FIBA World Cup 2023 : GERMANY are the new World Champions! (takes on the world and beats it for once...)

[HotRocks34]

I think this narrative is becoming a bit overblown on this board, maybe because of that great steal at the beginning of the fourth. He played great, tough defence, and made life difficult for SGA, but he didn't "lock him down".

More than anything, Serbia played excellent team defence on SGA, trying to keep the ball out of his hands, and doubling him frequently when he started his drives towards the paint. They forced him to give it up more often than he has in previous games (which is a big reason why he had 9 assists).

Canada was a 5.5 favorite that lost by 9 points. Shai had 15 points in an elimination game, in a tournament in which he was averaging like 25 PPG.

I've never heard of Avramovic. When Luka was held to 25 or whatever it was against Canada, and he was contained, that was against guys like Brooks and Dort.

Whatever the word choice is here, Shai under-performed against an underdog.

Sure, but I wasn't arguing that Shai did or didn't underperform. I just don't think it can be laid at the feet of one defender. Serbia as a team did an excellent job against him and taking him out of what he wanted to do. For example, SGA didn't score in the first quarter, and for most, if not all of that time that SGA was playing in that quarter, Avramovic wasn't even on the court.

Good points.

[3toheadmelo]

Lol, slipping on probably a wet spot isn't really an argument against a player

imagine calling that a wet spot when he clearly got cooked

Whatever makes you happy or feel vindicated in whatever vindication or happiness you are look for, more power to you

sure thing when the overwhelming majority on twitter is saying haliburton got cooked. but hey whatever makes you sleep better at night

[UcanUwill]

Documented semifinal poll results on opening post, if you still want to see how wrong we were.
NEW POLL ADDED

[durden_tyler]

imagine calling that a wet spot when he clearly got cooked

Whatever makes you happy or feel vindicated in whatever vindication or happiness you are look for, more power to you

sure thing when the overwhelming majority on twitter is saying haliburton got cooked. but hey whatever makes you sleep better at night

Yeah, pinning it on Haliburton is unfair.

USA got cooked. Now that’s fair.

[MagicMamba88]

question.

did the starters ever give the bench unit a lead to start the game off?

don't think it ever did.

Tyrese and Reaves were the ones carrying team usa when it needed that jolt.

then Kerr messes it up when he inserts Ingram into the bench unit because the starters never clicked.

[cupcakesnake]

We didn’t lose because of our offense, iso based or not. We lost because of defense and rebounding. How this team doesn’t have a 6’10”ish wing that can play defense and rebound to play PF if we want to play small is insane. Even someone like Jaden McDaniels would have helped. You can’t go solely with one real big, especially when that big is not a good rebounder.

We gave up 113 points in a 40 minute game. That’s lack of rebounding, lack of defensive size, and a defensive scheme that allowed Reaves and Brunson to get hunted over-and-over again.

Historically team USA has (more than) gotten by with prioritizing speed and athleticism, balanced with enough shooting. They want to get all their talent on the floor, and that talent most often comes in the form of athletic, slashing wings and guards. They occasionally push it too far/neglect it too hard and we get tournaments like this.

JJJ has never operated for large stretches as a solo big. Like you say, he's a poor rebounder and also he's not an iso defender in the post against really strong guys. Jaden McDaniels would have been great on the wing, but this team did have Mikal Bridges. I'm sure the team felt that a Bridges/JJJ based defense would be more than enough. But then they went with a switch everything defense, which meant opponents could remove their rim protection whenever they felt like it, get a favorable matchup, and attack it. It was just a very poor performance from both the players and the coaching when it came to defense and rebounding.

[p0peye]

Because of a new and busy schedule and globalization of basketball , European teams also do not have much more time to prepare as well. Actually Canada's team was by far the team who played with same players the longest period.

Yeah but a lot of these guys have been playing together longer on national teams. They are familiar with systems and roles. It's stepping into something familiar rather than a whole new set of guys each time.

i can only speak for germany obviously. but everything that was put in place 10 years ago starts comming into fruition. And i know most these players on the germany team have been playing together one way or another for the past 10 years.

ofc there are some exceptions like schröder who spent way more time in the NBA than the other guys but in 2011 they restructured everything and this generation of kids had some great development and teamchemistry built post the Nowitzki era.

you clearly see this world cup latvia, serbia, germany for example.. teams with solid fundamentals, bball IQ and coaching can go a mile. but lets not kid ourselves.. if USAs roster had KD, steph, lebron, draymond, AD/Bam plus shooters and defensive guys noone can beat USA. They just need to bring their best if they care about this title.

