Now the matchups are set for the round of 16: USA vs. Angola The famous Barkley quote comes to mind. Snoozefest. Serbia vs. Croatia ten-fifteen years ago this would've meant bloodshed. Probably still pretty fraught. Serbia should win. Best players on each are probably the PGs, Ukic vs. Teodosic, but Serbia has better depth. Turkey vs. France This time Turkey will get revenge after losing this matchup in Euro '09. Probably easily. Turkey has been as dominant as any team, and their defense amazing. France is sputtering. Best player for either team is probably Ilyasova, and I say that as a Batum fan. Annoyingly, Hedo continues to step up when it counts, after shooting atrociously when it doesn't. Spain vs. Greece This should have been a semi-final game - it was the final 4 years ago. It's anyone's and should be amazing. Neither side has looked great, but Greece has been rumored to have been tanking. Gasol vs. Baby Shaq should be dubbed from the Japanese. Greece's big veteran guards will give Spain all kinds of trouble. Or should. Unlike last time they met, Greece plays uptempo now. Slovenia vs. Australia Patty vs. Dragic. Advantage Dragic. Slovenia might be the best team from old-Yugoslavia. Russia vs. New Zealand David Blatt, the Russian coach, has been a hot name in coaching circles for a while, but I really like the New Zealand coach, who has produced a team that's amazingly fun to watch, and which dispatched a France team that was actually trying to win today. This will be closer than it should be and NZ might even spring an upset. Our old friend Sergei Monya has been playing good defense for Russia, but Viktor has been injured for most of the tournament. Abercrombie from NZ is a real high-flyer, while Penney was leading the tournament in scoring last time I checked. (Scola might have passed him now.) Lithuania vs. China Ridiculously small population plays ridiculously huge. Advantage to the minnows, who have been great with young no-name players. Lithuania has easily the best fans in the tournament, and have shown that they can come up big in the fourth, coming from 17 down to beat Spain. Brazil vs. Argentina: ANOTHER game that should've been a semi-final. Brazil's coach was the Argentina coach when they beat team USA TWICE. Scola has been the player of the tournament [yes, I am aware of Kevin Durant] and I love Prigioni, but Brazil should win this, because of greater depth and athleticism, and finally great coaching. Huertas is another fave PG of mine, particularly after his performance against the US. Remember, Brazil were without Varejao when they lost to the US, but he's back now. The US really lucked out that it will not have to face two out of Spain, Greece, Brazil and Argentina, two of whom have beaten better USA teams, and the other two of whom have just recently lost by a bucket to them.
The more I watch, the more Fiba style of play and rules annoy me. I'm anxious to watch Brazil-Argentina and France-Turkey the most out of those games. Has Turkey really been that dominate though? Everytime I watch they squeak out games.
Really? I'm enjoying the ball movement and noticeable lack of overdribbling. I love Batum, but France is painful to watch on offense. And Turkey's defense will make it even more painful. Why, given that they have as good athletes as anyone, don't they run more? And I really HATE De Colo. If I had to choose between that game and Spain-Greece, it would be the latter, no contest. That's despite Turkoglu shooting around 20% (I'm only exaggerating slightly). Ilyasova is a rebounding machine and their defense is what's dominating, not their offense.
I was laughing when I read about the shock of the US players when they were getting called for travelling. Imagine that? Travelling. What a refreshing change.
Australia played Slovenia twice at the Stankovic Cup just over a month ago. Australia won the first game 77-63, Slovenia won the second (the final) 71-60. Kirk Penney is a great shooter, and can really light people up when he gets on a role. Look out for Pero Cameron. He really amuses me; built like a brick shithouse (6’6”, 287lbs), but strangely a pretty good shot from downtown. I’ve also really enjoyed the FIBA World Championships. It’s a million times more enjoyable to watch than Nate isoball.
Watching a lot of these games, keeping a close eye on frontcourt players, Luke Babbitt would primarily be a PF if he played in the ACB. He has definitely has that style of game.
go NZ@#!$@#!$@#$@#$@#$@# pero cameron is hilar, u couldnt slide a piece of paper under his shoes on a 'jump' shot... but he's got those skills. if he was ever in actual shape he could have been a proper baller..
It's the absurdity of him being built like he is, but being such a good outside player that cracks me up. He always seems to shoot the lights out against Australia.
Check this out: it's the tourney stats for every player involved. Here are some Blazer-related players. Batum Rudy Claver (NOT having fun) Patty Kammerichs (yes, I believe we still own his rights) Sergei Monya (having a very solid tournament - he plays great defense, moves the ball and hits the three. I'd honestly rather have him than Patty at the moment...) Viktor has been injured, so no stats (yet)
Kind of surprised Batum is hitting threes at only a 30% clip. Yikes. Especially with the short three point line. I guess with only 24 attempts it doesn't take many misses for that stat to look bad. They list him as having 7 steals so far in 5 games. That just has to be wrong. I'd swear I've seen a couple of games where he had 3 or 4 each. Anyway, kind of a disappointing showing so far for him other than the 24 pt game, if you are looking for scoring. He has had some good defensive games, though.
I think the real problem for Nic is that he's got a complimentary scorer's mentality and he's on a team devoid of any real talent (especially shooting) he's kind of being thrust into that role of a go-to primary weapon and it's fairly easy for opposing defenses in FIBA to key on him and shut down the paint with a zone. Of the games I've watched I think he's been OK, but he looks a little overwhelmed at times.
I agree that Nic (or, as he prefers, Nico) has not been amazing. He doesn't look too much of a threat to score most of the time. If anything, Gelabale has been more impressive for France.
In the first half of their game against Spain I couldn't understand why Gelabale was on the floor. He couldn't dribble, pass, rebound or defend. In addition, he threw up 3 bad air balls. He picked up his shooting as the game went on but at least in that game he wasn't even half the player Batum was. Maybe other games it was different and he managed not to look like he was dribbling the ball without using his fingers. On a side note, the first 10 minutes of that game was the most pathetic display of basketball I have seen in years.
