Official FIBA World Championship Thread (and long preview)

[Theo Papaloukas]

Man, what a game. I havent been screaming like this since 2006 soccer WC. If Batum understands how talented he is, sky is the limit for France

I was really surprised how good Albicy was, I didn't think he'd play at all.

Think about this squad for the Olympics.
Parker / Beaubois
Pietrus / De Colo
Batum / Pietrus / Gelabale
Diaw / Traore
Noah / Turiaf / Petro

You're forgetting Antoine Diot.

I think Albicy today showed more than Diot ever has.

[ptown08]

Some of those Spanish players are ridiculous. Flailing around all game trying to fake contact, bunch of idiots. Glad France beat them, considering they seem to get the benefit of the calls out there as well. Navarro is a big baby. Expected Rudy to whine a lot but he actually played pretty well (save for the tech).

Batum playing a great game, would love to see him be more aggressive and ball dominant with a team like France put out tonight, they need a go to scorer.

Rubio is going to be very good in the NBA imo, once he gets to the States and is allowed to be ball dominant and create for others instead of run a ton of sets he will shine. His ability to get into the lane is really quite impressive, just doesn't do it enough yet. Him in a Chris Paul offense would be deadly.

[sugarscape]

That one Spanish dude hurt his hand, grabbed it, paused...and then fell to the floor and curled up into the fetal position. Joke.

[SeniorWalker]

Some of those Spanish players are ridiculous. Flailing around all game trying to fake contact, bunch of idiots.

Can't stand it either. Flop videos are some of the funniest to watch among basketball related things and they just highlight this reoccurring joke.



....This is page 69 of this thread ey? Know what I mean? Wink wink nudge nudge.

[phx#7]

I think Spain did it perfect. Now they avoid USA til the finals.... Up 15 and Marc Gasol at the bench???? Mmmm....Interesting...

Didn't he foul out?

All part of the master plan!

[ptown08]

That one Spanish dude hurt his hand, grabbed it, paused...and then fell to the floor and curled up into the fetal position. Joke.

And only seconds later he was back in the game dribbling and shooting with the same hand with no grimace on his face. Fakers.

[Sedale Threatt]

Those antics, combined with all the whining from their fan base, make them almost completely unlikeable. Which pains me, as Pau is one of my all-time favorite players.

But seriously -- I couldn't care less about bringing this up again, but you hear about our "travels" like they're some sort of affront to the game, and then you have their guys dropping like they've been shot at the slightest sign of contact.

If I had to resort to tactics like that I'd seriously just cut my balls off, because I would no longer deserve them.

[ptown08]

Don't these guys feel bad after some of these moves? I know I can't bring myself to 'act' or 'fake' when I play basketball because I feel like I would just be embarrassing myself. Marc Gasol has definitely picked up on the tricks that Pau uses, verbally flopping and shooting his head back when a guy lays a hand on his back. The FIBA refs were lapping it up, not helping to rid the game of these antics at all.

[CircleCitysportsfan]

How come NONE of Spain's loses ever count for anything?

[senfono]

That one Spanish dude hurt his hand, grabbed it, paused...and then fell to the floor and curled up into the fetal position. Joke.

And only seconds later he was back in the game dribbling and shooting with the same hand with no grimace on his face. Fakers.

wow, you guys are fools. He didn´t hurt his hand. Have you never bang in your elbow just in the nerve? All the arm turns stiff. Its really painful, but it last less than 1 minute.

[linged]

Franchement, what is wrong with those french fans?
Serieux, les gars!

Rubio defending their pg bringing up the ball walks, not runs, into one of those classic picks on theirn side of the court with the back first. Their C/PF leans forward and knocks Rubio in the neck, who is in real pain and gets massage by one of the physios during the game.

The french idiots then boo Rubio the whole game after that because the obvious foul was called. Cons!

[Ferulci]

Think about this squad for the Olympics.
Parker / Beaubois
Pietrus / De Colo
Batum / Pietrus / Gelabale
Diaw / Traore
Noah / Turiaf / Petro

It looks good on the paper, but Pietrus (mickael) and De Colo are not good fits while Diaw have been outrageously bad for the last 2 years. The problems of our team are :
- Lack of tactics. Our buckets are based on athleticism or isos.
- Lack of beef inside
- Lack of clutchness

If I was Vincent Collet, my 2012 5 will be :
Diot/Albicy
Parker
Batum
Seraphin/pietrus (the other)
Noah
- We really need a pure PG, someone who distributes depending on the match-up, someone who can pressure the ball (ala Rubio) and be the coach's voice on the court. Parker is extremely good, but he's not that. Diot or Albicy would be perfect.
- Parker can play the 2. Let him play like Navarro/Billups/Spanoulis and focusing on scoring. That where he's the best.
- Seraphin, because he'll be perfect in our defense and can be a low-post presence. If somebody leaves him for stopping Batum or Parker, here comes the punishment.

With a bench of :
Diot/Albicy
Beaubois
Diaw
Pietrus (the other)/Turiaf
Traoré

And call it a day. This isn't on par with USA or even Spain (who'll wake up, as usual, in the 3 last games), but we're definilety aiming at the semis.

[re49gb_2gho32fp]

I The problems of our team are :
- Lack of tactics. Our buckets are based on athleticism or isos.


.

Why didnt you sign Bozidar Maljkovic a few years back (1-2)?

[sugarscape]

wow, you guys are fools. He didn´t hurt his hand. Have you never bang in your elbow just in the nerve? All the arm turns stiff. Its really painful, but it last less than 1 minute.

So how did an elbow injury cause his legs to turn to jello? Why fall to the ground unless you're a drama queen?

[LithuanianOne]

Lithuania barely escaped from Canada 70-68. Kleiza was the leading scorer. J.Anthony showed that he doesn't have any kind of offensive game, too bad for Heat. A.Rautins was a non - factor. M.Pocius and T.Delininkaitis played well for Lithuania.

[vi3t]

canada chokes, blew a 17 pt lead

[suckfish]

Zisis continues his great play.

[dream_catcher_9]

Looking forward to Germany vs Serbia. Serbia is said to be one of the favorites....never seen them play.

[vi3t]

serbia isn't really one of the favourites plus they're missin teodosic and krstic.....Mickaël Gelabale from france is a better shooter than i thought

[Fitz303]

Did anybody see what happened with the rim in the France VS Lebanon game? I just turned it on, and they are switching out the rims because something happened