World Championships game thread.
by Moondebah on Aug 27, 2010 12:36 PM CDT
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PrintI hope I don't tread on the real Dream Shake writers' toes be creating a game thread for the World Championships starting Saturday morning. I know it's not Rockets basketball, but I still wanted to do it because:
a) You can watch some of your favourite Rockets players and prospects! Luis Scola! Sergio Llull! Brad Newley! Not Yao Ming!
b) It's actual basketball and not Carmelo trade rumours.
c) I kinda like international basketball. This isn't the Olympics, but it's still fun to watch players who are the go-to player on their team not have to shoulder the entire load. For example: Rudy Gay actually plays defense and gets at least one "where the hell did that come from?" block per game. Plus I miss banging in the post and guards having to deal with contact, just like the basketball I grew up watching.
d) I will be watching as many games as I can anyway, and I'd rather read what you guys have to say about it than the masses at a generic basketball blog. We (well, mostly ressaliance_00 and myself) had a good game thread going during some of the exhibitions.
e) Since 1955 the Rockets and Team USA have been "World Champions" exactly the same number of times (twice), and we both won our last championship in 1994 (ish) with Hakeem Olajuwon. Both teams must be destined to win this year...you know...because we're linked or some shit. (Note: I would also accept Houston and Argentina both winning this year behind the dominating performances of Luis Scola)
As far as a preview of the World Championships goes: you should expect the US, Spain, and Argentina to cruise through their groups.
The US won't look dominant enough for the first couple quarters against weak teams, but then sometime in the 3rd they'll go on like a 20-2 run off of steals and fast breaks and the game effectively ends. All but the best teams have worn out all their competent players after 25 minutes against the US track team and we just send in a wave of athletic bench players to dunk on them.
Does this mean the US will win it all? Well, they are probably the best team, especially since they get an extra week of scrimmages during the group stage and the teams that tested them the most in Beijing are also missing some of their stars.
But consider that Greece has a couple of players suspended for their opening games. If they finish 2nd in their group and Spain and Argentina advance as expected, the USA road to gold would be Greece then Spain then Argentina, which might be the hardest path to victory that a US team has ever faced. I still think they're better than all of those, but that's a lot of bullets to dodge.
The schedule is here. All games are also on ESPN3, and some are rebroadcast at more normal times later in the day.
No cursing in title. No pirated material, such as links to online game streams. Do not cut/paste entire sections of content from other websites. Thanks.
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I'll be watching, but it may be via DVR
which doesn’t help the game threads. I’m pretty interested in the basketball WC. The US team is an interesting experiment. Durant’s two blocks to seal the Spain game were crazy. I still wish they’d have picked Brooks for a PG (a shooter) and a power forward with some actual power.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
It would have been nice to have a Rocket on the US team, but you can’t really argue with the guys they have there at the PG. You could maybe say they don’t need both Rose and Westbrook, but I think that Brooks’s shooting advantage over Rose and his quickness advantage over Billups doesn’t make up for the fact that both of the others are better playmakers and on a team full of offensive options you probably need that more than shooting.
Also: Rose has really controlled the past few exhibition games, but I’m not sure how well he’ll fare once the big boys bust out the zone. Really looking forward to seeing how he hangs with that.
And I think that Brook Lopez is a perfect FIBA big man for the US. I really wish he hadn’t gotten mono. Also because I can’t rule out smooching him if we ever meet.
My complaint about the PGs is that they sort of do they same thing, and none of them are the shooter/scorer Brooks is.
I’d keep Rose, Billups, lose Westbrook for Brooks, but I see why they have what they have.
I think this team is going to shred zones.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
Technically
not even the redeem team dominated the competition in anyway, the world has really caught up in term of talent, and add that to the fact that this is probably the biggest basketball event in term of competition for the rest of the world, while to US players, it is but an extracurricular
Coach K knows how to utilize his guys and mask their weakness, this group might actually be better at shooting than the redeem team. we really need some more American born frontcourt players though, especially at center
However, I might be checking out the LLWS game instead, with the Texas boys in the US game, and my native homeland Taiwanese kids on the international side
A possible meeting of LL superpowers...
