Official FIBA World Championship Thread (and long preview)

bigballa3jj · Post #501 » by **bigballa3jj** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 3:08 am

USA! USA! USA! :usa:

just getting into the spirit of the competition

Post #502 » by **alucryts** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 3:24 am

bigballa3jj wrote:USA! USA! USA!

just getting into the spirit of the competition

i propose this theme song
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhnUgAaea4M[/youtube]

Theo Papaloukas · Post #503 » by **Theo Papaloukas** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 3:37 am

http://www.sportscanada.tv/index.php/in ... basketball China vs. Canada - LIVE
China sucks, losing by 20 to a depleted Canadian team. lol

vi3t · Post #504 » by **vi3t** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 4:11 am

only an exhibition game but china looked worse than they did in recent yrs even without yao

sdeezy · Post #505 » by **sdeezy** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 4:48 am

Just read this European blog..there's some major underrating of the US going on here here are his 'Power Rankings"

http://www.ballineurope.com/national-te ... #more-7283

1. Spain: A jog through Cote d’Ivoire last week followed by manhandlings of Lithuania and Slovenia did little other that remind us that Team Spain and that ridiculous starting five of Ricky Rubio, Juan Carlos Navarro, Rudy Fernandez, Felipe Reyes and Marc Gasol. (Pau Who? Seriously, do you see anything missing from that starting five?) ain’t going nowhere. As Lamar Odom put it, “Creo que España, al máximo nivel de su potencial, es la mejor selección del mundo.” Capisce?

2. Greece: Damn right, BiE went there. From their assemblage earlier this summer, Team Hellas has toyed with non-contenders like Cyprus and Russia (!) while defeating a top-10 tier team like Croatia with little excess effort. After this weekend, who thinks the Greeks are too old? Who thinks Theo Papaloukas will be missed to distraction? Who thinks this team isn’t a championship threat? No one sane, that’s who.

3. U.S.A: USA. BiE’s sorry, but inactivity and the fact that JaVale McGee (JaVale McGee!) is destined to stick on Team USA just isn’t going to cut it on these power rankings after Greece turned the Love Cyprus tournament into a circus this weekend.

The latest indignity visited upon “America’s team”: President Barack Obama’s hosting of a charity event for wounded troops and White House interns that featured three of Team USA’s starters … from 2008! I suppose the troops would rather be checking out the likes of Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Carmelo Anthony as opposed to painfully assessing the youngsters’ chances against the world, but still… Barack, where is the love for the team soon to compete under the U.S. flag?

lol..wow. Yeah, Americans quivering in fear over Spain hall-of-fame caliber lineup. It will be tough to win but some of the stuff i'm reading about the US's chances are laughable. I can't wait for this competition to start.

madvillian · Post #506 » by **madvillian** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 6:04 am

It's pretty dumb to say a lineup with Rudy Fernandez (seriously, what has he done ever than be a minor bench player in the NBA?) is loaded while a team that has McGee as the last big off the bench is weak.

Derrick Rose and KD will lead USA, they are far and away the best players on any of the teams. And wait until Rubio has to face Westbrook, he's going to get a little taste of American athletes. This isn't football, this isn't little Landon Donavon. This is the best American athletes, which time and time again nobody in the world has been able to beat, whether in track and field, basketball or swimming.

AkeemTheDream · Post #507 » by **AkeemTheDream** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 6:14 am

sdeezy wrote:lol..wow. Yeah, Americans quivering in fear over Spain hall-of-fame caliber lineup. It will be tough to win but some of the stuff i'm reading about the US's chances are laughable. I can't wait for this competition to start.

They have Argentina and Australia too low, but other than that the ranking is not that bad.

Theo Papaloukas · Post #508 » by **Theo Papaloukas** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 7:16 am

Canada d. China 86-62
Canada: Rautins (19), Shepherd (16), Anthony (8 and 8 rebs)
China: Wei (19), Yi (15)

Notas A3 · Post #509 » by **Notas A3** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 7:27 am

Im not going to enter in the comments who say that southern europeans are bad losers and all that stuff because is ****. The fact is that Team U.S.A has lost the main core that won the Golden Medal in the Olympics, for sure that for me individually you're better than Spain, but is a reality that this team have been playing together for at least 10 years... the chemistry is incredible, they know each other, they don't complain about minutes or roles, everyone knows what have to do and those are a very very important factor in Basketball. Also it would be dumb to say that the Spanish Team is not loaded with talent, and is by far individually the second team and very close to U.S.A but a step behind, and for example you can't compare Rudy's game with Spain than Rudy's game in Portland, here he plays lots of minutes, he do what he do the best and the motivation for that reason is a lot higher and for a player whose game is based in a 80% in passion that's the most important.

DeMente · Post #510 » by **DeMente** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 7:39 am

madvillian wrote:... This is the best American athletes, which time and time again nobody in the world has been able to beat, whether in track and field, basketball or swimming.

In 60 years, USA has won a total of three World Championships. The last one coming sixteen years ago, in 1994.

FYI, in 2002 NBAers ended up sixth, losing to Argentina, Serbia and Spain. In 2004 they were badly beaten by Puerto Rico, then Lithuania and Argentina. In 2006 they lost to Greece.

