Official FIBA World Championship Thread (and long preview)

[TAI8]

So when is the next game on? I know it's tomorrow but I always miss it because it doesn't appear to be anywhere on TV for me.

[brassviews]

http://espn.go.com/extra/fiba/schedule

[Rinaldi]

http://cm.ntvmsnbc.com/ServerSite/wui/N ... fault.aspx

live opening ceremony.. totally boring and islamist stuff. i guess they didnt realize this was a sports event.

[Greek]

So Greece entered a game against on of the best teams in the world in front of their countrymen and decided to tank the game, get blown out and not give effort? Ok. That is awesome. Great sportsmanship and patriotism there.

What you cant understand, is that Sofo, and Bouroussis are key players for our team, plus the bad mode after the fight, plus the expected fines from the Fiba. 1 friendly believe me its not a matter of proud of us. We trust our basketball team. We are on the top for more than 20 years (of course we had our bad seasons too, but in general we rank very high as a basketball country).

We showed our weakness but nothing from our strengths. Do you really believe that we will allow to US to run, without a single foul? Without hustling? without hard D? but those characteristics its our team. We are not winning with our talent. Obviously US is superior. I am saying again. You are not that good and we are not that bad.

Most probably when and if will face you in Turkey you will win, but i guarantee you that will not be that easy.

[24K GOLD]

So Greece entered a game against on of the best teams in the world in front of their countrymen and decided to tank the game, get blown out and not give effort? Ok. That is awesome. Great sportsmanship and patriotism there.

What you cant understand, is that Sofo, and Bouroussis are key players for our team, plus the bad mode after the fight, plus the expected fines from the Fiba. 1 friendly believe me its not a matter of proud of us. We trust our basketball team. We are on the top for more than 20 years (of course we had our bad seasons too, but in general we rank very high as a basketball country).

We showed our weakness but nothing from our strengths. Do you really believe that we will allow to US to run, without a single foul? Without hustling? without hard D? but those characteristics its our team. We are not winning with our talent. Obviously US is superior. I am saying again. You are not that good and we are not that bad.

Most probably when and if will face you in Turkey you will win, but i guarantee you thnat will not be that easy.

chill. that's why it is called an exhibition game. it's not like the us threw their entire game plan and the kitchen sink in that game.

[Greek]

So Greece entered a game against on of the best teams in the world in front of their countrymen and decided to tank the game, get blown out and not give effort? Ok. That is awesome. Great sportsmanship and patriotism there.

What you cant understand, is that Sofo, and Bouroussis are key players for our team, plus the bad mode after the fight, plus the expected fines from the Fiba. 1 friendly believe me its not a matter of proud of us. We trust our basketball team. We are on the top for more than 20 years (of course we had our bad seasons too, but in general we rank very high as a basketball country).

We showed our weakness but nothing from our strengths. Do you really believe that we will allow to US to run, without a single foul? Without hustling? without hard D? but those characteristics its our team. We are not winning with our talent. Obviously US is superior. I am saying again. You are not that good and we are not that bad.

Most probably when and if will face you in Turkey you will win, but i guarantee you thnat will not be that easy.

chill. that's why it is called an exhibition game. it's not like the us threw their entire game plan and the kitchen sink in that game.

You didnt miss 2 key players either...

[mikhailjordan]

You didnt miss 2 key players either...

Technically the players Team USA has sent to play are 3rd and 4th stringers... In some cases (Tyson Chandler) they're even "worse" than that...

Just think about that the next time you want to use the good ole "key players" excuse.

[Rinaldi]

Greece and Serbia will miss those suspended players only in unimportant games. They can bring their Z squad and still win against those teams (Ivory, etc) , so those suspensions are nothing to consider.

[Srle8]

I don't think USA is going to win, for the simple fact that most of our guys lack experience in those big games.

Spain is going to win, and Rubio is going to be the most important player on that team.

We already proved we could beat them in their own country. Until somebody beats the US . They are the team to Beat

Spain played one of their worst first halfs of its life, and still, they only lost by 1 point. Plus, the USA was all the time playing with their best players (Durant, Rose, Odom...) while Spain rotated their players a lot (I remember Spain had Calderon-Llull-SanEmeterio-Garbajosa-Fran for a while ). Rubio didn't even play 20min I think, it will be pretty different in the Worlds.

