JV at EuroBasket 2013 is Done, Lithuania Gets Silver

[UcanUwill]

Anyone getting the feeling that Spain threw the 4th quarter? I wrote this on the GB:

Weird 4th quarter for Spain in the last 3 minutes. Not saying they're tanking intentionally but some weird things:

- Calderon fouls 3 pt shooter with less than 2 minutes to go
- Rodriguez misses 2 foul shoots with 30 seconds left
- Left driving lane open for Belinelli (and didn't recover a "easy" rebound)
- Threw dangerous ally opp play with less than 1 minute left (although it worked)
- That defense on that final play was lolz.

Hopefully Spain is indeed trying to lose intentionally. Will make it slightly easier for JV to win something.

Edit: wow at Gasol's defense. They're def losing on purpose.

I am not sure, but I actually thought about it. Seems like they prove to themselves they won that game, and then gave it away. Gasol not playing any defense against Aradori at the end was incredibly suspect, but maybe he was just gassed at that point?

I think Italy is the best possible match up for Lithuania, while Serbia is the better match up for Spain, so ok. Everybody wins, see kids, tanking does pay.

[JV4MVP]

Spoiler:

Anyone getting the feeling that Spain threw the 4th quarter? I wrote this on the GB:

Weird 4th quarter for Spain in the last 3 minutes. Not saying they're tanking intentionally but some weird things:

- Calderon fouls 3 pt shooter with less than 2 minutes to go
- Rodriguez misses 2 foul shoots with 30 seconds left
- Left driving lane open for Belinelli (and didn't recover a "easy" rebound)
- Threw dangerous ally opp play with less than 1 minute left (although it worked)
- That defense on that final play was lolz.

Hopefully Spain is indeed trying to lose intentionally. Will make it slightly easier for JV to win something.

Edit: wow at Gasol's defense. They're def losing on purpose

.

I am not sure, but I actually thought about it. Seems like they prove to themselves they won that game, and then gave it away. Gasol not playing any defense against Aradori at the end was incredibly suspect, but maybe he was just gassed at that point?

I think Italy is the best possible match up for Lithuania, while Serbia is the better match up for Spain, so ok. Everybody wins, see kids, tanking does pay.

Gasol's defense was incredibly suspect. So was the fact that Spain let ppl open on the perimeter too.

I can't fathom why high IQ Calderon would foul a 3 pt shooter with a minute to go. Rodriguez that went 0-2 at the line. Spain's defense on the last play in regular time was absurd too, letting Datome to tie the game to force OT.

And how does Llull go 0-2 from the line? Then Claver misses 1 FT. Spain's defense was so suspect in OT.

Lastly, Spain was down 5 with less than 30 seconds to go and Rodriguez was driving to the basket for tough close shots.

[BLKMASS]

Anyone getting the feeling that Spain threw the 4th quarter? I wrote this on the GB:

Weird 4th quarter for Spain in the last 3 minutes. Not saying they're tanking intentionally but some weird things:

- Calderon fouls 3 pt shooter with less than 2 minutes to go
- Rodriguez misses 2 foul shoots with 30 seconds left
- Left driving lane open for Belinelli (and didn't recover a "easy" rebound)
- Threw dangerous ally opp play with less than 1 minute left (although it worked)
- That defense on that final play was lolz.

Hopefully Spain is indeed trying to lose intentionally. Will make it slightly easier for JV to win something.

Edit: wow at Gasol's defense. They're def losing on purpose.

....no.. they've been bad the entire tournament.

[BLKMASS]

also serbia is a tough opponent, just as tough if not tougher than lithuania, there is no incentive to tank the game at all.

[UcanUwill]

Number of signs of intentional loss. It's just a little unbelievable Spain would do such a thing to avoid Lithuania and get Serbia instead.
What is funny, very similar thing happened in 2010, in which people accused Spain of purposely loosing to avoid USA in semis. They matched up with the same Serbia in 8-finals, and Teodosic burned them all.

