Friday morning in Japan, the USA Basketball team takes on Greece in one semifinal of the World Championships. Never ever before has it been so important for the US to win these games and tournaments, but with the embarrassment of the past few years, it is more crucial than ever.

Jerry Colangelo was brought into the mess to clean it up, and immediately, he went after a Coach who has the respect of every player from the NBA to NCAA, and that was Coach K. Second, the roster was expanded to over 20 players so injuries and personal reasons for not coming doesn’t diminish the teams chances. Last, the team would be made up not only of NBA stars, but of role players, guys who don’t need to score the ball every play to be effective, hence Shane Battier and Bruce Bowen.

The USA has played 6 games so far, trailing in two of them to Germany, and to Italy, down by 9 at the half, and in both cases they have come back and blew their opponents out. But those days are over, and if they can get past feisty Greece, the other semifinal of Spain vs Argentina is going to produce the biggest challenge to the Americans yet, and may even prove to be too much for them to handle.

The American team has been with each other for 3 weeks, although D Wade jokingly said it feels like 3 months since his NBA Finals run just ended in late June. The Spaniards and Argentines have been playing together for 10-12 years straight, and their experience and chemistry of playing with each other is something that can defeat a more talented team.

The key to beating the Americans is packing in a tight zone on defense, and making guys shoot the three. While the Americans are shooting 41% from behind the arc in the tournament, their 10-40 showing against Germany kept them in the game, and showed the world once again if you cn force the US to settle for jumpers, and stay in the game, that the US will get tight and miss easy shots.

Pimpwiz prediction:

US takes care of Greece in the semifinals, before losing to Argentina and Manu Ginobili in the championship.

A PimpWiz Exclusive BY, Ryan Berger

Labels: RyanBerger, Sports