EuroBasket 2009 Thread

Rasho Brezec · Post #321 » by **Rasho Brezec** » Sun Sep 20, 2009 6:26 pm

The guys really surprised me. I don't know where they found the energy to keep the game this close. I have no doubts we'd be playing in the finals today if we had some luck with the injuries.

Greek · Post #322 » by **Greek** » Sun Sep 20, 2009 6:37 pm

What amazing player the guy of my avatar. He had almost our half points. Nice to see u r come back Mr Sofo. Greek basketball needs u

jolbe_ · Post #323 » by **jolbe_** » Sun Sep 20, 2009 6:40 pm

Man.. It was close today.. Lorbeks legs were really slow and heavy today...
I am still happy about our guys, as we lost 3 games (2 in OT, and one by one point) with 4/5 crucial guys injured, 1or two players in, who should not be there...They were great

SportsGuy8 · Post #324 » by **SportsGuy8** » Sun Sep 20, 2009 7:19 pm

I can't remember the last time I was really pleased, happy & proud of our national team (Slovenia), despite the choke-jobs.

With all the injuries, fatigue, they were really a pleasant surprise.

And even with all the injuries, tiredness ... they were still only a backup PG away from "easily" getting a medal. (speaking of PGs, my hate for Lakovic deepened with this tournament ... god when will he stop trying to be a hero and realize he's not a superstar)

Bravo Lorbek. He signed that Barca contract a few months too soon, haha.

And lastly, I didn't have too much confidence in the coach, but he started positively surprising me when he cut The Machine, which was a great, gutsy move/decision. (some people are saying now that that was a mistake, because of all the injuries/fatigue problems, but I'm pretty sure he would only cause chemistry problems and/or have 2/13 shooting games)
I'm sure the assistant coach Mahoric is in charge of most tactical things, but it seems like Zdovc is really able to motivate players & make them play as hard as they can.

I'm really looking forward to next years WC. This performance should give additional motivation to this generation of players to get together again.
Sadly this was a perfect opportunity, with many teams missing key players, and our team deserved the 2nd/3rd place (with FRANCE! another really unlucky team). But what can ya' do ... it happens.

Laker at Heart · Post #325 » by **Laker at Heart** » Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:01 pm

Spain up by 23 at the half - Gasol with 14/8.

aceking79 · Post #326 » by **aceking79** » Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:02 pm

Laker at Heart wrote:Spain up by 23 at the half - Gasol with 14/8.

teodosic 3/0-
where is your MVP?
lol

Post #327 » by **suckfish** » Sun Sep 20, 2009 10:59 pm

Great tournament. Would have been nice to have a closer final, but Spain were the best team once they got it going. The Serbs and Slovenians with just great, and I thought the Greeks did extremely well to win the bronze with that roster. They are just so damn gritty and competitive.

It was awesome to see Teodosic break out of his shell and show the world how good of a player he can be, as well as guys like Lorbek who just put on a clinic with their skill sets. Probably most enjoyable was seeing Big Sofo playing in great physical shape. He put in a brilliant performance against Slovenia.

Just a fantastic couple of weeks of basketball.

I Feel Devotion · Post #328 » by **I Feel Devotion** » Sun Sep 20, 2009 11:37 pm

BTW in case anyone wonders,

EuroBasket 2009 All-Tournament Team

Vasileios Spanoulis
Miloš Teodosić
Rudy Fernandez
Erazem Lorbek
Pau Gasol (MVP)

I agree with that 100%. They got it right. On another note, Serbia, Greece, and Slovenia were amazing in this tournament considering what they were dealing with. Serbia being the youngest team, average age of 22, lacking experience and got a silver. Slovenia with a lot of injuries and lost some of their best players, and had to play their key players way too many minutes, but they somehow made it to the semifinals.

Greece had their B team and really they were the second best team in the tournament. That coupled with a new coach and a bunch of new and young players and again amazing how well they played. All three of those teams could be scary good next year if everything goes right for them and they have full squads.

Greece-Slovenia I have never in my life seen two teams that were that tired before. Lakovic, Lorbek, Spanoulis - poor guys were like the walking dead.

penzias · Post #329 » by **penzias** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 12:59 am

I Feel Devotion wrote:
Greece had their B team and really they were the second best team in the tournament.

Greece missed 2 players, that does not make it a B team.

Rasho Brezec · Post #330 » by **Rasho Brezec** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 10:48 am

I Feel Devotion wrote:Greece had their B team and really they were the second best team in the tournament.

Slovenia had their B team and really they were the second best team in the tournament.

Hey, I can play this game too!

BadWolf · Post #331 » by **BadWolf** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 10:57 am

The tournament system is awful.
Take a look at football.
a group of four - only two teams have to qualify for next round. Then if you really need another round robin, make it best 2 again. It cuts games from 9 to 7 for best 4 teams. It's really stupid that only 1 team is eliminated out of the group of 4.
4 games, elimination each of them in 5 days is terrible, there's really no need for that.

wilt · Post #332 » by **wilt** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 11:42 am

wilt wrote:Spain looked great in the preparation games other than Poland (and the Polish are looking to be a sleeper team to get to the semis right now), so right now i´d still expect them to pull it together.

ahem ... Seriously though i was a bit surprised as to how dominant they were as the KO-stage started. Then again, it was no secret that they had by far the deepest team out there and it showed.

