OT : Eurobasket 2025 semifinals | Türkiye vs Greece | & | Finland vs Germany |

[TrentTuckerRule]

Random, but do you have favorite uniform in Eurobasket? I really love our Lithuanian green ones.

+1

the Lietuva green one is great

[UcanUwill]

France with their A team will be the team to beat for the next decade in Europe. So much talent.

Not saying France wont be good, opposite, but I just remember in 2005 thinkig, damn... Italy will be it soon, Bargnani, Gallinari, Belinelli, DaTome, Mancinelli... Elite stuff... Man, at a time we had no idea how truly bad Bargnani was, he tanked every team he ever been on, and I meant tanked hard.

NO COMPARISON AVAILABLE
Bargnani, Gallinari, Bellinelli, were good NBA players and I really loved them. The same for Gigi Datome as an elite euroleague player. But think about who will be the 12th, 13th or even 16th player for France next year!

I mean I am not comparing, this just reminded me of that. Wemby already more impactful than all these guys combined, but at a time, all these Italian young guys seemed so promising, at Euro level at least, 20 years ago we still weren't used to best players in the world being Euros, we had Dirk and Pau who were most dominant, but at a time, just guy of NBA bench player level was pretty huge most of the time. Now we have many guys in the NBA who do not even make the cut.

[UcanUwill]

Do you guys know why Luca Garza is not playing this summer? Was he injured or cut? He usually plays for Bosnia.

[Archx]

Yes, as I said, they got fooled, he tricked them, and Slovenia has only themselves to blame.

He must have tricked his own team as well because France also stopped playing and almost started heading to the locker room. But instead of being +2 they were -1 at the end, really smart job from him

At that moment it most certainly was a smart move from him. What happened the next play no-one couldn't have guessed in advance, but likelihood of a Slovenia buzzer beater three with one second on the clock was very low.

Obviously was a smart move BUT you don't start shaking hands and indicating that you'll just dribble it out and then suddenly in the last second you decide to attack. Even the coaches were already shaking hands and his own teammates were surprised at what he did. He also apologized later on lol. But i think when he looked back to the bench someone must have signaled something to him, because then he quickly turned around and went for it.

[UcanUwill]

He must have tricked his own team as well because France also stopped playing and almost started heading to the locker room. But instead of being +2 they were -1 at the end, really smart job from him

At that moment it most certainly was a smart move from him. What happened the next play no-one couldn't have guessed in advance, but likelihood of a Slovenia buzzer beater three with one second on the clock was very low.

Obviously was a smart move BUT you don't start shaking hands and indicating that you'll just dribble it out and then suddenly in the last second you decide to attack. Even the coaches were already shaking hands and his own teammates were surprised at what he did. He also apologized later on lol. But i think when he looked back to the bench someone must have signaled something to him, because then he quickly turned around and went for it.

Yes, I do agree, as I said, I understand your guys point, but I think we both kinda right and Slovenia had it coming. I myself very principled and I mean I wouldn't do what he did, I mean I would try to score, but I would not fake it that I would not, but I mean, I understand thats not smart, being principled is always a dumb thing, this is tournament, you should try to gain advantage when you can, and he did.

Anyway, it is not a huge deal, it is kinda my pet peeve in general this unwritten rule, even in the NBA where point differential do not matter, and guy still scores, I just hate how big a deal opponents make it out out of it. Like you already got beat, and you get bent over this thing. I hate this unwritten rule, teams should just play to the buzzer, but I understand if you already shake hands, maybe do not do this. When point differential matters, I think it is pretty smart still, but it is a bit smug.
He had 40 EFF, it was a game of his career, just let it go, guy got greedy, I hate that people make huge deal of THIS.

[UcanUwill]

I like more teams in the Eurobasket, but I understand the complaints.

[sisibilio]

Imagine France with Wemby, Lessort / Gobert, Sarr or Raynaud, and Fournier.

And Risacher and Coulibaly challenged by Penda, Nolan Traoré becoming our starting point guard ...

I really like this A' team, and I think I owe a lot to Fred Fauthoux. We're getting and identity!

France with their A team will be the team to beat for the next decade in Europe. So much talent.

Not saying France wont be good, opposite, but I just remember in 2005 thinkig, damn... Italy will be it soon, Bargnani, Gallinari, Belinelli, DaTome, Mancinelli... Elite stuff... Man, at a time we had no idea how truly bad Bargnani was, he tanked every team he ever been on, and I meant tanked hard.

Wemby is just different animal. They may not always win but they'll be heavy favorites whenever he plays.

[UcanUwill]

Wemby is just different animal. They may not always win but they'll be heavy favorites whenever he plays.

I really really hope he stays healthy. I am not cheering for anyone to get hurt, but this may sound bad, but with some other players, I do not really care if they get hurt, I mean it sucks, but it does not ruin my day even. With Victor, I really really hope he reaches his full potential, because he is one of one, we might never see guy like him again, at least in our lifetime, maybe in 100 years, Wembys will be common occurrence...

[sisibilio]

Jordan Loyd still hot

[UcanUwill]

NBA champion Jordan Loyd

[Hugi Mancura]

Markkanen and whole Finnish team shot badly from three (Markkanen shot 1/6 from three, but in the end scored 26 points), but defense caused 20 turnovers for Montenegro and Finland scored some easy baskets. Vucevic was very invisible, scored 7 points with 2/10 shooting and had 5 turnovers (2 assists). Both teams had tactics to stop other teams star player. Finlands tactic worked better.

