OT: London 2012 Olympic Basketball Thread

Polynice4Pippen · Post #461 » by **Polynice4Pippen** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 9:09 pm

LeBron not settling for jumpers. Almost all his points are dunks and layups.

Post #462 » by **suckfish** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 9:16 pm

Argentina had their chance, they blew it.

Post #463 » by **suckfish** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 9:23 pm

OH **** MELO!

BeKuK · Post #464 » by **BeKuK** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 9:23 pm

suckfish wrote:Argentina had their chance, they blew it.

They never had a real chance. Team USA is just amazing!

Carmelo for threeeeeee

Polynice4Pippen · Post #465 » by **Polynice4Pippen** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 9:24 pm

Holy crap, Melo!! :usa:

You have to play near flawless basketall for 4 quarters with absolutely no lapses to beat USA. And then hope they settle for 3's and go ice cold.

BeKuK · Post #466 » by **BeKuK** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 9:31 pm

CP3 with a half flop.......I never liked him!

Post #467 » by **suckfish** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 9:39 pm

Spain's only chance is that the Gasol's protect the paint, Pau gets in a flow offensively, and Rudy, La Bomba, and Calderon hit from outside while the US shoot poorly.

Not likely.

OldSchoolNoBull · Post #468 » by **OldSchoolNoBull** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 9:42 pm

Westbrook didn't look good limping off the court...hope he's ok.

Wewing · Post #469 » by **Wewing** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 11:35 pm

Being in London the last 11 days, I just wanted to say I've gained an even greater appreciation for the UK posters that appear here. There is almost zero coverage of basketball, at least in what seems to be mainstream sports media over here. Is it any better during the regular basketball season for you? Is it that the other sports get blanket coverage because of Great Britain's success during these Olympics? For example, during the basketball season will you still get more coverage of cycling, boxing & rowing over here? Are Mo Farah & Jessica Ennis covered just as heavily during an ordinary Diamond League schedule as they have been these two weeks?

Post #470 » by **suckfish** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 11:46 pm

Wewing wrote:Being in London the last 11 days, I just wanted to say I've gained an even greater appreciation for the UK posters that appear here. There is almost zero coverage of basketball, at least in what seems to be mainstream sports media over here. Is it any better during the regular basketball season for you? Is it that the other sports get blanket coverage because of Great Britain's success during these Olympics? For example, during the basketball season will you still get more coverage of cycling, boxing & rowing over here? Are Mo Farah & Jessica Ennis covered just as heavily during an ordinary Diamond League schedule as they have been these two weeks?

Erm, this is like the best it's ever been. To us, it actually feels like basketball exists in the UK for once. Come back in February when the Olympics are well and truly over and the football season is in full swing. You'll see.

Did you manage to get to any events?

Wewing · Post #471 » by **Wewing** » Sat Aug 11, 2012 12:30 am

suckfish wrote:
Erm, this is like the best it's ever been. To us, it actually feels like basketball exists in the UK for once. Come back in February when the Olympics are well and truly over and the football season is in full swing. You'll see.

Wow, I do have to get back and see what it's like. I hope the GB national team continues to develop and improve and this isn't just a one time spike in interest and quality...what would be a reasonable target for the team, say for the next ten years? Just qualify for FIBA Europe every 2 years, or maybe get to the quarterfinals? Maybe get to a World Championships?

suckfish wrote:
Did you manage to get to any events?

I feel bad stating how many events I saw, because I know how difficult it was for the locals to get tickets. All I can figure is that even though 75% of Olympic tickets were reserved for the UK (maybe about 6~7 million?) you probably had 20 million people trying for tickets. Whereas in the USA maybe we only got 100,000 tickets but maybe only had 5,000 people trying for them? And it probably helps our chances at tickets when our official distributor is willing to do questionable tactics such as re-selling tickets turned back from sponsors. While some of my tickets were labeled "USA NOC" I had others that said "GE" & "Acer" and "Australia NOC" even though I bought them from the official USA seller.

Post #472 » by **suckfish** » Sat Aug 11, 2012 12:46 am

Wow, I do have to get back and see what it's like. I hope the GB national team continues to develop and improve and this isn't just a one time spike in interest and quality...what would be a reasonable target for the team, say for the next ten years? Just qualify for FIBA Europe every 2 years, or maybe get to the quarterfinals? Maybe get to a World Championships?

Well, the head coach has already resigned and the assistant head coach is expected to follow. Deng will probably sit next years Eurobasket out to get healthy/rest/concentrate on Bulls. Our starting point guard and our reserve center are retiring. So the program is already having to retool. Young guys are going to have to fill the spots..

Just qualifying for any of the major tournaments in upcoming years would be great great feats.

I feel bad stating how many events I saw, because I know how difficult it was for the locals to get tickets. All I can figure is that even though 75% of Olympic tickets were reserved for the UK (maybe about 6~7 million?) you probably had 20 million people trying for tickets. Whereas in the USA maybe we only got 100,000 tickets but maybe only had 5,000 people trying for them? And it probably helps our chances at tickets when our official distributor is willing to do questionable tactics such as re-selling tickets turned back from sponsors. While some of my tickets were labeled "USA NOC" I had others that said "GE" & "Acer" and "Australia NOC" even though I bought them from the official USA seller.