Congrats to spain, well deserved champion !

Agree the system needs an overhaul. Just play quarter finals after the first round, that´s still 6 games to win it all and fine enough with the packed schedule year round.

Would have put Ilyasova on the all tournament team instead of Rudy.

safari · Post #333 » by **safari** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 12:16 pm

I Feel Devotion wrote:Greece had their B team and really they were the second best team in the tournament.

France had their B team (missing 2 starters in MP and Noah) and really they were the second best team in the tournament (finishing with just one loss) :wink:

Just kiddin', I love your homerism IFD, it's funny as hell

Apollo64 · Post #334 » by **Apollo64** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 12:43 pm

BadWolf wrote:The tournament system is awful.
Take a look at football.
a group of four - only two teams have to qualify for next round. Then if you really need another round robin, make it best 2 again. It cuts games from 9 to 7 for best 4 teams. It's really stupid that only 1 team is eliminated out of the group of 4.
4 games, elimination each of them in 5 days is terrible, there's really no need for that.

I actually like the current system, though teams shouldn't have to play 3 major games in 3 days in the end.

In your system, Spain wouldn't have qualified from the first stage =)

dr. strangelove · Post #335 » by **dr. strangelove** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 12:56 pm

DeMente wrote:
jolbe_ wrote:Gasol is, and has always been, Spain's heart and soul. Take him away and it's 2005 all over again. They go from heavily favoured favorites to not even reaching quarter-finals.

I disagree.
Spain destroyed Greece in the worldchampionships final 3 years ago without Gasol.
Spain lost two years ago in the Eurobasket final because of Gasol.

Rasho Brezec · Post #336 » by **Rasho Brezec** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:04 pm

Apollo64 wrote:
BadWolf wrote:The tournament system is awful.
Take a look at football.
a group of four - only two teams have to qualify for next round. Then if you really need another round robin, make it best 2 again. It cuts games from 9 to 7 for best 4 teams. It's really stupid that only 1 team is eliminated out of the group of 4.
4 games, elimination each of them in 5 days is terrible, there's really no need for that.

I actually like the current system, though teams shouldn't have to play 3 major games in 3 days in the end.

In your system, Spain wouldn't have qualified from the first stage =)

A reason more to implement that system. Good teams shouldn't coast through the first stage and start taking things seriously in the knockout stages. The most consistent team deserves to win.

tirador · Post #337 » by **tirador** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:19 pm

I Feel Devotion wrote:I honestly had no idea why everyone was so infatuated with Spain and why everyone picked them to win gold. When I saw their final roster I knew they would struggle at the EuroBasket. I mean they have some good players like, Navarro, Fernandez, Gasol brothers, and Reyes, but the rest of their roster is pretty much garbage.

Their 3 point guards are awful. LLull has an exceptionally low basketball IQ, Garbajosa is completely washed up, Claver is not even an established pro player that much. Mumbru is washed up. Not one of them could start on a serious Euroleague club.

I think everyone just got totally infatuated with Spain because of the NBA players, and then the NBA draft picks and whatever. But like half of their team is composed of below average players.

HA, HA, HA, oh wait HE HE HE

tirador · Post #338 » by **tirador** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:20 pm

I Feel Devotion wrote:
PopularByDemand wrote:
tirador wrote:But If.... LLull had finished the match with a huge dunk ,oh my that would have been spectacular, unfortunaly that did not happen and Spain will be lucky if we got the fourth spot in the group, I dont blame Scariolo at least not more than Gasol brothers, Ricky or Navarro, by the way what the f... is Garbajosa doing in the NT?

Where is Vazquez?

He should be on the team instead of Garbajosa.

Vazquez and especially Sergi Vidal and Sergio Rodriguez should have been on Spain's team. When they announced their roster I really shook my head at their point guards. Scariolo must have been out of his mind picking two bad players in Lopez and Cabezas and an 18-19 year old kid, that despite the hype from USA and Spain is not even an average level backup point guard at the Euroleague level. He picked these guys to win a championship?

A look at their wing players was almost as puzzling. Their SF position was glaringly weak for example and their shooting guard position very undersized. Scariolo is paying hard now for the team he chose. It's kind of funny for Marc Gasol to be criticizing Scariolo for rotations and play calling when the whole problem to begin with is he selected a bunch of mediocre players for their team.

You are so funny

I Feel Devotion · Post #339 » by **I Feel Devotion** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:32 pm

penzias wrote:
I Feel Devotion wrote:
Greece had their B team and really they were the second best team in the tournament.

Greece missed 2 players, that does not make it a B team.

Diamantidis
Papaloukas
Vasilopoulos
Tsartsaris

How is that 2 players?

I Feel Devotion · Post #340 » by **I Feel Devotion** » Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:34 pm

tirador wrote:You are so funny

Lopez, Cabezas, Claver - they are all bad players to at best average.