USA looks golden ... but watch out for Spain 2008-08-14 News Miami Heat

In its 92-69 thrashing of Greece, Team USA finally proved itself capable of winning the gold.

Once again, depth was a major factor, but it was the Americans' fast hands on defense that really made the difference. Their incessant ball-hawking, double teaming on the wing, and passing-lane poaches led to Greece's 25 turnovers — which in turn led to 32 points on the run.

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Analysis

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Here are some other positives:

After getting screen/rolled to death by previous Greek squads, Team USA just about nullified it this time. In all, Greece managed to generate only 12 points off their screen-and-rolls, with only two of these coming in the decisive first half.

Aggressive switches, energetic shows by the bigs, some effective (if erratic weak-side help), plus the guards cheating toward the screens all contributed to this shut-down defense. It should also be noted, however, that Greece went more to weak-side screens than to high screen-and-rolls, doing so with only moderate success.

Early on, the Americans took advantage of certain matchups by setting up isolations for their best one-on-one scorers (mostly Kobe Bryant).

Overall, Team USA played outstanding perimeter defense, avoiding overreacting to ball-penetration and alertly maintaining proper spacing on the weak side. That's why Greece shot only 4-for-18 on their long-ball attempts.

Another indication of the Americans' fast hands on defense was the numerous passes they deflected.

Their quick feet also enabled them to outmaneuver their opponents and regularly intercept entry passes.

In sum, Team USA's quicksilver defense mostly prohibited Greece from effectively running their slow-down, precision offense.

But since there's no such thing as a perfect game, Team USA also exhibited its share of flaws vs. Greece — flaws which might prove costly against Spain.

Until a couple of last-minute makes (by Michael Redd and Deron Williams), the U.S. was still only 5-for-18 from beyond the arc.

Once again, their performance at the foul-line was dismal — 13-for-23, 56.5 percent.

Quite often, the gambling defense by the guards was unsuccessful and led to drives and drops.

Too many turned heads also led to backdoors cuts and layups.

Greece's guards were able to drive to the rim with an alarming frequency and the necessary weak-side help was often not there.

Biggest surprise performance: Despite his woeful free-throw shooting (4-for-9), Dwyane Wade single-handedly turned a tight game into a rout during his initial rotation. Wade seemed to be everywhere — acrobatically turning a loose ball into a dramatic assist, bulling his way to the basket, passing, stealing, and even knocking down a trey.

Most disappointing performance: Dwight Howard scored only two points (to go with his six rebounds), and was repeatedly out of position on defense. Blame Howard for most of the layups tallied by the Greeks on his watch.

Conclusion: Once they got used to Greece's game plan, the Americans simply ran wild. Most significantly, it was Team USA's defense that generated all the offense they required.

Outlook: In retrospect, the Greeks weren't as good as advertised; after losing to the Americans, their record stood at 1-2. Spain's guards will be quicker and much more talented (especially Jose Calderon) and so will their back line (especially the brothers Gasol). Team USA will have to improve both from the stripe and from 3-point territory, make more judicious gambles and provide more consistent weak-side help on defense to overcome a Spanish team that has had tremendous success against all-comers in international competition. It's not unlikely that the upcoming USA-Spain contest will be a preview of the gold medal game.