FIBA world championship: playoffs round

[[Q]]

well Greece shot 60% because of all their layups and (lucky?) buzzer beater 3s. They played really well and definitely deserved to win. The US was hurt by the fact that their outside shooting sucks. Their best 3pt shooter is Johnson but it would've been nice to have a Redd/Ray Allen type to have in the game. Wasn't that one of the biggest knocks on the 2004 olympic team?
and where you from Maarf? The ESPN commentators were god awful. they were talking like a broken record when the US started losing ("I saw this coming" and blah blah blah). I hate ESPN.

[Heiks]

well Greece shot 60% because of all their layups and (lucky?) buzzer beater 3s.

Howcome Greece got all the way to the hoop to make a layup and (luckily?) made wide open three-pointers while the US grabbed 16 something offensive rebounds, because they even couldn't score on their first attempt down low and missed from the outside, because they couldn't get an oipen shot.

Don't get me wrong, I was on USA's side, but the way they played just got me fustrated.

The bottom line is they didn't play D and couldn't get an easy/open shot at the other end.

[nets4life]

wow! boy was i wrong. How good is that "baby shaq" guy. " Im trying!" Lebron James.

[doriel]

Do they play things seriously ?? Do they even care about winning ?

[Scorer--20]

Wow , im surprised !!! , i cant belive .. the Greeks crash the USA team

Also Argentina loose by one point against Spain. Was a hard game , both teams played great , but maybe Argentina miss too many shoots from the field, but the end was close . 74-72 10 seconds left , ball for Argentina .Ginobili crossover calderon and pass the ball to Nocioni ( open to shoot ) He shoots ... and ... miss. The lasts 2 seconds was the fight for the rebound.


I want to see the Argentina - USA game

[Fenix]

Ugh, Ginobili lost his mojo (and 15 or so pounds)

[Andreas Dahl]

Great game between Spain and Argentina. Best game that I've seen in a loooong time..
Congrats to Spain on reaching to the finals. I hope Pau will be back to normal after the sprained ankle tho..

[Matthew]

Well I'm not suprised America lost, but the way it happened... amazing. A few burning thoughts though:

First of all, is it just me or is there an inconsistancy with the way the game was officiated? When the greeks were challenged on a jumper, there was a call. But when the US (especially late) were taking three's, and there was contact (hinrich and Melo's airball specifically), there was no call. I'm not blaming the referee's, but just be consistant. I know the us has much more athletic and skilled players, but its not upto the umpires to level the playing field, seriously.

Secondly, what was Wade doing that entire game defensively. Whenever an opolis drove on him, he was willing to play defense from behind. We all know Wade can jump high and can slap a backboard, but what good is that when your guy has already burned you. Add this to his tendacy to stay on the ground after getting brushed in the face and I'm starting to think he is an attention whore. Just play some defense and stop trying to show off. Nobody is impressed but you hitting the backboard. And people think he's better then kobe...

Which leads me to my 3rd point. Kobe wasnt available, neither was Billups. But why in gods name wasn't Iverson on this team? Yeah Colangelo had some vision didn't he. I'm sure he's satisified with Chris Paul's performance in that game. Also, where was Carter? This man has a proven track record in international competition (2000 olympics), and is the type of player that could of been the difference in todays game. Also names like Peirce and Arenas.. It's time to stop worrying about tweeners like Bosh and Joe Johnson who dont want the ball let alone willing to fight for it. Get some warriors out there. For 2008 bring Iverson, Marion, Stoudemire and Carter back. Make Kobe team captain. Drop Battier (i love his hustle, but he shouldnt be there), Bosh, Hinrich, Paul, Jamison, Brad Miller, Johnson and Brand.

Have a starting lineup of Howard, Amare, Lebron, Kobe and Billups (or Iverson). Bring Tmac along, and have Carter as well. The most frustrating thing as a fan to watch is to see a brilliant performance by Melo whitewashed by players who just seem disinterested.

[jerry]

Well I'm not suprised America lost, but the way it happened... amazing. A few burning thoughts though:

First of all, is it just me or is there an inconsistancy with the way the game was officiated? When the greeks were challenged on a jumper, there was a call. But when the US (especially late) were taking three's, and there was contact (hinrich and Melo's airball specifically), there was no call. I'm not blaming the referee's, but just be consistant. I know the us has much more athletic and skilled players, but its not upto the umpires to level the playing field, seriously.

