Preparation Games for Eurobasket 2011

[KWSN-Men]

... I don't remember that Sašo had so stormy night as you are stating, but I remember its scar even weeks after that game... :confused:

... and in any case Sašo deserved apology, but do you think that this did not happen by chance? :(

P.S. As far as I recall coach Obradovič got mad on Batiste and apologized in his name to Sašo and rest of the team. :cool:

Batiste was made to apologise from Obradovic at the same moment. He later called Ozbolt and apologised.

He apologised to Ozbolt, fans and his family through the press.

[auris1]

Russia- Poland 80:76
Seems like we took a rest tonight...:)
Very strange game.
I watched it and maybe because it was without commentary or without any audience it looked like game somebody plays in the park at their leisure time.
Kirilenko was sitting this one out.
As probably as the rest of the team.
And for the second game in a row Shved was given all the shots in the last minute,drawing some fouls ,making 2+1,and making this incredible play where he missed 2 ff,only for the second attempt to get stuck between the rim and they had the ball after.
Weird luck.

Russians played no more than 20 percent,so i imagine it makes Polish like amateurs for this level, on the par with Finland and Portugal.Nah. Even less...
Russia ,in my opinion, is very mediocre team overall talent wise.
But...They are some decent team netherless.
They have guts and toughness as well.
I really fancy the chances of them reaching final four.
Maybe more,with some luck

[boyd20]

We're even worse than I was expecting.

[klakis]

Why do you have such a big concern about Bouroussis? He is not an Olympiakos player anymore so you can chill.

Batiste was under EL tests. Bouroussis was not, Olympiakos lost to Siena, you must remember that. As for you not knowing the cocaine rumour, I'm sure as a good red sheep, you're pretty familiar with it.

As for Fotsis "fight", seriously? So Fotsis slapped (OMG!!! is the guy still alive after that slap?) the coach's nephew that was there because of his uncle, when he was 19-20 years old... I'm in shock! I wonder how they still allow Fotsis to be a free man, being a scumbag as he is... :rolleyes:

As for Fotsis getting into a fight, you should MAYBE blame your beloved Teodosic for groping his balls. Unless you are pro balls-groping so no problem. I don't discriminate people by their sexual orientation.

PS: You do know that "grafical" is not an English word, right? For an Olympiakos fan, you should know better English, being half American an all...


official Panathinaikos Laywer of INTERBASKET
Hahahahahaha!!!!!!!
You are a joke!!!
Why do you have such a big concern about Fotsis? He is not a PAO player anymore so you can chill.

So euroleague does anti-doping tests only in the final-fours???
Right???

About the Fotsis thing it is not the fact if he was right or wrong or if Petropoulos has died or not....
It is about the fact that i showed you that it is not in my imagination!!!
Guess what it happened!!!!!
you proved yourself another time as JOKE and if you had your brains in the right place you could have understand what i was talking about.
but......oh!!! i forgot!!!!! you are the
official Panathinaikos Laywer of INTERBASKET
so go on and try to turn black to white to show us all how rediculous you are one more time.

Now about that Teodosic thing you said even i have never liked Teodosic`s attitude so he was never my beloved one but for one more time i will agree with you to one thing you said!
Me too I don't discriminate people by their sexual orientation.

And that is why i never had any problem with this guy who by the way was the only Euroleague,A1 and generally european basketball player that has admited that he is gay.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Amaechi


remember him???

Yes it is John Amaechi the guy that proudly was wearing the Liberal Panathinaikos shirt.
You should be proud since you do not discriminate people by their sexual orientation that PAO has such an open mind towards the gay community!!!

P.S.no i didn`t know that "graphical" is was not an english word....but since you get the meaning of it i understand that some americans have tought you in the past a thing or two...

P.S.2 I don`t have any problems with Panathinaikos because on opposite with you i love basketball more than any team.Now if you like to continue this thing without busting the balls of everyone in this forum you can PM me , but you are gonna have to promise me that you will not go and cry to any moderator for cursing like you did here

http://forums.interbasket.net/f18/cursing-on-pms-7096/

ok roufiane!????

[auris1]

klakis
do me a favour ,and for other members as well.
fuck off.
I have no idea why do you post this shit here.
All I want to read in here is about "Preparation Games for Eurobasket 2011"
And you have nothing to say

[klakis]

auris
since you are so polite and you follow the conversation from the beginning and you see that i was not provoked by "the official panathinaikos lawyer of INTERBASKET"
i will do you the favour and i will not post anything else concerning
"the official panathinaikos lawyer of INTERBASKET"

[auris1]

auris
since you are so polite and you follow the conversation from the beginning and you see that i was not provoked by "the official panathinaikos lawyer of INTERBASKET"
i will do you the favour and i will not post anything else concerning
"the official panathinaikos lawyer of INTERBASKET"

i was not being polite.
i did not follow anything like "the official panathinaikos lawyer of INTERBASKET" or you as a matter of fact.
All i see is flaming .
Go to PM.Create new topic,i do not care.
But just not here.

[PieR]

Batiste was made to apologise from Obradovic at the same moment. He later called Ozbolt and apologised.

He apologised to Ozbolt, fans and his family through the press.

Thanks for explanation (also to Adon and Silvio).

[KWSN-Men]

official Panathinaikos Laywer of INTERBASKET
Hahahahahaha!!!!!!!
You are a joke!!!
Why do you have such a big concern about Fotsis? He is not a PAO player anymore so you can chill.

So euroleague does anti-doping tests only in the final-fours???
Right???

About the Fotsis thing it is not the fact if he was right or wrong or if Petropoulos has died or not....
It is about the fact that i showed you that it is not in my imagination!!!
Guess what it happened!!!!!
you proved yourself another time as JOKE and if you had your brains in the right place you could have understand what i was talking about.
but......oh!!! i forgot!!!!! you are the
official Panathinaikos Laywer of INTERBASKET
so go on and try to turn black to white to show us all how rediculous you are one more time.

Now about that Teodosic thing you said even i have never liked Teodosic`s attitude so he was never my beloved one but for one more time i will agree with you to one thing you said!
Me too I don't discriminate people by their sexual orientation.

And that is why i never had any problem with this guy who by the way was the only Euroleague,A1 and generally european basketball player that has admited that he is gay.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Amaechi


remember him???

Yes it is John Amaechi the guy that proudly was wearing the Liberal Panathinaikos shirt.
You should be proud since you do not discriminate people by their sexual orientation that PAO has such an open mind towards the gay community!!!

P.S.no i didn`t know that "graphical" is was not an english word....but since you get the meaning of it i understand that some americans have tought you in the past a thing or two...

P.S.2 I don`t have any problems with Panathinaikos because on opposite with you i love basketball more than any team.Now if you like to continue this thing without busting the balls of everyone in this forum you can PM me , but you are gonna have to promise me that you will not go and cry to any moderator for cursing like you did here

http://forums.interbasket.net/f18/cursing-on-pms-7096/

ok roufiane!????

If you want to curse, have the BALLS to curse in english.

[JohnnieWalker]

auris
since you are so polite and you follow the conversation from the beginning and you see that i was not provoked by "the official panathinaikos lawyer of INTERBASKET"
i will do you the favour and i will not post anything else concerning
"the official panathinaikos lawyer of INTERBASKET"
Just take it easy, you won't settle your differences in a basketball forum.



on topic: Brigham Young wasn't the best possible opponent but their 30 minute zone defence surely helped us.
Koufos just didn't have a guy his size tonight...

[klakis]

It is easy to get carried away by games like this one...
on one hand this game with a team that is not competitive will offer you nothing
on the other hand you can not stand and just watch them you have to play...
In my opinion it was a complete useless game and i am not sure but specially in second half our players were not even trying!!! Propably to avoid an injury but who can blame them???
i`ll wait for the other two games but generally the closest we get to the final tournament the less hard we will be playing!!!!

[Adon]

The game Bulgaria-BYU which was scheduled for tomorrow, is canceled.
This is the worst Acropolis Tournament ever :eek:

Italy-BYU 102-63 in a game beyond any criticism.

[Roy M]

Israel won 89:79 against Russia. a big game by Eliyahu with 27+10 and Pnini with 17.
Kirilenko 27+9 to Blatt company.

[boyd20]

I guess Pianigiani yelled at his players like a fool at halftime. They were playing softer than butter in the 1st half, while they showed a lot better attitude from the 3rd quarter on.

I'd say that Melli, Poeta and Vitali (horrible) will be the cuts, unless something (injuries) happens.

[Italian Pride]

melli is injury,now we are 14,other two cuts,poeta unfortunately IMO was one of two othher will be renzi or vitali i hope the second obviously...

[Silvio]

Slovenia - Lithuania
10-2 start, Begic & Lorbek destroying Liths, Kemzura calling timeout already in first 3 minures


Present
Begic scores - Lorbek scores - then Begic - then Lorbek - Begic


Future
...

Asik - Ilyasova - Asik - Ilyasova - Erhan

...

Gasol - Reyes - Gasol - Reyes - MGasol

...

Krstic - Macvan - Krstic - Macvan - Savan


...

Kaman - Dirk - Kaman - Dirk - Pleiss

[Xristos]

Delininkaitis is barely able to dribble the ball past mid court with Zoran Dragic defending him

[NorCal]

Delininkaitis is barely able to dribble the ball past mid court with Zoran Dragic defending him

any link to the game?

[Xristos]

any link to the game?
Yes, http://www.soccertvlive.net/watch/80174/2/watch-slovenia-vs-lithuania.html

Petravicius brings reliable inside scoring that Javtokas is not capable off....he will probably get cut, but I think he should stay

[NorCal]

Yes, http://www.soccertvlive.net/watch/80174/2/watch-slovenia-vs-lithuania.html

thanks Xristos

[pablonis]

"Kurva nachui tu blet" :D

[ip84]

I returned from Israel vs Russia, probably the best game of Israel until now, and I also could see Kerilenko scoring 29 points (he got applause when he was replaced a minute before the end) and Khriapa showing his passing skills. So it was very satisfying game for me to see :)

[pablonis]

Absolutely awful game by Lithuania thus far. Not trying to take anything from well playing Slovenians, but the lack of motivation in Lithuanian players is so painfully obvious at times.

