FIBA WORLD CUP 2019 | SPAIN are new WORLD CHAMPIONS

[minami]

Serbia is obviously a bit overrated but using jokic as a four is just stupid.
Serbia's coach was totally outcoached today and by a large margin.
Jokic ejection was somehow a blessing in disguise because they were getting abused with him and milutinov on the floor together. First start him and start focusing on that pick and roll / pick and pop with jokic and bogdanovic.

But overall i think France is the most dangerous team. Fournier/de colo/batum/gobert is tough and has star power.
Our coach suck though.

Sent from my RNE-L21 using RealGM mobile app

I see that lot of people here are happy that Serbia lost, but we are not done yet.

Serbia had a terrible game but still a great team who will play much better in the next game/s, for sure. Really happy that you lost today though, Spain wasn´t flashy at all and has many weaknesses but played a pretty solid game. Scariolo makes the most of them it seems, and I hope they keep improving.

Off to Nadal, vamos!

[Showdown]

France have athleticism, defense, size and two sharpshooters in Fournier and De Colo that are clutch shooters on top of that.

[Alatan]

Serbia is obviously a bit overrated but using jokic as a four is just stupid.
Serbia's coach was totally outcoached today and by a large margin.
Jokic ejection was somehow a blessing in disguise because they were getting abused with him and milutinov on the floor together. First start him and start focusing on that pick and roll / pick and pop with jokic and bogdanovic.

But overall i think France is the most dangerous team. Fournier/de colo/batum/gobert is tough and has star power.
Our coach suck though.

Sent from my RNE-L21 using RealGM mobile app

Agree. Spain made big 7-0 run with Boaban, Jokic and Bjelica at SF. It was ridiculus linup. Then, when Jokic got ejected we actually started playing better because Bogdan was at SF. We must use pick and roll with Bogdan and Jokic more.
Djordjevic is smart coach, I think he will see where he made mistakes. At last championships we always lost at group phase but menaged to play our best basketball in knockout stage. I see that lot of people here are happy that Serbia lost, but we are not done yet.

France got really strong team, will be really interested match tomorrow vs Australia, and whoever loses I think they have some chance vs USA in 1/4f.

We lost because Jokic and Bjelica were playing like they didnt eat for 7 days straight and soiled their pants to add to it.

Come to think of it Jokic really dissapointed this tournament. He plays so lazily and without hearth that it makes me angry. Sure he is not the focal point but he so afraid to shoot that its hurting the team. Bjelica is a similar case but to a lesser degree.

Hats off to Bogdan who is playing like a man possessed.

[scrabbarista]

We all know the best American players aren't here...However, part of having a great national team is instilling a culture where your best players will have pride in playing for their country. If you can't get your very best players to show up to play..that's on you..that's part of the having the best basketball country.

Secondly, on a per capita basis, one could very well make the argument that Serbia is better than the US. If you picked a random selection of 7 million US citizens, and chose a team from that.. would they beat the Serbian team?

Totally agree with the first point, instilling a culture where your players want to play for their country is 100% relevant; but the per capita thing isn't really much of a thing. It may be true, but nobody much cares.

EDIT: Even in light of the first point, though, you do have to consider FIBA versus the Olympics. As is commonly stated, Americans value the Olympics far, far more, whereas that is apparently not true among many other nations.

In summary, if a non-US teams wins this tournament, it will be a significant step towards basketball supremacy, but you definitely won't be able to say the US has been unseated. They'd (or "we'd" - I'm American) have to also lose in 2020 for that discussion to even begin, in my opinion.

I agree, losing in the olympics will have a much bigger impact in the US then losing in the WC. Just as 2004 was much more relevant than losing in 2002.

Neither is likely, though. Obvs we can lose in the WC, but I think we're clearly still the favorites for now. And the Olympics is still far in the future at the moment.

[Catchall]

:lol:

Are we pretending that this tournament will actually prove who is the best at basketball?

It's like people really believe that if they beat the US, they have the superior basketball nation.

Serbia just had a bad game, imo. Should be interesting to see the rest of the tournament.

We all know the best American players aren't here...However, part of having a great national team is instilling a culture where your best players will have pride in playing for their country. If you can't get your very best players to show up to play..that's on you..that's part of the having the best basketball country.

Secondly, on a per capita basis, one could very well make the argument that Serbia is better than the US. If you picked a random selection of 7 million US citizens, and chose a team from that.. would they beat the Serbian team?

If a player in the U.S. makes $30 million or $35 million per year to play in the best league in the world, why would he disrupt his summer schedule to play in a World Cup tournament against a bunch of teams with players who can't even get into their league?

It's just not a big deal to them. You can't say they don't love their country or they don't love the game.

The only teams that gave USA even a match in the last 10 years were Spain and maybe Argentina.

[KqWIN]

Any team can have a good or bad day. That's the beauty of a single elimination tournament. The quarterfinals are going to be so fun to watch in a do or die situation.

[stoo]

:lol:

Are we pretending that this tournament will actually prove who is the best at basketball?

It's like people really believe that if they beat the US, they have the superior basketball nation.

Serbia just had a bad game, imo. Should be interesting to see the rest of the tournament.

We all know the best American players aren't here...However, part of having a great national team is instilling a culture where your best players will have pride in playing for their country. If you can't get your very best players to show up to play..that's on you..that's part of the having the best basketball country.

Secondly, on a per capita basis, one could very well make the argument that Serbia is better than the US. If you picked a random selection of 7 million US citizens, and chose a team from that.. would they beat the Serbian team?

If a player in the U.S. makes $30 million or $35 million per year to play in the best league in the world, why would he disrupt his summer schedule to play in a World Cup tournament against a bunch of teams with players who can't even get into their league?

It's just not a big deal to them. You can't say they don't love their country or they don't love the game.

