Official Eurobasket 2013 Thread

[mixerball]

Intentionally? Losing sent Spain to the most difficult road to the final. Also, without and day for resting....And you lose in the overtime, right?

Yea intentionally. Did you watch the game with 5 minutes to go when Spain allowed an 11-0 run, made stupid fouls, missed FTs and didn't play any defense? Rodriguez moved his hand so Datome could shoot an easy shoot at the end of regular time. And in OT they weren't even trying to score aggressively when down 5.

LTU was a tougher matchup because of their experience and interior strength. Also, playing on Thurs is a disadvantage because you have less rest for the semifinal game against a better opponent. And had they won against LTU, assumingly Croatia would be just the same as France/Slovenia.

Spain beat Croatia pretty good but it was one game. And Croatia beat Slovenia, Greece & Italy, ALL teams that beat Spain.

Then we lost intentionally against Greece and Eslovenia too. Poor game in the final minutes too and comebacks of the opponents.

The fact is that Spain has lost the three closed games until now. And it´s not the first time we do poorly in groups. Four years ago we were losing against GB and out of the tournament. Like this year, we qualified 4th. That year France was the unfortunately team, today it has been Serbia.

It´s not fair for Serbia and Spains should play way better in groups, but it´s nothing about choosing team. If Spain plays well, no matter what team we play. If we play badly, anyone cat beat us.

yeah, but you have a history of tactical maneuvers and to a spectators eye, there were some shady actions especially defensively. and that strange rodriguez moving of the hand at the last play of regulation.

[cloudXXI]

Yes, very suspicious.

Elvis is alive too.

[JV4MVP]

Then we lost intentionally against Greece and Eslovenia too. Poor game in the final minutes too and comebacks of the opponents.

No b.c. Spain had no incentive to lose against Greece or Slovenia, it actually hurt them. Losing to Italy allowed them to pick their first QT opponent and whether it wanted a longer rest break before or after the first QT game.

Spain did a similar thing to avoid the US once. And LTU let SRB come back to lose by x points to eliminate Spain in a previous Eurobasket. This stuff happens.

The fact is that Spain has lost the three closed games until now. And it´s not the first time we do poorly in groups. Four years ago we were losing against GB and out of the tournament. Like this year, we qualified 4th. That year France was the unfortunately team, today it has been Serbia.

It´s not fair for Serbia and Spains should play way better in groups, but it´s nothing about choosing team. If Spain plays well, no matter what team we play. If we play badly, anyone cat beat us.

Spain isn't as good as it has been historically because they don't have Pau. Bringing one legit C was a mistake, and one that prevented Greece from reaching the QT. Nevertheless, Spain remains the favorite in this tournament. But yes, if Spain's guards struggle shooting and the opponent is able to use their interior advantage then Spain can be beat.

[JV4MVP]

i was more surprised about disapearing of bjelica

Yea only took 4 shots, including 2 on one possession (a 3 and a close floater). He missed all of them.

Coach Ivkovic rested his starters in the 2nd half. Bjelica and Kristic each played only 14 minutes. I like this Serbia team and hope it qualifies for the WC. Their young core is only going to get better. One problem is who will replace Krstic down the road? All of their young talent are guards. And Teodosic will take one of their spots when he's healthy.

Hopefully Slovenia beats France and then Serbia will be able to dispose of France to finish in the top 6.

[cloudXXI]

No b.c. Spain had no incentive to lose against Greece or Slovenia, it actually hurt them. - See more at: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1272507&start=450#sthash.XZ0Mmpy9.dpuf

And yesterday lost hurt too. Most difficult bracket and no resting for the most important game.

I know people love conspirancy theories but this is too much.

Marc Gasol played 37 minutes because he play better when he is tired, right?

[JV4MVP]

No b.c. Spain had no incentive to lose against Greece or Slovenia, it actually hurt them. - See more at: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1272507&start=450#sthash.XZ0Mmpy9.dpuf

And yesterday lost hurt too. Most difficult bracket and no resting for the most important game.

I know people love conspirancy theories but this is too much.

Marc Gasol playing 37 minutes was because he play better when he is tired, right?

Again, I'll repeat myself: Losing to Italy allowed them to pick their first QT opponent and whether Spain wanted a longer rest break before or after the first QT game.