[hustlerlt]

Today Lithuania just looks horrible.I only can say good things about Petravicius ability to constantly get to the free throw line,but other than that we are horrible.The further we go,the worse we play,and also Delininkaitis looks awful(what a surprise).

[Silvio]

Ukraine - Montenegro 67-80
game played in Turkey

Omar Cook 20 pts + 6 ast, Vucevic (PHi 76'ers draftee) 15 pts + 5 reb, Dragicevic 11 pts + 7 reb, Dasic 11 pts + 5 reb, Pekovic (played only 10 minutes) 9 pts
For Ukraine: Pecherov 19 pts + 8 rebs, Burtt (American) 13 pts + 5 ast + 4 reb, Lishchuk 10 pts + 4 reb

[Xristos]

I am shocked by how poor Turkey has been in preparation games

Good news is Kanter is playing much better

[gockun]

I am shocked by how poor Turkey has been in preparation games

Good news is Kanter is playing much better

what do you think is wrong with the team?

[Xristos]

what do you think is wrong with the team?


Very disorganized on offense

Few offensive set plays, too much isolation one on one style

This works for team USA but no one else is basically

Very average defense, Asik is the only player who is a passionate rebounder

[Levenspiel]

Poor New Zeland, we are fouling them at every opportunity but they cannot get a single whistle in the last 5mins. :D. Ok, we are excused, we really need a win.

[pablonis]

Very good defence by Lithuania in the 3rd. Just 6, i think, points allowed from the game and 10 in total. Too bad about the sloppy offence though.

[turk-jugoslav]

I am shocked by how poor Turkey has been in preparation games

Good news is Kanter is playing much better

I am also shocked by how greece is playing very good without Pg stars like Diamantidis and Papaloukas:D
Our team looks like Switzerland national team.Enes Kanter is getting better but just needs some experience.He made 14 points around 15-16 minutes and was the best scorer of our team.Hedo and Ersan must go to their homes!!!!

[TB-Fan]

Enes Kanter: 14 Pts, 6 Rebs in 16 Minutes. Still no one is able to play Pick n Pop with him :confused:

[KWSN-Men]

I am also shocked by how greece is playing very good without Pg stars like Diamantidis and Papaloukas:D

Weak opponents though.

[fasoulaki]

I was wondering why Tanjevic as the coach of the turkish nt was always exploding as an atom-bomb rolling beween cardiac infarction and apoplexy.

Seems that "his" player needed this kind of motivation.

[pablonis]

A very ugly game overall. Liked our defensive effort in the second half though.

Don't really feel worried at all for Lithuania.

[euskadi]

what do you think is wrong with the team?

ok, you did not ask me, but still i would take right to answer on this one :D

i think you expect too much from this turkish team. you have very average ( even above average ) guards and small forwards. tunceri, arslan, dugus, akyol, guler, onan and preldzic are solid or average players. too weak for medal contender. bigs are good but nothing extra. ( asik, erden, savas )

turkoglu and ilyasova are totaly out of form. if two of them played some huge tournament then turkey could maybe be in medal zone. something like 20 pts, and 5 rebs and asist for turkoglu + good role for ersan. and to be honest i can not se them in that good form right now. hedo is getting older and nothing better. plus there would not be 20000 fans and little ref help

[Alyosha12]

Finally an encouraging game. Even though we had some home cooking i did not care for...

I was happy to see we made some of our open looks finally, also good defense as on most prep games so far.

I still don't like that we finish so many of our plays in the last seconds, we just take to damn long to set a play in motion.

Also there is not a lot of plays made for our bigs which i also don't like.

But all in all we played great in some parts of the game and good in others, now if we could only play great the whole game, now that would be something, but lets keep that performance for the 1/4 and 1/2 game:D

[turk-jugoslav]

ok, you did not ask me, but still i would take right to answer on this one :D

i think you expect too much from this turkish team. you have very average ( even above average ) guards and small forwards. tunceri, arslan, dugus, akyol, guler, onan and preldzic are solid or average players. too weak for medal contender. bigs are good but nothing extra. ( asik, erden, savas )

turkoglu and ilyasova are totaly out of form. if two of them played some huge tournament then turkey could maybe be in medal zone. something like 20 pts, and 5 rebs and asist for turkoglu + good role for ersan. and to be honest i can not se them in that good form right now. hedo is getting older and nothing better. plus there would not be 20000 fans and little ref help

I agree totally.We expext too much from our team.We are succesful only at our home.We are waiting for new generation players like Enes Kanter,Furkan Aldemir and Kenan Sipahi.We need extra players at small forward and Pg position.Saric can be good for us.Can we naturalize him:p:p

[Joško Poljak Fan]

Rotations had sense for the first time in perparation games for Slovenia. I got scared Maljković would actually rotate the way he did untill now, through the whole eurobasket.

Slovenia is noticably improving. We had refs on our side this time, far from that in both games vs. Spain, yet the game is getting better. People are unable to see through that score to the simple fact I keep saying in the past 2 weeks, with both games in Spain included.

Murič and Zoran Dragič need a bit more confidence with their game. No matter the obvious limitations at this stage, within a season or two both Dragič's along with Edo Murič should be a devastating defensive backcourt.

[Debord]

I was wondering why Tanjevic as the coach of the turkish nt was always exploding as an atom-bomb rolling beween cardiac infarction and apoplexy.

Seems that "his" player needed this kind of motivation.

You actually might be right :)

[Debord]

ok, you did not ask me, but still i would take right to answer on this one :D

i think you expect too much from this turkish team. you have very average ( even above average ) guards and small forwards. tunceri, arslan, dugus, akyol, guler, onan and preldzic are solid or average players. too weak for medal contender. bigs are good but nothing extra. ( asik, erden, savas )

turkoglu and ilyasova are totaly out of form. if two of them played some huge tournament then turkey could maybe be in medal zone. something like 20 pts, and 5 rebs and asist for turkoglu + good role for ersan. and to be honest i can not se them in that good form right now. hedo is getting older and nothing better. plus there would not be 20000 fans and little ref help


You have valid points but I don't think we expect too much. because the team has great potential. Our best performing guys in previous tournaments and nba/euroleauge have given nothing yet. If they start performing again like their old selves, we can be just fine. But of course that's a big IF!

I don't know if you remember them but I wish we could still have shooting guards like Harun Erdenay(manager in the current NT) and Ibrahim Kutluay. Good old days :)

[goga78]

I returned from Israel vs Russia, probably the best game of Israel until now, and I also could see Kerilenko scoring 29 points (he got applause when he was replaced a minute before the end) and Khriapa showing his passing skills. So it was very satisfying game for me to see :)

A very gaudy offensive game with lots of nice combinations and a lot of speed. The Rusian offense was too stagnant, while the defense was horrible defending pick'n rolls. Eliyahu toyed with Russian defense. Mozgov Monya, Khryapa & Co. looked very bad against him. Big balls by Pnini and great leadership by Ohayon. Everybody on the Israeli squad did well. Israel also outrebounded Russia, which is strange since the Russian team is taller and more athletic.

Kirilenko was great, Khryapa almost with a triple double. Mozgov was not good, getting faked out by Eliyahu, blocked by Burstein... He also got slightly injured and had to leave the floor. From game coverage, it could not be seen what has happened to him but he left the floor hobbling.

Just before the EBC Israel got back on track again with two wins (Poland and Russia). They have enough speed and sharpshooters to make life difficult for every team but they lack an athletic slasher with size (Casspi) and any kind of slow pace will not benefit them.

[MaccabiTA]

Can anyone find a boxscore of Israel-Russia from today?

[FIBA Europe Basket]

I am also shocked by how greece is playing very good without Pg stars like Diamantidis and Papaloukas:D
Our team looks like Switzerland national team.Enes Kanter is getting better but just needs some experience.He made 14 points around 15-16 minutes and was the best scorer of our team.Hedo and Ersan must go to their homes!!!!

Greecw on the bronze in 2009 without Diamantidis and Papaloukas. And the team that won silver in that tournament (Serbia) lost to Greece three times in the preparation stage. So Greece could have beaten them too. Only reason they did win silver was because they had to play Spain in the semifinals.

Diamantidis played bad with Greece in 2007, 2008, and 2010. In 2010, Diamantidis came back into the team and ruined it and caused the collapse at the World Championship because he could not get along with the other players. He even became a cancer in the locker room.

Greece is better off without Diamantidis, who is such a prima donna that he thinks it is beneath him to even allow it that he be considered or asked to play on the team.

As for Hedo........well, he just sucks these days and has for the last couple of years. He used to be a good player, but he completely lost his game abotu 2 years ago.

Ilyasova is a very good player at what he does well (defense, rebounding, 3 point shooting) but he is also very limited on offense. He cannot create his own shot. He cannot dribble either. He is basically a stand still spot shooter and an open court fast break dunker with no other offensive ability.

Therefore, if teams focus on him defensively he can be shut down. In the past he was just allowed to stand still and shoot wide open all the time. After the World Championship, teams are now actually placing a defender on him away from the basket, and his very limited offensive skills will thus be exposed.

Many people around this forum claim him to be the "best European power forward", but that's a bit ridiculous. He is one of the best, but certainly not the best. You cannot be the best European PF and have such a limited offensive game and not be able to dribble a basketball at all.

[Kalashnikov]

Many people around this forum claim him to be the "best European power forward", but that's a bit ridiculous. He is one of the best, but certainly not the best. You cannot be the best European PF and have such a limited offensive game and not be able to dribble a basketball at all.

Come on...Ilyasova is not that bad! He can fill-in easily the SF and PF positions in a team and score from all kinds of distances, play 1-against-1 successfully... also, he's incredibly agile for his height, fast...what more? Obviously, he's not a play-maker to organize the game. But he can do so many things in the field!

