Raoul

July 10th, 2011 at 8:58 PM ^

I was just about to post a thread about this, but saw yours before doing so. Hope you don't mind if I insert here what I was going to post:

In their final game, Team USA beat Australia 78-77 to take fifth place in the FIBA U19 World Championship. Saving his best game for last, Tim Hardaway Jr. led the way with 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists. That was in 23 minutes of actiion—or nearly a point a minute. According to the USA Basketball recap, he also made a key defensive play at the end:

Australia, following a U.S. timeout with 8.2 ticks remaining, inbounded the ball to its leading scorer Hugh Greenwood, who had 26 points and to that point and who had made 6-of-13 3-point shots. Matched against the USA’s Hardaway, Hardaway kept the scorer in front of him and forced Greenwood into a desperation three that was well off target. Lamb came up with the rebound and the USA had the 78-77 win.

“Coach Hewitt and the coaching staff had total confidence in me to stay on their best scorers throughout this whole tournament, so I knew I was going to have to get one defensive stop and it was a do or die,” stated Hardaway. “He (Australia’s Hugh Greenwood) had 26 points and that’s their main guy so it’s either do die. I just made sure I stayed in front of him, contained him. They had four seconds left so I knew if I stayed in front of him for three more seconds he would have to put up a shot over me, so I just stayed in front of him and just contested the shot.”

Over the course of the nine games Team USA played, Hardaway averaged 9.4 points. His overall shooting percentage was 43.3 percent, and he made 27 percent of his three-pointers. Here are his accumulated and game-by-game stats:

Accumulated Statistics
      FG   2pts   3pts   FT   Rbds              
G Min M/A % M/A % M/A % M/A % O D Tot As PF To St BS Pts
9 182 29/67 43,3 19/30 63,3 10/37 27 17/20 85 6 13 19 16 14 11 9 2 85
 
Game by Game Statistics
      2pts   3pts   FT   Rbds              
Match Min M/A % M/A % M/A % O D Tot As PF To St BS Pts
vs EGY 22 1/1 100 1/2 50 2/2 100 0 0 0 4 1 1 1 1 7
vs SRB 22 2/2 100 1/7 14,3 4/4 100 0 1 1 4 2 2 2 0 11
vs CHN 21 2/2 100 3/5 60 0/0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 2 0 13
vs CAN 16 0/1 0 1/4 25 0/0 0 0 2 2 0 0 2 1 0 3
vs LTU 17 3/4 75 0/1 0 4/5 80 1 1 2 1 3 2 1 0 10
vs CRO 25 3/7 42,9 1/2 50 0/0 0 0 1 1 0 2 0 1 0 9
vs RUS 22 1/1 100 0/5 0 2/2 100 2 1 3 2 2 2 0 0 4
vs POL 14 2/3 66,7 0/4 0 3/4 75 0 4 4 2 2 2 0 0 7
vs AUS 23 5/9 55,6 3/7 42,9 2/3 66,7 3 2 5 2 1 0 1 1 21
Finally, Hardaway's quotes following the last game:

Tim Hardaway

Your comments on today’s game.

I think we played very well as a team and showed great heart out there today and not giving up on the offensive rebounding Australia did because they did a great job with that in the first half and we made sure we boxed them out in the second half and made sure we took care of that. I think we just played tough out there today.

Talk about what happened on that last defensive stand where you were on their shooter Hugh Greenwood?

Coach Hewitt and the coaching staff had total confidence in me to stay on their best scorers throughout this whole tournament, so I knew I was going to have to get one defensive stop and it was a do or die. He (Australia’s Hugh Greenwood) had 26 points and that’s their main guy so it’s either do die. I just made sure I stayed in front of him, contained him. They had four seconds left so I knew if I stayed in front of him for three more seconds he would have to put up a shot over me, so I just stayed in front of him and just contested the shot.

What was the mood like in the locker room afterwards?

We’re all happy that we had this opportunity and the experience to come out here and see how everybody else plays, how different countries go out there and play hard against us. It’s just a great opportunity in itself to come out here. I think that’s what we’re all trying to soak up, think about, we’re going to miss it when we go back to the states.

What will you personally take back to your college from this experience?

Getting over flare screens (laughing along with Coach Hewitt)…I’m going to try and work on that when I get back. Over here in Europe they do a great job of using ball screens and setting their man up, so just watching that and defending that will help me in the long run.

I noticed yesterday you got frustrated with yourself for missing opening jump shots, what was the problem and what was the difference today?

I think it was just…I have no idea. I think it was just going out there and just trying to shoot the ball and not think about it, just go out there and shoot, stop aiming for the basket and just try and play in the flow of the game, let the game come to me. That’s what my teammates were telling me after the game yesterday, ‘just let the shot come to me and don’t try and find shots and just play in the flow of the offense.

You had to play against American teams, European teams and Asian teams, do you noticed a difference in the style of play and have to adjust to it.

It’s a different style of play over here, but basketball is basketball and you just have to go out there and give it your all, give it 110 percent when you step on that floor. Over here it is really different…but as coach said, they play just as good as anyone else. You just have to go out there and just play.

Michigan-poo-poo

July 10th, 2011 at 10:38 PM ^

says the queer with 11292 mgo points.... move out of yo mommas house and take off your star wars cape you gluesniffer... get laid and get some sun you obviously need it... I WILL TAKE YOUR MOTHER TO A NICE SEAFOOD DINNER AND NEVER CALL HER AGAIN!