FIBA world championship: playoffs round

[Metsis]

The Euro's are good for nothing on a basket ball court... That's what most of you people have said over and over again on these boards...

I didn't see any games, but what I've read is that US had lots of problems in the defensive end and the fact that Greece used basically just one called play to win the day.

When your team can't stop the other guys from scoring, you change your defense... It doesn't matter what level you play at, but you change your defense. Coaching 101... If the defense doesn't work, it's gotta go. Otherwise the other team will light you up all night long... And that doesn't help any team win any games. If the US had changed to zone defense even for a little while, it would have mixed up the Greece defense and give a break for a US comeback, but no...

I can't say anything about any personal performances in the tournament since I haven't seen any games... But hearing about jacking up three pointers all night long has never been a good thing for the US team. Its just a fact that rest of the world shoots the ball way better than the Americans do.

You American guys better get used to this... This game and these guys you'll be watching for the next two plus years. Its not like they will tear up the team after this. It isn't in their plan. With two more years under Melo, Bron and Wade's collective belts can do miracles for... So Beijing might not be such a bad place after all.

The US team was very young and very unexperienced so this is what you get... Lets see how things change between now and the Olympics...

[newem]

The Euro's are good for nothing on a basket ball court... That's what most of you people have said over and over again on these boards...

I didn't see any games, but what I've read is that US had lots of problems in the defensive end and the fact that Greece used basically just one called play to win the day.

When your team can't stop the other guys from scoring, you change your defense... It doesn't matter what level you play at, but you change your defense. Coaching 101... If the defense doesn't work, it's gotta go. Otherwise the other team will light you up all night long... And that doesn't help any team win any games. If the US had changed to zone defense even for a little while, it would have mixed up the Greece defense and give a break for a US comeback, but no...

I can't say anything about any personal performances in the tournament since I haven't seen any games... But hearing about jacking up three pointers all night long has never been a good thing for the US team. Its just a fact that rest of the world shoots the ball way better than the Americans do.

You American guys better get used to this... This game and these guys you'll be watching for the next two plus years. Its not like they will tear up the team after this. It isn't in their plan. With two more years under Melo, Bron and Wade's collective belts can do miracles for... So Beijing might not be such a bad place after all.

The US team was very young and very unexperienced so this is what you get... Lets see how things change between now and the Olympics...

You'll never again gonna win any world championship or olympic game ever. Because you don't even know any of the players and you're like you don't play in the NBA oh you're not good... Greece thouth you a lesson from wich you should learn but you won't just like from the olympic lesson. Greece are the european champions how many of you americans did know that? So if they are europeen champions that makes them better than Spain and France and they improved their roster from the europeen championship and I would like to know how many players did you know from the greece team?
And the main reason why team USA didn't succed is that when the game goes to clutch time you don't play as a team you're just every man for himself. For example there are 40 seconds left and you were 6 down and what does Lebron do? He slowly walks to the other half and then shots an impossible three point throw.
And the most sad thing is you had all the refs on your side the entire tournament, and there were one milion uncalled travellings againts you, and then when you get called for a foul that you could see from space you're amazed....

I think that you should change your attitude for once the other nations aren't getting any weaker but their ganing on strenght but your national team is getting weaker and weaker....

[[Q]]

I didnt get to catch any of the world championships, so i was just wondering if someone could give me theyre opinion of how Kirk Hinrich played?

I tihnk the U.S. would've loved to have the wide open 3 that Hinrich gave up against Greece. He went up to shoot, then decided to travel with it with no one guarding him.

[putodelagoa]

But as for them being cocky becuase they refer to the players by number, give me a break. I wacthed the game and i cant remember any of their names apart from of the fact they all ended in opolis. Refering to their number is just a simple way to understand who is who.

I think it is a sign of bad game preparation on the coaching stuff. It's not like these players are complete unknowns, but you get the feeling USA team didn't really know who they were up against. If you don't know a player, how can you defend him? What's his range? Where does he like to catch the ball? His favourite move? etc. etc. etc
You could tell USA found a way to defend the marquee players. Nowitzki and Manu had shitty games against them. But some guys they didn't know exposed them. You could tell, and the coaching stuff aknowledged that, that the scouting work was pretty weak... And it's not like the Greeks came out of nowhere... They are only the defending European Champs

They SHOULD know their names. Wade admited he had never seen them PLAY :lol: No tape, no nothing... " Aaahhh look how nice... That guy can shoot 3's with a hand on his face. Geeezz, wow"

That, in my book, shows a bit of contempt for your foe. Against Greece, when USA was up by 9, Lebron was shouting "They don't know what to do, they don't know what to do". Well, they found an answer didn't they?

Let's just watch the Finals and hope for a Spanish victory, because I hate the guts of any greek national team...

[Andreas Dahl]

By the way Matthew, face it, USA was bithing most of them all in Athens, and they were bitching quite a bit this tourney as well..

Whats with the bolded name? And the complaints in 2004 had nothing to do with their attitude this year.

