EuroBasket 2009 Thread

[wilt]

I might be wrong but from memory he was a highly touted youth player and then he developed a drug problem. That ruined his career. Then recently he got his life back in order and is now starting to play to what he can do.

close enough but not quite. He was talented, sure, but not highly touted as in "next great thing". Just a relatively young player playing 15-20 minutes in the Bundesliga at age 20/21 at a medium/bad team
And his drug problem wasn´t ruining his career or anything. A) it was "only" weed and more of a every once in a while thing and b) while he did get fired by his club he played more minutes the next season at another club (around 25 a game), so he didn´t get banned or anything.
Did change his way of life, but the drugs were just a symptom of bad habits rather than the root of the problem. He then got progressively better the last 2 seasons.

sorry for the "explain speech"

If sth should be featured in stories about him than it should also definitely be the fact that he beat leucemia as a teenager (at 15/16) and came back to playing basketball after that.

[Sheenmue]

If I was French I would root for Poland to defeat Spain. This story is quite similar to what happened in 2004 Olympics when Spain had to play against USA after being unbeaten in the first stage.

Look at De Colo's face after the buzzer beater, that's not the face of a player after scoring a buzzer beater.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejjor_ab3Ec

[AdamTheGreek]

Here's my Day 8 review:
http://mason360.com/20090916569/News/Sp ... day-8.html

[Rasho Brezec]

If I was French I would root for Poland to defeat Spain. This story is quite similar to what happened in 2004 Olympics when Spain had to play against USA after being unbeaten in the first stage.

Look at De Colo's face after the buzzer beater, that's not the face of a player after scoring a buzzer beater.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejjor_ab3Ec

[suckfish]

Teodosic has been great today. 20 points, 12 assists.

[El Turco]

i think that's De Colo's face all the time. he might be banging a playboy bunny and still have the same impression.

[safari]

Now that France will face Spain (since Serbia beat Lithuania and Spain is on its way to beating Poland), I think the absence of Noah and Mike Pietrus will haunt the french as they are potential Gasol and Fernandez stoppers. I don't see how they will manage to guard the Gasol broters with Turiaf at 6'9 and Flo Pietrus at 6'6 as their main big men. However, this will be an very interesting matchup.
The only quarter final matchup that seems easy to predict is Turkey - Croatia IMO, the other 3 can go one way or the other. It's gonna be some great ball

[I Feel Devotion]

Teodosic has been great today. 20 points, 12 assists.

Yeah, it's truly hilarious seeing people say he is bad or how half Serbia's team is better than him or my favorite that he's only good according to some because he plays in Greece.

So many people that have obviously never watched this guy play basketball that much. Teodosic is an extremely gifted player and actually he's a lot more talented than a guy like Ricky Rubio for example. Teodosic is definitely the most talented Serbian player.

[suckfish]

Navarro is on fire. 7 threes midway through the third.

[I Feel Devotion]

Now that France will face Spain (since Serbia beat Lithuania and Spain is on its way to beating Poland), I think the absence of Noah and Mike Pietrus will haunt the french as they are potential Gasol and Fernandez stoppers. I don't see how they will manage to guard the Gasol broters with Turiaf at 6'9 and Flo Pietrus at 6'6 as their main big men. However, this will be an very interesting matchup.
The only quarter final matchup that seems easy to predict is Turkey - Croatia IMO, the other 3 can go one way or the other. It's gonna be some great ball

Flo Pietrus is about 6-8 at least. Also, Turkey and Croatia match up is not set. Turkey still has to beat Slovenia to finish first.

[brassviews]

France is too small in the frontcourt. I think that's going to hurt them a lot against Spain.

However, I think France has an advantage with their bench.

[Batu7]

You come back from an 18 point deficit, and you use the last shot with ice cold Engin? Tanjevic at his best.

[I Feel Devotion]

Quarterfinals:

Bracket 1

France vs. Spain

Turkey vs. Greece

Bracket 2

Russia vs. Serbia

Slovenia vs. Croatia


So now we can predict the medals, since we know all the match ups and the pairings in the brackets.

[Sheenmue]

Quarterfinals:

Bracket 1

France vs. Spain

Turkey vs. Greece

Bracket 2

Russia vs. Serbia

Slovenia vs. Croatia


So now we can predict the medals, since we know all the match ups and the pairings in the brackets.

It's hard to make predictions for these quarter finals, but...

Bracket 1

France vs. Spain --> Spain

Turkey vs. Greece --> Greece

Bracket 2

Russia vs. Serbia --> Serbia

Slovenia vs. Croatia --> Slovenia

Edit: it's funny because I have noticed that 3 of the 4 teams I have predicted to advance were in the group C -Spain, Serbia and Slovenia-.

[El Turco]

You come back from an 18 point deficit, and you use the last shot with ice cold Engin? Tanjevic at his best.

exactly my thoughts. arguably the worst player on the team shouldn't be taking the last shot.

if we don't start with Atsur&Guler backcourt once again, i think we have a good shot at beating Greece. especially since Hedo seems to be warming up.

[M.Balla]

exactly my thoughts. arguably the worst player on the team shouldn't be taking the last shot.

Now you know how spaniards felt against you

[Batu7]

Well, Tanjevic said that his plan was to go to Hedo, Ender chose to pass to Engin.

[AdamTheGreek]

Day 9 Review, just in time for today's kickoff of the Quarterfinals:
http://mason360.com/20090917573/News/Sp ... day-9.html

[farzi]

Gasol too big for France

[AdamTheGreek]

French are getting annihilated down 20 in the fourth. The Russia-Serbia match was actually more fun to watch.