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
would be sweet if they both make it into the pennant game
contrasting style of offense, power versus craft
What, noone wants to wake up at 8 on a Saturday to watch Greece play China in a largely meaningless game?
It’s the end of the 1st quarter and here are some early thoughts on the Greece/China game (and there likely won’t be many later thoughts, it’s not great basketball).
China is doing better than I thought they would without Yao. Yi has really been putting in a lot of effort and it just makes you really how much he’s been underperforming in the NBA.
Greece still isn’t showing much zone defense, which is almost certainly what they’ll play if they meet the US again. On offense they’re either running a pick and roll or inside/out game with Bourousis or some zone-busting three pointers. I’d expect to see a lot more of the inside/out game vs. the US since if anything we might be smaller than China at the PF and C positions and they should have Schortsanitis back on the floor by that point. There’s no way they get as many open 3s against the Americans: our guards won’t give Spanoulis a tenth of the space the Chinese are allowing him.
Best part of the game so far: they have the huddles miked and the American head coach of China is screaming at his team during timeouts, but he has to stop after every sentence for it to be translated. The translator is also yelling.
I'm up early! But I'm Chinese so of course I'm gonna watch China play!
China lacks fundamentals play and simple. The players they got just don’t know how to play the game. Yi is ok, clearly China’s best player of course, but they don’t run the offense through him enough. He needs to also demand the ball more. Too much one on one and not enough quick ball movement. Defense is way soft and the lack of boxing out doesn’t help either. They need to switch to man, Greece’s outside shooting is killin the zone. It’s so frustrating to watch, I’m like screaming at the TV like if I was one of the coaches on the team haha.
They aren’t running their offense through Yi at all, he’s making almost all of his impact on the inside and off second chance points. Also the announcer referred to him as playing for the Milwaukee Bucks, so there’s that.
Not sure why China still playing the zone, because clearly they are getting destroyed by the 3. Maybe they don’t think they can handle Greece man-to-man, but they certainly aren’t going to win if Greece continues to shoot 45-50% from the arc.
Well looky here, China's winning.
And listen to the crowd! I guess I need to read up on Turkish/Greek antagonism.
Piss poor decisions by some of the Chinese players the last few mins.
China could have won. Just seems like non of the players have any swagger or desire to win. I don’t think they know how to win. Lame. China sucks. Like I said it’s so frustrating to watch, and I bet many of my fellow Chinese feel the same. And yeah, I can’t believe the never switched to man when the zone was clearly not working. You can’t continue to play zone when you’re down by 2-4 points and need the ball back to score… ugh.
Greece 89, China 81.
China played a fucking game. I certainly didn’t expect them to be only one possession down with a couple minutes remaining, and I think they were a couple of ill-advised Wang Zhizhi threes away from an upset (I know he isn’t a horrible long range shooter, but guarded threes from your center that end up as airballs with 20 seconds left on the shot clock are not what you want to take when you have cut a 20 point deficit to 1 in the 4th quarter).
Anyway, I wasn’t expecting such a good game. I guess the championships have a way of surprising you.
USA v Croatia.
I’d say USA is playing well but every shot is falling for Croatia. Eventually those will rim out and Croatia’s early foul trouble will catch up to them.
It's fun watching Billups play energy defense pestering their guards high up.
I guess he does that when he knows he’s only playing 20-25 minutes in the game.
Is this going to be DRose coming out party - a three???
by Rookie Contract on Aug 28, 2010 11:28 AM CDT reply actions
Oh yeah.
Did you watch any of the exhibition games? He was only a hair behind Durant in being our most effective player, and they were way ahead of everyone else on the team.
And he made a crisp outlet pass!
Off of a rebound! Looks like his game translates perfectly to international ball.
Ok, here's another aspect of the FIBA game the NBA needs to adopt:
They have little chairs next to the scorer’s table for people who are waiting to substitute in. In the NBA they have these guys curled up on the sideline, just waiting to injure themselves if someone goes flying down the sideline.
