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Pool A - Brazil, Greece, Lebanon

Pool B - Cape Verde, Germany, New Zealand

Pool C - Canada, Slovenia, Korea

Pool D - Cameroon, Croatia, Puerto Rico

First game of the tournament has just started - my native New Zealand, who I don't give too high a chance of qualifying, are leading African 'minnow' Capd Verde 21-4 after the first-quarter.

Greece are going to trash Lebanon!

They can't handle the full court pressure early on..

Day one of the 2008 FIBA Olympic Qualifier Tournament at Athens, Greece:

A possible preview of possible Team USA opponents in China. Greece beat Lebanon by 57 points. Spanoulis had 16 NBA score keeper assists (unofficial stat in FIBA) in 20 minutes. Papaloukas had 14 NBA assists in 22 minutes.

New Zealand 77 - Cape Verde 50

http://www.athens2008.fiba.com/pages/en ... xScor.html

Slovenia 88 - South Korea 76

http://www.athens2008.fiba.com/pages/en ... xScor.html

Croatia 93 - Cameroon 79

http://www.athens2008.fiba.com/pages/en ... xScor.html

Greece 119 - Lebanon 62

http://www.athens2008.fiba.com/pages/en ... xScor.html

Unless it has something to do with the salaries players get paid there, shouldn't this be on the International board? And also, Greece dominated Lebanon, it wasn't even fun to watch.

Batu7 wrote:Unless it has something to do with the salaries players get paid there, shouldn't this be on the International board? And also, Greece dominated Lebanon, it wasn't even fun to watch.

No because Team USA is NBA related and this relates to the possible opponents for Team USA. How they are doing should be of direct interest to Team USA's chances this summer.

Impressive statline from Rasho.

New Zealand - Cap Verde / 77 - 50
Slovenia - Korea / 88 - 76
Croatia - Cameroon / 93 - 79
Greece - Lebanon / 119 - 62


So Greece seems to have their heads in it from day one for once, but on their own home court anything else would be borderline suicidal, so that should have served nicely as motivation not to take anyone lightly

Korea came within 5 at 67-72, Cameroon within 9 at 1 point in the 2nd half, the other 2 were never close.

Rasho had 42 NBA points and 18 NBA rebounds lol.

Just kidding found the OP post about 18 assists funny.

Alyosha12 wrote:Rasho had 42 NBA points and 18 NBA rebounds lol.

Just kidding found the OP post about 18 assists funny.

I hope you are not saying you didn't realize FIBA assists and NBA assists are officially two differently scored assists? I thought every basketball fan knew that.

Milkdud wrote:Impressive statline from Rasho.

He was definitely ready for this.

I'm pickin' Greece, Puerto Rico, and either Canada, Germany or Brazil to qualify. Probably not Brazil since their missing so many of their potential players (as are other teams). I don't think Kaman has played for Germany yet but i'm pretty excited to see it when he does.

It'll be hard for Greece not to qualify because of their talent and homecourt advantage, but it's hard to judge anything from the Lebanon game because that wouldn't have really been a challenge for any of the teams I mentioned above either (Canada crushed them twice last week, but not as badly as Greece did).

I'm more interested to see what happens once the preliminary round is done because their are alot of weaker countries in this tourney (Cape Verde, Lebanon, Korea and Cameroon), and their are going to be alot of blow-outs the next 2 or so days. But I think the better teams here are on a very level playing ground (Greece, Brazil, Germany, Canada and Puerto Rico).

Lakers_4_Life wrote:

Alyosha12 wrote:Rasho had 42 NBA points and 18 NBA rebounds lol.

Just kidding found the OP post about 18 assists funny.

I hope you are not saying you didn't realize FIBA assists and NBA assists are officially two differently scored assists? I thought every basketball fan knew that.

LOOOL suure.

And where exactly did you get that formula from?

Sure NBA assists are way more liberal but it is in no shape or form a times 2 formula.

Going by Hollingers index for example which is ok i guess its 30% better not 100% lol. And even that is for Euroleague games only not against teams like Lebanon without a player over 205cm.

I hope Brazil, Germny and Grecia will qualify for the Olympics Games.

I'm sure Grecia will do, but it's to see that Germany will. It depends on if Kaman plays with them or not.

PRAISE RASHO! 26/9 with one block and one steal.

Rasho> Dwight and Yao

8 NBA turnovers from GreekMac...

Im actually very interested in this Tournament. I want Canada to qualify so I can watch Joel Anthony in the Olympics. If anyone can post a link to all of Canada's games in this tourney, it would be much appreciated.

Is there anywhere you can see all the official rosters?

Cameroon surprisingly has some players. Ruben Boumtje Boumtje is a solid post player. Throw in mid major standout and former VT transfer Harding Nana and former Rhode Island point guard Bitee, and you have a pretty good team. I'm impressed.

Isn't Alfred Aboya on UCLA?

Official website of the tournament:
http://www.athens2008.fiba.com

Team Rosters:
http://www.athens2008.fiba.com/pages/en ... aSear.html

Schedule & Results:
http://www.athens2008.fiba.com/pages/en ... _sche.html