I believe that if the Turkish NT based its game around Ilyasova, instead of Turkoglu, they would've had much more success in the previous years.

[baelor]

...But all in all we played great in some parts of the game and good in others, now if we could only play great the whole game, now that would be something, but lets keep that performance for the 1/4 and 1/2 game:D

yeah, your team played great. Our guys looked scared, unconfident... even frustrated :) Without Kalnietis we can not start a game with energy, and our big guys (those who came to Ljubljana) were not ready after injuries.

Sorry for such a bad game slovenian brothers:D I hope we will meet in championship and i'm sure it will be different game :cool: Good luck! Your team looks pretty good ...

[Debord]

Come on...Ilyasova is not that bad! He can fill-in easily the SF and PF positions in a team and score from all kinds of distances, play 1-against-1 successfully... also, he's incredibly agile for his height, fast...what more? Obviously, he's not a play-maker to organize the game. But he can do so many things in the field!



I agree! Ilyasova proved himself many times. Both in Barcelona/Turkish NT. Ok he is not so great in NBA but he is playing at a horrible team.

He is just extremely out of shape right now. Doesn't look like he will get back to his old self soon but that doesn't make him a bad player like the previous post described.

[nerkav]

Though we still have one prep game against Georgia left some of the conclusions about the preparation of the LT team for the EB could be drawn. Personally I think the preparation was not meant to be like this. What we have now is:

1. Speed problem - have seen only glimpses of fast-and-accurate teamplay in the best game so far against Spain in Kaunas. Songaila, Lavrinovic bros, Jasaitis, Lukauskis and other small ones cannot run-and-gun and do it without mistakes as we did last year with Maciulis and Kleiza on team.
2. Age problem - it is clear now already that this team will be one of the oldest ones we ever had and this will be a huge problem during such a long tournament. Some say age is experience, but do you really need so much experience and mind-thinking to defend such quick-paced players as G.Dragic, T.Parker A.Kirilenko or Rudy? The only thing one needs is to match them with sparkling physical hustling and quick movement of legs.
3. Injury problem - Javtokas, Songaila, Ksystof bro and Kalnietis - all these have suffered more or less serious injuries during preparation.
4. Lack of proper No.3 position - no one in this team can contribute as much as Maciulis did last year on defence and Kleiza on offence.
5. Announcement of final roster problem - too many players left until the end of last prep game uncertain for their place in the final roster - Kemzura should have picked the final 12 a few games before.
6. Rebounding problem - this is one of the keys to victory - now I've got an impression that everybody on the team is waiting for the ball to drop down to pick it up from the floor - no screens and fight for the better position under own basket. The big ones are not the ones to blame - usually the small guards are just watching the ball expecting it to be rebounded by our big ones.:(
7. Come-back problem - of course it is a bit early to judge from what we saw in prep games unti now but.. I just simply cannot imagine and do not see the available resources for this team to turn the game and come-back after let's say 15-20 pts deficit during the game. We had this feature last year and it was spectacular.

I wish I am wrong :) I am an optimist and believe in my team. I still hope Kemzura has some spectacular tactics or wonderful mood-changing talks prepared. But... it just seems that some of our players are simply not capable or not hungry enough to play for an Oscar.

[banou7]

yeah, your team played great. Our guys looked scared, unconfident... even frustrated :) Without Kalnietis we can not start a game with energy, and our big guys (those who came to Ljubljana) were not ready after injuries.

Sorry for such a bad game slovenian brothers:D I hope we will meet in championship and i'm sure it will be different game :cool: Good luck! Your team looks pretty good ...

Lithuania had a real test against a strong opponent and that will be definitely a benefit for the team. The Lithuanians had the opportunity to face a talented team with an insane rythm in its offense strategy. What about all these technical fouls? I really stop counting... :D

[inefeswetrust]

i think you expect too much from this turkish team. you have very average ( even above average ) guards and small forwards. tunceri, arslan, dugus, akyol, guler, onan and preldzic are solid or average players. too weak for medal contender. bigs are good but nothing extra. ( asik, erden, savas )


dude, you re from croatia..

if those guys are average, then there are only one elite and a one half-elite teams in the world, you know them.

[baelor]

Lithuania had a real test against a strong opponent and that will be definitely a benefit for the team. The Lithuanians had the opportunity to face a talented team with an insane rythm in its offense strategy. What about all these technical fouls? I really stop counting... :D

It's a shame we didn't go through this game with everyone healthy in our roster :( But you're right - we have to get every benefit we can out of this game.

Worst game of the preparation - best lessons for the upcoming event !

(trying to be positive:D)

[banou7]

It's a shame we didn't go through this game with everyone healthy in our roster :( But you're right - we have to get every benefit we can out of this game.

Worst game of the preparation - best lessons for the upcoming event !

(trying to be positive:D)

Totally agree wit that attitude baelor! On the other hand the greeks are having a walk in the park, during that acropolis tournament so far, and they feel happy about it! :rolleyes:

[Adon]

Totally agree wit that attitude baelor! On the other hand the greeks are having a walk in the park, during that acropolis tournament so far, and they feel happy about it! :rolleyes:

You got it totally wrong.
Or, perhaps, your comment is a demonstration of your "objectivity" ;)
"the greeks" are naive and superficial, unlike you. :rolleyes:

[Red 7]

Totally agree wit that attitude baelor! On the other hand the greeks are having a walk in the park, during that acropolis tournament so far, and they feel happy about it! :rolleyes:

Winning against teams such as a US University and Bulgaria should not be something of a surprise for Greece. OK, they are showing good team work. Most Greeks are happy not because of the current state of the Greece team but because of the future that this team can hold (it is a team built for the next 6-8 years). These young players seem to be meshing well with each other....

[banou7]

You got it totally wrong.
Or, perhaps, your comment is a demonstration of your "objectivity" ;)
"the greeks" are naive and superficial, unlike you. :rolleyes:

I'm just too tired of that flattering comments about the greek team coming out from the old same media group. The same media group that will be on the "airplane of happiness" and will have free vacations in Lithuania. ;) The same media group that is attached to the greek federation and lives in happy world, that is surrounded of "enemies" ready to harm greek basketball :D

Heard even Rigas in the time-out interview comenting that Greece is ready for a medal... :rolleyes:

[baelor]

Winning against teams such as a US University and Bulgaria should not be something of a surprise for Greece. OK, they are showing good team work. Most Greeks are happy not because of the current state of the Greece team but because of the future that this team can hold (it is a team built for the next 6-8 years). These young players seem to be meshing well with each other....

Yeah... we trashed Czech rep. and won easily against Latvia... and those two games did nothing good for us :( I don't think such oponents are good for preparation. I think both losses to Russia and Slovenia showed us more

And WTF is US University team doing playing with Greece NT? Are you crazy?:D What are you preparing to? next years NCAA championship?:eek:

[Red 7]

Yeah... we trashed Czech rep. and won easily against Latvia... and those two games did nothing good for us :( I don't think such oponents are good for preparation. I think both losses to Russia and Slovenia showed us more

And WTF is US University team doing playing with Greece NT? Are you crazy?:D What are you preparing to? next years NCAA championship?:eek:

Yeah its a total waste of time... the only explanation that I can understand is that the Greek NT wanted to practice playing against zone since our opponents in last years WC almost exclusively played zone against us.... I cannot think of another explanation.

[Deschain]

Slovenia - Lithuania
10-2 start, Begic & Lorbek destroying Liths, Kemzura calling timeout already in first 3 minures


Present
Begic scores - Lorbek scores - then Begic - then Lorbek - Begic


Future
...

Asik - Ilyasova - Asik - Ilyasova - Erhan

...

Gasol - Reyes - Gasol - Reyes - MGasol

...

Krstic - Macvan - Krstic - Macvan - Savan


...

Kaman - Dirk - Kaman - Dirk - Pleiss


I'm actually surprised that noone took up the challenge :P

[Kalashnikov]

Yeah... we trashed Czech rep. and won easily against Latvia... and those two games did nothing good for us :( I don't think such oponents are good for preparation. I think both losses to Russia and Slovenia showed us more

And WTF is US University team doing playing with Greece NT? Are you crazy?:D What are you preparing to? next years NCAA championship?:eek:

The truth is that Montenegro was supposed to participate in the Acropolis tournament, but they cancelled at the last minute.

So, at that late hour...they selected pretty much anyone who was willing to come. Hence, Birgham Young Univ. came up...

[banou7]

And WTF is US University team doing playing with Greece NT? Are you crazy?:D What are you preparing to? next years NCAA championship?:eek:

My point exactly... The greek federation scheduled acropolis tournament in a surrealistic way. At first they were planning that Montenegro will be joining the tournament, but a couple of weeks ago they realized that Montenegro will be participating in another tournament... :rolleyes: So BYU came up...

[Basketball Owner]

The truth is that Montenegro was supposed to participate in the Acropolis tournament, but they cancelled at the last minute.

So, at that late hour...they selected pretty much anyone who was willing to come. Hence, Birgham Young Univ. came up...

Of course they canceled. Remember what happened last year with Serbia. Greeks are terrible hosts...

[Red 7]

Of course they canceled. Remember what happened last year with Serbia. Greeks are terrible hosts...

We are actually pretty good at hosting basketball tournaments... ask anyone :) The fight between Serbia and Greece last year was an Olympiacos vs. Panathinaikos thing....

[banou7]

Of course they canceled. Remember what happened last year with Serbia. Greeks are terrible hosts...