Gasol was playing **** defense in the 4th and OT. He allowed holes and didn't even contest layups. Yea he had 4 fouls and may have been tired but it was just ugly. And obviously late in the game you don't insert the scrub Rey b.c. that would be too blatant, and so with OT you'll play many minutes.

Playing Lithuania and Croatia is the same as Serbia and either of France/Slovenia. And Serbia was a better matchup today. And they obviously preferred the 2 day break after their first game.

[aroba]

LoL at That

[1hit1team]

sergio is most underrated player.. he's nba type of player and nobody is taking him its insane!

[JustOneFix]

They should switch to Spaldings. These Molten balls are utter crap, everything's going out with them.

[JV4MVP]

sergio is most underrated player.. he's nba type of player and nobody is taking him its insane!

His offense (driving to the basket and shooting 3s) reminds me of Steve Nash. He was beastly today. I can't believe the guy is listed as 6-3 and 168 lbs. I'm that height and am happy when I get to 195.

Unfortunate what happened to him with the Blazers. I feel like he's much better now but you never know how transferable Euro guards skillset will be. Navarro is one of the best players of this era, and is athletic enough for the NBA, but wasn't so good in Memphis.

Slovenia starting well against France. Hope they win on their homecourt.

[WillESDL]

sergio is most underrated player.. he's nba type of player and nobody is taking him its insane!

No he isnt, he is wildly inconsistent, takes horrible shoots, but every 3 or 4 games, makes a lot of them. It's true that there are way worst players in the nba, but right now he is a very important player in a very big european team, so it's not a bad place to be.

[JustOneFix]

Man, everytime i watch european games i'm about to cry. It's really a tragedy how much we destroyed this wonderful game. I remember as a kid in the 80's scores of 150-130, guys droping 30, 40, or even 50. Now look at this tragedy, 10-10 after first quarter, 25-23 at halftime, Serbs today scored 5 points in the first quarter, Croatia had 38 with 20 seconds till the end of the game...just horrible.

[JV4MVP]

And Slovenia is about to lose. Unfortunate.

Edit: Pulled back to 5 pts. Let's go Slovenia

[suckfish]

Lets go Goran, Zoran, whoever!..

[Rasho Brezec]

This is what happens when a coach outcoaches himself. You have Parker running circles around everyone and you keep playing the corpse of poor man's Derek Fisher instead of your best perimeter defender in Joksimovic.

[Apollo64]

France played their best game in the tournament, everyone was good. I don't get what Maljkovic was thinking by keeping Joksimovic in the bench, Parker just killed Slovenia.

[SportsGuy8]

To me, Maljkovic is like one of those old drunks in local bars, who once ran successful businesses and went bankrupt. He even totally looks like that. I had some hopes because of his defensive approach, but his decision making really isn't for this level anymore.

As for Lakovic. Same story over and over and over again. He's terrible defensively, a terrible play-maker, can't pass, crumbles under pressure (he had some epic collapses vs. full-court press in the past), basically he's only good for occasional clutch shot (really sounds totally like a poor man's Fisher).
Yet he gets so much credit by every single Slovenian coach (not just Maljkovic), mainly because of his loyalty and "experience".

It's almost as if he has some hidden pictures of all the Slovenian coaches in kinky BDSM Nazi uniforms or something.

[Rasho Brezec]

Chris Michael Thomas, advance scout with Golden State and an assistant coach with Slovenia, would probably do a better job than the old drunkard.

[BadWolf]

He reminds me of tommy heinsohn

[SportsGuy8]

I don't want to be too pessimistic, but Slovenia missed a great chance to put basketball back on it's map.
Basketball was basically the most popular sport in Slovenia in the 90s (also because football/soccer national team sucked), but over the past decade or so, it lost most of it's popularity, part of the reason was because of Olimpija's problems, but also every year failures and disappointments of the national team (especially during the years when Slovenia had up to 7 NBA players + some key players on big European teams).
This was the golden opportunity for basketball to gain it's popularity back, but I feel that now people are just going to forget about this tournament rather quickly. I'm not saying that winning a medal would improve things drastically, but there would be a cornerstone to build the future on.

It's sad, really. Olimpija isn't getting saved anytime soon and there's no real talent on the horizon either. Not that I care that much. It's sad, nonetheless.