USA Basketball-The Road to Turkey

[BlockParty]

I didn't get to watch today's game, but watching the highlights, it looked like Durant and Rose pulled us through. Looking at the box score, it looks like Tyson had his second Bobcatlike game. Finishing with 4 fouls, 2 points in 7 minutes.

http://www.usabasketball.com/photos/10_mwc_exh_3_box.pdf

Meanwhile Jose Calderon had 0 points on 0-5 shooting, 3 assists and 1 rebound in 18:33.

[rsxnova]

I didn't get to watch today's game, but watching the highlights, it looked like Durant and Rose pulled us through. Looking at the box score, it looks like Tyson had his second Bobcatlike game. Finishing with 4 fouls, 2 points in 7 minutes.

http://www.usabasketball.com/photos/10_mwc_exh_3_box.pdf

Meanwhile Jose Calderon had 0 points on 0-5 shooting, 3 assists and 1 rebound in 18:33.

That just means we will buy him low:facepalm:

[Toocool]

Prepare to get dominated by a Bogut-less Australia.
WE HAVE the amazing speedy overrated Point Guard Patrick Mills who loves to break feet
The built-like-a-house Nathan Jawai who can't get playing time
And the useless-thinks-hes-so-good-when-hes-crap Joe Ingles.

Prepareeeee.

[tamburello]

Prepare to get dominated by a Bogut-less Australia.
WE HAVE the amazing speedy overrated Point Guard Patrick Mills who loves to break feet
The built-like-a-house Nathan Jawai who can't get playing time
And the useless-thinks-hes-so-good-when-hes-crap Joe Ingles.

Prepareeeee.

:) Man, I think you should keep your hopes minimal without Bogut, that's very unfortunate him being out of the champs.

And I'm surprised you didn't mention your best player in the absence of Bogut, Aleks Maric :D He had a great season with Partizan.

[Toocool]

:) Man, I think you should keep your hopes minimal without Bogut, that's very unfortunate him being out of the champs.

And I'm surprised you didn't mention your best player in the absence of Bogut, Aleks Maric :D He had a great season with Partizan.

Haha my hopes are lower than minimal. For me, I expect the worst and hope for the best. That way I am never disappointed.

Aleks Maric? Never heard of the chap. Looking at his stats, he seems pretty darn solid.

[bing!]

Aleks Maric? Never heard of the chap.

Trust me, he's damn good. I've watched him play for Partizan (the talent factory) this past season and when he gets the minutes, he's a veritable 17/10 60%+ machine (an extreme scoring threat but needs his ass covered on the other end).

[Plowright]

Austrailier...puffffff try team GB!!! They have gone unbeaten in the last 4 games running up to the World Championships. Luol Deng has averaged the most points out of any player in the qualyfires and PoPS Mensah Bonsu has averaged the most rebounds... BEWARE!!!

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@plowman

Check Deng's stat line against Macedonia in about 10 mins. :hysterical:

:fighting: ... GB'd be the one on the right.

All in good spirits.

EDIT: the bastard actually managed to score a couple of buckets...

[tamburello]

Apparently people here are not so interested in World Championship.

Well, today the first round games are completed. USA, Lithuania and Turkey remained perfect in 5 games. USA generally won their games easily, however, against Brazil they have had a very difficult time and could have very well lost. Other than that, Spain didn't look as strong as I expected them to be, however they can start playing better in coming rounds.

Luis Scola was clearly the MVP of the first round as he averaged 29 points and 8.2 rebounds.

In 1/8 finals, USA will face Angola, Diaw's France will play with my Turkey. Most coveted matchup of the second round is Spain vs. Greece.

The only Bobcat in the tournament, Boris Diaw's averages: http://turkey2010.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/10/fwcm/player/p/eid/4728/pid/33925/rid//sid/4728/tid/282/profile.html

[bing!]

Not so interested? At one point I was watching three games at once (one on the TV and two via streaming), my head nearly blew up.

I'm just sad that China didn't make the cut... the little bastards seemed so eager to prove themselves, shucks.

[teej]

Apparently people here are not so interested in World Championship.


In the U.S. all anyone cares about are the Olympics. We're too busy worrying about football. American football that is.

[bing!]

Whoa, apparently China did make the cut. They snuck past Puerto Rico and Ivory Coast on a minute point differential advantage. My life is complete again.

Next up, Lithuania. Grrrrr.

[tamburello]

Whoa, apparently China did make the cut. They snuck past Puerto Rico and Ivory Coast on a minute point differential advantage. My life is complete again.

Next up, Lithuania. Grrrrr.

We were also wondering at the game why Yi Jianlian and Sun Yu were on sidelines, predicted that they had guaranteed to advance. Apparently they had.

[bing!]

We were also wondering at the game why Yi Jianlian and Sun Yu were on sidelines, predicted that they had guaranteed to advance. Apparently they had.

Yeah. Puerto Rico v Ivory Coast finished a couple of hours earlier and they were certain they'd advance, hence their blow-out at Turkey's hand (not that they wouldn't lose any other way, your boys are on fire). :biggrin:

[tamburello]

(not that they wouldn't lose any other way, your boys are on fire). :biggrin:

It's a Turkish tradition to start strong and finish pathetic :D let's see what we'd do against France.

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Serbia v Croatia
Greece v Spain

Tamb, who ya got?

I reckon Serbia by +8 and Greece (yeah, Greece) by +4.

[tamburello]

Serbia v Croatia
Greece v Spain

Tamb, who ya got?

I reckon Serbia by +8 and Greece (yeah, Greece) by +4.