They didn't cancel. They had already made their plans about their preperation.
I guess you are being ironic about hosting... Greeks are the best hosts. Any wonder why the Serb referee Belosevic is joining Acropolis tournament? :D

[euskadi]

dude, you re from croatia..

if those guys are average, then there are only one elite and a one half-elite teams in the world, you know them.

so what if i am croat. even better. i could be realistic. tunceri, arslan, bialby, guler, onan, akyol, preldzic, savas and erden are average players and nothing more. since turkoglu and ilyasova are totaly out of form i would bet that this team would not be in 2. round.

do you even know what are turkish places in last couple eurobasket: 12., 9., 11. and 8. i don't know what are elite teams, but turkish are average.

or if you want turkish clubs results. for example fenerbahce before croats was one of worst euroleague clubs. even with onan, preldzic, erden, savas and asik their regular sesion resultat was 3-7. efes players was constant failers.

only huge tournament of turkoglu can avoid debacle. and i am afraid that he is to old.since there's no home court and referee advantage

[Silvio]

I agree! Ilyasova proved himself many times. Both in Barcelona/Turkish NT. Ok he is not so great in NBA but he is playing at a horrible team.

He is just extremely out of shape right now. Doesn't look like he will get back to his old self soon but that doesn't make him a bad player like the previous post described.

That FIBA-something user talking a lot of crap as usual.
But he spotted one thing well. Ilyasova is usually too passive in offense. Teams scouted it well and they cut off him of ball effectively with not much of effort - at least not so much effort that is usually needed to practically put opponents star player out of offense. I'm talking about official games last few summers, not this preparation worthless games.
Ilyasova waits too much game to come to him, while he should be more aggresive. Teammates and coach were not helping as Tanjevic was fine with that, his philosophy was "if opponent stucks in defense on one side, then there should be space on other". I don't agree with it, because when Ilyasova is "in the zone", he can kill any defense in the world, there should be more actions designed for him. Perhaps Tanjevic thought Ilyasova and especially Turkoglu shoot too much anyway, so he let the things even a bit, other players may got out of rhythm if those two are taking each damn shot.

[Debord]

so what if i am croat. even better. i could be realistic. tunceri, arslan, bialby, guler, onan, akyol, preldzic, savas and erden are average players and nothing more. since turkoglu and ilyasova are totaly out of form i would bet that this team would not be in 2. round.

do you even know what are turkish places in last couple eurobasket: 12., 9., 11. and 8. i don't know what are elite teams, but turkish are average.

or if you want turkish clubs results. for example fenerbahce before croats was one of worst euroleague clubs. even with onan, preldzic, erden, savas and asik their regular sesion resultat was 3-7. efes players was constant failers.

only huge tournament of turkoglu can avoid debacle. and i am afraid that he is to old.since there's no home court and referee advantage



I generally don't respond to biased posts but I'm not gonna let you bash our players just because they are not having a shiny preparation period.

Tunceri is a great pg. he is now getting older but still I can't think of someone in europe that I would want to be in my team instead of him.
Emir is a young player with amazing talents. He can play 1-4 and he is damn good.
And Onan is a true killer in fast breaks. Once the team gains momentum, he always hits the final punches. Also a decent 3 pointer.
yes oguz and akyol are average but what team doesn't have average kids? They are needed.

Even thinking that we have players like Omer Asik, Enes Kanter, Semih Erden etc is a true joy. Especially watching Enes growing his talents in last prep games made us really happy. That kid is gonna be a huge domination. Not yet but will be there quite fast.

Finally you pointed out all the bad results turkey gained but I'd like to remind you that Turkey ranks #6 in the whole world. And has 2 silver medals( ok I know what you are gonna say here, at home, so dont bother).

We never claim to have the best team, we still have a lot of things to fix. but our talents and potential is someting giving us hope and courage.

[Kalashnikov]

Of course they canceled. Remember what happened last year with Serbia. Greeks are terrible hosts...

Sure...remember the Olympics?

Oh my god the horror...:D

[Basketball Owner]

Sure...remember the Olympics?

Oh my god the horror...:D

Yeah, I remember the Olympics. Worst Olympics since WW1 :)

Deadline breaks, swimming pool without roof (I mean WTF)... Olympic games 2004 - Greece :)

[inefeswetrust]

so what if i am croat. even better. i could be realistic. tunceri, arslan, bialby, guler, onan, akyol, preldzic, savas and erden are average players and nothing more. since turkoglu and ilyasova are totaly out of form i would bet that this team would not be in 2. round.


well if you think onan, balbay, tunceri and asik are average players, i have nothing more to say.. apparently we live in parallel universes.

and go watch those tournaments again, especially eurobasket 2009 and wc 2006 to see how did turkey play and lose, results don t make that much sense generally.. if you wanna see a real average team, look for your own NT.

[Silvio]

Yeah, I remember the Olympics. Worst Olympics since WW1 :)

Deadline breaks, swimming pool without roof (I mean WTF)... Olympic games 2004 - Greece :)

Vancouver?

Took late February time slot to avoid NFL playoffs. Result? Games in the middle of most rainy month in British Columbia, No snow, but lot of rain, really lot of. Half of alpine skiing events canceled, other half run in irregular conditions. In fact, not only for alpine skiing - in most of interesting disciplines lighter weighted participants had unfair advantage because of muddy conditions (cross country skiing, bobsled, luge, skeleton)

Slovenian cross-country skier Majdic falling in giant hole on track.
Ice melting in the middle of ice hockey games and other indoors events on ice.
Total chaos in organization (transport chaos, hospitality 0/10, professionalism 0/10)


Vancouver - the worst organized sports event of 21st century. There's 89 years more, but no way someone can beat them.

[SaliH]

Arslan and Savas - out of Turkey's national team! :mad:

PS What a play from Emir. :)

[OrgoglioSlavo]

gallinari cannot be marked at this level...he will be mvp tournament if italy get to quarters...he is unmarkable...italy playing great against greece for all the haters...l'italia e' tornata whether you like it or not!

[Debord]

Arslan and Savas - out of Turkey's national team! :mad:

PS What a play from Emir. :)

While Savas was in we have been beaten badly. But then he is out and suddenly we are 8 points ahaed by the end of the first half. The seconds he plays can be much more valuable with Enes.

Wait, am I beeing too harsh? :)


btw Turkey is doing much better, 26 points in 10 minutes. we are getting there!

[turk-jugoslav]

Nikola Vucevic's fundamentals look great.Eurobasket 2011 will be great experience for him to be ready for NBA.He scored 10 or 12 points against us in the first half but don't forget,He matched-up with Oğuz Savaş who is the worst defender of Europe:D

[KWSN-Men]

gallinari cannot be marked at this level...he will be mvp tournament if italy get to quarters...he is unmarkable...italy playing great against greece for all the haters...l'italia e' tornata whether you like it or not!

Yet, Greece leads at the end... :rolleyes:

PS: No Greek refs too...

[wardjdim]

Greek green bastards

Caja Laboral asked you Nick Calathes for Logan. Why do you have to keep him? :D

Bring him over, this kid has game

[Jon_Koncak]

Greece started rolling once Zisis sat on the bench.He is complete garbage,how he is targetted by big euroleague clubs is one of the biggest mysteries.

[SaliH]

While Savas was in we have been beaten badly. But then he is out and suddenly we are 8 points ahaed by the end of the first half. The seconds he plays can be much more valuable with Enes.

Wait, am I beeing too harsh? :)


btw Turkey is doing much better, 26 points in 10 minutes. we are getting there!

+1 You're not harsh. you're saying the things right as they are.
And we're doing better, compared to the 38pts in 40min against Hellas. :D

edit: What a block, Asik and destroy!

[KWSN-Men]

Greece started rolling once Zisis sat on the bench.He is complete garbage,how he is targetted by big euroleague clubs is one of the biggest mysteries.

I vote for his manager to be named the best manager in Europe.

[OrgoglioSlavo]

Greece started rolling once Zisis sat on the bench.He is complete garbage,how he is targetted by big euroleague clubs is one of the biggest mysteries.

italys main problem is making belinelli, however talented he is, realize he is not even the 3rd offensive weapon...too much nba stuff, greece have taken lead thanks to him..the other two also play in nba so wh can they be team players, and he not...very strange...good sign bargnani going to basket...guys im sorry i disagree i really like zisis as a player, why do all greeks dislike him...unlike spanoulis he has not abandoned his country under strange circumstances..hes always been there...steady player, a top back up point guad at highest euroleague level as he was in moscow, treviso and now siena, olympiacos will be lucky to get him

English please
JPF

[Silvio]

gallinari cannot be marked at this level...he will be mvp tournament if italy get to quarters...he is unmarkable...italy playing great against greece for all the haters...l'italia e' tornata whether you like it or not!

It's not hate, it's just nobody cares. Italian fans are like The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Every time saying "this is gonna be our summer" ... and then:

2005 9th to 12th
2006 9th
2007 9th to 10th
2008 not qualified
2009 not qualified
2010 not qualified
2011 not qualified, but play thanks to administrative decision by FIBA Europe clowns

In case of (very unlikely) event of Italy reaching quarterfinals, everybody will be happy for Italy for finally making steps in direction of where they were in days of glorious past.
And ... maybe even people will start to care about what Italian fans say.

[Silvio]

+1 You're not harsh. you're saying the things right as they are.
And we're doing better, compared to the 38pts in 40min against Hellas. :D

edit: What a block, Asik and destroy!

Wow, what an excitement over simple preparation game.

BTW Montenegro is resting two starters tonight: Pekovic and Scepanovic. Perhaps they're trying to level the field.

[Silvio]

Alfonso Reyes, father of Felipe Reyes, suddenly died.
http://www.feb.es/NoticiaDesarrollo.aspx?idNoticia=39132

RIP, Alfonso Reyes

http://www.feb.es/Imagenes/Noticias%5C6537_2.JPG



Felipe will miss tonight's game vs Australia and it is not known when he'll rejoin Spanish NT.
Before game there will be minute of silence in honor of Alfonso Reyes.