Secondly, what was Wade doing that entire game defensively. Whenever an opolis drove on him, he was willing to play defense from behind. We all know Wade can jump high and can slap a backboard, but what good is that when your guy has already burned you. Add this to his tendacy to stay on the ground after getting brushed in the face and I'm starting to think he is an attention whore. Just play some defense and stop trying to show off. Nobody is impressed but you hitting the backboard. And people think he's better then kobe...

Which leads me to my 3rd point. Kobe wasnt available, neither was Billups. But why in gods name wasn't Iverson on this team? Yeah Colangelo had some vision didn't he. I'm sure he's satisified with Chris Paul's performance in that game. Also, where was Carter? This man has a proven track record in international competition (2000 olympics), and is the type of player that could of been the difference in todays game. Also names like Peirce and Arenas.. It's time to stop worrying about tweeners like Bosh and Joe Johnson who dont want the ball let alone willing to fight for it. Get some warriors out there. For 2008 bring Iverson, Marion, Stoudemire and Carter back. Make Kobe team captain. Drop Battier (i love his hustle, but he shouldnt be there), Bosh, Hinrich, Paul, Jamison, Brad Miller, Johnson and Brand.

Have a starting lineup of Howard, Amare, Lebron, Kobe and Billups (or Iverson). Bring Tmac along, and have Carter as well. The most frustrating thing as a fan to watch is to see a brilliant performance by Melo whitewashed by players who just seem disinterested.

Well said. I didnt watch the game but I knew there must have been something wrong other than the fact Wade and others were slowing down team USA.
I agree Carter, Kobe and AI should all be back(well I know Kobe has an injury but next time he will be here). It should be like the All Star team with out Gasol and Yao and Dirk and Nash..

[_marsal]

I completely disagree. Keep the core, just change the strategy. I think coach K disappointed in this game. And even though Anthony played "great" (i mean he did well, he hit shots), i don't like his mentality - in your face shooting. And Kobe would/will do the same thing. Shoot when you're open for crying out loud And get rid of Bosh (he's just not ahead of Brand (yet) - so he shouldn't whine about PT) and bring Marion next time. And Coach K, please let Brand and Howard play more minutes. Wade was off the last 2 games but he should be on this team because of play-making..LeBron totally disappointed me in this WC, but i think he'll do better next time. And LEARN to play zone-defense, so the next time you don't receive 50 points in the paint. But hey, they fought well, and the greeks...man were they lucky..all the tough shots that they hit and jumpers and the end of the shot-clock...they played the game of their carriers..Oh and bring Schortsianitis into the NBA..We want another shaq

[#12]

i am shocked!!!! change the topic of this title to USA LOSES NOW!!!!!!!

[Mayerhendrix]

The Clippers have his draft rights, he and Brand could form a powerful frontcourt.

It (a loss) was coming, after the sloppy play against Italy and slow start with Germany. The team doesn't need a massive overhaul or anything, they should just keep working at it to come back bigger and better in '08

[debiler]

...man were they lucky..all the tough shots that they hit and jumpers and the end of the shot-clock...they played the game of their carriers..

Did you never see the Greeks play before? They weren't lucky. They make those shots all the time. It must be so frustrating: You force your opponent to take a miserable shot and he makes it with a 60% chance. But that's how they beat us in the European Championship Finals 2004. 50% of their points were out of bad shots.

Something else:
Will Gasol be able to play on sunday? It would be so hard for him and his team if he had twisted his ankle that badly.

[hova-]

Yeah, that is the Greeks,making those shots which cannot be defended, even by the USA (imho the USA are the best defensive teams when it comes man-to-man).
But the Greeks´ defense is better, because they can play a zone defense par excellence and also keep up with the strong 1n1 NBA stars.

This was absolutely deserved, and @ Debiler:Buschi rocked da house in this game.

[_marsal]

Did you never see the Greeks play before? They weren't lucky. They make those shots all the time. It must be so frustrating: You force your opponent to take a miserable shot and he makes it with a 60% chance. But that's how they beat us in the European Championship Finals 2004. 50% of their points were out of bad shots.

Something else:
Will Gasol be able to play on sunday? It would be so hard for him and his team if he had twisted his ankle that badly.

