Official Eurobasket 2013 Thread

[Beorn]

Damn it, I had been waiting for this win vs Spain since I was in Middle School

[Laure]

I guess this is my European biased self speaking, but I would take an international game like Greece - Spain over any regular season NBA matchup.

[Rasho Brezec]

This is what happens when you think you can win with Marc Gasol being the only big on the roster.

[Beorn]

well, Greece essentially 1 center too. It was the 1st game that Kavvadas played for more than 2' in the tournament, and Mavrokefalidis is a tall PF who's slower than the average retired pensioner. We have a lot of SFs and PFs though, and one or two of them usually play good enough every night not to be a liability.

The Spanish bigs apart from Mark we re horrible though, no wonder they choose to play tweeners alongside him ( Claver and old man Mumbru)

[MilesTeg]

I guess this is my European biased self speaking, but I would take an international game like Greece - Spain over any regular season NBA matchup.

Yeah, I don't know if it's because I was watching the Americas tournament just before that (god that was ugly), but I thought it was an exceptionally good game.

[Nuntius]

This is what happens when you think you can win with Marc Gasol being the only big on the roster.

Xavier Rey is really, really bad.

[Chocobanana]

The Slovenia-Italy game is fantastic

[Rasho Brezec]

Zoran Dragic is god.

[jolbin]

Zoran Dragic is god.

Zoki for president He also has by far the highest +/- on the team - +13

[Goon]

It was a great game. Finnaly some good ofensive game from Slovenia. Well they played great against Spain, but performances vs Croatia and Georgia and Poland were subpar. Maybe the best teams bring out the best of them.

This was a nice play by Nachbar:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTmaUrbTZtE&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

[sisibilio]

well, Greece essentially 1 center too. It was the 1st game that Kavvadas played for more than 2' in the tournament, and Mavrokefalidis is a tall PF who's slower than the average retired pensioner. We have a lot of SFs and PFs though, and one or two of them usually play good enough every night not to be a liability.

The Spanish bigs apart from Mark we re horrible though, no wonder they choose to play tweeners alongside him ( Claver and old man Mumbru)

Aguilar is OK but it's just his first appearance with the NT so inconsistency is to expect, Rey on the other hand shouldn't even be there if Fran Vazquez were willing to play, but with him you never know.

[aporel18]

This is what happens when you think you can win with Marc Gasol being the only big on the roster.

Xavier Rey is really, really bad.

Well, Xavi Rey is a serviceable big in domestic league, but not a top big man. He's not that bad, but if he has to play more than 10-12 minutes, it shows up. Gasol's foul trouble was key, and you could tell from the start it was going to happen. Sisibilio is spot on, Pablo Aguilar is on his first appearance with NT, and he should've got more playing time against Greece, but Orenga doesn't trust him yet.

I expected a Greek win, they played for their lives and showed some character. Of course, Spain should've taken care of the ball and attack the basket, but I have no problem with losing a game against Greece, a talented team. The ugly will be the need to win the next two. It's doable, but both Finland and Italy are pesky teams, with no inside presence and good (Finland) to great (Italy) 3 point shooting. It'll be interesting.

By the way, Trinchieri showed his Italian coaching style by throwing Kavvadas to instigate towards Marc Gasol. Aside from that, at one point, when Bourousis went to the bench, he stared at the bench like he wanted to punch somebody. Is Trinchieri having trouble with the team?

[Chalk1]

Italy has a tendency to go one on one too much. Bellinelli put up a lot of garbage shots. Gentile is really good and the future for their national team. Not sure who to even compare him to. He's a very unique player.

Great game between Spain and Greece. V-Span showed the Spanish guards who's boss.

[Beorn]

Τrinkieri doesn't play Bourousis enough miutes, preferring to give Mavrokefalidis a lot of minutes at the C spot instead, with terrible results so far. Also he's messed a pot with rotations choosing to have 3 guards and 7 forwards, which lead to prominent players like Fotsis getting too few minutes.

[HB2]

Lithuania seems to be competing with Latvia in who can mop the floor harder with A group teams not named France.
If Ukraine doesn't win Serbia, Latvia by winning France can already determine the 4 1/4 finalists today. Otherwise, if Ukraine loses to Serbia and Lithuania, Latvia can afford to lose to Belgium by 17 and still go through.

[JV4MVP]

Ukraine beating Serbia by 1 at the half, interesting especially after Ukraine lost by 30+ to a so so Latvia team.

The QT will be a mess. Any last seed will be able to upset the #1 seeds. Still think that one of the Greece's or Spain's will fail to make the QT.

So Ukraine is about to beat Serbia. Congrats to them. That said, I hate this neutralized rule. Pooh Jeter has been a monster for Ukraine but that guy is 100% American. Teams shouldn't be able to have American players on their rosters.

Pooh Jeter, Bo Mcalleb, Travis Diener, Tyus Rice, etc. are not Europeans. This rule is **** and lessens the integrity of this tournament. Especially when some of these American players dominate for these random countries that they have little relationship too (aside perhaps playing a season or two in the country or marrying someone of that coutnry's decent).

[HB2]

wow, congrats to Ukraine for making it interesting again. It is hard to win when Jetter is making every shot down the stretch while you shoot FT at 50%.

Serbia must be the weirdest team left in the tournament :/ They came out and beat Lithuania with a solid game, they beat Latvia with bit of help from refs, and they won Bosnia, but they were killed by Macedonia and lost to Montenegro (in a game that didn't really matter).... then they barely won against Belgium, and were absent against Ukraine... by winning France tomorrow they would take the top seed in the group, yet they have already 3 loses in a tournament. Anybody betting on their games is probably pissed
...
I would think that they have already started calculating options how to avoid Spain in the 1/4, but I doubt that it is possible to calculate which place Spain will take...

[shmeakone]

It was a great game. Finnaly some good ofensive game from Slovenia. Well they played great against Spain, but performances vs Croatia and Georgia and Poland were subpar. Maybe the best teams bring out the best of them.

This was a nice play by Nachbar:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTmaUrbTZtE&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

IMO Nachbar is one of the most athletic Europeans to ever play in the NBA. He can seriously get up.


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[aristippus]

That said, I hate this neutralized rule. Pooh Jeter has been a monster for Ukraine but that guy is 100% American. Teams shouldn't be able to have American players on their rosters.

Pooh Jeter, Bo Mcalleb, Travis Diener, Tyus Rice, etc. are not Europeans. This rule is **** and lessens the integrity of this tournament. Especially when some of these American players dominate for these random countries that they have little relationship too (aside perhaps playing a season or two in the country or marrying someone of that coutnry's decent).[/quote]


I agreed. This rule is very bull. Some players are naturalized, without having lived a day in that nation.

For Italy, however, it is not the system. Travis Diener, for example, has been naturalized for his wife, Rosamaria Nigliaccio, born in the U.S. but of Italian origins. And Travis, with his wife, lived in Italy for many years now.

[Mass Rig]

Yeah, that makes sense.

Why not? You don't have to score the FT if you don't want to, and you get possession.