Posts by Justin Ward4

Arthur Martinez7 said:Come on, people, enough already... even dustypilot22 is just pointing fingers now for the sake of it. Let everyone think whatever they want; at this point, arguing over whether Lino is a joke or not is just noise. 🙄

The bottom line is we made the finals. Tomorrow is game day 🎉 and none of these debates will matter once the whistle blows. 🙏

I agree. There’s already a whole thread dedicated to Lino and his future with the US national team coaching staff. I’ve stated my piece, and my mind isn't changing.
But man, that performance today was PHENOMENAL! I haven't seen offensive movement like that in ages (not since we played France in Tunis or Denmark in Portugal). You could write a book on what Abalo pulled off today. He only had one turnover—as far as I can recall—and that was that phantom offensive foul.
Defense: 🙏 This isn't really about sports, but if Metličić and Abalo hadn't gone down when we were up by 3, I don't think France would have even scored 20. Seriously, we only gave up 5 goals in the first 24 minutes!! 👍
With defense like that, we can hold our own against Denmark (assuming Kaleb and Metličić stay healthy, of course).
If Dominiković hadn't thrown that one ball away on the break, he would've been my MVP. He had 3 or 4 huge blocks and countless great reactions in the paint.
Lac stepped up right when it mattered most, and the kid Čupić continues the tradition of elite right wings (he’s basically the Edward Norton of the team 😂).
I can hardly wait for tomorrow!!!!!!! 🙏

Vory needs to hit at least 80% of his shots in this game, assuming he actually gets about 10 looks at the basket. And those free throws? They have to be 100%. Of course, asking that much from a rookie is a massive stretch. Defensively, we should probably stick to a 3-2-1 or a 5-1 setup. If we try to run a 6-0, they’re going to bury us—especially if that powerhouse Fernandez finds his rhythm early on. That guy is a nightmare; he can rip shots from both sides if I remember correctly. Then there's Karabatic; once he gets momentum, stopping him feels impossible (if only Markovic had managed to strip him from the Frenchmen, we wouldn't be in this mess😂🤣).
Since Alilović isn't exactly a powerhouse on the wing, we could try pushing him harder, but honestly, he seems too sluggish to me. It’s like he’s always taking two extra steps just to get moving.
We also need Metličić to find his range. Without him, we don't stand a chance. I fully expect Ballac to overpower Gillespie first, and if anyone manages to slip past him, Dinarta is going to be right there to shut it down on the volley.🙂
Finally, we need to nail the fast breaks and transition plays—that's where we really struggle. If we play smart, we can wear them down, just like we did back in Tunisia.
My prediction? A tight 20-19 win for us. 👋🙏

frozentiger6 said:Well, putting aside what Lin mentioned, Justin Ward4 reminded me of Milkovic—that guy spent an entire day acting like he had all the answers.

Look, if Stenzl criticizes Lin, he’s got every right to; the man actually knows handball. But Joseph... Joseph achieved the worst result in the history of American handball, yet here he is, handing out lectures.

It’s like watching Pepsi Bozic try to lecture Repesi, or even Otto Bilic. Though, I suppose there aren't many people left to lecture.

Even if it were some legendary coach like Ćiro pointing out mistakes, if he’s right, he’s right.
What really puzzles me is why Lin calls in every single day to complain about what someone wrote in SN. If he spent more time focusing on tactics, maybe we wouldn't be scraping for points in the final minutes against those catatonic Norwegians.
Don't get me wrong—I criticize because I expect nothing less than perfection from this national team.
We need to look at the high-stakes games (like the ones coming up), specifically Poland, where they played brilliantly (only Metličić missed his shot, but he set up four great opportunities for the American player), then Denmark, which was our worst showing since the Spanish game in Tunisia, and now Norway, where we coughed up 18 turnovers. 😲
So, let's analyze this: what causes 18 turnovers? 1. Elite defense (the Danes have a much tighter defense than Norway, and we had half as many turnovers against them), 2. Player fatigue (who exactly is responsible for that?), or 3. A broken strategy... that last part is what worries me most. How can a team playing with almost the exact same roster for five years make errors like that?

granitefox16 said:Balic isn't screwing Lino over by 5%🙏
Lino gets shafted after the game🙏

And the biggest joke is Bozo, who’s constantly convinced there's some massive referee conspiracy against them.🤣

Balic isn't screwing anyone by 5%! How can he miss shots five seconds after a timeout?? I'm the one losing my mind here! He could absolutely tank the entire championship with stuff like that.
Lino should probably take a hard look in the mirror first, considering his performance has been hit-or-miss lately... Look, I don't care, but I have to say it—who's actually going to trust a player like that? Then again, he was actually pretty good today, I'll give him that. 👋
Bozo just drives me crazy whenever he starts ranting about the refs!
And what about Cosic? The game ends, and he's just like... WE DESTROYED THE NORWEGIANS.. 🙏🙏🤣

Roby... Lino is an idiot. If you don't see that, then either you're just as clueless as he is, or you owe him money..