Alright, if this is anything like the Lithuania or Greece exhibition games, the US is going to absolutely start rolling midway through the 3rd as Croatia starts getting tired and the US’s depth takes over.
Well this game is getting boring.
I expected Croatia to do a bit better than this, but I guess that’s good news for the US. I’ll be back later for Scola vs. France, if anyone’s around for that.
Missed basically the whole game
damn it! Oh well, good win for our guys. But I’ll be here for the Argentina one (Go Luis!) if my internet works that is.
It’s going to be on EPSN3, right?
"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." -Michael Jordan
by ressaliance_00 on Aug 28, 2010 12:57 PM CDT reply actions
Near as I can tell, all games are on ESPN3.
Some say “subject to blackout” but I’ve been able to watch all of those so far.
Scola sighting!!
"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." -Michael Jordan
I'm about to switch over to Argentina, but Spain and France are really going at each other.
Spain winning, but France is really making it interesting.
What's the score on that game?
"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." -Michael Jordan
by ressaliance_00 on Aug 28, 2010 1:33 PM CDT up reply actions
Is Scola playing SF in this game?
weird
"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." -Michael Jordan
Scola isn't helped by the offensive goaltending rule.
So many of his makes for Houston bounce around and just drop in eventually. Here they get swatted away.
Germany is just really long
they keep blocking Argentina’s shots around the rim. And your right, this offensive goal tending rule isn’t helping Scola.
"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." -Michael Jordan
end of 3rd France down by 1 - interesting
by Rookie Contract on Aug 28, 2010 2:26 PM CDT reply actions
That would be great for the US.
If Spain doesn’t win their group that means they are in the other half of the bracket. We wouldn’t meet until the finals.
Scola finally getting
the ball where he likes it, and making the most of it. Great hustle plays by Argentina.
"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." -Michael Jordan
this ending is insane!
"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." -Michael Jordan
by ressaliance_00 on Aug 28, 2010 2:54 PM CDT up reply actions
no kidding!
thanks for telling me about it!
"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." -Michael Jordan
by ressaliance_00 on Aug 28, 2010 2:54 PM CDT up reply actions
wow France!
where did this come from? So if France holds on, what does this mean for the US?
"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." -Michael Jordan
Probably not much. I still expect Spain to win this group.
But the US (if we win our group and advance) will meet the winner of this group in the semifinals instead of the finals. So if Spain doesn’t win the group, would wouldn’t have to face them until the final. If Argentina and Greece also win their groups as expected, that would mean we would only have to face one of the three.
I like Team USA B more than the A team.
Simply because there are more likable players on this current team, for me at least. I like Iggy, Chauncey, Rose, etc. Eric Gordon = #1. Love that kid’s game, followed his career since his HS days. OJ Mayo ain’t got shit on Gordon. The only players I don’t care for are Kevin “no” Love and Lamar “underachieving” Odom.
I spent the day doing my list - but that's what DVR is for.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
USA v Slovenia:
This does not bode well for Slovenia. They’re supposed to be Dragic’s team, and he picks up two fouls in the first 3 minutes.
Guess this is payback for the US/Slovenia soccer game.
same as NBA, usually the back to back is not played at the same level
by Rookie Contract on Aug 29, 2010 9:11 AM CDT up reply actions
Hmmph.
You’re probably right, but I don’t want to let them off that easy. After this back to back they still have 3 games in 4 days, and it’s not like anyone played more than 22 minutes yesterday. Step it up, USA.
yeah its actually a pretty grueling schedule - also sheds light on...
why some teams from the USA don’t play well
by Rookie Contract on Aug 29, 2010 9:16 AM CDT up reply actions
“San Antonio let him drive left as if he were on I-10.”
It’s been a while since I lived in Texas, fellas, does I-10 have reverse (England-style) lanes? I seem to remember driving on the right, and I thought that was the rule for most US interstates.
There's the lane issue.
And then there’s the fact that 10 from Houston through San Antonio is almost always congested. You have to get about 80 miles out of San Antonio headed for El Paso before it starts to have much in the way of wide open spaces (and the chance to drive 95 mph with little threat of a ticket).
