Eurobasket 2009

[greenwise]

Spain played much better today. Slovenia forced overtime on a buzzer beater but fell just short. It is tough to play against Spain since you have to beat the refs too...Overall it was a good game, very intense but the arrogance of Spanish players is just unbearable...After this game I absolutely despise Rudy Fernandez. I have never seen a more cocky player...

The whole "to beat Spain you have to beat the referees, too" and referee type of comments in general are very boring and dull . There's always someone outraged about no matter what, be it the Champions League, the European Championship, etc. At some point we should just forget the referees and assume that sometimes you get the calls and other times it will be your rival who benefits from bad refereeing.
Many people too often blame tournament winners for benefitting from referee protection but aren't just these teams, at the same time, the ones everyone considered to be the best ones anyway? Don't we consider Kobe and Lebron to be amongst the TOP5 best players in the league but at the same time we cannot stand that they get what we believe is EVERY call? To get the calls you have to earn some respect and only winners do earn it.

Anyway, concerning the Euro, I agree that Spain has been playing like @#*¤it, given the standards they had set in the last years. Problem for me is the loss of Calderon affects their play more than they would have known. Now there are 3 different point guards running plays, none of whom has played 30 minutes consistently and the situation is a bit of a mess. Things looked better against Slovenia but it is sort of scary how the Spanish team does not seem able to close out games.
Someone asked about Rubio. Too many turnovers so far. Not playing consistently enough in my opinion.

The competition looks strong this year except for Russia and Lithuania who have their B Teams playing. I would put my money on Turkey as of now, they have been solid and have executed games perfectly. Other than that, Spain will turn things around (I hope) and France and Croatia are the other teams I see with a chance. France because they have a deep team and are in a good rythm after having to qualify for the tournament last minute (this August) and Croatia because they seem to have put together somewhat of a competitive squad after a long time.
Further, I don't think the Greek team is deep enough and the Serbians -  although they completely killed Spain when we played them - are too young (22 years of age average)and I would be surprised if the Polish team, despite having looked great up until now was to make it past quarter finals. Same goes for Slovenia.

Agreed completely, great post Tp!

[Scribbles]

If any of you are interested in watching some of the games, someone has a free live stream going.

http://www.nierva.com/2009-fiba-eurobasket-live-stream-online/

[Drucci]

+26 for France and another win after the game against Macedonia. The team is almost sure to play in the quarterfinals.

[Who]

I haven't been watching the games ... I was wondering if anyone could answer this for me, how has Batum been playing for France?

Does he look like he'll be able to take a large step forward next season? Or should we expect more of the same?

[Drucci]

I haven't been watching the games ... I was wondering if anyone could answer this for me, how has Batum been playing for France?

Does he look like he'll be able to take a large step forward next season? Or should we expect more of the same?

Well, I've watched all the France games so I can give you an answer : Batum plays really well in this tournament. He isn't very regular in scoring (between 9 or 13 points per game) but he does all the little things that help the team tremendously and that are not necessarily shown on the boxscore. He gets a lot of rebounds (French team is very undersized so it's huge), seems to always be above the hoop, dunks on alley-oops, putbacks... He also blocks shots and makes good decisions.

I have not seen him play a lot in the NBA the past season but I think you can fairly say that he will make a leap next season, yeah. His shot is more reliable and he uses his athleticism at the best. The only concern about him is his shoulder which seems often painful, but other than that this Eurobasket is a great experience for him, and Batum will be more experienced from a mental standpoint but also from a physical one next season.

That's a given to me.

[Who]

I haven't been watching the games ... I was wondering if anyone could answer this for me, how has Batum been playing for France?

Does he look like he'll be able to take a large step forward next season? Or should we expect more of the same?

Well, I've watched all the France games so I can give you an answer : Batum plays really well in this tournament. He isn't very regular in scoring (between 9 or 13 points per game) but he does all the little things that help the team tremendously and that are not necessarily shown on the boxscore. He gets a lot of rebounds (French team is very undersized so it's huge), seems to always be above the hoop, dunks on alley-oops, putbacks... He also blocks shots and makes good decisions.

I have not seen him play a lot in the NBA the past season but I think you can fairly say that he will make a leap next season, yeah. His shot is more reliable and he uses his athleticism at the best. The only concern about him is his shoulder which seems often painful, but other than that this Eurobasket is a great experience for him, and Batum will be more experienced from a mental standpoint but also from a physical one next season.

That's a given to me.

Thanks Drucci -- I meant to watch today's game to get a glimpse of him, but by the time I tuned in France were already up big and playing mostly their bench guys. I'll have to try again next game!

[Drucci]

Yeah, next game is Sunday against Croatia! It should be an interesting and close one.

I'm looking forward to the Spain/Turkey of tomorrow!

[Who]

Yeah, next game is Sunday against Croatia! It should be an interesting and close one.

I'm looking forward to the Spain/Turkey of tomorrow!

Oh yeah, I'm very excited about that one. I want to get a good long look at Ersan Ilyasova ... get a feel for what he can give the Bucks next season.

I haven't seen him play since he left the NBA, but his stats + reports on his game are very impressive. From the sound of it, he has a great shot at winning that starting power forward slot in Milwaukee next season.

[lon3lytoaster]

So in case I missed it, did anyone find this on directv or online somewhere? I really could use a live basketball fix.

[JBcat]

Where is Italy in all of this?  Don't they have some talent?  At least a couple players that are in the NBA...

[Scribbles]

So in case I missed it, did anyone find this on directv or online somewhere? I really could use a live basketball fix.

Look up a few posts on this page...I posted a link there. 

[ederson]

Italy had to go through a qualification round for the last spot and at the final they faced France. I don`t know if the Italian NBAers were willing to come and play but apart from them Italy doesn`t have much.

Ilyasova is indeed good in the tournament. Turkogou and he carry the team but imho he is little soft to play PF in NBA


France will have easy work against Croatia too. They are in every way better and their front line is too atheltic for any team and especialy for the Croatians. The last game is Greece-France with the winner going 1st. But depending on the situation at the other group maybe no one will like to be 1st

about streaming try ****.eu

[Who]

I watched the Turkey-Spain game today ... and I thought Erden played well. He had some big plays down the stretch and had some nice moments playing against the Gasol brothers.

Erden finished with 11 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals in 24 minutes. Turkey don't win this game today without him.

However, Erden was somewhat inconsistent within the game -- some very good plays followed by poor plays and/or non-plays -- doesn't understand his own game (strengths vs weaknesses) well enough to repeat areas that he's having success with. That flaw will stop him from being an NBA player for the time being, and perhaps forever if he doesn't correct it, but he does have an intriguing package. It was good to see him play well on this stage and against good big man competition.

[greenwise]

Spain's coach, Sergio Scariolo is taking awful late game decisions. This team is no longer well coached and the players are not buying the new systems... Against 4 Turkish Bigs he sends a bad shooter to try and score over them in the last seconds... Either something changes or this team won't get far

[ederson]

I think he wanted to surprise the Turks and gave the last shot to the least expected. Was it a foul?  There are issues with Scariolo deeper than just this decision (at least that`s what i`ve read).

But in the last min the Turks also did their best to give the win to Spain. Turgoglu`s turnover ..... It was an ugly game though

I finaly managed to watch Slovenia against the what i called the second favourite to win the tournament , Lithuania.
Slovenia is indeed good. They always have had good roster but this time they seem focused during the game. They have a plan and they stick to it. And more important , they play defense. Zdovc is doing a great job there.  He was my fav player and i happy for him.

As for Lithuania ... Why are they so bad???