FIBA WORLD CUP 2019 | SPAIN are new WORLD CHAMPIONS

[rale93lfc]

BTW spanish tv says Ricky is now the leader in assists in world cup history, the leader was prigioni.

He must be a leader when he play this stuff from his 16th bday.

[Calvin Klein]

nevermind

[Gooner]

Spain will get to another final.

[a-French-Fan]

So, who voted Serbia as biggest threat for team USA?

[darmani]

Kulig balling

[UcanUwill]

So, who voted Serbia as biggest threat for team USA?

I did, I pretty much put all poll options from most likely team in my opinion, on the top of the poll to less likely going bottom down.

[agustin1981-ARG]

I want to share this quotes... an interview with coach Krzyzewski talking about Argentina team



I imagine you’ve learned a lot over these dozen years from international coaches and players, and wonder if you could share anything specific you’ve taken back to the U.S. team or to Duke.

The game is alive and well worldwide, obviously, with 20 to 25 percent of the NBA being international. You have teams that have been together 10, 12, 15 years, like the Argentine team, with their spirit and togetherness, continuity and system.

I remember in 2008 in Beijing, Spain had just beaten Lithuania in the semifinals. We were getting ready to go out on the court in the tunnel, where the crowd couldn't see you. Our guys are psyched up, we're going to play Argentina. About 50 to 75 feet behind us, again spectators can't see it, is the Argentina team, dancing and hugging. It was amazing. I remember walking out on the court with Mike D’Antoni, one of the assistants, and saying, “Mike, forget the scouting report. That's what we have to beat.”

The commitment these men have to their countries and to one another, the brotherhood, that’s what happens when you have continuity, commitment and talent. So many of these countries have that. That's what we tried to do with the U.S. program, to try to develop a feeling of who we're playing for, not just of wearing the jersey. I've tried to apply it to my own program at Duke.

[darmani]

what a stupid foul

[Wagonband]

I dont understand comments here. Overhyped? Overrated. This team played finals of Olympic games, finals of Euro, finals of World cup.

We lost, Argentina dominated. Its sport, move on.

No way you believe that lol... Serbs aren't going to "move on" from this for a long long time. There's no way Djordjevic survives with his job, half the association will probably be changed. Djordjevic seems like the guy that can get the max out of his players when the stars are missing and having them buy into a team concept, but he can't coach a loaded team. Kinda feels like Brad Stevens in the NBA.

Serbia played great basketball when guys like Bjelica and Jokič were missing... But now these guys tried too much iso and didnt' trust their teammates.

I will admit that Serbia destroying the weak competition so far didn't help them at all. It's best to lose some games in the friendlies or group stage so that the team can make adjustments and move on. Now they seemed shell shocked by Spain and how they played, and today it felt from the start that Argentina sensed blood in the water.

So yeah huge upset, Serbia should have easily beaten this Argentina team.

I don't know why nobody giving Argentina a credit, they played great game. Bogdan said in interview at the end the best quote ,,they played team game, that's why they won,, and it's true. Argentina didn't lost 1 game at tournument and they are in semi finals, they for sure deserve some credit.

Ofc you have to give credit to Argentina. They played amazing. But with the difference in quality of players Argentina shouldn't be able to beat Serbia. Especially not in the most important game of the whole tournament. There is no excuse for the lack of effort that the Serbs played with today.

There's also absolutely no excuse for Jokič to be outplayed by Scola. There's no excuse for Bjelica to hoist threes early in the shot clock when he is not making them. There is definetly no excuse that Marjanovic comes in the game, a guy that was giving good minutes last year in the playoffs for Philly, and basically commit 2 offensive fouls and do nothing other than that in the game.

My anger is basically dissapointment. I was really hoping for an epic final of Serbia vs USA where Serbia would win, we would see Jokic making an early MVP case, Bogi proving he should get even more minutes in Sacramento etc...

Ah well

[Dawkins]

Always hearing this "international teams all are playing together for so long and TEAM USA isn't" talk makes me shake my head.

