The surprising basketball thread (20 Viewers)

zizinho

zizinho

Senior Member
#46
Apr 14, 2013
51,816
#46
Italy - Lithuania was a fantastic game, best in the tournament so far to me. have to say, Valanciunas is a monster, absolutely brilliant center. Kalnietis was amazing, whenever the team needed him, he delivered. the rest of the team was there too. always when Italy was putting pressure on them, always in key possessions when they had to score, they always responded with points, very often with 3s. Italy had their chances to win. they had ~7 seconds, the last possession in regular time when the game was tied, but Gentile handled it very bad. he dribbled the ball into the corner and then played a terrible back pass to Belinelli who was forced to shoot from 10 meters over a Lithuanian player. the key moment in overtime was when Kalnietis hit a 3 after he made an offensive foul on a Italian player, and the refs let the play go on (the refs are generally very bad at this Eurobasket). after that Lithuania closed down the game comfortably.

in the other game, Serbia won but could have closed down the game earlier, if they hadnt struggled a bit in the 3rd quarter. Teodosic had bad shooting percentages, but was nonetheless fantastic, dished out 14 assists mostly leaving his teammates in 1 on 0 situations, and run their offense to perfection. Erceg scored 20 pts off the bench with only 1 missed shot the entire game, Bjelica hit some clutch 3s in 3rd and 4th quarter. Vesely and Satoransky didnt have nearly as much support as they needed on the other side, but both played a fantastic game. did as much as they could, but Serbia is too god for them at the moment.



Spain - France today, another very close game most likely where one possession might decide the winner. Gasol is the most brilliant player in this tournament, and France must slow him down if they want to win. they also have to repeat the defense they had during this entire tournament and their shooting must be on. on the other side, Spain must fill up the paint most of the time and test the 3pt shooting of France. they have to secure the defensive rebound and ofcourse, slow down Parker.

another classic showdown between these rivals, id give France a small advantage due to the home court, but generally it will be a very close game. like in every important matchup, the key is to secure the boards and not turn the ball over. thats a must. after that, it will be important whos bench plays better when the stars are resting, who handles the foul trouble better, who executes free throws better in bonus situations and even what the refs will decide in 50-50 situations. due to the home court advantage mainly, 55-45 for France in this game id say
 
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Martin

Martin

Senior Member
Thread Starter #48
Dec 31, 2000
56,913
  • Thread Starter
    • Thread Starter #48
    zizinho said:
    Spain - France today, another very close game most likely where one possession might decide the winner. Gasol is the most brilliant player in this tournament, and France must slow him down if they want to win. they also have to repeat the defense they had during this entire tournament and their shooting must be on. on the other side, Spain must fill up the paint most of the time and test the 3pt shooting of France. they have to secure the defensive rebound and ofcourse, slow down Parker.

    another classic showdown between these rivals, id give France a small advantage due to the home court, but generally it will be a very close game. like in every important matchup, the key is to secure the boards and not turn the ball over. thats a must. after that, it will be important whos bench plays better when the stars are resting, who handles the foul trouble better, who executes free throws better in bonus situations and even what the refs will decide in 50-50 situations. due to the home court advantage mainly, 55-45 for France in this game id say
    Click to expand...
    France have the advantage of better form and a lot of confidence built that way, but sometimes a team needs to play one really bad game in a tournament to galvanize them. So far they are unbeaten, but they have played several just-enough-to-win games which worries me.

    Spain playing at their best are easily good enough to win, so they need to be contained properly just like they were 2 years ago.
     
    zizinho

    zizinho

    Senior Member
    #50
    Apr 14, 2013
    51,816
    #50
    Martin said:
    France have the advantage of better form and a lot of confidence built that way, but sometimes a team needs to play one really bad game in a tournament to galvanize them. So far they are unbeaten, but they have played several just-enough-to-win games which worries me.

    Spain playing at their best are easily good enough to win, so they need to be contained properly just like they were 2 years ago.
    Click to expand...
    but also France so far hasnt faced any top opponents. Spain came out of the toughest group and beat a very strong team in Greece to come here. they surely gained momentum and Gasol is on a amazing run. its still literally impossible to predict anything in this game. these 2 teams know each other so well, both have the players and the quality to win this, and as i said above, one possession might (and probably will) decide this game.
     
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    Martin

    Martin

    Senior Member
    Thread Starter #60
    Dec 31, 2000
    56,913
  • Thread Starter
    • Thread Starter #60
    France is shooting well, but basically doesn't have a single drive so far. Spain is close behind and it's starting to become tesnse.

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    Gelabale is in amazing shooting form today.

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    Terrible passing game tonight. The clock is about to run out when the player with the ball is forced to take a difficult shot. Again and again.

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    Struggling in defence, making lots of fouls. Spain is a good free throw shooting team, France less so.

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    32 - 33 at half time

    France really needs to find a way to take control of the game cause this is not going well

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    that Mirotic just can't find a razor anywhere

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    provided he doesn't have some terrible injury Gobert is gonna have some career

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    amazing 3 point shooting at the moment, 10 point lead

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    we just can't seem to take advantage of a lead to kill the game. got the lead, committed a foul, then called for traveling, then another foul...

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    first 3 point miss by Gelabale in the game, we're in the 4th quarter

    this is going to be really tense now

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    it's tricky. Spain makes so many interceptions that France doesn't trust the pass very much. so it's almost always down to personal brilliance, which is working most of the time. but a very high risk game

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    Gobert and Lauvergne both out of the game now with 4 fouls. Not good.

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    the lead is gone and shooting is just starting to fail when we need it most

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    so close and yet so far. leading the whole match except the last few minutes

    the spanish commentator can feel free to drink out of the toilet

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    massive 3 by Batum. game is even, 14 seconds left, another time out

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    Gasol hoping to make the winning shot, blocked by Gobert

    now refs arguing about whether Batum was fouled, with 1.6 sec left

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    aaaand it goes to overtime

    nerve racking game

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    parker is exhausted, misses both free throws completely

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    Gobert fouled out. 1:14 left

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    15.5 sec left, Spain leads by 3. Batum takes a 3, fouled. 3 free throws

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    ...but he's too tense to make them

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    sports eugh
     
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