President of FEB José Luis Sáez will attend funeral. Out of players: team captain Juan Carlos Navarro, Sergio Llull and former player (now advisor in FEB) Juan Antonio Orenga.
http://www.feb.es/NoticiaDesarrollo.aspx?idNoticia=39135

[wardjdim]

Greece started rolling once Zisis sat on the bench.He is complete garbage,how he is targetted by big euroleague clubs is one of the biggest mysteries.
And now that he is in and Calathes is out, suddenly Italy is back in the game :)

I so much adored the Spanoulis-Zisis (epic, cult) duo and I am guessing that all the opponents of the Greek NT did so as well

[SaliH]

Wow, what an excitement over simple preparation game.

BTW Montenegro is resting two starters tonight: Pekovic and Scepanovic. Perhaps they're trying to level the field.

Afther the bad games so far, I'm happy because the team is playing descent tonight. (And beacause the CSKA Sofia was f*cked by Steua in Europa League :D )
PS What e block by Ogus Savas! :D

[inefeswetrust]

what did enes just do :eek:

[Levenspiel]

what did enes just do :eek:
Wanna see it again, but it was a flash of his explosiveness. One obvious thing is he's gotta polish his offense. a lot. Anyway, Omer Asik was the best player today, and he'll be our most dependable guy in Lithuania it seems.

We finally looked a bit tidier, but it's not enough. Montenegro played conspicuously bad especially in the second half.

[wardjdim]

Omer Asik was the best player today, and he'll be our most dependable guy in Lithuania it seems.

Good news for your opponents then ;)

[Levenspiel]

Yeah, I know they'll hack him all the way, but the guy is rock-solid. No other center, including Pau, will be comfortable around him. As was the case in 2009 (and 2010 for others).

[Debord]

Wow, what an excitement over simple preparation game.

BTW Montenegro is resting two starters tonight: Pekovic and Scepanovic. Perhaps they're trying to level the field.

Dude you can't imagine how much we needed this :D

Our best prep game so far. We finally felt the progress. Omer and Enes, they are marvellous centers. I'm so happy we have them!

[Debord]

Good news for your opponents then ;)

Well not really :) Have you seen him playing lately? or in at Bulls last year? he is brilliant! He progressed through becoming a great center. Even getting little better at free throws.

[Xristos]

What a game

[turk-jugoslav]

It is just a preperation game and Montenegro didn't fight so much in the second half.Pekovic also was absent but I am sure that it was the our best game.Enes Kanter still makes progress in his game.Our team didn't give the ball to him but he created his positions and made 8 points 10 rebounds in 20 minutes.In Montenegrin side,Nikola Vucevic may be played better than our centers.His fundamental skills are really enough for high level.Montenegrin guard rotation is very weak and defence is so soft.I don't believe they can play in quarter finals like us.If pekovic had played,he would be nightmare for our team around the rim.We need some toughness.Kanter and Savaş are bad defenders.When Hedo plays,our team is the slowest team of the world.I am just waiting for tournament to see Kanter's performance.I think he has same performance with Valanciunas altough he couldn't play basketball since 2009 summer... I am not very hopeful for Lithuania 2011 but we always can do surprise:D

[KWSN-Men]

Well, this is what happens when you name Zissis as your go to guy...

[achelim niabass]

Well, this is what happens when you name Zissis as your go to guy...

Watching Zisis running the point is out of the understanding....briks, briks, air balls, giving the ball 3 seconds before the clock, creating nothing... strange coaching by Zouros : Xanthopoulos + Zisis at the end was a sterile combination... Bad game for Greece : no movement... Fotsis and Bourousis tried to force the situation...

"Stupid" foul by Papanikolaou at the end... i thought he was starting to cry :D...


Congrats to Italians : good improvement in defense - they "block" some of the Greek systems, they deserved it... Mancinelli is such a great player.

[Silvio]

Well not really :) Have you seen him playing lately? or in at Bulls last year? he is brilliant! He progressed through becoming a great center. Even getting little better at free throws.



Point of the game is to put big ball through that small rim. And Asik ... kind of ... let's say ... let's not be harsh ... is not good in achieving that goal. Unless it's dunk.

It's nice to have Dennis Rodman type of players in team in team ... but without Michael Jordan type of players you don't go far when do-or-die games start. It will all depend on Hedo and Ersan again.

[Victorious]

Greece had two or three chances to finish the game. Not one time did they go inside for the layup or the foul. They made some nonsensical shots with Zisis and Bourousis. Seems like Zouros found out first hand that the team lacks a finisher. Also, Koufos didn't play a lot of minutes. Not even when Bargnani was out with five fouls.

[Debord]

Point of the game is to put big ball through that small rim. And Asik ... kind of ... let's say ... let's not be harsh ... is not good in achieving that goal. Unless it's dunk.

It's nice to have Dennis Rodman type of players in team in team ... but without Michael Jordan type of players you don't go far when do-or-die games start. It will all depend on Hedo and Ersan again.

I agree. I didn't wanna say he plays like pau. But he is what we need under the rim.

[Silvio]

Belgium - Bosnia nad Herzegovina 81-55
18-15, 21-18 (39-33), 18-14 (57-47), 24-8

http://sport.be.msn.com/nl/basketbal/article.html?Article_ID=535416
Hervelle 16 pts and 9 reb
Teletovic 16 pts

At halftime 39-33, but apparently BiH felt apart in last quarter.

[Jon_Koncak]

Bosnia is such an awful team.They're like the Canada of Europe,on paper they got potential and on court they flat out suck.

[Silvio]

Bosnian federation didn't even supplied their players with team uniforms.

http://www.dnevniavaz.ba/thumbnail.php?file=august2011/Kosarkaska_rep___trening_20_FF_815765771.jpg&size=article_large

Belgium and France basketball national teams will travel together to Lithuania. On their flight they'll take Bosnians with them as a kind of hitchhikers.
To return favor, Bosnians agreed to play friendly games at Oostende, Belgium today and at Gravelines, France tomorrow (Friday) . So two teams can pump their self-confidence on poor Bosnians.
Going north anyway, on the way up they stopped in Germany to get their asses kicked there too (64-86 at Bremen, Tuesday).

Starting point guard Nesovic stayed at Sarajevo nursing injury. He is expected to join team in Lithuania - but until situation about him is clear, coach Sabit Hadzic will not make final 2 cuts from 14-men squad (13 on this magical mystery tour through north of Europe).

[FIBA Europe Basket]

Greece had two or three chances to finish the game. Not one time did they go inside for the layup or the foul. They made some nonsensical shots with Zisis and Bourousis. Seems like Zouros found out first hand that the team lacks a finisher. Also, Koufos didn't play a lot of minutes. Not even when Bargnani was out with five fouls.

Despite what many of these haters in this forum say, Spanoulis is much better than any guard on this Greek team. Now, after all these years, the ONLY pure and to level natural scorer Greece has had since the days of Giannakis and Galis, is not there to bail Greece out every single time when the offense breaks down in the half court, like he always did in the past.

It is hilarious seeing haters brag in this forum how Greece is better without Spanoulis. Yeah sure.:rolleyes:

Calathes and anyone else on that roster can't finish with any regularity one on one from their own shot creation other than a post up, and cannot consistently take a game over with their own shot making. Spanoulis can.

Greece would have beaten that Italian team if Spanoulis played that game. As soon as the opponents figure out that Greece no longer has any true scorer without Spanoulis - every well coached and smart team is going to play the passing lanes tight and double the big men.

lol at all these haters here that think Calathes can lead a team like Greece at this level as good, or better than Spanoulis.

The good thing is that Greece might just have enough to qualify for next summer's additional qualifying round. If they can, then this team of Bourousis and good role players would be really tough with the true offensive stars Sofo and Spanoulis added back in.

Good role players, plus Spanoulis and Sofo, and no team cancer in Diamantidis, and 2012 would likely be an Olympic medal for Greece.

But of course, even with a favorable draw, Greece is now relying on Calathes and Xanthopoulos to lead them instead of Spanoulis....:rolleyes: @ some haters here claiming that these guys are better than Spanoulis.

As for Koufos.........like Calathes, he is overrated by most Greeks in this forum. He is like Calathes, good on only one side of the court. Calathes is great on defense, but barely even average on offense.

Koufos is great on low post offense (but can't create other than post ups), but he sucks on defense. Damn, he is an AWFUL defender. Atrociously bad on defense. No wonder he hardly ever plays the last 3 years in the NBA.

These guys are not what most Greeks here claim they are. They are half players. They only are good on one side of the court.

On a positive note, Zouros cut Vougioukas. I hope he never plays with the national team again. Seriously. What the hell is wrong with him? He is just like Batiste and Diamantidis. Mainly a creation and product of Obradovic's system. Just like Diamantidis, he becomes like 1/3 as good with the national team.

Guy was an embarrassment last summer and even worse this summer. Thank God Mavroeidis took his spot. Bourousis/Sofo/Koufos - that should be the three centers, but whenever one of them misses a tournament, PLEASE Vassilokopoulos, from now on just select Mavroeidis or Glyniadakis.

Good lord, please take one of them, or both if needed, and stop calling Vougioukas to the national team. All I can say is, Obradovic worked wonders and miracles with that guy, seeing him in PAO toy with front lines and dunk on everybody and then in the national team the last two summers, he cannot even catch the ball.........:rolleyes:

But honestly, if Bourousis can somehow lead Greece to at least 6th this summer:

2012

Spanoulis/N. Calathes
Zisis/Bramos
Vasileiadis/Pat Calathes
Fotsis/Kaimakoglou/Vasilopoulos
Bourousis/Schortsanitis/Koufos

I like that team for 2012. The stars come back in Spanoulis and Sofo, bring back Vasilo, if he is healthy, because Papanikolaou is a one dimensional hustle and energy player that is almost useless on offense,

and because Kaimakoglou isn't cutting it as the lone second PF, due to his pure tweener issues as a defender, whereas Vasilo can lock up anyone. Let Kaimakoglou work as a zone buster and poster against SFs.

Keep Sloukas, Papanikolaou, Mantzaris, Pappas, etc., all of them to the next round of tournaments, where they belong. And then finally, Greece would have some zone busters in Vasileiadis, Bramos, and Pat Calathes. Basically, like the great teams of recent years, but with good 3 point shooters instead of Papaloukas and Diamantidis, who could not break the zone properly.

