Olympic Basketball Tournament 2008

[salaner]

Spain-Russia game and Tuesday's Spain-Argentina game will be two pretty crucial pre-Olympic matches - they will give a better idea of whether anyone has a serious chance of upsetting the USA in Beijing.

For the record, the current rosters of these three teams (World champ, European champ, Olympic champ) are the following (Russia still has to cut three players):

Spain:
Raúl López, 6-0 PG, age 28, Real Madrid (Spain)
José M. Calderón, 6-3 PG, age 26, Toronto Raptors (NBA)
Ricky Rubio, 6-4 PG/SG, age 17, Joventut Badalona (Spain)
Juan Carlos Navarro, 6-4 SG, age 28, FC Barcelona (Spain)
Rudy Fernández, 6-5 SG, age 23, Portland Trail Blazers (NBA)
Berni Rodríguez, 6-6 SG/SF, age 28, Unicaja Málaga (Spain)
Alex Mumbrú, 6-7 SF, age 29, Real Madrid (Spain)
Carlos Jiménez, 6-8 SF, age 32, Unicaja Málaga (Spain)
Felipe Reyes, 6-9 PF/C, age 28, Real Madrid (Spain)
Jorge Garbajosa, 6-9 PF/SF, age 30, free agent
Marc Gasol, 7-0 C, age 23, Memphis Grizzlies (NBA)
Pau Gasol, 7-1 C/PF, age 28, Los Angeles Lakers (NBA)

Argentina:
Pablo Prigioni, 6-1, PG, age 31, Tau Vitoria (Spain)
Paolo Quinteros, 6-1 SG, age 29, CAI Zaragoza (Spain)
Antonio Porta, 6-2, PG age 24, Spartak St. Petersburg (Russia)
Manu Ginóbili, 6-6 SG, age 30, San Antonio Spurs (NBA)
Carlos Delfino, 6-6 SG, age 25, Khimki (Russia)
Andrés Nocioni, 6-7 SF, age 28, Chicago Bulls (NBA)
Federico Kammerichs, 6-8 PF/SF, age 28, Regatas Corrientes (Argentina)
Leo Gutiérrez, 6-7 PF, age 30, Atenas Córdoba (Argentina)
Luis Scola, 6-9 PF, age 28, Houston Rockets (NBA)
Fabricio Oberto, 6-10 C, age 33, San Antonio Spurs (NBA)
Román González, 6-11 C, age 30, Peñarol Mar del Plata (Argentina).
Juan Pedro Gutiérrez, 6-10 C/PF, age 24, CB Granada (Spain)

Russia:
J.R. Holden 6-0 PG, age 32. CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Petr Samoilenko, 6-2 SG, age 31, Dynamo Moscow (Russia)
Sergey Bykov, 6-3 PG, age 25,G Dynamo Moscow (Russia)
Zahar Pashutin, 6-5 SG/SF, age 34, CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Alexey Shved, 6-5 SG, age 20, CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Vitalyi Fridzon, 6-5 PG, age 22, BC Khimki (Russia)
Anton Ponkrashov, 6-7 PG/SG, age 22, Khimki (Russia)
Viktor Keiru, 6-7 SG, age 24, CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Andrey Vorontsevich, 6-8 SF/PF, age 21, CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Sergei Monya, 6-9 SF, age 25, Dynamo Moscow (Russia)
Andrei Kirilenko, 6-11 PF/SF, age 27, Utah Jazz (NBA)
Nikita Morgunov, 6-11 PF, age 33, Khimki (Russia)
Alexander Kaun, 6-11 C, age 23, CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Nikita Shabalkin, 6-11 C, age 22, Khimki (Russia)
Alexey Savrasenko, 7-2 C, age 29, CSKA Moscow (Russia)

[Ern III]

Now we'll see how pertinent questions of lacking size will be for the USA. The best front-court in the tournament has just joined their group.

