FIBA World Cup Discussion (Aug. 25-Sep. 10)

[BlacJacMac]

lol France is eliminated...didn't expect that.

did anyone see why? Saw it was a 2pt game.

Why what? They lost twice. They're no longer in contention. The best they can finish is 17th.

Instead, in a stunning development, France was eliminated from the FIBA World Cup after only two games on Sunday. The first loss came Friday, when, after a close first half, they were decimated by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Canadian team to the tune of a 95-65 defeat.

• The top two teams from each group will qualify for the 2nd Round.
• The bottom two teams from each group will play the Classification Round for places 17-32.

[Note30]

lol France is eliminated...didn't expect that.

did anyone see why? Saw it was a 2pt game.

Why what? They lost twice. They're no longer in contention. The best they can finish is 17th.

Instead, in a stunning development, France was eliminated from the FIBA World Cup after only two games on Sunday. The first loss came Friday, when, after a close first half, they were decimated by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Canadian team to the tune of a 95-65 defeat.

• The top two teams from each group will qualify for the 2nd Round.
• The bottom two teams from each group will play the Classification Round for places 17-32.

Why they lost the second game - sorry wanted some clarity there

[BlacJacMac]

This is a tournament Gobert will almost certainly want to forget. He started the World Cup with eight points, nine rebounds and was minus-17 in the 95-65 loss to Canada, but at least in the Canadians are one of the best teams in the world.

The fourth quarter was a complete mess for the French team. They were outscored 26-12 to squander a 12 point lead over the final 10 minutes. Rolands Šmits made two free throws after being fouled by Gobert with 37 seconds remaining to put Lavia ahead 87-86.

France's last field goal was Gobert's dunk with 3:27 remaining. The team went 0-of-6 from the field after that.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10087425-nba-fans-troll-rudy-gobert-france-after-2023-fiba-world-cup-elimination-by-latvia?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

France came to the World Cup planning to win gold. It won't even make the second round, an absolutely stunning development for the reigning Olympic silver medallists.

Latvia got 22 points from Arturs Zagars and shocked France 88-86 Sunday night in a Group H game at Jakarta, Indonesia. The result sent Latvia and Canada through to the second round, and meant France — which won the bronze at the last two World Cups — cannot finish better than 17th place this year.

Rolands Smits added 20 points and Davis Bertans had 15 points, as Latvia rallied from a 13-point deficit. It took the lead for the first time with 37.7 seconds left and held on when Sylvain Francisco missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Evan Fournier had 27 points for France, who lost to Canada in its opener.

The momentum swung in the middle of the fourth quarter when France playmaker Nando de Colo was ejected after receiving his second unsportsmanlike foul.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nba/article/fiba-world-cup-roundup-dominican-republic-rallies-past-italy/

Gobert, a three-time NBA All-Star, was virtually a non-factor on offense in the game. He had nine points, attempted just one field goal and committed four fouls in 26 minutes.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10087425-nba-fans-troll-rudy-gobert-france-after-2023-fiba-world-cup-elimination-by-latvia?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[minimus]

To be honest, I don't care about Gobert in FIBA tournament. But now he has time to recover and prepare himself for a regular season. He is not getting better as player, but at least he can give us size advantage in 82+ games.

[Note30]

To be honest, I don't care about Gobert in FIBA tournament. But now he has time to recover and prepare himself for a regular season. He is not getting better as player, but at least he can give us size advantage in 82+ games.

Don't they have to play two more games to settle ranking?

[Klomp]

lol France is eliminated...didn't expect that.

They were a disaster. Rudy. Well. Let’s just say this tournament isn’t helping his perception or trade value.

He avoided injury and plenty of time to rest up now, though!

[BlacJacMac]

lol France is eliminated...didn't expect that.

They were a disaster. Rudy. Well. Let’s just say this tournament isn’t helping his perception or trade value.

He avoided injury and plenty of time to rest up now, though!

Is he not playing Tuesday?

[FrenchMinnyFan]

The game as terrible. You see a team without confidence, starting to play with fear at the 4th when Latvia start to score. Coach should be fired. Rudy was bad but to defend him, he did not see the ball at all in offense. The disaster i fear after 1st game arrive.
The good point are :
- Rudy will not get tired or injured with this competition.
- He have plenty of time to prepare new season.

[shrink]

I’m sure they’d have preferred to do well, but the FIBA results didn’t matter to France. The rules state that since they host the 2024 Olympics, they automatically get a berth in the eight team Olympic competition. Next year they might add wembanyama and Embiid.

