game for Team USA.

The Magic forward/center scored 19 points in his 18 minutes on the floor as the United States improved to 5-0 with a 127-100 victory against Mexico.

Howard hit 9-of-10 shots from the field and was 1-of-2 from the charity stripe for Team USA. Carmelo Anthony led Team USA with 28 points, while Kobe Bryant scored 21, LeBron James finished with 19 and Michael Redd added 15.

Magic guard Carlos Arroyo scored 11 points on 5-of-12 shooting in his 26 minutes of action, helping Puerto Rico take down Brazil, 97-75. Arroyo also had five rebounds and three assists and Puerto Rico improves to 2-3 in FIBA play.


BOXSCORE
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MAGICMANEVAN
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iceveins333
Aug. 27 2007 04:16 PM
yeah but he doesnt look like hes getting any better on offense (thanks to wasting his summers w/ team usa instead of working on his game) and he still sucks at FT's :no:

Wasting his summers with team USA instead of working on his game? What do you think he is doing? What do you call playing against other countries day-after-day? Yeah, hes just relaxing and chillin during the games and practices. :rolleyes:
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