Seems to me, the best American athletes can be beaten by almost anyone...

dream_catcher_9 · Post #511 » by **dream_catcher_9** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 8:22 am

Is there another USA Blue/White scrimmage on Wednesday the 12th? I am checking my tv guide and it says USA Blue/White scrimmage on ESPN2 at 8pm EST.

sdeezy · Post #512 » by **sdeezy** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 8:35 am

AkeemTheDream wrote:
sdeezy wrote:lol..wow. Yeah, Americans quivering in fear over Spain hall-of-fame caliber lineup. It will be tough to win but some of the stuff i'm reading about the US's chances are laughable. I can't wait for this competition to start.

They have Argentina and Australia too low, but other than that the ranking is not that bad.

I wouldn't have a problem with his rankings if the reasons he gave weren't so effing stupid

vi3t · Post #513 » by **vi3t** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 8:53 am

madvillian wrote:This is the best American athletes, which time and time again nobody in the world has been able to beat, whether in track and field, basketball or swimming.

did u just come out of a coma....?

sdeezy · Post #514 » by **sdeezy** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 8:53 am

eltalavk wrote:Im not going to enter in the comments who say that southern europeans are bad losers and all that stuff because is ****. The fact is that Team U.S.A has lost the main core that won the Golden Medal in the Olympics, for sure that for me individually you're better than Spain, but is a reality that this team have been playing together for at least 10 years... the chemistry is incredible, they know each other, they don't complain about minutes or roles, everyone knows what have to do and those are a very very important factor in Basketball. Also it would be dumb to say that the Spanish Team is not loaded with talent, and is by far individually the second team and very close to U.S.A but a step behind, and for example you can't compare Rudy's game with Spain than Rudy's game in Portland, here he plays lots of minutes, he do what he do the best and the motivation for that reason is a lot higher and for a player whose game is based in a 80% in passion that's the most important.

No one is saying Spain isn't good or doesn't have talent. Its the fact that he's labelling a lineup of Calderon/Navarro/Reyes/Gasol/Rubio etc as 'ridiculous' and 'scary' and his tone is laughably arrogant. Spain is missing Pau ( a top 3-4 PF in the world) and we beat Spain twice with him in the lineup, the 1st game wasnt even close. I see that lineup and i raise u Rose/Curry/Durant/Iggy/Gay/Love/Chandler, not to mention Rondo and Westbrook who have the speed and defensive tenacity to make life a living hell for any of the guards. I've seen all of Spains friendlies so far and i'm not seeing this invincible unit that the Int'l blogs rave about. They've got good fundamentals and they have chemistry but they can be beat. Their team speed is lacking and their pick n roll d was extremely suspect today vs a medicore Slovenian team. If Marc can't keep Gasper Vidmar off the offensive glass late in the 4th qtr in a tight game, he's definitely not stopping kevin Love or Tyson Chandler

sdeezy · Post #515 » by **sdeezy** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 8:55 am

vi3t wrote:
madvillian wrote:This is the best American athletes, which time and time again nobody in the world has been able to beat, whether in track and field, basketball or swimming.

did u just come out of a coma....?

well, Tyson Gay did beat Usain Bolt the other day...

BadWolf · Post #516 » by **BadWolf** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 9:00 am

madvillian wrote: This is the best American athletes, which time and time again nobody in the world has been able to beat, whether in track and field, basketball or swimming.

right...
time and time again...

vi3t · Post #517 » by **vi3t** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 9:03 am

sdeezy wrote:
vi3t wrote:
madvillian wrote:This is the best American athletes, which time and time again nobody in the world has been able to beat, whether in track and field, basketball or swimming.

did u just come out of a coma....?

well, Tyson Gay did beat Usain Bolt the other day...

lol, to be fair, he's been bothered by a back injury all season, and thats why he's done for this yr

DeMente · Post #518 » by **DeMente** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 9:05 am

Spain's defense won them the game yesterday. They forced Slovenia into a lot of bad shots (0.35 FG% overall) and also came up with key blocks and steals late in the game. I fail to see how a poor defense can keep the opposing team at 72 points after 45 minutes of play.

Defensive rebounding is a good point, however. The hard work of Slokar, Vidmar and Brezec kept their team afloat during the fourth.

Bizz · Post #519 » by **Bizz** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 10:57 am

vi3t wrote:
madvillian wrote:This is the best American athletes, which time and time again nobody in the world has been able to beat, whether in track and field, basketball or swimming.

did u just come out of a coma....?

Well USA are so dominant they couldn't reach the finals for the last 16 years at basketball WC. Maybe he's been in the coma that long.

I'm not saying USA will lose, I actually really like your team this year since there are no big egos on it. But please get a grip, the days of USA beating everyone by 30 pts are in the past. USA is not the cetre of the world and people outside can be great at sports to.

orange_juice32 · Post #520 » by **orange_juice32** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 12:10 pm

sdeezy wrote:
eltalavk wrote:.

No one is saying Spain isn't good or doesn't have talent. Its the fact that he's labelling a lineup of Calderon/Navarro/Reyes/Gasol/Rubio etc as 'ridiculous' and 'scary' and his tone is laughably arrogant.

Mmhm. Spain has a good chance to win, but let's not get carried away here.