s_knight8
2004-08-27 15:19:25 UTC
http://www.detnews.com/2004/olympics/0408/27/h01-256157.htm
The stew over Brown's timeout was more a red herring for Pesquera's real
gripe: what he felt was repeated traveling violations by the Americans.
It explained, in Pesquera's mind, why the United States won and why a big
crowd at Olympic Indoor Hall was so pro-Spain, or, maybe more accurately, so
anti-United States.
"They (the fans) did not cheer for the weakest, but for the strongest team,
and that was us," Pesquera said. "It's time we told the truth."
"We need to be honest about this - the U.S. team was playing at about 40
percent capacity for two games," Pesquera said, adding this zinger about the
Americans' three-point success. "The U.S. team came out good. They moved
from 18 percent to 55 percent accuracy."
Why the United States has drawn such sniping at Athens is only superficially
a mystery.
The Americans have gone from being stars of the show to being targets.
"There's an image issue here," said Pau Gasol, Spain's talented forward, who
had 29 points Thursday. "It's kind of how they (U.S. players) act, it's how
they've been playing. They've not been playing very well, so everyone wants
to kick them out of town."
"We have won so much, sometimes not acted the best, and it's a compliment
people want us to lose," Brown said. "We are the big guy on the block now,
and I hope that people will cheer for the underdogs. They do it in our
country. They even did it for Detroit."
Maybe that's the answer, Larry. Based on attitudes toward this particular
U.S. team, you should have brought the Pistons.
The stew over Brown's timeout was more a red herring for Pesquera's real
gripe: what he felt was repeated traveling violations by the Americans.
It explained, in Pesquera's mind, why the United States won and why a big
crowd at Olympic Indoor Hall was so pro-Spain, or, maybe more accurately, so
anti-United States.
"They (the fans) did not cheer for the weakest, but for the strongest team,
and that was us," Pesquera said. "It's time we told the truth."
"We need to be honest about this - the U.S. team was playing at about 40
percent capacity for two games," Pesquera said, adding this zinger about the
Americans' three-point success. "The U.S. team came out good. They moved
from 18 percent to 55 percent accuracy."
Why the United States has drawn such sniping at Athens is only superficially
a mystery.
The Americans have gone from being stars of the show to being targets.
"There's an image issue here," said Pau Gasol, Spain's talented forward, who
had 29 points Thursday. "It's kind of how they (U.S. players) act, it's how
they've been playing. They've not been playing very well, so everyone wants
to kick them out of town."
"We have won so much, sometimes not acted the best, and it's a compliment
people want us to lose," Brown said. "We are the big guy on the block now,
and I hope that people will cheer for the underdogs. They do it in our
country. They even did it for Detroit."
Maybe that's the answer, Larry. Based on attitudes toward this particular
U.S. team, you should have brought the Pistons.