Men’s b-ball power rankings; foreigners dominate NBA playoffs at Summer Olympian

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Men’s b-ball power rankings; foreigners dominate NBA playoffs

Posted April 24, 2008 at 02:41 PM by Os Davis

Section: Beijing 2008, Events, Basketball, Featured Writers, Os Davis

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Why have foreigners taken the last three MVP awards in America’s NBA? The simple answer can be in the handful of first-round playoff games in the books.

Though the race for NBA MVP will probably come down to a choice among four Americans, including certain Olympic Team USA members LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, the most impressive games one were turned in by the likes of Tim Duncan, Pau Gasol, and Manu Ginobili.

Duncan went well beyond playing in the clutch to playing out of his mind, going for a 40 and 15 in the double overtime victory against the Phoenix Suns. O, and he sent the game into that second extra bit with his first three-pointer in two seasons.

Meanwhile, the game-winning layup had NBA Sixth Man of the Year Manu Ginobili driving past Amare Stoudamire like his feet were nailed to the floor. While the Suns brought aboard the man-mountain Shaquille O’Neal specifically to play ball against Tim Duncan, Phoenix management apparently forgot the Argentine for whom they still have no answer.

On the West Coast, all Pau Gasol did was lead his team in points (36), rebounds (16), blocks (3) and assists (9) in his first playoff game as a Los Angeles Laker. Think he’s happy to no longer be stuck inside of Memphis? (Incidentally, brother Marc put in 25 points on 12-of-15 shooting to go with 11 boards for top-division Spanish team Akasvayu Girona on Sunday.)

All this, of course, is but prelude to introduce the first of SummerOlympian.com’s power rankings for men’s basketball in the Games. Stay tuned for version 1.1 in one month.

Drumroll, please…

(1) USA. Though they’re an Olympiad past holding the title and no longer possess the sheen of invincibility, the destruction done at the 2007 FIBA Americas with Kobe and the Kidd aboard puts them back on top. Tentatively. For now.

(2) Argentina. The defending champs should not be ranked any lower; we’ll chalk the no. 2 spot up to the retirement of Pepe Sanchez from international play.

(3) Spain. We’ll see what the effects of a long playoff run are on ready-to-be-called-superstar Marc Gasol, but right now Team Spain has no apparent weaknesses on the roster.

(4) Lithuania. Would be a shoo-in for the silver in any other year. In 2008, figure the Grateful Dead’s favorite team to be the dark horse.

(5) Russia. After laying waste to Russia’s Superleague on the way to a 23-1 regular-season record, CSKA Moscow is sending their starting squad to Beijing. Reckon they’ll not have many problems with chemistry.

(6) Australia. Though the Olympic field is noticeably strong for 2008, there’s a distinct drop in quality level among those teams already qualified. That gap opens here; while perhaps one of the better Oz teams in years, the relative inexperience may be too much to compete even with the European clubs coming out of final qualifiers.

(7) China. Whoa, after three games, Team China is undefeated? Surely this is the surprise of the century; why isn’t there more press on this? Why – what’s that? Women’s basketball? Oh, sorry.

(8) Iran. We think.

(9) Angola. Two and out, anyone?

(10) Germany. Deutschland will jump in the poll once they actually qualify. Or when the Dallas Mavericks are bumped from the NBA playoffs and Dirk Nowitski’s vacation begins. Say, next week.