If Greece can just manage at least 6th place in this EuroBasket, then I see a medal being easily within grasp in 2012. Hell, if Mavrokefalidis was in the mix, which sadly he probably will not be, I could even see a gold medal being possible.

It will be unfortunate if this Greek team cannot qualify due to injuries, because they finally are in a position to get that medal at the Olympics with a full squad, and a coach that is more flexible in offense than Giannakis, and that unlike Kazlauskas, understands that defense also matters.

[OrgoglioSlavo]

italy won gold in 1999 and brozne in 2003....when was last time croatia did a podium finish??you are the ones who cry wolf, this italian team would absolutely destroy your team right now...greece are still much better than you...you are much weaker than serbia and slovenia, the real powerhouses of jugo bball in recent years...croats go cry like you always fo:D

[OrgoglioSlavo]

can you imagine a barac bargnani match up...andrea would drop 30 on his stiff a**

[Toxicity]

can you imagine a barac bargnani match up...andrea would drop 30 on his stiff a**

I don't see anybody able to guard Bargnani in this EC... really. I'd say he could play a Dirk or Pau like EC if he's motivated and feeded...

The problem is, with a hothead like Belinelli dribbling from court to court, the ball goes to Andrea not too much times as it should... :rolleyes:

[Picek]

italy won gold in 1999 and brozne in 2003....when was last time croatia did a podium finish??you are the ones who cry wolf, this italian team would absolutely destroy your team right now...greece are still much better than you...you are much weaker than serbia and slovenia, the real powerhouses of jugo bball in recent years...croats go cry like you always fo:D
and I though only croatian "gasterbaiters" are idiots..
I was wrong.. :rolleyes:

[GIANLUCA]

So Italy defeated Greece...twice on 3 in these preparation games.
It has been a good proof for Italiy. IMO the second stage is in our possibilities.
Sure, at the moment, we have only 6 guys ready for playing at this level: BARGNANI, BELINELLI, GALLINARI, MANCINELLI, MORDENTE (where were he yesterday?) and HACKETT.
But with more games and minutes the situation could improve and others like DATOME and CINCIARINI could help the team to reach the quarter. I hope :)

[fasoulaki]

So Italy defeated Greece...twice on 3 in these preparation games.

I am sorry the game in Rimini does not count. We got 4 technical fouls in this game, two of them close to the end of the last quarter, while one technical foul would have been enough to give us the victory in the game yesterday but our referees were quite neutral.

[Toxicity]

I am sorry the game in Rimini does not count. We got 4 technical fouls in this game, two of them close to the end of the last quarter, while one technical foul would have been enough to give us the victory in the game yesterday but our referees were quite neutral.

In the Rimini game we were always ahead by 7-10 pts in the game... we deserved to win and probably we would have won also without that techs.

In the Cyprus tournament Greece needed to shoot 41 FTs against 14 for us to win and we was without Gallinari: does it counts?!?

Also yesterday you shot more FTs than us but we managed to win on the road again...

:rolleyes:

[baelor]

I am sorry the game in Rimini does not count. We got 4 technical fouls in this game, two of them close to the end of the last quarter, while one technical foul would have been enough to give us the victory in the game yesterday but our referees were quite neutral.

Does not count?:D cool... i didn't know we can do that. OK ! then i think RUSSIA-LTU (in Moscow) and LTU-SLOVENIA (in Ljubljana) does not count :)

[Basketball Owner]

Any interesting games scheduled today?

[OrgoglioSlavo]

italy clearly have the edge over this greek team (the referee in rimini was scandal, but not as much as in cyprus..greece had 41 free throws and only won by 6, italy were confortable in rimini, leading the game from beginning), which itself taught a basketball lesson to not only turkey but massively overated german team (germans are not made and not interested for bball, dirk is some crazy exception:D).....even with 4 useless players out of 12 italy should make the second round and push for quarters...gallinari cannot be marked at this level, bargnani is more mobile than any other 4 in tournamnet except dirk, yesterday when outside shot wasnt on, he was dunking all over them, hes also staretd getting his 10 rebs a game....belinelli is a mystery he was terrible but then hit 3 huge threes in overtime..his nba showman stuff must be kept under control but he will always be dangrous...i think mancinelli is secret ..if he can get his 10-12 points a game, draw fouls etc he is xfactor...its a shame italy has no centre and point guard worthy of this level..but when the youngsters from the side which won silver at u20 last july come into this team, gentile, moraschini, de nicolao, melli.....italy will have a very strong national team...im expecting them to peak at world champs 2014.....

[GIANLUCA]

Maybe in Rimini Greece had 4 technical fouls cause you use to shot 40 FT per game!

[GIANLUCA]

italy clearly have the edge over this greek team (the referee in rimini was scandal, but not as much as in cyprus..greece had 41 free throws and only won by 6, italy were confortable in rimini, leading the game from beginning), which itself taught a basketball lesson to not only turkey but massively overated german team (germans are not made and not interested for bball, dirk is some crazy exception:D).....even with 4 useless players out of 12 italy should make the second round and push for quarters...gallinari cannot be marked at this level, bargnani is more mobile than any other 4 in tournamnet except dirk, yesterday when outside shot wasnt on, he was dunking all over them, hes also staretd getting his 10 rebs a game....belinelli is a mystery he was terrible but then hit 3 huge threes in overtime..his nba showman stuff must be kept under control but he will always be dangrous...i think mancinelli is secret ..if he can get his 10-12 points a game, draw fouls etc he is xfactor...its a shame italy has no centre and point guard worthy of this level..but when the youngsters from the side which won silver at u20 last july come into this team, gentile, moraschini, de nicolao, melli.....italy will have a very strong national team...im expecting them to peak at world champs 2014.....


Don't forget Aradori.

[fasoulaki]

In my humble opinion "some" bad referee decisions regarding regular free throws do not have the same impact as technical fouls. Apart from the additional ball position the technical brings, it also destroys the rhythm and psychology of the punished team.

[madmax]

Italians are always very dangerous - this is a team which can kill any opponent if their shots are falling and now they have 3 legit NBA players to rely on too. Poor lithuanian team learned this lesson a hard way back in 2004...

[Italian Pride]

italy clearly have the edge over this greek team (the referee in rimini was scandal, but not as much as in cyprus..greece had 41 free throws and only won by 6, italy were confortable in rimini, leading the game from beginning), which itself taught a basketball lesson to not only turkey but massively overated german team (germans are not made and not interested for bball, dirk is some crazy exception:D).....even with 4 useless players out of 12 italy should make the second round and push for quarters...gallinari cannot be marked at this level, bargnani is more mobile than any other 4 in tournamnet except dirk, yesterday when outside shot wasnt on, he was dunking all over them, hes also staretd getting his 10 rebs a game....belinelli is a mystery he was terrible but then hit 3 huge threes in overtime..his nba showman stuff must be kept under control but he will always be dangrous...i think mancinelli is secret ..if he can get his 10-12 points a game, draw fouls etc he is xfactor...its a shame italy has no centre and point guard worthy of this level..but when the youngsters from the side which won silver at u20 last july come into this team, gentile, moraschini, de nicolao, melli.....italy will have a very strong national team...im expecting them to peak at world champs 2014.....

bargnani is more mobile also than dirk IMO,only noah and ibaka can mark he IMO,in the next year we will have a strong national,with the name that you say,more minutes for datome,aradori and other two guys that could fill the gaps in our roles of playmaker and center,that is imbrò and tessitori...

this year to finish in the top 8 this year is almost impossible,but in the next EC our minimum target is to finish among the top 8 ;)

[Italian Pride]

So Italy defeated Greece...twice on 3 in these preparation games.
It has been a good proof for Italiy. IMO the second stage is in our possibilities.
Sure, at the moment, we have only 6 guys ready for playing at this level: BARGNANI, BELINELLI, GALLINARI, MANCINELLI, MORDENTE (where were he yesterday?) and HACKETT.
But with more games and minutes the situation could improve and others like DATOME and CINCIARINI could help the team to reach the quarter. I hope :)

mordente max 5 minutes,we have seven player of this level :3nabers,mancio,hackett,datome,carraretto(max 15 minutes) and mordente(max5 minutes),cusin could be a surprise but is very naive and stupid fouls,i also attend that cinciarini play like in italy league in this european But for me to unlock he has good skills like point guard...

[Perseus1966]

hi guys ,

Italy was good ,better than Greece ,but both teams played like the knew that they will play 2 OT ,both were tired from the first minute...

i believe Italy will surprise.

[Victorious]

hi guys ,

Italy was good ,better than Greece ,but both teams played like the knew that they will play 2 OT ,both were tired from the first minute...

It's a good thing Greece lost. They were starting to be considered one of the favorites. We can't have that. Our youngsters are too inexperienced to carry that kind of weight. Now we are back to our real target, which is to be among the first six.


Stop saying the obvious. We all know that Spanoulis is better than any guard on this Greek team. So is Diamantidis, an entirely different player compared to Spanoulis. Both can't be compared.

Yes, it's too soon to go ahead with this new Greek generation. This change should have been made in 2013. However Zouros had no choice. Too many injuries.

[baelor]

It's a good thing Greece lost. They were starting to be considered one of the favorites. We can't have that. Our youngsters are too inexperienced to carry that kind of weight. Now we are back to our real target, which is to be among the first six...

Favorites? By who?:D

ok ok... kiddin':cool:

It's funny that Greece lost, Russia was almost trashed in last game, Lithuania has lots of problems and loses most of preparation games, Croatia, France, Germany and Serbia are looking quite inconsistent, Turkey is even worse than LTU... so till now we see only Spain and Slovenia as realy well prepared.

It's gonna be a interesting start of championship. Lots' of surprises in the first round i suppose:cool:

[Perseus1966]

as i see the teams the first 3 positions must be left ,none deserves them ...

