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Today Italy and Marco had their first warm up game before of EuroBasket.


Italian NT played tonight its first game, in Trento against Georgia, but on Tuesday they learnt that Andrea Bargnani was not on the court. Bargnani has had to stop any training activity, as he contracted a respiratory system infection, has high fever and is undergoing therapy.

The Italian National Team, tonight won 85-69 against Sanikidze and friends.

In the first challenge of the Trentino Basketball Cup, Italy demolishes 85-69 (Belinelli 21, Datome 10) Georgia despite the heavy absence of Andrea Bargnani, stopped by a respiratory infection. Solid game of the "Azzurri", always masters of the match against Sanikidze and companions.

Encouraging performance, with the Pianigiani's boys who dominated the game against a team without the Bucks center Zaza Pachulia. It was very important the ability to run fast on the floor in a game in which Marco Belinelli was the best player. In the game many italian players showed that they can contribute: good, in this regard, the debut of Travis Diener.
Italy ends the first two quarters ahead 38-28 and in the last period reaches even a 30 points lead and then gives several showtime's minutes to the fans in the PalaTrento Arena with 14 players entering in the game. Italy is promising, but it will be essential to recover Bargnani.
Thursday at 20:30 second challenge against Israel.

BOXSCORE
Italy-Georgia 85-69 (21-10, 38-28, 64-43)
Italy: Cavaliero (0/1), Mancinelli 4 (1/3, 0/1), Poeta 4 (2/2), Melli 6 (2/4, 0/1), Vitali 4 (1/3) , Cusin 1 (0/2), Datome 10 (5/6, 0/1), Diener 5 (0/2, 1/2), Rosselli 4 (2/2, 0/1), Magro, Cinciarini 8 (4/6, 0/1), Gigli DNP, Belinelli 21 (8/10, 1/2), Moraschini DNP, Gentile 8 (4/7, 0/1), Aradori 10 (2/3, 2/3) . Coach: Pianigiani
Georgia: Boisa, Tsintadze 12 (1/4, 2/5), Shermadini 18 (4/5), Markoishvili 7 (2/6, 1/6), Patsatsia 1 (0/1, 0/2), 14 Sanikidze (1/4, 2/3), Metreveli 2 (1/1), Tskitishvili 6 (1/3), Burjanadze 5 (0/3, 1/1), Lezhava 2 (1/1, 0/3), Pkhakadze 2 (1/1, 0/2), Zeller (0/2) by three. Coach: Kokoskov

http://www.gazzetta.it/Basket/Italia/07 ... 0814.shtml

Here the link to game's video.
I do not know if you can watch it outside Italy.

http://www.rai.tv/dl/RaiTV/programmi/me ... 1e0&page=0

[YouTube] http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... g-Y#at=125[/YouTube]

Belinelli in Eurobasket is really showing how much he has developed his game in the last years. No more a pure shooter but a real team's leader: good scorer, passer, defender and much more the real Italian National team playmaker: the Italian Gino (that's the Belinelli idle since he was a kid playing in the same team in Bologna)!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT8KDt5mVO8[/youtube]

Belinelli was awful (average pf 10-15% FG) in half of the Euro 2013 games. The problem is that he was awful in the important matches, in where he was supposed to be the most experienced leader of the team. He was undoubtedly one of the reasons why Italy lost last three games and finally got the 8th place in Euro 2013.

I'm a Belinelli fan but his performance was a real delusion for me.

All this stuff about playing like Manu, I don't see it yet.

Nando, early last season, showed glimpses of Manu's passing skills. That's about it. He didn't have the slashing, shooting, or Manu's best attribute (his penchant of making big plays).

Marco has not shown any passing skills yet. Atleast not one that is above average. He shoots well and been reading that he gets to the rim better than Neal, but that's not exactly a compliment. Gary Neal DOES NOT get to the rim at all. Hell, even Danny Green gets to the rim more than Neal. Gary Neal, when isn't shooting 3 pointers, will shoot pull up jumpers or floaters. But never take it to the rim. So if what everyone is saying is that he does it better than Neal, then **** man.. I do it better than Neal too.

However, in the euro games, Marco does take it to the rim alright. It's his finishing skills that worries me. This isn't Manu who is creative with his ball handling where he can get to the rim at will. And Marco doesn't have Manu's ability to finish. He doesn't have Manu's visions/passing ability.

So if he's not any of that.. What does he do similar to Manu?

co_laper wrote:All this stuff about playing like Manu, I don't see it yet.

Nando, early last season, showed glimpses of Manu's passing skills. That's about it. He didn't have the slashing, shooting, or Manu's best attribute (his penchant of making big plays).

Marco has not shown any passing skills yet. Atleast not one that is above average. He shoots well and been reading that he gets to the rim better than Neal, but that's not exactly a compliment. Gary Neal DOES NOT get to the rim at all. Hell, even Danny Green gets to the rim more than Neal. Gary Neal, when isn't shooting 3 pointers, will shoot pull up jumpers or floaters. But never take it to the rim. So if what everyone is saying is that he does it better than Neal, then **** man.. I do it better than Neal too.

However, in the euro games, Marco does take it to the rim alright. It's his finishing skills that worries me. This isn't Manu who is creative with his ball handling where he can get to the rim at will. And Marco doesn't have Manu's ability to finish. He doesn't have Manu's visions/passing ability.

So if he's not any of that.. What does he do similar to Manu?

Ask about it to Manu who perfectly knows Marco. And Today the Great Popovich just said that Marco and Manu are similar.

Awesome reply.

2 preseason games isn't a big sample but I will correct myself that Marco has shown solid passing skills. The part about him getting to the rim, I still haven't seen that. So far, he's settling for midrange jumpers that he does not make.

What I'm seeing is that he's playing like Gary Neal is right now. Gary Neal is the better shooter, but he has an awful shot selection. Marco does not. And Marco can make plays better than Neal, although you wouldn't say he's one of the team's top playmakers.