migya wrote:These were elimination games I take it?

Nope. The 3 best teams of one of the first round groups join the three best teams of another and play against the ones they haven't played. All the teams keep the wins (or losses) they had against the teams they had played against in the previous round (thus, and for example, the wins against Latvia are gone).

After that, the best 4 teams of each of the new groups qualify for the elimination rounds.




Don't ask me about the system. It's retarded. I'm just telling you how it works.

Tonight's games:

France 78 - Germany 66

Tony Parker keeps playing at a high level, this time leading France with 23 points and 5 boards in a win easier than expected over Germany. For the german team, Nowitzky had 28 and 6, but only Okulaja helped him. That wasn't enough against a good team effort from the french team. Boris Diaw played another bad offensive game (7 points), but helped his team with 10 boards.

Italy 74 - Lithuania 79

The italians played a tough game that wasn't decided til the very end. Bargnani played one of of his best games of the tournament (15 and 7), but Belinelli only scored 9 points, with no boards, and missing the two 3pts he tried. He only played 20 minutes, and apparently is having some problems getting along with his teammates. Some of them do not like the amount of ill shots he's taking, and he's seen his minutes reduced because of that. Or so the rumor says...

Slovenia 66 - Turkey 51

Another terrible game by the Turkish team, which means they're almost out of the tournament. Slovenia won the game due to a 19-1 during the end of the 3rd quarter and the beginning of the 4th. For Turkey, Okur finished with 14 and 6 and Turkoglu had 17 and 8. The rest of the team sucked, and those two cannot win alone.

Firstly, Belinelli better be coachable here in Oakland or Nelson will teach him a lesson in NO PLAYING TIME!

France looks like they may be getting back to the heights they achieved a few years ago. Germany is an underdog as well and may actually go pretty far. Strange that there isn't more big inside players playing well, I always thought the European slower game was better suited to big guys

migya wrote:Firstly, Belinelli better be coachable here in Oakland or Nelson will teach him a lesson in NO PLAYING TIME!

Hey, that's part of the Italian character... I wouldn't expect anything else. On one side it's even positive, as shows a competitive nature and confidence that will really help him.

On the other side, well... if it goes too far, I think Nellie will show him who's the boss. But I'm not worried about that. Things like this always happen within the italian team.

migya wrote:France looks like they may be getting back to the heights they achieved a few years ago. Germany is an underdog as well and may actually go pretty far. Strange that there isn't more big inside players playing well, I always thought the European slower game was better suited to big guys

There's a big problem. Most euro inside guys suck. Beans was probably the best pure center in the tournament. Gasol and Kirilenko are playing well, but Nowitzky is playing more and more like a 3.

As for the rest of the inside guys, most of them are only role players. You cannot expect them to dominate inside. One of the best is being Nesterovic, that should tell you about the level of inside players in this tournament.[/quote]

btw, don't miss Darko's comments after Serbia's elimination in the first round.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci3j363HWQM




I don't like the idea of suspending players, but this kid deserves a full year without playing (and, of course, without getting paid). A fine of $10,000 means nothing to him.

TMC wrote:btw, don't miss Darko's comments after Serbia's elimination in the first round.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci3j363HWQM




I don't like the idea of suspending players, but this kid deserves a full year without playing (and, of course, without getting paid). A fine of $10,000 means nothing to him.

ABSOLUTE CLASSIC!!!!

Darko just added a filthy mean streak to himself. Be good if he translates that into playing hard in the nba

Yesterday's games:

Portugal 94 - Israel 85

Another surprise. The portuguese team, only known for having a few decent shooters on it, dominated the boards 45-25, and that was enough to win. The score doesn't do justice to the complete domination of the game showed by the portuguese team. Joao Gomes, with 23 and 11, was the MVP of the game. With this win, Portugal becomes the feel good story of the championship.

Halperim had 19 points and Lior Eliyahu (drafted by the Magic, then traded to the Rockets, although still has to play in the NBA) led Israel with 29 and 9 boards.


Greece 81 - Croatia 78

Good team effort by the greek team in a close game that sealed the future of both teams. Croatia is almost out after this loss. Greece is almost in to the elimination stage.

btw, Spanoulis (who won yesterday's game with a big three) has been "traded" from the Spurs to Panathinaikos, who will pay them $1 million as a buyout. Maybe we could deal Jasikevicius to Olympiakos in a similar way.


Spain 81 - Russia 69

The strongest the rival, the best defense we play. Russia showed why they're one of the teams that should make a strong push for the title. Still, it wasn't enough. AK-47 led the russians with 21 points, although this time was limited to just 4 boards. Khryapa helped with 14 and 11 boards.

For Spain, Gasol was held to 13 and 9, but Navarro (15 points coming from the bench) and Calderón (17 and 4 assists) replaced him as the go-to guys of the team.

Good game by both teams that prove both belong to the top 3 teams of the championship.

Portugal is looking like Cinderellas and if they can go to the next round it will be amazing.