[minimus]

To be honest, I don't care about Gobert in FIBA tournament. But now he has time to recover and prepare himself for a regular season. He is not getting better as player, but at least he can give us size advantage in 82+ games.

Don't they have to play two more games to settle ranking?

Yes, but they wont advance to 2nd round

[minimus]

I have tears of joy every time when Towns and Edwards make a right, simple pass to the corner. Give me more of this!

[minimus]

Same for Anderson. Now he has time to rest up. Last season he was dealing with back injuries.

[TimberKat]

How did Ant played today? Just looking at the box score would seem like not so good. 4 for 11, 2rb, 3ast. The next highest volume shooters are Johnson at 2/7 and Reaves 4/7.

[Calinks]

How did Ant played today? Just looking at the box score would seem like not so good. 4 for 11, 2rb, 3ast. The next highest volume shooters are Johnson at 2/7 and Reaves 4/7.

He was so so. Reaves has definitely been better in the actually tournament games. I think we (myself included) have again jumped the gun on Ant a bit. He's ceiling is so insane and he does these incredible things but we forget that he is still inconsistent. His jumper is shaky, his finishing is better but still not totally reliable. We all want him to be the guy and when he shows up, he clearly is, but he doesn't always show up. Again, even last year, he had plenty of times where he didn't show up.

[Klomp]

How did Ant played today? Just looking at the box score would seem like not so good. 4 for 11, 2rb, 3ast. The next highest volume shooters are Johnson at 2/7 and Reaves 4/7.

He was so so. Reaves has definitely been better in the actually tournament games. I think we (myself included) have again jumped the gun on Ant a bit. He's ceiling is so insane and he does these incredible things but we forget that he is still inconsistent. His jumper is shaky, his finishing is better but still not totally reliable. We all want him to be the guy and when he shows up, he clearly is, but he doesn't always show up. Again, even last year, he had plenty of times where he didn't show up.

Which is why it's so important to have consistently-producing veterans like Karl-Anthony Towns and Mike Conley around him and build a defense around steadying defenders such as Gobert and McDaniels.

[Klomp]

Read on Twitter

[Calinks]

How did Ant played today? Just looking at the box score would seem like not so good. 4 for 11, 2rb, 3ast. The next highest volume shooters are Johnson at 2/7 and Reaves 4/7.

He was so so. Reaves has definitely been better in the actually tournament games. I think we (myself included) have again jumped the gun on Ant a bit. He's ceiling is so insane and he does these incredible things but we forget that he is still inconsistent. His jumper is shaky, his finishing is better but still not totally reliable. We all want him to be the guy and when he shows up, he clearly is, but he doesn't always show up. Again, even last year, he had plenty of times where he didn't show up.

Which is why it's so important to have consistently-producing veterans like Karl-Anthony Towns and Mike Conley around him and build a defense around steadying defenders such as Gobert and McDaniels.

I agree I just hope we haven't messed up our ability to do that.

[Klomp]

He was so so. Reaves has definitely been better in the actually tournament games. I think we (myself included) have again jumped the gun on Ant a bit. He's ceiling is so insane and he does these incredible things but we forget that he is still inconsistent. His jumper is shaky, his finishing is better but still not totally reliable. We all want him to be the guy and when he shows up, he clearly is, but he doesn't always show up. Again, even last year, he had plenty of times where he didn't show up.

Which is why it's so important to have consistently-producing veterans like Karl-Anthony Towns and Mike Conley around him and build a defense around steadying defenders such as Gobert and McDaniels.

I agree I just hope we haven't messed up our ability to do that.

Gobert, Conley, Anderson last year
Reid, NAW, Milton, Brown this year

[Isegrim]

Dominican Republic beats Angola and wins the group.

https://www.fiba.basketball/de/basketballworldcup/2023/game/2908/Angola-Dominican-Republic#tab=boxscore

Haven't watched a bit, but it seemed not that pretty. KAT had 4 fouls after 5 minutes and the game was too close for most stretches.

[wolves_89]

I was happy with how KAT played smart and stayed under control in the Italy game, unfortunately against Angola he fell back into his worst habits. He made very poor choices and then lost his composure when he didn't like the refs calls (resulting a technical which also counts as a foul). I'm hoping Finch takes a more proactive approach to KAT this season and pulls him whenever he seems on the verge of spiraling out of control. It's usually pretty obvious when KAT is starting to lose it, so rather than waiting to see if he can self-correct just give him a stint on the bench.