Oh yeah, once USA includes Jordan, Barkley and Shaq it would just breeze through. Definitively beating Germany with Dirk and in the finals Serbia with Divac and Stojakovic stands meager chances. Veteran world cup champions, for sure.

[cupcakesnake]

USA vs. Canada for Bronze feels right. Both these teams had crazy talent but didn't build bullet proof rosters and it makes good sense why they were vulnerable to high quality European teams.

[Popovich]

I would rather turn attention off the inner Serbia club disputes to German Basketball team. They are undefeated and although they have some weak points those weaknesses are not highlighted. Latvia was in the game against them purely because of Bertans insane shooting performance. Germany is such a good match for Serbia, better than USA. What can Serbia do to stop Wagner and Dennis ? I expect big battle and typical Euro low scoring game this time.

[IceColdCubano]

This switching defense style is very vulnerable to quick PG penetration. Perhaps reconsider this strategy in FIBA.

Very few can do the switch all, somebody Like Bam Adebayo could have helped the US team tremendously in this style which is his bread and butter in Miami. He is also on the other side very strong in his post defense capable of holding off much larger players and a very capable rebounder.

[Pachinko_]

Euroleague coaching is more about coaching and plays, NBA coaching is more about managing egos.

That's just code for being buddies with some superstars and letting them get away with murder. It's the reason why non-existent coaches like Dr whatever his name had a job making millions for years.

Egos don't need to be managed man, if a player doesn't understand that team comes first and winning takes sacrifices, you're not winning anything with that guy anyway. Trade him, get rid of him. I will die on that hill.

[sikma42]

I think we need to start talking about the lack of young US talent in comparison to previous generations. This next group isn’t it.


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[mcmurphy]

That is why POP is GOAT. He had very talented team, he could just iso Duncan every time in side post, but man also adapted Euro coaching style of always playing to the best shot, a Leigh Ellis' "Very solid play" style, while also having NBA star players. Guy had best of both wordls, and that needed work and convincing star players over the years to buy in.

[MagicMamba88]

I think we need to start talking about the lack of young US talent in comparison to previous generations. This next group isn’t it.


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Zion trying to eat himself out the league.

and Ja Morant trying to be Clarence from 8 Mile

[Sedale Threatt]

I think we need to start talking about the lack of young US talent in comparison to previous generations. This next group isn’t it.


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Yeah, that's the frightening thing. We're set for a major transition here and there's no obvious talent in the pipeline, at least not at the level we're used to. With the exception of a little gap there -- papered over by the likes of Shaq, Duncan, Kobe and KG -- we've been unbelievably fortunate the past 40 years or so to go from Magic/Larry to Jordan to LeBron with quality generations around all of them. I'd have to sit and look closer but the cupboard feels a lot drier than we're used to. I'd feel ultra gross doing it, but we might have to make a full-court press on Embiid. Not really looking forward to a Team USA led by Jayson Tatum.

[DWadeno3]

look out your window. you see that stuff out there? that's called the rest of the world.

And your point is? That we didn't defend poorly, didn't adjust properly, didn't use the proper personnel?

Stop stereotyping.

lol stereotyping. my point is that complaining that the refs stole the game when Germany had 4 more fouls than the USA and was in the penalty 2 minutes into the 4th quarter while your team never got there - well that is ridiculous. There's nothing embarrassing about losing to a better team. The only thing embarrassing is being such a sore loser.

Reading comprehension is not your strong suit, is it?

And your original message clearly had a different intention, so stop trying to change the narrative now.

[Nuntius]

I don't know about inside Serbia but everybody else who has watched a bit of Partizan has become a fan lately. Their only mistake is they don't have a blog or a YouTube or something in English for their international fans.

That much is true. Partizan was indeed great in this year's EuroLeague.

[cpower]

Chef Curry made Steve Kerr better than he is.

[Dick Tate]

It's not a matter of A team or B team, they still had enough talent to win it all. But these players are tuned for a different kind of game, and as every single American on this board took turns to inform us, they don't care about FIBA. Well, they gotta find a reason to care or they will start losing consistently.

This American only cared about qualifying for the Olympics.

[DaGawd]

I think we need to start talking about the lack of young US talent in comparison to previous generations. This next group isn’t it.


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team usa future prospects would be much better if dudes like zion and ja had their **** together