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
On the other channel...
Lithuania just took their first lead of the game, 58-57 in the 4th quarter vs. Canada. Lithuania should be destroying Canada. What’s with this tournament and parity? This is starting to be like the World Cup, where even the “blowout” early round games are exciting.
Do you buy this tournament being the same as the world cup to other nations?
by Rookie Contract on Aug 29, 2010 9:41 AM CDT reply actions
The World Cup is the best tournament in any sport in the world.
The FIBA World Championships isn’t necessarily even the best tournament in its sport (you could say that is the Olympics, the NBA playoffs, March madness, or Eurobasket).
So no.
Unrecoverable seperation established in the 3rd
by Rookie Contract on Aug 29, 2010 9:43 AM CDT reply actions
Man, I knew I would miss a run.
I’m still on the end of the Lithuania/Canada game. 1:40 remaining Lithuania up by 4.
Canada-Lithuania goes down to last shot.
Bricks it. Lithuania wins. Good game by Canada, I guess. Lithuania is one of the big-ish boys.
I am impressed...I hadn't really seen him since the NCAA tournament a few years ago
by Rookie Contract on Aug 29, 2010 9:59 AM CDT reply actions
Love is for real and can be the best passing big man in the league quite easily.
Waltonesque passing ability (if not defense, offense and rebounding).
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
So far in the tournament he's been holding his own defensively as well.
All the pundits kept saying that the US really needed a defensive big man a-la-Tyson Chandler, but Love has been doing the job.
I guess I was damning with faint praise.
But Walton did everything a high level, I wasn’t saying that Love wasn’t good at it. He’s a very good ballplayer in the Scola mode.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
Spain and New Zealand just had back to back poster ally-oops.
Fernandez and Abercrombie? Fernandez’s was especially sick.
Never mind.
I guess this Abercrombie kid just dunks all the time. It’s not special after the 2nd or 3rd time.
How much longer for that Argentina game?
"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." -Michael Jordan
by ressaliance_00 on Aug 29, 2010 2:45 PM CDT up reply actions
Yeah, 4:50 to go.
ESPN3 had a low resolution so I couldn’t read the clock. I didn’t mean to be an ass by answering your question with a question.
haha
no it’s cool. Is it a good game? I missed the US game this morning so I’m rewatching it on EPSN3. But if it’s a good game I’m switching.
"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." -Michael Jordan
by ressaliance_00 on Aug 29, 2010 2:58 PM CDT up reply actions
"It's been a low scoring first half. And an even lower scoring second period, if you get my drift."
Hehehe. Yeah, I got ya buddy. These international announcers can get away with saying anything!
The announcer just called Scola
a super star in the NBA. I like.
"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." -Michael Jordan
He also said that when Luis is shooting FTs "it's guaranteed money."
I mean…he’s not bad for a big man.
Yeah apparently Luis is a very good foul shooter
at least that’s how he’s viewed in international play. I don’t know, he’s nothing spectacular. Not bad. I just never thought of him as a Kevin Martin type foul shooter like this guy seems to think.
"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." -Michael Jordan
by ressaliance_00 on Aug 29, 2010 3:23 PM CDT up reply actions
Only 200 or so.
But they occasionally chant “Turkiye” and that wins ’em the crowd over.
"Mais put… Il est fou ce gars!"
no kidding
dedication, right?
"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." -Michael Jordan
by ressaliance_00 on Aug 29, 2010 3:29 PM CDT up reply actions
And he ices it
"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." -Michael Jordan
Where are you guys watching this?
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
Oh ok.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
Not sure what it's doing...
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
Luis is a beast
"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." -Michael Jordan
He’s going to be one of those guys who makes it into the basketball hall of fame, and all the NBA fans are going to get all up in arms because he didn’t have HOF stats with the Rockets, but he seriously dominates international competition.
Wow Scola in the hall
I’d never thought about that before. But yeah, that could definitely happen.
