![]() You can see the instincts and skill set are there, but his body just doesn't allow him to turn anything loose. ![]() You're quickly reminded of Bird's back injury and just how much it took out of him because he moves like the old guy at the pickup game. The other announcer Simon says that money earned away from the court is much higher and only Roy's off-court salary can contend with Jordan's.īird checks into the game with the score 24-13. We find out one of the announcers' name is Roy when they're discussing that the basic salary of Ewing is actually higher than Jordan's basic salary. He had to be helped to the bench by Mullin and Pippen. The announcers asked who was going to win this tip and both just started laughing.Īctually, shortly after this play, it appeared that Magic suffered a calf cramp or injury of some sort. At one point, they made fun of the referee being "puny" compared to Johnson and said the official was "positively diminutive." There was even a jump ball between Magic and the 6'2" Vladan Alanovic. They were also quite taken with the size difference between Magic and several people on the court. At one point, they mention that being able to play illegal defense must feel like they were let out of jail. They also kept harping on the differences in the rule changes, which was an adjustment but not an overwhelming style difference for such a skilled team. They often would refer to them as "NBA" instead of "Team USA" or some version of that. The announcers kept finding funny ways to talk about the US team. ![]() He goes coast-to-coast and finds Pippen to make it 13-6. The US wanted to run and wear out a much thinner Croatian bench, and even after some time off from the NBA, nobody could push the tempo like Magic. He could protect the rim if you gave him the chance and the US team would learn this throughout the game.Īfter a missed runner by Croatia, Magic grabs the rebound and pushes the tempo. This seems like an apt time to remind you that in his two seasons with the Celtics, Vrankovic blocked six shots per 36 minutes, but was only given 5.5 minutes of playing time per game. The Croatian big man swatted away the first shot before Pippen was fouled on the second attempt. Pippen challenged Vrankovic early by blowing past Kukoc. This is the moment that we started to see the shot-blocking prowess of the 7'2" Vrankovic and the overwhelming skill of the US team just taking it to their opponents in waves. Jordan answered with a 3-pointer, thanks to that shorter FIBA line, and Croatia would lead again at 6-5 after free throws. ![]() They also said US coach Chuck Daly was known as the "Prince of Pessimism," which I just flat-out don't remember. They refer to Charles Barkley as "Sir Charles Barkley" at all times. It was time to see if both sides were as good as advertised.Įarly on in the game, we started getting familiar with the two foreign announcers and just how much fun they were going to bring to this telecast. The Dream Team won their first game 116-48 against Angola and Croatia won their first game 93-76 against Brazil. Their first big test was going to come in the second game of the prelims when they faced off against Croatia. This resulted with the 1992 team in Barcelona consisting of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, John Stockton, Scottie Pippen, Chris Mullin, Karl Malone, Clyde Drexler and Christian Laettner. While we still wonder who may end up on the 2016 team that will travel to Rio de Janeiro in search of a fourth consecutive gold medal, I'm reminded of that famous 1992 Dream Team.īack when the NBA wanted to galvanize the global marketing of the league, they worked it out so the NBA pros would get to play for Team USA. We've had a lot of Team USA Basketball talk happening the last week or so, as USA Basketball held their mini-camp in Las Vegas last week to have a nice, light run-through with 34 players involved in the program. As a way to help get you through your day as we wait for some more preseason football to get going, an NBA Throwback Thursday is here to kill a little time and help the nostalgia pour over you as you pretend to work. It's a Thursday in August and that means we don't have a lot of sports happening right now.
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