I got lucky with the basketball and saw a ton of live games. Well I worked hard to get my hands on them and they cost me a fair bit.

It's incredibly frustrating to see so many empty seats though. The attendance for the semi finals today was 13,215. The arena holds 20,000. There were no tickets or very few put up for sale through the official website this week, so just under 7,000 tickets haven been distributed or given to sponsors, yet they didn't show.

Wewing · Post #473 » by **Wewing** » Sat Aug 11, 2012 1:20 am

suckfish wrote:
I got lucky with the basketball and saw a ton of live games. Well I worked hard to get my hands on them and they cost me a fair bit.

It's incredibly frustrating to see so many empty seats though. The attendance for the semi finals today was 13,215. The arena holds 20,000. There were no tickets or very few put up for sale through the official website this week, so just under 7,000 tickets haven been distributed or given to sponsors, yet they didn't show.

Glad you got to see a lot...I know what you mean about the expense, whether you went through official channels or not. To give you an idea of what tickets cost in the USA, they were about 8 to 10 times higher than Beijing for category A in pool play, 5 times higher for the quarterfinals and 4 times higher for the semifinals. And in Beijing it was a semifinal doubleheader. The pounds-to-dollars conversion factor (after fees) ended up being about 2.2! And I wish I had known more about the categories once play moved to the O2 arena. My Category B seats were as good or better than category A.

That is disappointing about the attendance. At the early semifinal, I counted 14 empty seats in my row of about 30. Maybe 8 of those showed up at halftime, but still. Does that 20,000 capacity for the O2 adjust for the fact that they block off the three prime sections on one side for the media to take up about 5 times the space the rest of the crowd gets?

swag2011 · Post #474 » by **swag2011** » Sat Aug 11, 2012 3:33 am

To anyone over there in London, how's the popularity of the basketball players. I know basketball isn't popular there, but a friend of mines currently in London said that Kobe still gets louder cheers than anybody during the opening intros or games.

I hope for the gold medal game there will be a bigger crowd though. Sure to be a great one.

Post #475 » by **suckfish** » Sat Aug 11, 2012 12:29 pm

lad you got to see a lot...I know what you mean about the expense, whether you went through official channels or not. To give you an idea of what tickets cost in the USA, they were about 8 to 10 times higher than Beijing for category A in pool play, 5 times higher for the quarterfinals and 4 times higher for the semifinals. And in Beijing it was a semifinal doubleheader. The pounds-to-dollars conversion factor (after fees) ended up being about 2.2!

Yeah, I know people who brought from the overseas vendors and paid way more than they would have, then regretting it as the same tickets later became available nearer the date of the event for the standard price.

A lot of people didn't realise that tickets would be released and put up for resale just before and during the games. I picked up my second session for the quarterfinals on the morning of game day. A few other people in my section at the game said they did the same.

And I wish I had known more about the categories once play moved to the O2 arena. My Category B seats were as good or better than category A

I had category A's for all four quarterfinals. For the first session I was 6 rows in in line with the freethrow line. For the second session (USA) I was 4th row in behind the USA and bench next to the players tunnel.

So I was happy with mine!

Post #476 » by **suckfish** » Sat Aug 11, 2012 12:34 pm

swag2011 wrote:To anyone over there in London, how's the popularity of the basketball players. I know basketball isn't popular there, but a friend of mines currently in London said that Kobe still gets louder cheers than anybody during the opening intros or games.

I hope for the gold medal game there will be a bigger crowd though. Sure to be a great one.

Kobe definitely gets the loudest cheers. That said, a large portion if it not the majority of people at the games are not British. Most people at the games, at least the real fans seem to be foreign. Most of the British people at the games are just people who wanted to experience the Olympics and just got tickets for whatever events they could get their hands on.

Tickets for the gold medal game are really expensive. For category A they want like £450. I think the cheapest seats are like £90. As awesome as it would to be there, I decided to just watch it at home. I've spent too much money as it is.

BeKuK · Post #477 » by **BeKuK** » Sat Aug 11, 2012 9:18 pm

Team USA(women) are playing a wonderful Basketball. Leading the Game after the third quarter with 63 - 37 against france.

Polynice4Pippen · Post #478 » by **Polynice4Pippen** » Sat Aug 11, 2012 11:05 pm

BeKuK wrote:Team USA(women) are playing a wonderful Basketball. Leading the Game after the third quarter with 63 - 37 against france.

Congrats to the US women's team. 5 straight Gold medals now. They are truly dominant. Happy for local girls Tamika Catchings and Candace Parker. And Taurasi, Angel McCaughtry and Maya Moore are really fun to watch. They go hard the whole game and really get after it. :usa:

Post #479 » by **suckfish** » Sun Aug 12, 2012 11:26 am

Great bronze medal game going on.

BeKuK · Post #480 » by **BeKuK** » Sun Aug 12, 2012 11:29 am

suckfish wrote:Great bronze medal game going on.

Dammit, can't watch!