Stop flattering yourself Spain became relevant in the international basketball 5 years ago they had zillion bad performances in their basketball history

[Vin20]

Stop flattering yourself Spain became relevant in the international basketball 5 years ago they had zillion bad performances in their basketball history

I was talking about THIS Spanish Team, "the Golden Boys". Anyway, it was just an expression.
What about you? Will you stop being so arrogant some day?

[Srle8]

[quote="flyingvee"]This is a tactic that many European coaches use when playing the US in warmup games leading to the real thing. Sure they lost by 30 but the effort was not there. Why put up a close game, that would only make the US adjust if they play them again in the knockout rounds. Just like in the NBA, what you did in the regular season dont mean squat. The US won a friendly by 30. They did not beat France or Lithuania by that much and any informed person knows Greece is aot better than those teams, they are ranked #4 in the world. The US is not 30 points better than Greece.

Spain on the other hand did not use this tactic, they feel they can beat the US anytime they play. Wasn't it in the last Olympics that Spain got blown out in the group game and then played at lot better in the final? If I'm the Greek coach, I like the fact that the Us does feel they are good team and they come in cocky.

What would piss me off is Fotsis and Sofo got 2 game bans while Krstic got 3. Looked liek Sofo was breaking ti up when Krstic was punching Sofo on the back and head, and then he throws a chair to top it off and he gets just 3 games?[/quote]
Stop bullshiting buy yourself thick pair of glasses cause your eyes are obviously out of whack. That fat monster was sitting on Bjelica and trying to break the life out of him. If Krstic didn"t punch that idiot who was on some kind of cheeseburger rage he would have killed that kid. He deserved equal punishment as Krstic .

[Srle8]

Stop flattering yourself Spain became relevant in the international basketball 5 years ago they had zillion bad performances in their basketball history

I was talking about THIS Spanish Team, "the Golden Boys". Anyway, it was just an expression.
What about you? Will you stop being so arrogant some day?

Well you are arrogant with the dumb excuses ,USA is the better team that's the fact

[ahonui06]

So far, USA hasn't lost. Therefore, they are the best team. They also are the defending Olympic gold medal winning squad.

[Vin20]

Stop flattering yourself Spain became relevant in the international basketball 5 years ago they had zillion bad performances in their basketball history

I was talking about THIS Spanish Team, "the Golden Boys". Anyway, it was just an expression.
What about you? Will you stop being so arrogant some day?

Well you are arrogant with the dumb excuses ,USA is the better team that's the fact

Those may be excuses, but it's the truth. Isn't it true that we played horribly in the first half and we only lost by 1?

If you're the best team in THE WORLD, how come you don't win a World Championship since 1994? SPAIN IS THE BEST TEAM, we won in 2006. I'm sorry, try again.

[ahonui06]

^^Olympics were more recent than the WCs. America won the gold in 2008. Therefore, America is the best team in the world.

[Vin20]

Again, you're the best olympic team. Not the best team in the world, at least, not officially.

And... c'mon, don't make me talk about what happened in Beijing... I'll just say that I reccomend your players to take a look at the FIBA rules before playing a game.

[sdeezy]

Again, you're the best olympic team. Not the best team in the world, at least, not officially.

And... c'mon, don't make me talk about what happened in Beijing... I'll just say that I reccomend your players to take a look at the FIBA rules before playing a game.

And i recommend your players learn how to move their feet and play perimeter and transition defense

[Vin20]

Again, you're the best olympic team. Not the best team in the world, at least, not officially.

And... c'mon, don't make me talk about what happened in Beijing... I'll just say that I reccomend your players to take a look at the FIBA rules before playing a game.

And i recommend your players learn how to move their feet and play perimeter and transition defense

¿?

I'm talking about obeying the rules

[Rasho Brezec]

^^Olympics were more recent than the WCs. America won the gold in 2008. Therefore, America is the best team in the world.

That's utterly (Please Use More Appropriate Word). None of the players on the roster were in Beijing.

[Chuck Diesel]

Can't wait win this tournament and continue the gold streak on every level of international basketball. Lets silence the world again.