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This Monday the US National Team (0-1) takes on China (1-0). China has just come off 128-79 win over *snicker* Nigeria, so basically they're untested so far. Unlike the Czechs in the last game, China's post players are primary heavy thugs, so their game plan won't be a surprise to anyone…expect look inside followed by a little more look inside, topped off with a fair helping of inside looking action.

For your edification, US coach Coco oddly responded to this reporter's queries on the game with a haiku:

Jim Beam and I watch
Weeks cough up the ball again
I pour another

Honestly, I'm not if the pressure is getting to Coco or he's now working on some rarified level beyond our understanding. China NT coach GATMAN, even with a poor grasp of English, made more sense and gamely took on some of the toughest questions ever posed by a reporter:

1. The outcome of your game against Nigeria was, shall we say, never in doubt. Do you think China has a real chance to beat some top teams and win the season 20 gold at Worlds? Be honest.
We will try our best to win the season 20 gold if our fine situation could been kept.

2. If you had the ability to remove one US player from Monday's game, which would it be, and why?
I would remove Homer Frye because he got the most PTS in the latest game. (ed. note - he's referring to a season 19 scrim which was the last time the US and China played, not last week's match in which Frye had a yawntastic game.)

3. USA coach Coco has said some interesting things about you. Really interesting things. What do you think of his coaching abilities? You can be candid, I won't print your response.
I am not familiar with Coco, I have no idea what he had said. Coco has proven himself. US has been beaten Chile and win the champion of Americas.

4. China surprisingly lost to Australia in the Asian finals last season. Are you hoping for rematch in the Worlds, or hoping to avoid the fearsome Australian juggernaut?
It was an accident that we lost to Australia. The condition of the team leads to the game result.

5. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
?

6. Does your team have a player who is a favorite with the Chinese community?
Many of them.

7. China has one the world's best big men in Sha Chenglin. Unfortunately he's not on your roster because of game shape issues. Think you can convince his owner to stop playing him 100+ minutes per week?
It always happen in every season. We lose many excellent players every year however also many fresh good players are outstanding.

8. How many Chinese does it take to change a lightbulb?
lightbulb?

Poll:  What should Homer Frye's new nickname be?

I always LOL when you ask about how many of them it takes to screw in a light-bulb, and give them tongue twisters.

Sky High Fry!

Game Recap
(20293)
Tensions were running high on both sides of the battle, both before and during the game. Well at least on our side. Coco and other senior US managers were scrambling around making lineup decisions right up til 1:15. On the Chinese front, they were calmly performing ancient Buddhist and Shaolin breathing techniques.

The whole game was a foul-fest and with Alton Johnson dishing out 5 fouls in a little over one quarter. Joining him in the almost ejected category were Jamie "Shifty" Nix, who preferred trips from behind and blindsiding, and Bill "I suck at shooting" Weeks, who just threw the ball at people (coincidentally hitting more people than jumpers, threes, or inside shots). Speaking of Bill Weeks, he got destroyed today, going 0-9 with a 116 opposing PP100. When asked about his poor performance he replied "The strange man who offered me opium said it would make me play better not worse". Looks like Coco's haiku was right on the money. The half ended with USA up by one point.

Coco, again was not able to do a halftime speech, as he was watching the Euro Cup (Ireland 0-2 Italy), so we had jfarb do it. "AJ, stop fouling godammit. Bill Weeks, stop shooting, you suck.Just pass the ball to Lorenzo "Spicy" Bland. This is your time. Now go out there and take it".

The US came out hooting and shooting early in the second half, inspired by jfarb. However, as the half wore on, they realized that he stole the speech from Miracle. They then began to lose the lead, and they did not regain it for the rest of the game. The final score was 109-101. The team left as quickly as possible, so as to avoid having to pay up the trillions in debt to the Chinese, so I was not able to get any interviews.

Next week, USA plays Italy on Monday the 25th at 1:30.
Now for some shameless advertising. If you would like to help with the gameplan for the NT or U21 teams, as well as get advice on your team by top US managers, and have access to many helpful tools, join the USA Offsite forum. To join, go to http://s3.zetaboards.com/BuzzerBeater_USA_NT/index/ and create an account. Then BBmail mod-jfarb ([team= 28800]) with the username you used to apply for the Offsite (which should be the same as your onsite username).