Serbia will probably win in a high scoring game. It might be closer than you think, however.

And I expect a relatively easy win by Spain :) Greece has softened a lot after Kazlauskas' arrival, they play like Lithuania. The only difference is they can't make shots like Lithuanians do. Greece we know is a tough team, but the team I have watched in Turkey is not the one with Giannakis.

[bing!]

Yup, the intensity level of the Greeks has stooped dramatically, but then again, I can't shake the feelings that all is not well behind the scene with Spain. If they're not allowed to set and dictate their own pace (kinda like USA), crumbling ensues. They can't handle adversity and that'll be their undoing tonight. It's just a hunch, though. :)

[tamburello]

You'll read from newspapers that Boris Diaw ended WC on a high note, scoring 21 points. Although he played much better than the previous games, those 21 points were rather meaningless. They came after the match is already out of reach for France. Turkey was much superior to them, France was one of the best defensive teams of the tournament, however they conceded 95 points.

Turkey - Slovenia quarter final will be a great game, two in-form teams will meet. I strongly recommend you to see it on September 8.

@bing, do you believe New Zealand has a chance against Russia? I think they do :)

[Toocool]

http://turkey2010.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/10/fwcm/player/p/eid/4728/pid/33925/rid//sid/4728/tid/282/profile.html

Bull crap Diaw is 236. He looks at least 270, if not more.

And Australia got slaughtered to Slovenia...such is life when you don't hit shots. And lack an all-star caliber Center...

[bing!]

@bing, do you believe New Zealand has a chance against Russia? I think they do :)

Of course. Penney can shoot the lights out and the Russians were everything but consistent during this tournament. Additionally, any team that starts the game off with a ritual dance is a winner in my eyes. :)

Were you at the game last night, the atmosphere seemed sizzling?


Bull crap Diaw is 236. He looks at least 270, if not more.

And Australia got slaughtered to Slovenia...such is life when you don't hit shots. And lack an all-star caliber Center...

Boris Diaw? Nah. Stay Puft Diaw? Yeah.

You guys sorely missed Bogut, but Slovenia was short Beno Udrih, Lorbek Brothers, Matjaz Smodis and Sasha Vujacic... that's practically a starting line-up on its own. :)

[tamburello]

Were you at the game last night, the atmosphere seemed sizzling?

No, I didn't go to İstanbul for finals. I've just seen one game day in Ankara.

Against Slovenia, you can expect much more sizzling atmosphere :)

[BlockParty]

USA wins in a blowout...Tyson is in mid-season form...13 minutes, 4 fouls.

http://espn.go.com/extra/fiba/boxscore?gameId=300908917

Wait, my apologies, at mid-season he is usually sitting on the bench in street clothes because of an injury.

[tamburello]

USA wins in a blowout...Tyson is in mid-season form...13 minutes, 4 fouls.

http://espn.go.com/extra/fiba/boxscore?gameId=300908917

Wait, my apologies, at mid-season he is usually sitting on the bench in street clothes because of an injury.

Against Angola, any kind of statistics for any player is meaningless, sir :) Wait the quarter finals, where US will face Russia. Even this Russian team is far away from pushing US.

[tamburello]

Scola was unbelievable last night. He made all the clutch shots, basically made each shot, scored 37 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. Over Varejao and Splitter of Brazil. He's the clear favorite for MVP award no matter what he does in remaining games, unless someone else does dramatically superb things.

Today there are two great games: Serbia vs. Spain (re-match of last year's European final) and Turkey vs. Slovenia (Turkey has won only 1 of 7 official games against Slovenia)

[BlockParty]

Tamburello...good luck tomorrow in the Gold Medal game vs the USA. Don't take it personally when Durant goes for 50 points and DRose dunks over your Center in route to a victory. {ends smack talk since USA should win anyway}

[tamburello]

Tamburello...good luck tomorrow in the Gold Medal game vs the USA. Don't take it personally when Durant goes for 50 points and DRose dunks over your Center in route to a victory. {ends smack talk since USA should win anyway}

Thanks sir :) We really need some luck. Last night's game drained the every last bit of mental power of Turkish players, almost the whole Turkey went nuts last night, including myself :D

I think Durant would score over 40 points this time, but I really don't think Rose can dunk over our centers, I really want him try :) Anyway, all Americans' prayers should go to Durant for his existance, if he was not here, USA couldn't have gone beyond quarter finals, I mean it.

If USA wins and Durant scores +25 points, he'll very probably win MVP. Otherwise, I think Scola will win it.

[Chef]

durant is sick. he is so fun to watch. i am enjoying watching these guys actually get to play, push, talk trash. it's nice to see them be able to really get into the game.

[bing!]

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/sp/getty/c0/fullj.5c817cc448db454d074c52ba8859481f/5c817cc448db454d074c52ba8859481f-getty-basket-tur-wc2010-us.jpg

Tyson is not amused by Turk's antics.

[tamburello]

Congratulations to USA for their first championship since 1994. In all honesty, I had predicted USA's championship as soon as I heard Durant will be with them. Besides being a superior scorer, I thought his game suits to FIBA basketball pretty well, which he has proved eventually. I mean, if I were Krzyzewski, I would have preferred Durant over anybody, including LeBron, Wade. I would only hesitate for Kobe, but that Durant is simply unstoppable.

In all respect to other players, I think Durant single-handedly won the title. Although I think Turkey should have played better than that, this loss was foreseeable and inevitable.

Behind Durant, Luis Scola is clearly the second best player. He did a great job too. It's a pity that his efforts weren't enough for at least a semi-final.