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Allen Iverson is out for the season with an injured back. Some think the back thing is an excuse, but let’s give the player his due. Allen wants to win.

If you look out onto the hardwood court while Allen Iverson is playing, you will see a player that gives his all and does it all the time. That cannot be said for all NBA players. Years ago, Kelly Tripucka used to say that most pro players cruised through the season and then amped it up for the playoffs. Since Kelly had no cruise mode, this was how he explained his ability to outplay better players all year long.

Allen has no cruise mode.

Can Allen be a backup

Unfortunately for the Pistons, Allen could not fit in with the starters. Larry Brown was on some sport talk station the other day saying how Allen needed to score the ball and that is what he does. When Allen was in Philly with Larry, he would be set up to score the ball while his teammates set him up and played the defense. It does not work that way in Detroit. Everyone shares the load.

Now, mysteriously, Allen is out for the season. When this season ends, the experiment with the Pistons will end as well. Allen will be released to free up salary cap, plain and simple.

Iverson, 33, will be a free agent after this season and after the disaster of 2008-09 there is almost no chance the Pistons would want him back next season.

“After talking with Allen and our medical staff, we feel that resting Allen for the remainder of the season is the best course of action at this time,” Dumars said in a release. “While he has played in our last three games, he is still feeling some discomfort and getting him physically ready to compete at the level he is accustomed to playing this late in the season does not seem possible at this time.”

Iverson, who missed 16 games because of his back injury, practiced Friday morning on a limited basis. He was unavailable for comment. Dumars declined additional comment.

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Will Allen be able to return to the NBA and adapt to being a backup player? Stay tuned.

Photo source Newscom

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Tracy McGrady and Joe Smith playing the little known sport of basketball wrestling

Are the Rockets the most screwed up team in basketball or destined to win the championship?

Huh?

Yeah, you heard me, are they screwed up or going to be winners? Or maybe is it winners or whiners?

And now we get the news that T-Mac is hurt again, both the shoulder and the knee.

“My knee is about 75, 80 percent right now,” McGrady, 29, said. “It took longer than expected. I was expecting to recover 100 percent in four months, but e_SLps the doctor told me it would be six months or even more. My shoulder had, after surgery, kept bothering me. I had another MRI and discovered I have arthritis in there, so I have to have surgery again on my shoulder. That’s something I have to deal with again this season, but my knee should be ready by opening night (Oct. 29).”

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NBA Tracy McGrady factoid - What did T-Mac lead the team in last year? Assists. Surprised? So was your intrepid author.

So Tracy McGrady is going to play with nagging injuries all year and Yao Ming has missed tons of games (over 80) in the last 3 years and then you add Ron Artest to the mix?

So what does Tracy think of Ron Artest?

McGrady said after last season that the Rockets needed one more player to get over the hump. Hello, Ron Artest, whom McGrady described Monday as a godsend and a beast.

“I’ve been waiting for this for a while,” McGrady said. “I know I get criticized a lot for not leading my team out of the playoffs, but it’s hard. When you don’t have those pieces you need to elevate you to the next level, it’s hard. I don’t care how good a player is; it’s really hard.

“If you don’t have that, it’s tough. Now, I have that. We’ll see what happens.”

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This team should be loads of fun as they either self destruct or bring destruction on the other teams.

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Coach K will keep the right attitude

OK, the Redeem Team won the Gold Medal at the 2008 Olympics. Peace is restored and all is normal once again in the World!

After the Dream Team showed up and mopped up it appeared that the United States and the NBA had the winning formula, just show up with some NBA talent. It did not work.

So a plan was put in place. There was a 3 year commitment and a change in attitude. No longer would just showing up suffice.

Krzyzewski, an assistant on the 1992 Dream Team, the first team that used NBA players, said the thinking after ‘92 was to just send over the best players for each Olympics. But he said what the rest of the world did was different — build national programs from the junior level up. That’s exactly the type of thing McKillop said goes on in Argentina — with a funneling of junior players up to the Olympic team.