[Silvio]

italy won gold in 1999 and brozne in 2003....when was last time croatia did a podium finish??you are the ones who cry wolf, this italian team would absolutely destroy your team right now...greece are still much better than you...you are much weaker than serbia and slovenia, the real powerhouses of jugo bball in recent years...croats go cry like you always fo:D

What an argument. Croatia has no medals since late Drazen played ... so then Italy must be good team. Hilarious. How one possible connect such this two completely unrelated things.

BTW Croatia easily won friendly games over Italy last 2 summers. Perhaps that's why Italy started to avoid us.

[baelor]

What an argument. Croatia has no medals since late Drazen played ... so then Italy must be good team. Hilarious. How one possible connect such this two completely unrelated things.

BTW Croatia easily won friendly games over Italy last 2 summers. Perhaps that's why Italy started to avoid us.

Sorry to intervene, burt your dispute is so silly !!! Quit it please...

[Silvio]

Sorry to intervene, burt your dispute is so silly !!! Quit it please...

Sorry to intervene - but Baelor you intervene too much. And in the end almost always you go over the line. Then at the end you say - sorry, too much Latvian beer. That is silly.

Go open your forum, set yourself as administrator and ask people there to quit whatever you want.

[baelor]

Sorry to intervene - but Baelor you intervene too much. And in the end almost always you go over the line. Then at the end you say - sorry, too much Latvian beer. That is silly.

Go open your forum, set yourself as administrator and ask people there to quit whatever you want.

ok ok Mr Hater:D i'll just ignore your bullshit and ignorance ..... starting now!

[OrgoglioSlavo]

plus an olympic silver in 2004.......got to love how croats whine about everything, especially bball despite being always in shadow of great serbia...and also italy.....gallinari bargnani and belinelli, hell even mancinelli will take a **** on tomic, markota , barac, tomas ...only bogdanovic and popovic might save you getting embaressed....

[OrgoglioSlavo]

silvio the thing is when you always criticize greece and italy (and probably all countries croatia is rivals with, you probably would say serbia are not in top8 ) you sound bitter and it makes me think that youare just jealous and upset that croatia since 1994 has achieved one quarter of italy success and one tenth of serbia...im not saying italy are great because croatia havent been at the top for 20 years...im saying they are better than croatia now!! and you know it thats why you hatin as usual

[Italian Pride]

plus an olympic silver in 2004.......got to love how croats whine about everything, especially bball despite being always in shadow of great serbia...and also italy.....gallinari bargnani and belinelli, hell even mancinelli will take a **** on tomic, markota , barac, tomas ...only bogdanovic and popovic might save you getting embaressed....

oroglio fly down,our team is very strange,we can defeat france,germany or serbia and then lose with lettonia and israel,our task is pass the first round...;)

[euskadi]

plus an olympic silver in 2004.......got to love how croats whine about everything, especially bball despite being always in shadow of great serbia...and also italy.....gallinari bargnani and belinelli, hell even mancinelli will take a **** on tomic, markota , barac, tomas ...only bogdanovic and popovic might save you getting embaressed....

you never stop to talk about the croatia whole morning :rolleyes:

now is time to talk about croatian complex :cool::D

while, croatia maybe is bad team but that don't change fact that italy is bad bad team ( they did not past quali ) and serbia is heavily overrated team

every single serbian player is same or worse then in eurobasket 2009. and no, you will not make in 1/4 finals

[boyd20]

These are just friendlies and preparation games, guys, don't take anything for granted...
Personally, I still believe we (Italy) got a lot of problems and it's not because we won two meaningless games against Greece that all of a sudden I will start considering Italy semifinals-stuff. Yeah, winning is always nice, it boosts team's morale, but the holes (point guards and depth among them) we had before those two wins are still there. So let's just try to play one game at a time and see what happens, I just hope our players don't get overconfident by ignoring our evident weaknesses, that would be deadly to our hopes of advancing.

[Silvio]

silvio the thing is when you always criticize greece and italy (and probably all countries croatia is rivals with, you probably would say serbia are not in top8 ) you sound bitter and it makes me think that youare just jealous and upset that croatia since 1994 has achieved one quarter of italy success and one tenth of serbia...im not saying italy are great because croatia havent been at the top for 20 years...im saying they are better than croatia now!! and you know it thats why you hatin as usual

You really don't understand anything, do you?
i) You say Italy is very good with some arguments.
ii) I say they are not with some arguments.
iii) You say Croatia sucks. Where is there argument about Italy NT?

That is no more discussion with arguments. That is trash talking. What if flag of my avatar was Abu Dhabi one? You would say Abu Dhabi BB NT team sucks? Besides, I don't need you to say me my team sucks, I know it.

And where do you see hate? I said I would be happy if Italy is in quarterfinals. I just think it is not possible with no PG, no C, bad bench and awful defense. Plus extremely bad draw.

BTW
Hater = world Americans invented to label people who write critically, then in lack of arguments other side says "he's hater". Laughable ... yet typically American.
That is exactly what you do, no arguments = let's call him hater.

[NorCal]

You really don't understand anything, do you?
i) You say Italy is very good with some arguments.
ii) I say they are not with some arguments.
iii) You say Croatia sucks. Where is there argument about Italy NT?

That is no more discussion with arguments. That is trash talking. What if flag of my avatar was Abu Dhabi one? You would say Abu Dhabi BB NT team sucks? Besides, I don't need you to say me my team sucks, I know it.

And where do you see hate? I said I would be happy if Italy is in quarterfinals. I just think it is not possible with no PG, no C, bad bench and awful defense. Plus extremely bad draw.

BTW
Hater = world Americans invented to label people who write critically, then in lack of arguments other side says "he's hater". Laughable ... yet typically American.
That is exactly what you do, no arguments = let's call him hater.

Actually the word hater is intended to mean exactly the opposite of what you just wrote, its for someone who has no counter argument to someone who writes a well informed, critical answer but still holds to his 'side'. The word hater has just been misused by all of these teenagers surfing the web and trying to inflame others.

I really wish everyone on this forum would stop with the 'typical American' stuff. I can handle it from time to time but damn, every time I log on to IBN- a basketball website- I'm reading something generalizing Americans. Can we just keep it to basketball?

Anyways, sorry for the off topic comments.

[stefann7693]

http://www.olympiapark.de/uploads/tx_webcamdaten/bild-oh-ost.jpg?cache=1314286760179

live cam ;)

[UMUT_FB_LAL]

Anyone got a link for Spain-Australia? Thanks in advance

[M-Stul9]

Anyone got a link for Spain-Australia? Thanks in advance

http://www.mips.tv/channel.php?u=68799

[Picek]

Germany - hard working team with virtually no talent (excluding Nowitzki and Kaman)..
Bauermann is a magician..
it will be a disaster for european basketball if they make it to olympics qualifying tournament..

[Silvio]

Spain - Australia 97-58
Navarro and Llull returned, Reyes still out for private reasons.


Germany - Macedonia 70-68
http://live.fibaeurope.com/www/Game.aspx?acc=3&gameID=9776


France - Bosnia 85-60
http://www.fibalivestats.com/matches/3886/03/91/53/10tpS047jVqk/
22-25, 23-14 (45-39), 25-5 (70-44), 15-16

Points in the Paint: 40-12
Nough said.

France good defense, BiH forced to shoot from outside. At beginning they shot well, at halftime only 6 points deficit thanks to 60% hit 3-pointers (9/15).
Of course, they could not sustain it, better teams than BiH could not, especially versus France.

Q1 BiH shot 3-pointers 7/11 = 64%, BiH won quarter by 3 pts, 22-25
Q2 BiH shot 3-pointers 2/4 = 50%, FRA won quarter by 9 pts, 23-14
Q3 BiH shot 3-pointers 1/8 = 13%, FRA won quarter by 20 pts, 25-5
Q4 BiH shot 3-pointers 2/6 = 33%, BiH won quarter by 1 pt, 15-16

In Q4 both Parker and Diaw rested, consequently France did not score single point in first 3 minutes of play, and scored only 6 pts in first 7 minutes of last quarter. So much about creativity of their other players.

[aspsgge]

In Q4 both Parker and Diaw rested, consequently France did not score single point in first 3 minutes of play, and scored only 6 pts in first 7 minutes of last quarter. So much about creativity of their other players.

On the last QT, France had tested their offensive plays for the big guys. Noah, Seraphin, Pietrus got a lot of balls, but they can't manage to score efficiency (they are not very good offensive players). I think France won't test their offensive plays for big guys like that during a so long time at the eurobasket.

France had already play with a lot of defensive specialists during last QT against Serbia to train them to offensive plays, this didn't work well too, the Serbia lost only by 3 after being dominated by 20.

For me, the last QT of those game were just offense training for the non-offensive specialist players.

[Fearless]

Germany - hard working team with virtually no talent (excluding Nowitzki and Kaman)..
Bauermann is a magician..
it will be a disaster for european basketball if they make it to olympics qualifying tournament..

I really missed your totally unbiased comments on germany! I really did!

[Picek]

I really missed your totally unbiased comments on germany! I really did!I know.. I simplys couldn't resist..
great home refereeing helped them out considering they were building a new hall with their brick session..
what is even worse at least previous german teams had Femerling, Green etc. this one is pathetic..
and Sven Schultze is the biggest candidate for MIP award..
MIP meaning "most irritating player"..
well, atleast I know who I will be cheering against on this EC..

[OrgoglioSlavo]

I know.. I simplys couldn't resist..
great home refereeing helped them out considering they were building a new hall with their brick session..
what is even worse at least previous german teams had Femerling, Green etc. this one is pathetic..
and Sven Schultze is the biggest candidate for MIP award..
MIP meaning "most irritating player"..
well, atleast I know who I will be cheering against on this EC..

thank god , someone who is speaking the truth about useless germany!!