It becomes bold when you click a name when replying. And yea, their attitude was a lot better this time, but still a fair share of complaining (though nothing near what it was in 2002).

[nzspurs]

Let's just watch the Finals and hope for a Spanish victory, because I hate the guts of any greek national team...

Euro 2004???

[CERVANTES]

España 43 - 23 Hellas @ halftime

We'll win for sure !! Let's see if Sergio "Mojo Picón" "Muyayo" "Spanish Chocolate" Rodríguez plays some minutes...

[_marsal]

Let's just watch the Finals and hope for a Spanish victory, because I hate the guts of any greek national team...

Euro 2004???

Emm, that's C. Ronaldo of Portugal?

[putodelagoa]

Euro 2004???

You bet

[putodelagoa]

Ok. So I guess the question is: How come USA allows greece 101 points...

How come Marc Gasol and Reyes play better post defense than any of the USA bigs.

How come Garbajosa plays help defense so much better than any of his american counterparts...

Impressive win.

Shortsanitis couldn't make a move without fouling.
No easy lay-ups.
No easy 3 pointers.
Spanoulis was allowed to shoot at will.


I guess it's what happens when you know who are you up against.

Geat job.

[Fenix]

A great game. This rules, this kind of basketball, this officiating in combination with NBA talent would form a perfect combination.

[iG®]

That was the best defense/or worst offense I've ever seen. They always double palyer and opponent has no room to move or to pass to a teammate. That's just the way to do it.

[Jing]

my god... greece got owned, without gasol too

[Leander]

The US should play with O' Neal, Iverson, Bryant, Garnett and so on.

And LEARN how to play as a team. An O' Neal would have definitely changed the game. He is not that good any more as he was some years ago but he still owns the paint with his power.

Why didn't those players play? No interest? Or too selfish?

Well, and if such a team lacks team-work, why not pick an entire NBA team and let Miami or Detroit play as the US national team? They have to play together all the time so they should be used to playing as a team.

[Mayerhendrix]

People wouldn't think of it as an All-American team if it came from only one part of the country. I mean, the players on a team are from all over, but people think of the players as from the area the team is from.....

[CERVANTES]

I think the team USA had was awesome, but seriously, they need to prepare offensive plays and work on that 1on1 defense without helps. I think they key for the victory against Argentina was that Coach K didn't give the same minutes to all players, they need Howard to play 25-30 minutes, Wade and Melo about 30-35, and then the rest.

[Metsis]

The biggest problem of the US national team has been for a long time that a whole teamful of NBAs brightest stars turn down the honor... I don't see why, but they do.

I think the coaching staff has gotten fed up with that kind of attitude among the top players and thus wanted a guarrantee from the players they were going to pick that they were in it for three years. Which is a good thing... Now, they will have most of the same people next year at the qualifiers and in Beijing for the olympics. This was a good move from the US national teams. But it also means that they really can't pick guys that are older and veteran to be on the team like Shaq or Jason Kidd etc. but have to pick from the guys that are younger and will more likely be in good condition and healthy in three years.

Spain owned the final... You don't win games like that unless you got the other teams number in your back pocket. Keeping any national team to 47 points isn't easy... Especially a team that is the European champion...

[Scotty]

does anyone know if the Bronze metal match between USA and Argentina has been or will be on Australian Foxtel? The final was...

thanks

[[Q]]

I read that the Clips can get Schortsanitis pretty easily if they tried. I would love to see him come over this year.

[debiler]

Schortsianidis would most likely be a mediocre player at best. Don't forget, the game in the NBA is different(which is why team USA are going down internationally). But I can see him as a backup option for Brand for, lets say 10-12 min per game.

[Scotty]

yeah i heard on commentary of one of the greek matches that Schortsanitis will be teaming up with Brand and the Clipps, i think Greece has some awesome players that could play NBA.

Vasileios
SPANOULIS (7)

Theodoros
PAPALOUKAS (4)

Dimitrios
DIAMANTIDIS (13)

Lazaros
PAPADOPOULOS (14)

Michail
KAKIOUZIS (15)

[---]

Dimitrios
DIAMANTIDIS (13)

That guy reminds me of a smaller, more defensive rashard lewis, and spanoulis is the man

[Silas]

People wouldn't think of it as an All-American team if it came from only one part of the country. I mean, the players on a team are from all over, but people think of the players as from the area the team is from.....

I think America would forget that when their country's team won by 30 pts every game.

If they sent the Miami heat, nobody would be able to stop them. That team has all the tools they need. Or even better, the Detroit Pistons, (they would fit in much better in international play) and you could add in guys like Joe Johnson and Shane Battier or if they're lucky, Ray Allen in place of Carlos Delfino.

[Scotty]

Dimitrios
DIAMANTIDIS (13)

That guy reminds me of a smaller, more defensive rashard lewis, and spanoulis is the man

yeah him and Papaloukas are awesome

[CERVANTES]

I would like to see Papadopoulus in the NBA, he plays vintage basketball, like in the old times. I love his post moves. The New Bill Walton !