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Now with Coach K involved and continuing his involvement only good things are bound to happen. Coach K does it right and does it with class.

“We won a gold medal, represented our country well, and the question is now where do we go from here and how do we get better?” Krzyzewski said. “How do we make this a much better program and make it fashionable [to play for the USA]. We want people to have an intense desire to play for their country out of high school, college and the NBA. I know the guys who did were ecstatic and a number want to do it again.”

As for coaching the team again, Krzyzewski said, “right now I just want to help. I enjoy recruiting and coaching Duke but I’ll see where all of it goes. All I can tell you is that I’ll be involved. I want to be with how we go forward.”

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Check out this YouTube of Dwight Howard singing and dunking!

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Manu Ginobili knows Argentina will have to play perfect to beat the Redeem Team

The United States is a 19 point favorite over Argentina in the semi final game that starts Friday morning at 10 a.m., but hold on here. Argentina has beaten the USA twice since Dream Team time and that is an exclusive club. In fact, it was Argentina that took the Silver in the 2004 Olympics after beating the U.S. in the semis.

Still the smart money is on the Redeem Team with the way they have played in this Olympics.

Argentina has really struggled to get to this game.

Argentina had a harder time getting out of the quarterfinals than the Americans did, its fate hanging in the balance as a 3-point shot by Vassilis Spanoulis of Greece arched through the air in the final seconds on Wednesday night, hitting the rim and failing to go in. The Argentineans embraced each other, trudged exhaustedly to their locker room, then got started on the task of trying to find a way to defeat the best-looking team the United States has put on a basketball court this decade.

“We’ve got to play the perfect game, and they’ve got to miss more than usual,” Luis Scola said. “But it’s only one game, that’s all it takes — 40 minutes. We going to play the best way we can, and try to do what looks impossible right now.”

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Manu Ginobili will be starring for Argentina and Kobe Bryant will draw the defensive assignment.

The always quotable Carmelo Anthony had this to say.

“I can’t wait. I can’t wait to get over that hump,” Carmelo Anthony said. “These last two games, there’s no reason to hold anything back. To be a champion you have to beat a champion. They still have the gold medal, no matter who won the world championship in ‘06. We have to go out there and take that from them.”

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Kobe Bryant speaks Spanish. Will he learn Chinese?

Will the NBA be looking to set up shop in China? Yes.

Will the NBA be looking to set up another NBA in China? Not according to David Stern, but he does see some potential.

Stern said NBA China is in an “ongoing dialogue” with Chinese authorities about installing 800,000 baskets in villages across this sprawling country. The NBA also hopes to be involved with a Chinese professional league. But Stern balked at comparisons with the NBA’s Development League.

“That would be a separate league that would be NBA-affiliated or NBA-sponsored, but it would be independent,” Stern said. “And it would just sign players. For a very long time to come it would be at a lower scale than the NBA. But as the sport develops in China, and as more players around the world recognize the opportunities of playing in China, we see that league growing and strengthening.”

For now, the NBA will maintain its on-court presence in China with exhibition games, with games planned for Guangzhou and Beijing this fall. The teams have not been announced.

“I think that that is likely to become a regular thing,” Stern said.

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This US Team, nicknamed the Redeem Team, is more likeable than any Olympic basketball team since the Dream Team took the court in Barcelona. Chinese fans are loving LeBron James and Kobe Bryant and the dynamic style of NBA play.

David Stern has another winning hand and he knows how to play it.

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Dwight Howard is even helping other players dribble the ball

Medal play will now begin after the Redeem Team beat Germany handily 106 - 57.

Carmelo Anthony, always good for a quote, had this to say.

“It’s finally here,” forward Carmelo Anthony said. “We’re knocking on the door. It’s time to get down to business right now. We’ve got three games to accomplish what we’ve been waiting to do for four years.”