Not that they ought to be afraid of Germany - their back-court will get whatever they want - but they will struggle to defend and out-rebound the Nowitzki-Kaman combination, while staying out of foul trouble. Of course, foul trouble will also be crucial to the Germans' level of success. Femerling is nowhere near the imposing force that is Chris Kaman.

[salaner]

Well, pretty cut-and-dried. Spain went up by 30 at the half and wound up destroying Russia, 91-56. Defense ahead of offense for now, but this Spanish team looks rather good. Russia - not so good...

For Spain, Pau Gasol (16 + 5 rebs), Felipe Reyes (15 + 8), Alex Mumbrú (12 +2), Rudy Fernández (11 + 3 + 3 ast), Berni Rodríguez (10), Ricky Rubio (6 + 3 + 3), Jorge Garbajosa (6 + 4), Marc Gasol (6 + 9), Raúl López (5), José R. Calderón (3 + 3 + 1), Carlos Jiménez (1 + 1). Juan C. Navarro, slightly hurt, played briefly and didn't score.

For Russia, Andrei Kirilenko (18 + 10), JR Holden (11 + 2 + 2), Vitalyi Fridzon (9), Andrey Vorontsevich (5 + 2 + 2), Zahar Pashutin (4 + 1), Sergey Bykov (3 + 4), Alexey Savrasenko (2 + 2).

[Point forward]

A: Croatia - Iran - Lithuania - Argentina - Russia - Australia
B: China - Greece - Germany - Angola - Spain - USA

This is great news. GER will play all the fun teams (USA, Spain, China, Greece) and will go home with a real Olympic experience, regardless of the result. Better play Kobe, Yao, Gasol or Diamanatidis than Ginobili and AK47. This will be a great experience for our team.

[Point forward]

This is how I expect it:

W vs China - tough game, but nobody can guard Dirk whereas Yao can be picked up by Kaman
L vs Greece - they simply have our number, their guards torch us
W vs Angola - we must win this
L vs Spain - Spain is too deep (still, they have a history of choking vs us, lol)
L vs USA - we will get blown out

[Apollo64]

This is how I expect it:

W vs China - tough game, but nobody can guard Dirk whereas Yao can be picked up by Kaman

Actually, they have Yi to do it! China and Germany have some similarities: Both have strong frontcourts (Kaman/Nowitzki vs Yao/Yi) and not so good backcourts, that can break under pressure. I think their game will decide who advances to the knock-out stage.

[Apollo64]

Missing Khryapa is huge for Russia, since he was their second best player after Kirilenko in the last Eurobasket. I still don't dismiss Russia as a team that can do some damage in the Olympics, remember last year they sucked at friendlies too (they had a 40-points loss to France, if i recall correctly).

[Captain_Obvious]

Hmm,
so Kaman will play versus USA. I wonder if they will call him a traitor...

[salaner]

Missing Khryapa is huge for Russia, since he was their second best player after Kirilenko in the last Eurobasket.

Actually, he was not. JR Holden was - he possibly should have gotten the MVP ahead of Kirikenko.

[wilt]

if this is indeed deemed the official topic, could you salaner or a mod please edit the first post and put in the schedule ?


btw funny anecdote : Chris kaman´s brother is apparantely with him and when the german commentator asked him for his and Chris´s impression of international play according to the commentator he basically said "man, this is like Rugby under the basket, you don´t see **** like that in the NBA" and today kaman said "first couple games back in the NBA i´m just gonna hack everybody because i´m now used to it"


btw : That German team deserved it so much, unbelievable team. Basically never any trouble in the team, allways great stability within the team without major shakeups. Never the most talented, allways showing great heart and terrific effort with Nowitzki as the leader.

[Apollo64]

Missing Khryapa is huge for Russia, since he was their second best player after Kirilenko in the last Eurobasket.

Actually, he was not. JR Holden was - he possibly should have gotten the MVP ahead of Kirikenko.