International players all play in different leagues, often times see each other only once a year in the summer, teams are different every time due to Euroleague/NBA players missing during the season.

NBA players see each other several times a season playing against each other, they have a core of three Celtics guards on the team who know each other very well, the Coach has the playmaker from his club team on the NT.

[Tomazan]

I've never seen team as soft as Spain. Team of pussies lol

[seorang]

This is the best I've seen Rubio shoot the ball

[mixerball]

Spain won the FIBA eurobasket three out of four times between 2009 and 2015. This goes to show how good that team was. They simply dominated European basketball.

For some reason, you clearly lack the necessary objectivity, thus it’s pointless continuing to debate with you.

and this team just started their path to euro dominance. i believe they are already better right know than that spain then. you can believe otherwise

Well then...

i was wrong. i have no problem admitting it. are you feeling better now that you finally got to quote me again?

[MrSparkle]

Kudos to Poland for putting up a solid challenge to Spain. Fell apart once they got it to 6 points with about 5min left; started heaving desperate 3Ps and went away from their more varied game. But really all in all a good showing. As a Pole I’m both surprised and proud.

Not Spain’s best team but they’re still a top-3 basketball force no matter who shows up.

[SwatLakeCity527]

Did Serbia really lose to Argentina?

What a letdown. Good job to Argentina, though. They are a bunch of no-names and they just handed Serbia a big L.

[mixerball]

Half of the realgm forum users got exposed. Serbia was overrated as hell.

after the loss a lot of petty haters got exposed here.

[Chuck Diesel]

Hahahaha. Serbia is not a real basketball country. Karma for cutting Kalanic for asinine reasons, obviously coulda used him. I’m sure he’s smiling his devilishly crooked smile.

[SwatLakeCity527]

This is the best I've seen Rubio shoot the ball

He had a few games like that playing for the Jazz last year. His problem is consistency.

[Yeezus_]

Really wished our guys showed up for Canada smh. This could've been the year man.

[MrSparkle]

For whatever it’s worth, I really think people are putting too much stock into big names and ignoring the types of players and teams that excel in FIBA competitions. You need a scoring PG who can drain contested 3Ps with confidence (which Serbia doesn’t have). Who knows if Spain wins this game without Rubio pulling off some shots he regularly never does. If he lays bricks in the next game, Spain is gonna struggle against Australia/Czech.

But more importantly, since about 2000, lumbering big men have been at a disadvantage in international games. Boban and Jokic are horrible defensive options for the pace of FIBA. Most these foreign starters couldn’t make the NBA because they’re undersized and don’t have the athleticism to make up for it. But in the international game there’s a hell of a lot more ball movement, so that overcomes whatever limitations Scola or Campazzo have.

People forget that this whole 3P bombing run and gun offense was a Euro thing that found itself in the NBA a decade later. Where’d D’Antoni coach before Phoenix (Italy)? What was Sarunas doing with Lithuania (launching 3Ps at a wonky rate and challenging USA)... 20 years ago.

You need your FIBA center to move quickly, because the 3P shots and quick cuts and passes to the basket will kill you. Offensively, there’s too much swarm in the paint to body and post up. No surprise that Spain was more lethal with Pau Gasol as the main guy, not Marc... a guy who could do equal damage from distance and close, and quick enough to beat perimeter defenders off the dribble.

The underathletic guys don’t generally do well in the NBA because they’re forced to stand and watch in iso sets while the top options ball hog. So they’re biggest weakness is hyper exposed as they need to wait for split second loose balls to make plays, which benefits less skilled athletes much more.

But anyway... Jokic has surpassed all expectations as an NBA superstar but make no mistake, he can’t bring what works for him in Denver to FIBA and expect it to work. He needs to speed up his decision making and 3P accuracy. And the team needs to figure out a defensive scheme for him to work. I don’t know if it was a great idea not having him build chemistry with the starters in the 1st rd. And they need a PG who can rain 3Ps (biggest problem).