Oh I saw them play before, but you must admit, they never played on this level before. I'd put them into the "lucky category" along with Italy and Turkey. These 3 teams always rely on hitting tough shots. But this performance vs. the USA was just too much As someone else said before, if they'd play another game, they would lose. That Spanioulis guy was incredible (please don't say he's that good)..or Diamantidis' three. But hey, the USA also allowed them to get on fire with very poor man to man defense. They were owned by pick n' roll/pop. Not to mention poor FT shooting..

And to answer your question - Pau 99,9% won't be available for Sunday's game. That sucks 'cause i wanted to see Schortsianitis kick his skinny ass (i can't stand Pau ).

[xman]

What a dissapointment Wade was, there´s no way that wade is better than kobe

[Axel]

Wow, what an embarassment. I agree with Fenix, its unbelievable that they cant defend the pick and roll, I guess they thought they could just outscore them. I dont think it really matters that team USA didnt have Redd, Amare, etc, I think they would probably have sucked even more if they were playing. It's definetly not about a lack of talent.....

It's just amazing really, I dont think we will ever see a second coming of the dream team. Players nowdays make too much money to put forth the effort into something like this... and I can imagine a lot of people getting angry if the US decided to get rid of the superstar players in favor of a more balanced team... so inevitably they will continue to pick people who cannot play together.

[Fenix]

Exactly. I'm surprised that some thing that the likes of T-Mac and Carter would help. The problem was not the scoring, the problem was a complete lack of team play, hustle, heart and absymal defense. People forget that teams like Greece, Argentina and Spain play together for years now. They're like family. They're friends, they cry after a loss and are ecstatic after a win. USA basketball is all about individual pride, egos and FIBA shows that - that and a complete lack of fundamentals. To see the 'superstars' show a complete lack of understanding of this game, inability to play defense or make a shot made me ashame that I'm a fan of the NBA. Any League where players like Lebron or Wade dominate isn't worth shit. Chris Broussard said it best:

The international players and coaches will never admit this publicly, but in their heart of hearts I bet they're beginning to view American basketball like America's "real basketball'' fans, players and coaches view And1 Streetball.

And the worst thing is - FIBA basketball is an absolute joy to watch and it would be even better if it had the level of talent NBA has. But there's not chance that NBA adopts FIBA rules. NBA is all about creating superstars and FIBA rules and fair judges would make that go away. No Wades, Arenas, Marburys, Lebrons... Only the ones with actual skillset would survive - Kobes, Duncans, Garnetts, Nowitzkis and Gasols of this world. Wade is the most obvious example of how lost he is if he has most of the travelling violations called and if people are actually allowed to defend him, not to mention that he's an absolute crap on defense.

[Rip32]

USA

I didnt see the game yet, but all ive heard is they missed alot of free throws they should have made. In the 4th they had no D as greece lit them up the last 5 mins and in the 2nd quarter they blew an 11 pt lead. Theres no excuse to this loss, you cant say the best werent there, they were and they didnt execute. Terrible loss.

[jonnyboy261]

this is soo sad...
i didnt actually see the game but i saw some of the replay on espn2
did ya see that big block wen paul went up for a layup? ouch

the US needs a real big man... one that could defend that shortsie guy

disappointment....

[Anthony15]

Wow what a shocker for USA, man I thought they had a perfect team this year, and shite a loss to Greece...Terrible

[BOSS]

All I got to say is where was Dwight and Chris in the 2nd half.
No wonder Bosh is pissed, is consistent everytime he steps on the floor and all he gets is like 5-10 minutes ? Cheap.
As well as Dwight.

[ThaLiveKing]

If Kobe was on the team, they would have won. Wade and Lebron didn't do shit. The US trying to run Isolation when the team is running ZONE. LMAAAAAAOOOO. That's the stupidest shit I have ever seen in a basketball game. 1 on 5. US didn't play smart enough to win that game. Nobody was scoring except Carmelo, he's the reason why they went undefeated

[xman]

Howard scored almost 3 baskets in a row and the Coach K took him out and never but him back to play

[nzspurs]

Carmelo was a major factor in the team usa's loss.

I know many people don't agree with this, many people claim he was the reason they were in the game at all. But if there is one guy who didn't play a team game, it was him.

Carmelo looks to shoot as soon as he gets the ball. Many times during the game he would grab the rock...fake....fake...fake...then shoot, while most of his superstar team mates stood around the court waiting for him to do something. Sure this is fine in the nba, where he is 1/2 the offence of denver, but in international basketball, the entire team must be utilised, something that the greeks understand and something team usa does not.