The only teams that gave USA even a match in the last 10 years were Spain and maybe Argentina.

Maybe because they will want to be in HOF one day, and making money is not going to be enough

[Crives]

Rubio looking really good... would be cool if he was in the running for MIP this season.

[limbo]

Rubio looking really good... would be cool if he was in the running for MIP this season.

Wishful thinking, but it will be nice for Phoenix to finally have someone that can actually run the point. It should serve you well in that fight for the 14th spot in the conference with Memphis.

[jinxed]

:lol:

Are we pretending that this tournament will actually prove who is the best at basketball?

It's like people really believe that if they beat the US, they have the superior basketball nation.

Serbia just had a bad game, imo. Should be interesting to see the rest of the tournament.

We all know the best American players aren't here...However, part of having a great national team is instilling a culture where your best players will have pride in playing for their country. If you can't get your very best players to show up to play..that's on you..that's part of the having the best basketball country.

Secondly, on a per capita basis, one could very well make the argument that Serbia is better than the US. If you picked a random selection of 7 million US citizens, and chose a team from that.. would they beat the Serbian team?

If a player in the U.S. makes $30 million or $35 million per year to play in the best league in the world, why would he disrupt his summer schedule to play in a World Cup tournament against a bunch of teams with players who can't even get into their league?

It's just not a big deal to them. You can't say they don't love their country or they don't love the game.

The only teams that gave USA even a match in the last 10 years were Spain and maybe Argentina.

In the 2016 Olympics, the US beat Serbia 94-91, and France 100-97.

Obviously, Serbia, France and Spain have rosters filled with NBA talent, and they get most of their players to show up for hte world cup

[jinxed]

If the US has to beat France/Aus then Serbia in semi's and Spain in finals..they will have earned this.

[Pachinko_]

If it was a 7 or even 5 game series between Serbia and Spain I'd probably bet on Serbia.

Sent from my SM-A705YN using Tapatalk

[bb22]

If the US has to beat France/Aus then Serbia in semi's and Spain in finals..they will have earned this.

Indeed. Too bad Lithuania was stuck in the packed end of the draw. Think they are a better team than Poland (no offense to Polish fans) and would have made for a nice matchup vs Spain in the QFs.

[rale93lfc]

If the US has to beat France/Aus then Serbia in semi's and Spain in finals..they will have earned this.

Indeed. Too bad Lithuania was stuck in the packed end of the draw. Think they are a better team than Poland (no offense to Polish fans) and would have made for a nice matchup vs Spain in the QFs.

Also better then Czech and Argentina probably. (no offense)

[Catchall]

We all know the best American players aren't here...However, part of having a great national team is instilling a culture where your best players will have pride in playing for their country. If you can't get your very best players to show up to play..that's on you..that's part of the having the best basketball country.

Secondly, on a per capita basis, one could very well make the argument that Serbia is better than the US. If you picked a random selection of 7 million US citizens, and chose a team from that.. would they beat the Serbian team?

If a player in the U.S. makes $30 million or $35 million per year to play in the best league in the world, why would he disrupt his summer schedule to play in a World Cup tournament against a bunch of teams with players who can't even get into their league?

It's just not a big deal to them. You can't say they don't love their country or they don't love the game.

The only teams that gave USA even a match in the last 10 years were Spain and maybe Argentina.

In the 2016 Olympics, the US beat Serbia 94-91, and France 100-97.

Obviously, Serbia, France and Spain have rosters filled with NBA talent, and they get most of their players to show up for hte world cup

USA won the final match against Serbia by 30 points in Rio. They beat Argentina by 27 and beat Spain by 6. Maybe you're referring to preliminary-round matches?

[Chanel Bomber]

Rubio looking really good... would be cool if he was in the running for MIP this season.

Wishful thinking, but it will be nice for Phoenix to finally have someone that can actually run the point. It should serve you well in that fight for the 14th spot in the conference with Memphis.

Damn

[jinxed]

If a player in the U.S. makes $30 million or $35 million per year to play in the best league in the world, why would he disrupt his summer schedule to play in a World Cup tournament against a bunch of teams with players who can't even get into their league?

It's just not a big deal to them. You can't say they don't love their country or they don't love the game.

The only teams that gave USA even a match in the last 10 years were Spain and maybe Argentina.

In the 2016 Olympics, the US beat Serbia 94-91, and France 100-97.

Obviously, Serbia, France and Spain have rosters filled with NBA talent, and they get most of their players to show up for hte world cup

USA won the final match against Serbia by 30 points in Rio. They beat Argentina by 27 and beat Spain by 6. Maybe you're referring to preliminary-round matches?

Yes, in the group stage, the US beat Serbia by 3, France by 3, and Australia by 10 (US was losing at half).

[limbo]

Damn

Why is the Knicks guy laughing? Biggest market in the country haven't won a title since my grandma was in high school. They didn't even have a three pointer back then, completely different game. I can name more embarrassing Knick moments off the top of my head than actual good ones. Been so bad for so many decades that Latrell Spreewell has been a highlight for most new generation Knick fans.

Anyone else want smoke? I'm feeling extra frisky today.

[og15]

Rubio looking really good... would be cool if he was in the running for MIP this season.

That doesn’t seem realistic. Rubio would basically have to become like a 20/5/9 player to be in the running for MIP. He’s a career 11/4/8 guy, last season was 13/4/6, so where is the statistical jump going to come from to get him in the running?

[og15]

Any team can have a good or bad day. That's the beauty of a single elimination tournament. The quarterfinals are going to be so fun to watch in a do or die situation.

Yup, with single elimination, unless you are the clearly best team with a good margin of being better than your opponents, even as a favourite, a bad shooting game, or the other team being hot from outside, etc can send you packing.