Germany VS France... TP on fire... AGAIN

[will_spurs]

But when we compare Pastore to Zidane it's more like NBA scouting reasonning. (Like comparing some young player to NBA star to make it easier to people to understand...Now Bargnani was compared to Dirk but will never be Dirk...)

I understand what you mean, but I actually dislike these comparisons even in the NBA. I prefer comparisons to a similar starter, rather than comparisons to legends which I think servers little purpose, because legends have their own strengths that can never be matched (e.g. Zidane's control of the ball which was his signature and is unparalleled).

Plus when Zidane was selected for the first time in French NT he was already 25...He really began to shine at this moment.

You have bad memory Zidane was 22 when he played with Les Bleus for the first time, and he scored 2 goals!

[will_spurs]

The winner of Spain/France will get the first seed and the loser of that game will get the second seed. Even if France and Lithuania win tomorrow, Spain will finish 2nd. Spain and Lithuania will be tied with a 3-2 record but Spain owns the tiebreaker over Lithuania because they beat them earlier in the tournament.

Ok, I thought point differential would be the tie-breaker, not head-to-head. In which case it is indeed good news.

Re: De Colo, yesterday's heroics can't hide his absolutely dreadful showing so far. I don't think there's a NBA franchise right now which would be patient enough to deal with his inconsistency.

He was really good on scoring and steals yesterday, but his passing is still very suspect to me. He tried to do the same as Parker, i.e. penetrate and kick the blll out, but with less success. This shows Parker is really invaluable in this role (also for the Spurs) because he manages to deliver a crisp, useful pass while surrounded by 2-3 other players and while off-balance. With De Colo the penetrating part was ok, but the kicking-out not so much, it felt as though he was just throwing the ball wildly in the general direction of a teammate.

[Pauleta14]

If he has the choice, I don't think he should keep on playing PG, some of his beautiful passes lead people to think that he could be a good in that role but he isn't!

He doesn't seem to enjoy this role, but IMO he should work on his SG skills, be ready to shoot, play without the ball...

[will_spurs]

It seems that the Spain-France game will not be so meaningless after all, as the 4th team in the other group (either Finland or Slovenia) seems to be a lot weaker than the 3rd team (Greece or Russia).

[Pauleta14]

If France loses the game against spain, they won't meet either them or Lithuania before the final...

That's THE most important thing (olympic qualification)

+ Russia will finish 1st or 2nd and Greece isn't THAT tough (lots of retired leaders) and France players want so much a payback, I don't see them losing against them...

I actualy fear that France doesn't lose against spain...

[Bruno]

The interest of tanking the Spain game will too depend on the result of the Serbia/Turkey game:
- If Turkey beat Serbia, Lithuania will finish 3rd with a win against Germany and 4th with a loss against them. If France lost, Lithuania can then decide to tank to avoid Spain in SF.
- If Serbia beat Turkey, Lithuania won't be able to calculate and they will likely finish 3rd.

To sum up, tanking is way more interesting if Serbia win its game. Al of this is a little moot because Spain is way better than France and the only way France can beat them is if they decide to tank or if they don't care at all about the game.

Regarding the QF: a win will likely put France against Slovenia and a loss will put them against Greece. Slovenia is the most talented team but Greece is more complete and sill be more difficult to beat. Saying that, even if Greece is the most dangerous team, I rather see France facing them than Slovenia. Greece is the shame of European basketball: they try to buy referees, they don't suspend players caught in PED scandals like Bourousis and they have 3 American players while other teams are limited to one. Beating them would be so sweet that's it's worth taking the risk of facing them.

[Pauleta14]

What about Russia in semi Bruno?

I haven't watch any of their games but they seem really tough!

Aren't they harder to beat than Lithuania?

[Bruno]

What about Russia in semi Bruno?

I haven't watch any of their games but they seem really tough!

Aren't they harder to beat than Lithuania?

I haven't been that impressed by Russia when I saw them play. If they face Serbia in QF, I can see Serbia beating them. Lithuania isn't a that great team but the problem is that they are at home.

At the end, winning or losing tomorrow game isn't that important. It's far from sure that Greece would be harder to face than Slovenia or that Lithuania would be harder than Serbia or Russia. The only sure thing is that Spain is head and shoulders above other teams in this Eurobasket. Avoiding them was the most important.

[Pauleta14]

Thanks! I feel better, so loss 2morrow, 1/4 greece, 1/2 russia and final against Spain...

Call me crazy, but I think that with our defensive intensity (on 40 min) we can beat Spain!

The Gasols are scray inside, but for the rest, seing what we did against lithuania passing and our ability to steal or "provoc" TOs, we really have a shot IF WE MAINTAIN THE SAME DEFENSIVE INTENSITY 40MINUTES!

It's a big "if" (and we're not in final yet), but I'm not as impressed/scared of that team...

[ginobili fan]

[QUOTE=Pauleta14;5402728]No, I'm not fan of the new "footix" at ude of the Parc since last year, I'll wait a few games...

I'll be ther against marseille and Lyon for sure...
yeah anyway the footix at ude at the Parc it's pretty a shame but it's still encouraging seeing all PSG games at gichets fermés.

[ginobili fan]

I understand what you mean, but I actually dislike these comparisons even in the NBA. I prefer comparisons to a similar starter, rather than comparisons to legends which I think servers little purpose, because legends have their own strengths that can never be matched (e.g. Zidane's control of the ball which was his signature and is unparalleled).



