Official Eurobasket 2013 Thread

[Cro_Ruption]

Again, i'm Croat but this is just laughable. I'm glad and happy and all but this is like the Sixers or Bucks playing the nba finals.

Why so? Croatia is on a 8-0 run. The only game they lost was the first one of the tournament and understandably against Spain. Give your team more credit.

And Lithuania's entire roster is composed of NBA and Euroleague players. ESPN ranked them 3rd overall before the tournament started.

The only team head and shoulders above the competition is Spain, and they still have a few Ls. Italy, France, Slovenia, Lithuania, Serbia, Croatia and Greece are all second tier but still quite good.

i agree with both statements. Considering how small our country is, it's pretty remarkable

[Chalk1]

Luigi Datome.......the Italian Walter Herrmann.

Dude's hands are like oven mitts.

[Heat fan06]

Semis today?

[Laure]

Semis today?

Yup.

11:45 ET Lithuania-Croatia
15:00 ET Spain-France

[JV4MVP]

Damn Ukraine up 10 against Italy with 6 minutes to go in the 4th

If Italy losses it still has another chance, against Serbia, to qualify for the last WC spot

Jeter's shot off the dribble is like water

[sisibilio]

Again, i'm Croat but this is just laughable. I'm glad and happy and all but this is like the Sixers or Bucks playing the nba finals.

Why so? Croatia is on a 8-0 run. The only game they lost was the first one of the tournament and understandably against Spain. Give your team more credit.

And Lithuania's entire roster is composed of NBA and Euroleague players. ESPN ranked them 3rd overall before the tournament started.

The only team head and shoulders above the competition is Spain, and they still have a few Ls. Italy, France, Slovenia, Lithuania, Serbia, Croatia and Greece are all second tier but still quite good.

i agree with both statements. Considering how small our country is, it's pretty remarkable

I guess what he means is this is a mediocre team for a Eurobasket SF, but again it's not their fault other teams didn't send their best squads.

[JV4MVP]

I guess what he means is this is a mediocre team for a Eurobasket SF, but again it's not their fault other teams didn't send their best squads.

Had everyone sent their best players I don't think the semi would be any different. Spain and France always had a high probability to be here. People also would not be surprised that Lithuania is there either.

I suppose if Russia had Kirilenko and Mozgov then they would be better than Croatia but considering the first two stages dynamics anything possible.

[BadNFluenz]

DoMo and JVal on the court together. lets see how it pans out


edit:
haha first action: Motiejunas misses, and Over the back foul by Valanciunas on the same possession
second action: Motiejunas fouls, Valanciunas goaltends. chance for an and1

[sca]

Kleiza, wow.

[JV4MVP]

LTU played great defense for the first 3 quarters.

Croatia 2/13 3FG... 13%

[th1]

Poor croatians had no idea what was coming at them

[MrTwister]

This entire tournament Kalnietis is carrying this Lithuanian team but Valanciunas getting the credits somehow.I am impressed by him,i knew Kalnietis is good but he is not that good, he is playing tournament of his life, he is everywhere, hiting his shots, playing smart, doesnt force or take bad shots, distributing the ball well, playing pick and roll with bigs simply Lithuanian best player on this tournament, kinda their version of Steve Nash along with Kleiza which is going rogue sometimes but hit few important shots which decided games in their favor.

Valanciunas doesnt play much but time he spent on court made Lithuanian offense look predictable and slow and himself like overrated player i thought he was before this tournament,he had some nice defensive displays but thats about it. Montejunas played very little time because of Kleiza but he used his minutes to pick few quick fouls and been solid in defense, i still dont get why he didnt get more playing time but its up to Lithuanian coach.Anyway they made their way to the finals quietly and with unconvincing displays almost whole time which tells you enough about quality of the tournament this year.I dont wanna diminish their success but i am just not impressed by them and their performances even though they made it to the finals.

[JV4MVP]

This entire tournament Kalnietis is carrying this Lithuanian team but Valanciunas getting the credits somehow.I am impressed by him,i knew Kalnietis is good but he is not that good, he is playing tournament of his life, he is everywhere, hiting his shots, playing smart, doesnt force or take bad shots, distributing the ball well, playing pick and roll with bigs simply Lithuanian best player on this tournament, kinda their version of Steve Nash along with Kleiza which is going rogue sometimes but hit few important shots which decided games in their favor.

Valanciunas doesnt play much but time he spent on court made Lithuanian offense look predictable and slow and himself like overrated player i thought he was before this tournament,he had some nice defensive displays but thats about it. Montejunas played very little time because of Kleiza but he used his minutes to pick few quick fouls and been solid in defense, i still dont get why he didnt get more playing time but its up to Lithuanian coach.Anyway they made their way to the finals quietly and with unconvincing displays almost whole time which tells you enough about quality of the tournament this year.I dont wanna diminish their success but i am just not impressed by them and their performances even though they made it to the finals.

Are you serious? Who is giving JV any credit?

Us on the Raptors board have discussed endlessly how JV is in the coach's dog house and how he is getting scolded for every mistake. He has been fairly inconsistent offensively but has played solid defense and rebounded well when he did indeed play. Props to him for having 5 blocks today against Croatia.

And yea, LTU had the easier road in the QT albeit they beat a decent Italy and a Croatian team that was on a 8-0. LTU also played in a tough Group B. They can't really control their fate on which teams they will play.