Though numbers never tell the whole story, Khryapa's overall contribution statistically was better than Holden's but not as high as Kirilenko's .

http://www.eurobasket2007.org/en/cid_Bq ... D_381.html

[Lakers_4_Life]

Russia is a good team with a good coach but they are overrated after winning the Eurobasket. No way can they be considered as good as European teams like Spain, Lithuania, and Greece IMO.

[suspect]

I really hope that the ugly scenes last year in Eurobasket between Greece and Spain will not be repeated.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=siKWh0DkCz8


You stole us a place in the final last year.

[Sheenmue]

A greek complaining about referees... I guess you look international games played in Greece with sunglasses.

[jt142]

This is how I expect it:

W vs China - tough game, but nobody can guard Dirk whereas Yao can be picked up by Kaman

Actually, they have Yi to do it! China and Germany have some similarities: Both have strong frontcourts (Kaman/Nowitzki vs Yao/Yi) and not so good backcourts, that can break under pressure. I think their game will decide who advances to the knock-out stage.

Nowitzki must be shaking in his hi-tops. Yi couldn't guard my grandmother. Then again, she's 6'10" and has a 40" vertical. Seriously though, Yi's defense is one of his biggest weaknesses, along with his lack of creativity and mechanical-like basketball skill. Nowitzki will get his points, one way or another, and will handily win that match-up. Comparing Yi to Nowitzki is like comparing a Porche to a Honda. A better Yi comparison would be Biedrins, although Yi lacks his strength, rebounding, and defense. The key to this game is the Kaman-Yao and back-court match-ups. If Kaman can get 20 and 10 and limit Yao production, then Germany should win. Germany's guards, while not very god, are still head-and-shoulders above China's weak back-court. China's guards are embarrassingly bad. A full-court press by any good defensive team will render China's guards useless and cause a lot of turnovers and problems. If Yao, Yi, and Wang have great games, they could win. Talent-wise, Wang is better than any German player after Nowitzki and Kaman. Regardless of this fact, he's very streaky and only plays hard in stretches. He's like the Chinese Derrick Coleman. This game will probably decide the 4th place team in the group.

Angola could upset either Germany or China, so I wouldn't just brush them off as the designated last place team. Just a week ago, Angola beat China without using a full-court press. Neither teams played their starters the full 40, but a win is still a win. The apologists will probably beg to differ. The fact that Angola decided not to pressure China's guards and still won is a bad sign for the hosts. The more athletic Angola team gave China trouble with their quickness and strength. Unless their 3 best players (Yao, Yi, and Wang) play well, China could finish in last place. Now wouldn't that be embarrassing.

[salaner]

Not to mention that Angola also beat Serbia last week, which ain't hay. Angola has a pretty good team.

[jt142]

Not to mention that Angola also beat Serbia last week, which ain't hay. Angola has a pretty good team.

That's not saying much. This isn't the same Serbian team from years past. They are definitely in rebuilding mode right now. They even lost to Iran! I would have expected their U-18 to beat Iran. No excuse for that one.

China, Angola, and Iran are the weakest teams in the Olympics. No surprise.

[Lulkz]

Anyone know where their going to air these games what broadcast?

[Management]

http://www.eurovisionsports.tv/olympics/

This site has 12 channels and one of them show the BBall game, which channel it is you can see on this site => http://html.ebu.ch.edgesuite.net/olympics/epg/index.html

So all games are broadcasted by this site, really nice, but unfortunately no full-screen mode...

____

Germany won against Angola (95 -66)

Nowitzki with 23 Points and time to rest
Kaman with 24 Points

http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/08/olym/men/news/lateNews/p/newsid/27735/FE_news_lateNews_arti.html

______

Russia beats Iran (71-49)

http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/08/olym/men/news/gameRepo/p/eventid//fixeddate//gamename/1/gender//groupname/A/langid//langlc//newsid//playernumber//roundid/6450/teamnumber//zone//repo.html

[Point forward]

GER destroyed Angola with some sick Twin Towers play by Dirk and Kaman. Nice start!