You have bad memory Zidane was 22 when he played with Les Bleus for the first time, and he scored 2 goals!

autant pour moi
bizarrement je me souviens des deux buts de zidane mais j'ai toujours pensé qu'il avait 25 ans à l'époque

[ginobili fan]

The interest of tanking the Spain game will too depend on the result of the Serbia/Turkey game:
- If Turkey beat Serbia, Lithuania will finish 3rd with a win against Germany and 4th with a loss against them. If France lost, Lithuania can then decide to tank to avoid Spain in SF.
- If Serbia beat Turkey, Lithuania won't be able to calculate and they will likely finish 3rd.

To sum up, tanking is way more interesting if Serbia win its game. Al of this is a little moot because Spain is way better than France and the only way France can beat them is if they decide to tank or if they don't care at all about the game.

Regarding the QF: a win will likely put France against Slovenia and a loss will put them against Greece. Slovenia is the most talented team but Greece is more complete and sill be more difficult to beat. Saying that, even if Greece is the most dangerous team, I rather see France facing them than Slovenia. Greece is the shame of European basketball: they try to buy referees, they don't suspend players caught in PED scandals like Bourousis and they have 3 American players while other teams are limited to one. Beating them would be so sweet that's it's worth taking the risk of facing them.

yeah tanking is the best way I think rest TP and co for more important games.
and we have a revenge to take against Greece

[mathbzh]

yeah tanking is the best way I think rest TP and co for more important games.
and we have a revenge to take against Greece

Yes, rest the starters. No matter who we would play in the SF it would be a tough but winnable game.

[DMC]

Honestly, does anyone care about any place other than 1st in the FIBA?

[will_spurs]

Honestly, does anyone care about any place other than 1st in the FIBA?

Yes, there are 2 more medals to give away, the 2nd spot gets a free ticket to the olympics, and #3 to #6 go to the qualifying tournament for Olympics. So there's a lot more to it than simply being Euro Champion.

Re: Greece, of course there is revenge, but since they cheat like they breathe, I'd rather have France play a team "fair and square". It would be like wishing to play England in rugby just because they don't play very well (remember the last WC?).

All in all the best scenario would be that both Spain and France rest their starters, France wins, plays Slovenia or Finland, and both teams have no real information about the other when they meet in the final game, and France wins again

[velik_m]

Go French bench go!

[Bruno]

Go French bench go!

They decided to tank.

And Spain winning is better for Slovenia.

[velik_m]

They decided to tank.

And Spain winning is better for Slovenia.

You mean Finland?

I jinxed the french...

[Bruno]

You mean Finland?

More seriously, even if they have been ugly so far, Slovenia has a good shot at making the Olympic qualifying tournament next year. They will need to beat Finland and then Macedonia after having lost their QF against Spain. They can do it.

[will_spurs]

So France is going to play Greece. I don't like that at all.

[Bruno]

Yep, it won't be easy.

I'm taking all this Eurobasket with a lot of humility. France is a country with a small basketball culture and they are missing some players (Beaubois, Mike Pietrus, Turiaf, Diot, Bokolo). They've won a lot of games so far but most of theses games were close and France catch some lucky breaks. Against a depleted Greece, they will be favorites but it wouldn't be that surprising to see them losing this game.

Turkey and Germany are out of the Euro and they won't go to London. It's because of a weird draw in this Eurobasket but there is also a true problem with Olympic basketball tournament: 12 teams isn't enough, there should have at least 16 basketball teams at the Olympics games.

[ginobili fan]

Yep, it won't be easy.

I'm taking all this Eurobasket with a lot of humility. France is a country with a small basketball culture and they are missing some players (Beaubois, Mike Pietrus, Turiaf, Diot, Bokolo). They've won a lot of games so far but most of theses games were close and France catch some lucky breaks. Against a depleted Greece, they will be favorites but it wouldn't be that surprising to see them losing this game.

Turkey and Germany are out of the Euro and they won't go to London. It's because of a weird draw in this Eurobasket but there is also a true problem with Olympic basketball tournament: 12 teams isn't enough, there should have at least 16 basketball teams at the Olympics games.

yeah dont understand why they're only 12 teams in OG.
Maybe to equilibrate the continents,... you can't have 10 european teams and 2 asians teams and 1 african...
Anyway the winner are usa again...

[Bruno]

yeah dont understand why they're only 12 teams in OG.
Maybe to equilibrate the continents,... you can't have 10 european teams and 2 asians teams and 1 african...
Anyway the winner are usa again...

12 teams made sense 20 years ago when Basketball was less developed and when they were less countries in the Eastern Europe. I guess the main reason why they don't expand it to 16 teams is because it will make the organization of the Olympic games even more complicate.

On a more global note, FIBA needs to work their summer scheduling. In 2010, tons of players turns down the world championship. It's not good to have a sport where best players don't want to play the world championship.

[ElNono]

On a more global note, FIBA needs to work their summer scheduling. In 2010, tons of players turns down the world championship. It's not good to have a sport where best players don't want to play the world championship.

They also need to address the craziness of the 8 games in 9 days and the like. It's just calling for injuries and dilutes the games to watch players dead tired. I also think it's a factor for players to skip the compe ion.

[mathbzh]

They also need to address the craziness of the 8 games in 9 days and the like. It's just calling for injuries and dilutes the games to watch players dead tired. I also think it's a factor for players to skip the compe ion.

It seems like it is not going that way
24-Team EuroBasket already a success story

The expansion of the EuroBasket to 24 teams is proving to be a great success story already in its first implementation, in Lithuania.