[UcanUwill]

Markkanen and whole Finnish team shot badly from three (Markkanen shot 1/6 from three, but in the end scored 26 points), but defense caused 20 turnovers for Montenegro and Finland scored some easy baskets. Vucevic was very invisible, scored 7 points with 2/10 shooting and had 5 turnovers (2 assists). Both teams had tactics to stop other teams star player. Finlands tactic worked better.

Turnoevers seems to be a huge issue for Montenegro, I believe they had 26 the other day.

[UcanUwill]

I only follow the score, but Israel made a big comeback and took the lead vs Poland, won third Q 25-11. Avdija has huge stats. Balcerowski looks like a lost talent, many of use had huge hopes for him years ago.

[TrentTuckerRule]

I am watching it, quite sloppy basketball.

Poland 66 Israel 64, 13 sec to go.

[TrentTuckerRule]

Poland pulled it off.

[G R E Y]

Jordan Loydski! Lol

I didn't have Slovenia 0-2 and Poland 2-0 but here we are.

[Mirotic12]

Fact that Croatia isn't qualified is only because of teams that participate in qualifications, but who can't be eliminated.

Making up even more lies?

Maybe you should first check if Ukraine and Hungary are in Eurobasket, before continuing? Then check how the qualifications *actually* work, instead of sprouting your lies in the public?

Croatia didn't qualify because they are not good enough, it really is that simple. Neither did Ukraine, or Hungary, or Denmark, or Luxembourg, or San Marino, etc etc. No need for lies or folio-hats.

I made mistake about who is hosting and who applied for hosting, that's why i mentioned Ukraine and Hungary. My mistake for not checking actual tournament participation.

Regardless, Croatia didn't qualify for same reason Slovenia didn't qualify for WC in 2019 after winning Eurobasket in 2017, because during qualification period they were without Dragic and Doncic. Matter of fact, during qualifications for WC 19, Slovenia went 1-5

I'm well aware how qualifications work. They are set in middle of regular seasons so teams can't count on NBA players and portion of Euroleague top players. Meaning, team that needs to secure his national team spot in tournament is whole different team than one that will be at tournament.

For big countries with huge pool of talent, with strong domestic leagues like Spain, it's no problem. But smaller countries that rely on several players to make difference, it's huge problem. This is nothing new, in 2022 Latvia didn't qualify because they sucked in 4th stage of qualifications.

But here is interesting data:
Latvia lost to Greece and failed to qualify to EB 2022, this are Greece players from qualifications:
-Dimitrios Katsivelis- wasn't at main tournament
- Linos Chrysikopoulos- wasn't at main tournament
- Christos Saloustros - wasn't at main tournament
. Margaritis - wasn't at main tournament
- Papadakis - wasn't at main tournament
- Nikolaos Chougkaz - wasn't at main tournament
-Vassilis Mouratos - wasn't at main tournament
- Georgios Tsalmpouris - wasn't at main tournament
Ioannis Kouzeloglou - wasn't at main tournament


And you can't see travisty of qualifications in such fashion ? Team that makes through qualification is often100% different basketball team than one that is sent to play at main tournament. How is this fair to:

1) players who are part of qualifications
2) teams that don't have 30 elite men for basketball
3) smaller countries all together, who are very top heavy, but very talented at the top?

Countries like Greece have 2 or 3 teams deep of players that can easily make it through the qualifiers.

So they have a huge advantage in the qualifiers without their NBA and EuroLeague players, as compared to countries like Italy, Croatia, Latvia, etc., even countries like Lithuania.

People complain all the time about the Greek league, but it's good enough to provide Greece with 3 times the depth of other countries. Even there is much more depth of players for the qualifiers than much bigger countries like Turkey, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, and Russia have

So basically, the FIBA windows system isn't really affecting Greece, Spain, and France because of depth of players.

Countries that have a lot of EuroCup and FIBA BCL players have a clear advantage under the system.

At least it rewards national leagues that have a lot of decent domestic players.

[Archx]

Jordan Loydski! Lol

I didn't have Slovenia 0-2 and Poland 2-0 but here we are.

Lol yeah it's funny isn't it? Luka is averaging 36.6/6/9/3.5stls/1blk on 72% TS and 41 efficiency rating.

Yet it feels like Slovenia never even had a chance. France also just turned on the gas at the end and ran away with it. While Poland on the other hand look like a more versatile team with even more depth. Something years ago i would never imagined.

[Bob8]

Actually, I agree with every body about Sylvain's behaviour! Positive or negative!!

Whatever, Luka is the best offense player in the world, could make more on his defensive work, and with his behaviour is a really a** ho**. If he tried to really defend and stop to talk wit referees ... He should be the best player in the word, NBA or Fiba context.

Tell me which Slovenian player would make French team?

[Jellybeans]

If Slovenia loses tomorrow against Belgium there is pretty huge chance that they wont get out of the group
Slovenia plays-Belgium,Israel and Iceland
Belgium plays-Slovenia,Israel and Poland.

In the end does +/- will matter for both teams