If Mullin can trade Jask to the European team that wants him and get money in return, what a coup that would be

Yesterday's games:

Italy 84 - Turkey 75

The Turkish team goes back home after a terrible performance during the championship. Turkoglu played his best game, with 34 points and 6 boards, but it wasn't enough. Okur didn't play well offensively. The Turkish team played great defense during the first half, but were unable to keep that intensity and finally lost in overtime (the score in overtime was 14-5 for Italy).

For Italy, Bargnani had 12 and 6 and Belinelli showed the kind of player he is. An extremely streaky one that can do the best and worst, sometimes even in the same game. Had a poor first half, but came back strong in the final minutes and in overtime, leading his team alongside Angelo Gigli. Marco ended the game with 17 points 3, boards and 4 assists.


Slovenia 77 - Germany 47 (I'm not kidding. That's the real score)

This pic says it all:



Slovenia played a good game and beat Germany effortlessly. Nowiztky had 16 an 8. Nobody else reached 10 points for the german team.


Lithuania 88 - France 73

The Lithuanian team is the only one that has won all of their games so far. They're playing solid, smart team bball, with no real star. This time, Cabbage (14 and 7 assists) and Songaila (Wizards) with 17 and 7 boards, led the team. Played pretty good defense on Parker (11 points and 6 assists, with not many clear shots during the whole game). Diaw had another disappointing perfomance on the offensive end (7 points, albeit shooting just .250 from the field).

TMC wrote:Lithuania 88 - France 73

The Lithuanian team is the only one that has won all of their games so far. They're playing solid, smart team bball, with no real star. This time, Cabbage (14 and 7 assists) and Songaila (Wizards) with 17 and 7 boards, led the team. Played pretty good defense on Parker (11 points and 6 assists, with not many clear shots during the whole game). Diaw had another disappointing perfomance on the offensive end (7 points, albeit shooting just .250 from the field).

First of all, Slovenia is unbeaten too.
Secondly, you forgot Siskauskas (who turned 29 yesterday) finished with a game-high 19 points.

ZLedas wrote:First of all, Slovenia is unbeaten too.
Secondly, you forgot Siskauskas (who turned 29 yesterday) finished with a game-high 19 points.

Yeah, I forgot about Slovenia also being unbeaten...

About the players, I only focus on NBA players and/or players already drafted. Siskauskas is not one of those, and that's why I didn't post about him.

France got slapped down but they are real solid. Lithuania definately looks strong and the next round will be very interesting. I'm somewhat biased but I think the team with the most nba players, especially effective ones, will win out. Spain seems to have the most firepower

Last games of group E:

Croatia 70 - Russia 83

Close game until Russia used a 15-4 run at the end of the 3rd quarter to break the game. They proved one more time they are one of the strongest teams of the tournament, with Kirilenko playing at MVP level. 20 points, 8 boards and 3 assists this time.

Greece 85 - Portugal 67

Easy game for the greek team, that makes it to the next round, probably as the third team of group E after Spain and Russia. Portugal's dream is almost over, but they surpassed expectatives, so the championship can be considered succesful for them.

Spain 99 - Israel 73

It wasn't as easy as expected. Israel started strong, while the Spanish team looked out of synch during the first quarter (Israel was leading 29-19 by that time). Sergio Rodriguez started, but didn't play a good game. The spanish team needed a strong push from both Gasol and Calderon to recover. Luckily, we started the last quarter with a 19-0 run (25-5 in the whole quarter), that allowed the rout the score reflects. Gasol had another MVP-like game, with 26 points and 7 boards in just 18 minutes (although I still consider Kirilenko as the best player of the tournament, so far). Calderón added 15 points and Garbajosa 12.

Group F ends today, with a few games that will determine who faces who in the elimination games. Lithuania and Slovenia face each other, deciding who goes first to the next round (will go against Croatia) and Italy and Germany also face each other (the winner qualifies 4th and will play against Spain)

Group F final games:

France 85 - Turkey 64

Another terrible performance by the Turkish team, that proved to be just a pretender (of a team) during the championship. The french team didn't have to work hard to win this one. Parker decided to take it easy and ended with just 6 points. Boris Diaw played his best game of the tournament, with 18 and 5 boards.

Slovenia 61 - Lithuania 80

Close game til the third quarter, where Lithuania used a 11-2 run to finish the game. 4 players scored in double figures for the Lithuanian team, although Cabbage had just 2 points, 3 boards and 2 assists, playing just 15 minutes due to injury.

Germany 67 - Italy 58

Germany makes it to the elimination stage by beating an awful italian team. Nowitzky played one of his worst games of the tournament (15 points and 10 boards, although just .300 from the field). The key was rebounding, were Germany led 52-31. No team can win when their rivals have 20 more chances to score.

For the italian team, Belinelli was the only one that had a good game, leading them with 25 points (with good percentage, including 10-10 from the free throw line). The rest of team, Bargnani included, sucked.



The elimination games will have the following matchups:

Today.- Russia vs France and Spain vs Germany
Tomorrow.- Greece vs Slovenia and Lithuania vs Crotia

TMC wrote:Today.- Russia vs France and Spain vs Germany
Tomorrow.- Greece vs Slovenia and Lithuania vs Crotia

Very interesting matchups. I'll pick Russia in an upset, Spain, Greece and Lithuania