[Fearless]

I know.. I simplys couldn't resist..

well, atleast I know who I will be cheering against on this EC..



like you had any doubt even before :P


thank god , someone who is speaking the truth about useless germany!!

you should really stop making those boomerang comments. They might just come back to hit you in the back of your head..

[baelor]

like you had any doubt even before :P



you should really stop making those boomerang comments. They might just come back to hit you in the back of your head..

so, as we see from this thread: some croatians hate italy NT, some of them hate germany NT, most of them hate serbs and slovenians, one of them hates lithuania, one has doubts about France....

lots of hate for one small country:D

[euskadi]

so, as we see from this thread: some croatians hate italy NT, some of them hate germany NT, most of them hate serbs and slovenians, one of them hates lithuania, one has doubts about France....

lots of hate for one small country:D

well, silvio put croatia on 16. place. for sure he hate croatia :confused:

he hate them all :D he is not relevant

[TB-Fan]

Turkey: 74- Montenegro: 72

Ilyasova and Arslan rested for Turkey, Pekovic for Montenegro.

Turkey: Kanter 13 Pts, 8 Rebs ; Akyol 11 Pts, Savas 12 Pts

Montenegro: Vucevic 14 Pts, 7 Rebs; Dasic 15 Pts, 8 Rebs; Bjelica 13 Pts.

[pivx]

Germany has some good players beside Kaman and Nowitzki but if you compare them with players of other medal contender teams (Serbia, France, Slovenia, Russia, Turkey....) they are rubbish. (But then again i said that many times before and got burned)

I don't know why people rank Croatia so low. I think that they will be in at least top 8. In fact there will be a big surprise if they don't make it to the qfinals. There are only 4 strong teams in group F (Slovenia, Russia, Greece and Croatia).

Montenegro has some good individuals but not enough to beat Croatia in qfinals spot.

But for all teams in group F it will be very difficult to make it to the semis. Only chance for us is that they will be exhausted from group games. Slovenia on the other hand will be resting their top players for the first week of the competition. Games against Russia, and in second part against Greece and Croatia will be just enough to warm up before the qfinals.

My prediction

Lithuania Slovenia
Spain Russia
Serbia Croatia
Turkey Greece

semis
Lithuania
Spain
Russia
Slovenia

After that anything is possible but i think that the Lithuania will be the champion.

[barchen]

is there any boxscore for BELGIUM - BOSNIA game?
http://belgianlions.com/index.php/news/nederlands/620-belgian-lions-winnen-van-bosnie

i have just this... but i need complete boxscore...

[wardjdim]

Hervelle injured in the 2nd possession of the France-Belgium friendly

Looks serious. He can't press his leg on the floor at all

[Silvio]

On the last QT, France had tested their offensive plays for the big guys. Noah, Seraphin, Pietrus got a lot of balls, but they can't manage to score efficiency (they are not very good offensive players). I think France won't test their offensive plays for big guys like that during a so long time at the eurobasket.

France had already play with a lot of defensive specialists during last QT against Serbia to train them to offensive plays, this didn't work well too, the Serbia lost only by 3 after being dominated by 20.

For me, the last QT of those game were just offense training for the non-offensive specialist players.

Why testing something when it's sure what outcome will be?

It's like if I'd threw 10 kilos weight lifting plate through my window - just to check if gravity works today. Then it falls on someone's head ... oops, I'm in trouble.

In fact, it's bigger chance gravity to disappear than those French bangers to learn how to play offense.

[mbenga]

Germany has some good players beside Kaman and Nowitzki but if you compare them with players of other medal contender teams (Serbia, France, Slovenia, Russia, Turkey....) they are rubbish. (But then again i said that many times before and got burned)
Right, but this is the most talented team assembled by Germany in the Nowitzki era. That doesn't mean anything though, they'll still need some heroics from Dirk as usual just to reach the QF.

[Z.A.L.I.A.]

Latvia vs. Great Britain 74:51 (15:13, 23:13, 18:15, 18:10) :eek:

[Migelitas]

Latvia vs. Great Britain 74:51 (15:13, 23:13, 18:15, 18:10) :eek:
Stats:
http://www1.basket.lv/plain/online/27001049

[aspsgge]

Why testing something when it's sure what outcome will be?

It's like if I'd threw 10 kilos weight lifting plate through my window - just to check if gravity works today. Then it falls on someone's head ... oops, I'm in trouble.

In fact, it's bigger chance gravity to disappear than those French bangers to learn how to play offense.



You're right! Why let the substitutes playing the game? France will have to play with just 5 players to train them offensively and defensively. The substitutes don't have to know the offensive and defensive tactics.
Last quarter againt Belgium, 5 defensives players: some good offensive movements and good defense...

France wins 74-44 against Belgium. I've heard that Hervelle should have injury his cruciate ligaments of his left knee... Bad news for them.

[KWSN-Men]

Latvia vs. Great Britain 74:51 (15:13, 23:13, 18:15, 18:10) :eek:

So much for NBA stars making the difference for GB. :rolleyes:

[Silvio]

You're right! Why let the substitutes playing the game? France will have to play with just 5 players to train them offensively and defensively. The substitutes don't have to know the offensive and defensive tactics.
Last quarter againt Belgium, 5 defensives players: some good offensive movements and good defense...

France wins 74-44 against Belgium. I've heard that Hervelle should have injury his cruciate ligaments of his left knee... Bad news for them.


1) Why put all Parker / Diaw / de Colo on bench, and put on floor 5 players that can't create at all. It will never happen in official game ... it is suicidal (though as far as I'm concerned Collet is welcomed to do so). Why test something that will never happen in official game?

2) Why test it again, when it failed miserably versus Serbia? Serbian bench against French bench turned -20 into +1.

3) Why test it at all, when even blind man can see it must fail? That is my analogy with gravity. Really no need to check each morning if gravity is still there.

[Silvio]

So much for NBA stars making the difference for GB. :rolleyes:

What NBA stars? Only Luol Deng is from NBA. Brits have 4 guys from U20 on roster, van Oostrum and some guys from NCAA. Some guys play in ACB (Freeland, Archibald ...) and some in British League.

Basketball is not your sport obviously. You know nothing about 23 of 24 national teams at Eurobasket. You better try watching some other sport.

[aspsgge]

Because it's a test of offensive tactics. On the floor, their is 1 PG, 1 SG, 1 SF, 1 PF, 1 C. The PG have to pass the ball to the SF with a screen of the PF etc...
What does matter if the PG is Parker or Albicy? The offensive play is the same.

So, for you, it's better to have 4 starting players and just 1 substitute which train his offensive play during 2 minutes, then he will be substitute by an another substitute which train his offensive play during 2 minutes etc... ????

Each substitute can train tactics during a more long time.

Collet didn't test the association of players ... He knows what association of players will work...
At the half time against Belgium, he says that the substitute will play a lot during 4QT to train tactics againt 2-3 zone.

It's preparation game, so they prepare their tactics. The score doesn't matter. France could win by 40 or 50 with more playing time for Parker, Batum, Diaw, Noah and the good association of player.

[Silvio]

Because it's a test of offensive tactics. On the floor, their is 1 PG, 1 SG, 1 SF, 1 PF, 1 C. The PG have to pass the ball to the SF with a screen of the PF etc...
What does matter if the PG is Parker or Albicy? The offensive play is the same.

So, for you, it's better to have 4 starting players and just 1 substitute which train his offensive play during 2 minutes, then he will be substitute by an another substitute which train his offensive play during 2 minutes etc... ????

Each substitute can train tactics during a more long time.

Collet didn't test the association of players ... He knows what association of players will work...
At the half time against Belgium, he says that the substitute will play a lot during 4QT to train tactics againt 2-3 zone.

It's preparation game, so they prepare their tactics. The score doesn't matter. France could win by 40 or 50 with more playing time for Parker, Batum, Diaw, Noah and the good association of player.

It is not about nailing bench players to bench. Yes, they might play 10 minutes in official game and it is OK they play even 20 minutes in friendly game. It is not about winning by 40 points, 4 or 40 is the same in official or friendly game.
It is about french basketball that has many good defensive specialists and only few skillful players. So it is stupid to put all skilled players at bench in same moment.
- those bangers without help of Parker and Diaw don't know what to do with strange round object in their hands, it makes them look funny and kind of humiliated
- it is meaningless test because something like that won't happen in official game as it is simply suicidal - proved by Serbian bench destroying 5 french bangers in few minutes for 20 points difference

[KWSN-Men]

What NBA stars? Only Luol Deng is from NBA. Brits have 4 guys from U20 on roster, van Oostrum and some guys from NCAA. Some guys play in ACB (Freeland, Archibald ...) and some in British League.

Basketball is not your sport obviously. You know nothing about 23 of 24 national teams at Eurobasket. You better try watching some other sport.

Yes, you're right...

Man, you make me laugh... :D

[aspsgge]

It is not about nailing bench players to bench. Yes, they might play 10 minutes in official game and it is OK they play even 20 minutes in friendly game. It is not about winning by 40 points, 4 or 40 is the same in official or friendly game.
It is about french basketball that has many good defensive specialists and only few skillful players. So it is stupid to put all skilled players at bench in same moment.
- those bangers without help of Parker and Diaw don't know what to do with strange round object in their hands, it makes them look funny and kind of humiliated
- it is meaningless test because something like that won't happen in official game as it is simply suicidal - proved by Serbian bench destroying 5 french bangers in few minutes for 20 points difference

I think you underestimated them a little. They shows some good offensive play against Belgium. Traore+Seraphin could give 10pts for exemple.
And I will repeat it another time, it's not to test the association of player. In official game, all the skilled player won't be on the bench at the same time. But the substitute which will play with them will be more prepared by playing 20min in friendlies than playing 10min in friendlies. And be more prepared by having a lot of ball during friendlies than no have the ball during friendlies.

Can you explain to me why all the skilled player have to play when the team is leading by 30? To have more chance to get an injury? It doesn't matter if the substitute all playing together are not able to keep the advance of 20-30pts. (the last QT against Belgium was tied)