The 2012 Olympic Games, my favorite basketball dream team

The 2012 Olympic Games, I like the most is a basketball game.LONDON — Often obscured in the haze of celebration of the Dream Team is this fact: The United States actually voted against allowingN.B.A. players to participate in the Olympics in 1992.As it turned out, American self-interest was trumped by global embrace. The outcome was hugely beneficial. Basketball soared internationally and now can rightfully claim to be the world’s second-most-popular sport behind soccer.

I've always enjoyed NBA basketball,so I have been paying attention to them.According to USA Basketball, the national governing body, the performance of Olympic players often increases in subsequent NBA seasons. Kobe Bryant dismissed the under-23 idea as stupid. Carmelo Anthony said players should be allowed to decide on their own, regardless of age, whether to represent their country. "David Stern's views are based on him protecting his players," said Pops Mensah-Bonsu, a British forward who formerly played for the Mavericks and the New Orleans Hornets. "But it's the Olympics. If you put age limits, you'll take away from what it really means. "

share:I like the small but fast recreational basketball.

Since both teams lack an interior post player with any size, look for both teams to play small ball for long stretches and in crunch time. The Heat will play LeBron at the 4 spot and the Thunder will play Durant at the 4 spot as well. From there, both defenses will most likely switch everything and look to spread the court and play pick and roll, dribble penetration heavy basketball on offense. Both teams also have the top two transition/fast break offenses. With the small lineups, look for an increase in turnovers and therefore 2on1s and 3on2s with lots of alley oops, dunks and tons of more fun stuff.

Some more quick things to watch for:

1.The Thunder will dominate bench scoring seeing as Harden is the only significant bench player in the series, unless Bosh continues to play off the bench.

2.Will D-Wade continue to have slow starts?

3.These are not only the most athletic teams but they are also the most active defenses. Anticipate seeing lots of deflections, helpside blocks and quick defensive rotations as both teams use their length and speed.

4.Late game execution will be huge. Most of these games will be close and come down to the wire. Hopefully, both teams are working on situations in their practices and shoot arounds so that every one is on the same page in crunch time.

5.Will we see a game winner from LeBron? It is almost a perfect storyline ending to season full of late game follies.