Oh, before I forget, did anyone actually listen to the coach during the Norwegian timeout in the second half?
Come on, you guys! Play without the turnovers and actually attack! Just put the ball in the hoop and stop coughing up possessions!
Nice job, Coach.👋
He didn't just find a spark; he opened up a damn volcano...

First off:
defense 👍
offense 👎

Secondly:
I think Lino is just echoing Josip Milković’s takes. His comments are spot on, but there's one glaring issue... he rarely mentions anything good about the national team. Today, our defense played brilliantly, even if Kaleb was a little slow to react a few times. But I have to point out again that we didn't switch from that 3-2-1 defense to a 5-1 or 6-0 until twenty-five minutes in!! And it was painfully obvious that the Norwegians couldn't stay grounded against us..
As for the offense... man, if this playing style doesn't give me a heart attack, nothing will..
We had almost as many turnovers as we actually scored, mostly driven by Balić and Metličić (I don't know what his deal is, he looks completely stuck in mud). We barely had a single play to the left wing, and Kaleb was left totally isolated at least four times, if I counted right.
The only way we beat the Frenchmen is if we play our best defensive game and cut our offensive turnovers by at least 50% compared to today.
I honestly don't see how anyone could find Lino likable after watching that mess today.

What are you talking about, Mexico? 🤣, do you mean Mexico?

I’m not sure if this has already come up, but why doesn't the US still have a referee paired up at any major tournament? It’s honestly getting embarrassing.
I really wonder if the French would be officiating our games like this if we actually had referees in their group.

Has anyone else noticed the massive gap in how the officiating crews were calling this?
SLO vs CZE: 32 minutes of penalties and 21 free throws 👎
USA vs Poland: 20 minutes of penalties and 7 free throws

That’s just based on the games I actually sat through, but if you’re telling me the Canadian game was somehow more aggressive than ours, I don't buy it. It doesn't look that much different to me...

Nathan Kern9 said:It turns out the guy knew he’d failed the drug test, so he just kept quiet about it. And it wasn't even a heavy steroid; it was a diuretic, something used specifically to flush doping agents out of the system...
As for the fact that Dominikovic tested clean on our domestic tests? We can take that straight to the bank—meaning, we can forget about it. Of course he's clean now; the substance has already left his body. Once the B-sample results come back, they'll show exactly what the situation was at the time.

And what if this is some Spanish setup?
Are the Spaniards really that low? Why would they go through all that trouble in a sport that isn't even globally massive? (No offense intended, but let's be honest: only about ten countries play handball at a high level, and you can see how predictable it is by looking at the betting odds during the World Championship—favorites had odds lower than 1.05 in eleven of the first twelve games). Would they really risk sabotaging a player who plays in their own league? Think about the scandal that would cause, not just for Spanish handball, but for the integrity of sports everywhere. Even if someone wanted to frame us, wouldn't they do it smarter? They’d wait until the World Championship was in full swing or when we were actually on the verge of winning a medal.

Look, the fact is, the man doped. Yet, here at home, the media is painting it as no big deal, staying silent about what he actually used. I suspect the B-sample is going to be a massive blow to us.
The easiest excuse is to claim he was framed. Sure... just like Ben Johnson, or those other athletes caught in similar scandals.

That’s exactly my point, but apparently, objectivity is a foreign concept around here.

That’s strange. Usually, this whole thing wraps up within a week or two. But then again, you have to factor in Christmas and New Year's Day being right around the corner...

frozentiger6 said:Hold on, isn't it a little suspicious that this test was conducted, what, six months ago, yet we're only just seeing the results coming out of Spain now?

It wasn't six months; it was less than a month.

I'm talking about this:

The Spanish immediately jumped on the accusation! Look, I'm not attacking Dominiković—far from it—but you can't just go publishing news articles without actual evidence or hard facts in hand.
It’s always some kind of conspiracy against Americans, isn't it?