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The United States went off to a huge lead punctuated by a LeBron dunk to make the score 20 -3.

Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps made a huge impression on the Redeem Team.

After the game, the Americans celebrated in their locker room with Michael Phelps. He went 8-for-8 in Beijing, and that’s exactly what the U.S. is shooting for.

In a tribute to the record-setting swimmer, center Dwight Howard sported a pair of swim goggles at the postgame news conference, and he joked that he’s going to give the 100 meters a shot.

Dirk Nowitzki is not having a great Olympics so far and only had 14 points for Germany. By contrast, Dwight Howard had 22 points and 10 rebounds.

Be sure to check out all your Olympic news at NBCOlympics.com

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Michael Redd concentrates to float the ball

Hey, it was Angola. What can you say? Name your favorite Angolan basketball player. Hmm?

Still the US won the hoop game and they are improving.

If they have any weakness, it is from the outside. Michael Redd is the only true 3 point shooter on the team.

One of these nights, the U.S. team may need to start making some outside shots. Forcing turnovers and converting them into fast breaks has enabled the Americans to average 99 points in 40 minutes of basketball, but their outside game remains suspect - even with a 20-foot, 6-inch three-point line, considerably shorter than the NBA specifications.
Three-point shooting was a problem in Athens in 2004 and nothing has changed in Beijing. After Kobe Bryant went 0-for-8 Tuesday, the Americans are 12-for-45 in the tournament.
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When the Redeem Team gets to the really good teams and needs to make some outside shots, will they be able to do it?

Dwyane Wade led the team with 19 points.

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NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.

Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, and Kobe Bryant know this team is special

People are going crazy. The US team only won their game by 11. Maybe they are not that good after all.

Don’t believe it.

But Australia was resting Andrew Bogut, who had a sore ankle and they only lost by 11.

So what, they were resting Andrew.. Who? Oh, yeah, Bogut, who plays for the Bucks, which rhymes with sucks, as in how bad his team was this year. Bogut did not exactly dominate the NBA. So who cares if he was missing?

All right they shot badly.

The Americans relied on an aggressive defensive effort to overcome a horrendous night from 3-point range and the free throw line, the same areas that proved costly in their semifinal loss to Greece in the world championships two years ago.

Dwyane Wade scored 22 points and LeBron James had 16 for the Americans, who finished 3-of-18 from behind the arc and 20-of-33 (61 percent) at the foul line.

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Did you read that part where the US Team relied on Defense? You know, the part where your team does not have the ball. Yes, this certainly is a different US team than in the recent past. This team knows how to win.

The Australia game ended the exhibition season. Sunday will have the United States vs. China in their opener.

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Tayshaun Prince is just one way this Olympic team is different

This Olympic basketball team continues to differentiate itself from other teams of the past. They are a team that has more than just star power; it has a team feel to it. It is more than the addition of Tayshaun Prince of the Detroit Pistons. There really is the feeling that this team came to do business. They want the gold medal.

The Dream Team was larger than life and came into the Olympics with zero competition. You can’t do that anymore. The rest of the world has caught up. Even small nations have NBA stars on their roster and they bring teams that have played together for years.

The Dream Team stayed outside of the village and played a lot of golf.

The team is different.

But Howard’s lunch with Chris Bosh in Macau was good enough for Chinese fans starving for a glimpse of the U.S. Olympic basketball team, because they aren’t getting many chances. The Americans say they took it easy in that gambling town, and they’re not exactly living it up since arriving here, content to stay fresh before the Olympics.

“We really didn’t do much,” Dwyane Wade said. “We’re trying to adjust a lot to the time difference and so a lot of us are resting, trying to get our bodies right, getting a lot of massages. We went out on the town to check it out, but besides that we didn’t do much.”

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In China, the US Olympic team is treated like Rock Stars. There are 300 million people playing basketball in China. The NBA rules.

Be sure to check out all your Olympic news at NBCOlympics.com

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