[Laure]

This entire tournament Kalnietis is carrying this Lithuanian team but Valanciunas getting the credits somehow.I am impressed by him,i knew Kalnietis is good but he is not that good, he is playing tournament of his life, he is everywhere, hiting his shots, playing smart, doesnt force or take bad shots, distributing the ball well, playing pick and roll with bigs simply Lithuanian best player on this tournament, kinda their version of Steve Nash along with Kleiza which is going rogue sometimes but hit few important shots which decided games in their favor.

Valanciunas doesnt play much but time he spent on court made Lithuanian offense look predictable and slow and himself like overrated player i thought he was before this tournament,he had some nice defensive displays but thats about it. Montejunas played very little time because of Kleiza but he used his minutes to pick few quick fouls and been solid in defense, i still dont get why he didnt get more playing time but its up to Lithuanian coach.Anyway they made their way to the finals quietly and with unconvincing displays almost whole time which tells you enough about quality of the tournament this year.I dont wanna diminish their success but i am just not impressed by them and their performances even though they made it to the finals.

They made the best that they could, nothing to whine about. Yes, the tournament is talent depleted, but hell, Turkey had their best players, but did nothing. Having all the players doesn't necessarily mean better success.

I agree to an extent that Valanciunas is a bit overrated, but this is FIBA, not the NBA. The game is team oriented and there are other guys that are playing too good at the moment to put them on the leash. Val is still efficient and important piece in this roster. Vucevic played even worse than JV, and he's already a double double threat in the NBA. Wait for the NBA season, we'll see how much progress Val has made.

[JV4MVP]

I agree to an extent that Valanciunas is a bit overrated

How so? People have been criticizing him endlessly.

You see on the Raptor board how all of the Lithuanians justify his lack of minutes and agree that Lav is a better starter and so forth. I've written numerous times that he's not ready to be an iso player yet.

And even today he had 6 pts, 5 rbs, and 5 blks but would've looked better had the refs not made biased calls against young players like JV and Saric.

[Laure]

I agree to an extent that Valanciunas is a bit overrated

How so? People have been criticizing him endlessly.

You see on the Raptor board how all of the Lithuanians justify his lack of minutes and agree that Lav is a better starter and so forth. I've written numerous times that he's not ready to be an iso player yet.

And even today he had 6 pts, 5 rbs, and 5 blks but would've looked better had the refs not made biased calls against young players like JV and Saric.

By the media, not by the fans. Raps fans are having multiple orgasms on JV though, that might be the reason people think he's overrated.
In retrospect, Lithuanians are underrating him, saying that he degraded his game since last year

[MrTwister]

I was about to reply to 1st guy about J-Val but several more replied on my post so i'll put it here, its mostly things from media i was reading recently and not from this forum, stuff like "Valanciunas and crew cruised over "insertteamhere" while he had very little or no game impact.He was inconsistent offensively and foul prone in first few games but adapted as tournament progressed.Its hype around him which bothers me and follows him on every step, guy is projected as Sabonis successor but currently he is not even near his level, i get that he is young and he can improve but he is just not the same type of player Sabonis was i dont think he will ever be good as him.

Its true that NBA and European basketball have their differences and NBA game suits Valanciunas better, but i kinda expected more from player which is getting FIBA reward for best young player 2 years in a row.He played same minutes as Vucevic, they both were in dog house just Valanciunas had better players around him than Vucevic which played best he could in limited role he received from our coach(still unclear why he didnt played more),

[Rasho Brezec]

Valanciunas got stronger. His skillset remained the same.

[JV4MVP]

I was about to reply to 1st guy about J-Val but several more replied on my post so i'll put it here, its mostly things from media i was reading recently and not from this forum, stuff like "Valanciunas and crew cruised over "insertteamhere" while he had very little or no game impact.He was inconsistent offensively and foul prone in first few games but adapted as tournament progressed.Its hype around him which bothers me and follows him on every step, guy is projected as Sabonis successor but currently he is not even near his level, i get that he is young and he can improve but he is just not the same type of player Sabonis was i dont think he will ever be good as him.

Its true that NBA and European basketball have their differences and NBA game suits Valanciunas better, but i kinda expected more from player which is getting FIBA reward for best young player 2 years in a row.He played same minutes as Vucevic, they both were in dog house just Valanciunas had better players around him than Vucevic which played best he could in limited role he received from our coach(still unclear why he didnt played more),

If the media is over hyping him then it is what it is. Us Raptor fans know that he is a project, and that is more important than what the biased media thinks. And to be honest I've read several critical pieces about JV too.

Nevertheless, JV was averaging something like 18 pts, 10 rbs, 2 blks over a month's stretch in March. The NBA game is different and I think the spacing will benefit him. One can also argue that the Lithuanian coach (or maybe a confidence issue) asked JV to play less of an offensive role.

Also not sure why you think the talent level is depleted. It's not like players of Lebron James, Kevin Durant stature of European basketball are missing. I don't think a Teodosic, Navarro, an old Kirlienko, Mozgov, even Pekovic, would've made that much of a difference. Spain is def missing Pau but they've already shown their dominance.

Anyways, I expect Spain to dominate France. Their guards will swarm Parker and guys like Diaw and Ajinca just won't be able to get it done over Gasol and co.

[element]

Hi,
a Spaniard here, this one is going to be close, I'm not very confident. Spain did not lose those games on purpose, just playing badly.
Today's most important thing is going to be IMO, the mental strength of the french players, I hope we can hit their morale early in the game, cause they are more athletic, and I don't want an end game with France in a momentum.
Will we see Llull on Parker as in London?

Fun game about to start, go Spain!