[JV4MVP]

also serbia is a tough opponent, just as tough if not tougher than lithuania, there is no incentive to tank the game at all.

Spain and Greece struggled against teams with good bigs. LTU is stacked at C/PF so that is one incentive.

Spain lacks a backup for Gasol... Rey is not that good. And Spain goes as far as playing Claver at PF.

If they played LTU they would have to contain two 7-footers simultaneously (among JV, D. Lav, K. Lav, D-Mo, Javtokas) as opposed to just Krstic. And Gasol will be exhausted this late in the tournament whereas LTU can rotate a lot of guys. To beat Serbia you pretty much need to just contain Krstic. Serbia's guards don't have much of a chance against Spain's guards.

It will be a tough game for LTU against Italy nevertheless. They will have to guard the 3 ball, drives, and dominate inside.

[Gntts]

Anyone getting the feeling that Spain threw the 4th quarter? I wrote this on the GB:

Weird 4th quarter for Spain in the last 3 minutes. Not saying they're tanking intentionally but some weird things:

- Calderon fouls 3 pt shooter with less than 2 minutes to go
- Rodriguez misses 2 foul shoots with 30 seconds left
- Left driving lane open for Belinelli (and didn't recover a "easy" rebound)
- Threw dangerous ally opp play with less than 1 minute left (although it worked)
- That defense on that final play was lolz.

Hopefully Spain is indeed trying to lose intentionally. Will make it slightly easier for JV to win something.

Edit: wow at Gasol's defense. They're def losing on purpose.

I am not sure, but I actually thought about it. Seems like they prove to themselves they won that game, and then gave it away. Gasol not playing any defense against Aradori at the end was incredibly suspect, but maybe he was just gassed at that point?

I think Italy is the best possible match up for Lithuania, while Serbia is the better match up for Spain, so ok. Everybody wins, see kids, tanking does pay.

Tanking will pay if Spain wins against Serbia. But they can be punished as in 2010 WC. As well as I remember, Greece was also playing tanking games with bad results.

[GoSu]

there is more motivation to loose if you dig deeper - 2nd and 4th from their group will be playing on Wednesday (2 day break) and would have a day break before semis, meanwhile 1st and 3rd will play only on Thursday (3 day break) and no off day before semis.
The long break before quarterfinals and no break at all before semis might be reason good enough to flop this game.

[BackseatBoss]

there is more motivation to loose if you dig deeper - 2nd and 4th from their group will be playing on Wednesday (2 day break) and would have a day break before semis, meanwhile 1st and 3rd will play only on Thursday (3 day break) and no off day before semis.
The long break before quarterfinals and no break at all before semis might be reason good enough to flop this game.

Really? Look at what Lithuania has to go through to get to the finals: Italy and then either Ukraine or Croatia. I don't think any of those three teams were even considered as viable candidates to get out of the group stage. Meanwhile Spain will have to play against strong Serbia and then either France or Slovenia. Those other four teams look much more scary to me. If Lithuania doesn't make to the finals, then they chocked big time.

[T-D0G]

Ugh... I hate these irrelevant tournaments.

Most of the Raptors players are in Toronto, or on their way, and JV will still be with the national team for possibly another 2 weeks.

[pbj]

Damn it.. 3 countries from the Former Yugoslavia advance.

Imagine a single team with the likes of Dragic, Bogdanovic, Krstic, Teletovic, Vucevic.. this tournament would have been over before it started!

[JV4MVP]

there is more motivation to loose if you dig deeper - 2nd and 4th from their group will be playing on Wednesday (2 day break) and would have a day break before semis, meanwhile 1st and 3rd will play only on Thursday (3 day break) and no off day before semis.
The long break before quarterfinals and no break at all before semis might be reason good enough to flop this game.

Really? Look at what Lithuania has to go through to get to the finals: Italy and then either Ukraine or Croatia. I don't think any of those three teams were even considered as viable candidates to get out of the group stage. Meanwhile Spain will have to play against strong Serbia and then either France or Slovenia. Those other four teams look much more scary to me. If Lithuania doesn't make to the finals, then they chocked big time.

