Eurobasket 2009

[Edgar]

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???
[/quote
forget it
i just catch hes the Head coah

[thebirdman]

Slovenia played great yesterday. I was afraid of this match but we completely dominated Lithuania!

Though after all the injuries we lack a bit of quality off the bench. If we had Beno Udrih or maybe Becirovic I could definitely see us winning it all, this way it will be extremely difficult. But there is nothing better than watch your team play team basketball with excellent ball movement, defense, great chemistry...Love it!

[greenwise]

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).

What he did is the equivalent of giving the last minute play to JR Giddens in a first round playoff game... one thing is to surprise and another is to throw poor JR against Shaq and Leon Powe to see what happens...

[ederson]

LLull is not the last bench player of Real Madrid (21mpg in spanish league) while Pruit wasn`t even that and Asik is not  Powe (i won`t even comment about Shaq)

[greenwise]

LLull is not the last bench player of Real Madrid (21mpg in spanish league) while Pruit wasn`t even that and Asik is not  Powe (i won`t even comment about Shaq)

It was just an example, ederson. I didn't mean to compare the players but rather the situation. It's the first time Llull is with the team, he is not the star and he shouldn't have had that ball. Navarro, Rudy or Gasol were the most normal choices

[guava_wrench]

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.

Please repost the ref comments during the NBA season!

[ederson]

Unless we see great surprises in the last day it seems that Spain will qualify as 4th and Serbia 3rd

So tomorrow at the game France - Greece the winner could be the loser !


Would you prefer to lose the game and select your next opponent ?

[Drucci]

Yeah, I'm almost disappointed because France is undefeated and probably going to face Spain in the quarters... Poland is tough too but less than Spain I guess, so we will see but I wouldn't be against a strategical loss against Greece, although the game itself will be a great test for France since they will face real competition against the Greeks.

[ederson]

I remember another Euro when Greece selected an opponent at the quarterfinals and proved to be the worst decision ever! So out of superstition i prefer to go for the win tomorow. But then again no matter their condition Spain is better than Serbia and Poland.

If both teams will go for "a strategical loss a" it will be a funny and sad at the same  time game

[Drucci]

Well, finally, both teams played for the win! Nando De Colo won the game at the buzzer for the French team, after a crucial mistake (not fouling with a 3 points lead and 15 seconds left for Greece... and Spanoulis made a 3, of course).

Now I hope France will avoid Spain for the quarterfinals.

[ederson]

To be honest i`m sure that France played to win. T.Parker played only ~20mins. It looks strange. But in any case France was the better side and deserved to win. The first win against Greece in a Eurobasket since 1984. To be honest when Spanoulis made the shot i was pretty sure that we`d win the game like 05 in Belgrade:D

Unfortunately our pg problem gets clearer every day. Spanoulis is excellent but not pg. Calathes is still adapting to euro basket and Zisis is simply not good enough. The team misses a real point like Diamantidis (we miss his defense too). Our attack depends heavily upon Spanoulis and Sofo and this makes us very very predictable.

[Edgar]

To be honest i`m sure that France played to win. T.Parker played only ~20mins. It looks strange. But in any case France was the better side and deserved to win. The first win against Greece in a Eurobasket since 1984. To be honest when Spanoulis made the shot i was pretty sure that we`d win the game like 05 in Belgrade:D

Unfortunately our pg problem gets clearer every day. Spanoulis is excellent but not pg. Calathes is still adapting to euro basket and Zisis is simply not good enough. The team misses a real point like Diamantidis (we miss his defense too). Our attack depends heavily upon Spanoulis and Sofo and this makes us very very predictable.

who else is playing with france?

[Drucci]

Nicolas Batum, Boris Diaw, Ronny Turiaf, Florent Pietrus (Mike's brother) : that's for the NBAers. And then you have Nando De Colo (drafted by the Spurs), Ali Traoré, Alin Koffi, Antoine Diot and Aymeric Janneau.

[greenwise]

Spain won the game vs Poland, finally playing almost a perfect game. I feel bad for the hosts, Poland (I live in this beautiful country and my girlfriend is Polish).

France-Spain tomorrow night, huge game!

[Edgar]

Nicolas Batum, Boris Diaw, Ronny Turiaf, Florent Pietrus (Mike's brother) : that's for the NBAers. And then you have Nando De Colo (drafted by the Spurs), Ali Traoré, Alin Koffi, Antoine Diot and Aymeric Janneau.

pretty team.