"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." -Michael Jordan
by ressaliance_00 on Aug 29, 2010 3:45 PM CDT up reply actions
He needs some team success here in the states....
as well as some individual accomplishments in the NBA. This would cement what he has done internationally. The Hall should be for each generations undisputed best. I think you can safely check that box at the end of Scola career from an international perspective. The jury is still out based on his play in the association. If he gives us a entire season of last March…. :)
by Rookie Contract on Aug 30, 2010 12:01 AM CDT up reply actions
So there's no reason for anyone to watch the Tunisia-Iran game...
….EXCEPT, if you can rewatch it on ESPN3 (or DVR or whatever), start at about 8 minutes remaining in the 4th. Tunisia went on a 14-0 run, including 7 points in 23 seconds off of 3 straight steals in the full court press.
Fun moment: they cut to the audience and I guess the US team is in the stands watching them, Durant had this gigantic grin on his face after the Tunisia run. Hmmmm. I wonder if Coach K is going to run a press as soon as Iran starts to make a run….
Just got back from college
can’t believe I missed basically missed the whole game. Good ending though. How’s that Argentina game going? In other words, how’s Scola doing?
"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." -Michael Jordan
by ressaliance_00 on Aug 30, 2010 3:16 PM CDT up reply actions
Blowout for Argentina i assume?
"If I had to pick a center [for an all-time best team], I would take Olajuwon. That leaves out Shaq, Patrick Ewing. It leaves out Wilt Chamberlain. It leaves out a lot of people. And the reason I would take Olajuwon is very simple: he is so versatile because of what he can give you from that position. It's not just his scoring, not just his rebounding or not just his blocked shots. People don't realize he was in the top seven in steals. He always made great decisions on the court. For all facets of the game, I have to give it to him." -Michael Jordan
by ressaliance_00 on Aug 30, 2010 3:22 PM CDT up reply actions
And also: remember in Beijing when we blew out everyone in the opening rounds and then Spain started showing entirely new schemes in the final and it was a close game? Well, when we meet Brazil in the final, they’ll have double the interior firepower (Varejao, who sat this game out) that gave Odom fits all game. And we didn’t blow them out today.
Speaking of interior problems...
Guess who’s outplaying Lamar Odom so far in the Iran game?
It’s Kevin Love!
So who is the English commentator?
Not the best ever, but a nice change,and sort of fun.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
How hard do you think Greece and Russia are going to play today?
Winner meets Spain in the first round and the US in the second round. Loser goes to the other side of the bracket and plays France.
they both played like they didn’t want the W, only Greece didn’t want it a little more. It’s interesting how the loser (Greece) gets to play Spain…
I find it lame to tank. If you consider yourself strong, why avoid the better teams? If on the other hand, you consider yourself weak you have no place in the tournament. I do hope Greece steps it up, because they can play a lot better than this.
The U.S. takes their first lead of the game!!!!
Not something you want to say with 5 minutes remaining in the quarter vs. Tunisia.
Interesting quote from fiba.com
Argentina is 4-0, but all of their wins had to come with a little more effort than expected, especially yesterday against Jordan where they had to fight them off in the final quarter after an incredible comeback.
Their offense flows thru Luis Scola, who leads the tournament in scoring with an average of 28.3 points while Delfino’s offense is coming together now. They would need a better offensive performance not only from the rest of the starter, but from the bench players in order to survive the next round. Fabricio Oberto will miss this game as well but will be ready for the next round.
Pretty ridiculous for Luis, I’m not complaining tho =D I havent had a chance to watch any of Argentina’s games but I’m planning on watching their next one on 35 min on ESPN3.
See
Even now, Michael Jordan is almost a match for the whole Argentine national team. He’s a country to himself, and with good reason, it appears. Argentina barely pulled it out 5 on 1. THAT’S A LEGEND!!
Wait.
Never mind.
"Each in turn... volunteered his suggestions, his invaluable suggestions."
Twitter - xiane1
The Dreamshake
speaking of Germany...
Imagine what they’d do with Kaman and Nowitzki… I’m sure they both regret it now…
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