Tuesday, August 28, 2007

    The FIBA Americas Championship would have been a whole lot more interesting had it been played as originally scheduled in Venezuela. Put Kobe Bryant on the court and Hugo Chavez in the stands and anything could happen.

    Instead, the tournament is being played in Las Vegas, the fans are badly outnumbered by empty seats and the U.S. is steamrolling opposing teams. The Americans played their most unimpressive game of the tournament Monday . . . and still walloped Mexico by 27.

    Through five games, the U.S. is averaging 117.6 points per game. Keep in mind, that's in a 40-minute game. That pace would translate to an astounding 141.2 points in an NBA regulation 48-minute game.

    Feel free to chime in about whether anything the U.S. has done in this tournament has impressed you. It's still a long way from playing for Vegas glory this summer to playing for Olympic gold in Beijing next summer.

    The Americans hit Mexico with a 45-point first quarter (that's a 180-point pace) and led by 22 at the end of the first 10 minutes. Subtract that quarter and Mexico hung around the rest of the night. The U.S. won the other three quarters just 82-77.

    In fact, the U.S. lost the second quarter 28-20. Mexico stayed in striking distance, trailing by 14 at halftime and by 15 midway through the third quarter. The 100 points the Americans gave up were 26 more than any game so far. And Mexico shot 15 of 28 from three-point range.

    Maybe a letdown was to be expected after hammering Brazil on Sunday and in the middle of a stretch in which the U.S. will play on six consecutive days. Still, Romel Beck crossing over Bryant and then hitting a three-pointer while being fouled by No. 10 was a sight to see.

    A couple of years ago, the Lakers brought Adam Parada to serve as a big body at training camp. He got a trip to Hawaii and a jersey to take home from the deal. Well, Parada had 17 points on 8 of 12 shooting Monday, rolling to the hoop for basket after basket. Visions of Greece in last year's world championships.

    Mexico also had three players who hit more three-pointers than anyone in the U.S. lineup. Carmelo Anthony led all scorers with 28 points in 24 minutes, including 16 points during that first-quarter blast off.

    For Jazz fans, Deron Williams finished with two points and four assists in 11 minutes. Williams came in late in the first quarter and again in mop-up time with the U.S. up by 30 in the fourth.

    His highlight play came in serving up a Dwight Howard dunk just before the first-quarter buzzer. In the fourth, Williams back-rimmed a three-pointer, assisted on Amare Stoudemire's circus three-point play and turned a steal at one end into a layup at the other.

    He also fed Michael Redd for a reverse layup and nearly stole Mexico's inbounds pass on the play, a nice sign of hustle considering the score.

    The Americans changed their lineup, starting Chauncey Billups and Stoudemire, and bringing Jason Kidd and Howard off the bench. That left Williams playing in a lineup alongside Kidd in the first quarter and Billups in the fourth.

    You might see that at times this season with the Jazz and Williams playing with Jason Hart or Ronnie Price against another team's small backcourt.

    Billups opened the game by hitting a three-pointer and scoring on a fast-break layup. Bryant fired a no-look pass to Anthony for a layup and later came back after having the ball stolen to hit a 28-foot (at least) three-pointer.

    The rest of the night belonged to Bill Walton.

    The story of the tournament, if anyone wants to write it, has to be the opportunity these blowouts have presented for Walton to detail the cultural and political history of the U.S. opponents, as well as their major geographical landmarks.

    Who would have guessed, for example, that one man knew so much about the Sea of Cortez? It's like Walton's playing Trivial Pursuit against himself from behind the microphone. He is his own Wikipedia.

    We learned Monday that Mexico City is home to the world's second-largest public square and that Latinos in America have a purchasing power of some $800 billion. We learned that Walton used to cross the border growing up in San Diego to play basketball in Tijuana.

    We heard about the devastation of Hurricane Dean, about the Baja Peninsula being the world's third-longest peninsula (not to mention that the main road wasn't paved until the 1970s) and one man controls 14 percent of Mexico's entire economy.

    Just imagine what Walton will come up with for the Uruguay game on Wednesday. And imagine how great it would have been to lock Walton and Chavez in a room somewhere in Caracas this summer.

    --Ross Siler