You're underrating Croatia. I think they're as good as France and Serbia. Croatia beat Greece and Slovenia. Tomic is arguably a top 3 center of this tournament alongside Gasol and Krstic. Bogdonavic is a scoring machine.

France just isn't that impressive, likely b.c. of no Noah. France even lost to Germany. Look at the teams they beat: Great Britain, israel, Ukraine, Belgium and Latvia. Against Lithuania they lost by 14, and against Serbia they lost by 12.

Serbia is decent but overly reliant on Krstic. Their guards are also streaky from outside.

The parity between the Quaterfinal teams is pretty close. Only Ukraine is the "odd man out" albeit they were competitive against good teams.

Lithuania should not take Italy lightly. Defense will be huge. They need to use their interior advantage. It will be a stressful game.

[JV4MVP]

Ugh... I hate these irrelevant tournaments.

Most of the Raptors players are in Toronto, or on their way, and JV will still be with the national team for possibly another 2 weeks.

JV is trying to bring a medal to Toronto whereas his teammates are probably bonding by playing GTA V.

[UcanUwill]

Really? Look at what Lithuania has to go through to get to the finals: Italy and then either Ukraine or Croatia. I don't think any of those three teams were even considered as viable candidates to get out of the group stage. Meanwhile Spain will have to play against strong Serbia and then either France or Slovenia. Those other four teams look much more scary to me. If Lithuania doesn't make to the finals, then they chocked big time.

Who didn't expected Croatia to be here? They have one of the better looking teams. Italy is overachieving, but they have legit names on perimeter, they already beaten Spain, Greece and others. Lithuania could easily lose to either of those teams and it wouldn't be a shocker. They are minor favorites.

I do agree Lithuania has easier path however. When you look at it, yeah, it doesn't make sense for Spain to tank that game. GoSu argument has 2 sides, some people believe that having those extra days actually does more damage.

[Juscius]

Ugh... I hate these irrelevant tournaments.

Most of the Raptors players are in Toronto, or on their way, and JV will still be with the national team for possibly another 2 weeks.

Finals are this Sunday And thinking that this tournament is pointless for jv or overall is also wrong.

[JV4MVP]

JV article on FIBA site:

Jonas Valanciunas turned 21 in June. Three months later at EuroBasket 2013, it's clear that the torch of Lithuania's top center is close to being passed to the Toronto Raptors big man.

Valanciunas has already been a dominant force at times in Slovenia - his second EuroBasket and third major tournament despite his tender age. His overall numbers are 7.0 points, a team-best 6.0 rebounds and one block while shooting almost 70% from the floor and 77% from the free-throw line.

But in the five games he has played at least 13 minutes, the Utena native's numbers increase to 11.8 points, 8.6 rebounds (2.2 offensive boards) and 1.4 blocks in just under 22 minutes.

"Right now, he's the main center for us," said 33-year-old Lithuania center Robertas Javtokas...

He's good on offence, but we need him to be good everywhere," said Kleiza...

"He's very positive, he's a good kid, very talented. Sometimes, he misses control of the game. But he's young. We are asking from him [things] like he should be 27 or so. It's impossible," said Lithuanian coach Jonas Kazlauskas, who mentioned 22-year-old Donatas Motiejunas being in the same case.

http://www.eurobasket2013.org/en/coid_w ... de_on.html

[BLKMASS]

did slovenia just tank to finland
pretty meaningless game anyways..

[Vorticity]

He's good on offence, but we need him to be good everywhere," said Kleiza...

Oh, the irony is delicious

[Alfred]

Number of signs of intentional loss. It's just a little unbelievable Spain would do such a thing to avoid Lithuania and get Serbia instead.
What is funny, very similar thing happened in 2010, in which people accused Spain of purposely loosing to avoid USA in semis. They matched up with the same Serbia in 8-finals, and Teodosic burned them all.

This was my first thought. Spain is a very tricksy team.

[Laure]

For the ladies:





srsly, no homo