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FIBA WC *spoilers* thread

Panthers_God

Panthers_God

Juniors
Messages
1,753
Woo Australia thats a great victory.
Sam MacKinnon had a solid game with some nice drunks. Also good to see Bogut block Anderson Varejuo. Cmon you AUssies!!

Nice to see Arroyo playing well for Puerto Rico. He plays with so much heart.
 
Stonecutter

Stonecutter

First Grade
Messages
5,447
Basketball
NBA stars dominate first day
From correspondents in Sapporo, Japan
August 20, 2006 A YOUNG US team of National Basketball Association stars made an impressive start in a bid for redemption at the World Basketball Championships while NBA rivals displayed heroics as well.

Argentina's Manu Ginobili, Spain's Pau Gasol and Germany's Dirk Nowitzki led their teams to victory on the opening day of the 24-team showdown that will determine global supremacy and an automatic qualifier for the 2008 Olympics.

Denver forward Carmelo Anthony scored 21 points while Cleveland playmaker LeBron James and Chicago's Kirk Hinrich added 15 points each to lead the US squad past pesky Puerto Rico 111-100 in a Group D first-round game.

The Americans, who routed Puerto Rico 114-69 in their tune-up debut, led 24-23 after the first quarter before tightening defensively.

"At first I think we were over-excited finally starting. Once we settled down we were good," Anthony said. "From the second quarter on, our defence was good. No panic. We know we can score. We want to win with defence."

Reigning Olympic champion Argentina, sparked by 25 points from Ginobili and 18 from Chicago's Andres Nocioni, defeated France 80-70 in Group A.

"We are lucky we have Ginobili as he made some tremendous shots," said Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez.

"They changed their defence, they confused us, we took some crazy shots ... but when you have great players you can score against any defense."

The showdown would have been a showdown of star NBA teammates, but France's Tony Parker suffered a broken finger and missed the chance to face Ginobili, his backcourt partner for the San Antonio Spurs.

Spain ripped New Zealand 86-70 in Group B, led by 16 points each from NBA center Gasol, Navarro and Jorge Garbajosa. New Zealand was without guard Mark Dickel, suspended by FIBA for three games for a positive dope test of cannabis.

"It's taken a toll on our team in terms of available personnel to play," New Zealand's American coach Tab Baldwin said. "It was difficult for the team to handle but no excuse for the way we played."

Dallas star Nowitzki scored 27 points in Germany's 81-70 Group B triumph over Japan, which stayed tough to the finish.

"We were impressed with how they made our life difficult," Germany coach Dirk Bauermann said.

A shocker came in Group C where Australia stunned Brazil behind CJ Bruton's 16 points and 15 from Sam Mackinnon. The Brazilians played the US squad within 90-86 in a pre-tournament exhibition.

"It's a huge, huge win for Australia," said jubilant coach Brian Goorjian. "This is very important for us and will give us momentum and confidence."

Chinese NBA star Yao Ming scored 30 points but Gianluca Basile scored 27 for Italy to ignite a 3-point barrage that led the 2004 Olympic silver medallists to an 84-69 triumph in Group D.

"This game could be a good lesson for us," Yao said. "Everyone can see our players are not so experienced for this kind of level, especially in the second half when we lost control of our game and they started hitting 3-point shots."

In other Group A openers, Lebanon defeated Venezuela 82-72 and Nigeria dumped two-time defending champion Serbia and Montenegro 82-75, serving notice the reign of the former Yugoslavia could be over.

Slovenia routed Senegal 96-79 in the other Group D game while Angola beat Panama 83-70 in Group B.

Other Group C games saw Greece rout Qatar 84-64 and Turkey edged Lithuania 76-74 on Ender Arkan's two free throws with 17 seconds to play.

Four teams from each of the four first-round groups advance to the knockout stages that begin in a week.

Sunday's top games send the US squad against China, Argentina against Lebanon, France against the Serbs, Lithuania against Greece and Italy against Slovenia.

Other games include Nigeria versus Venezuela, Brazil against Qatar, Turkey meeting Australia, Japan facing Angola, Spain playing Panama, Germany taking on New Zealand and Senegal against Puerto Rico.

Agence France-Presse

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,20188414-23769,00.html
 
M

Mase

Juniors
Messages
156
Go Lebanon!! After all the sh!t the players and us fans have been through, i hope you can win it.
 
Stonecutter

Stonecutter

First Grade
Messages
5,447
Basketball
Boomers ready for Greece
From James Dampney in Hamamatsu, Japan
August 22, 2006 THE Australia men's basketball team is remaining positive about today's daunting clash with European champion Greece as it attempts to battle its way into the second round of the world championships in Japan.

The Boomers could have dropped their heads after letting a big halftime lead slip in a potentially costly defeat against Turkey on Sunday.

But coach Brian Goorjian has implored Australia to stay focused and try to earn another upset victory today after its first-up triumph over heavily favoured Brazil.

“(Goorjian's) still very positive. It's a group that we all believe in,” forward Sam Mackinnon said.

“We've been working pretty hard for a couple of months.

“We know we haven't been together as long as some of these top international teams, so we need to play a style for 40 minutes or what happened against Turkey will happen to us.”

The top four teams in each pool of six progress to the next round and Australia finishes the group stage with tough games against Greece and Lithuania before facing minnow Qatar.

Mackinnon is still confident the Boomers can not only reach the knockout stage, but finish higher than fourth and avoid a likely cross-over match against the United States.

“We got ourselves in a great situation to be 2-0 going into the day off and had a great first half against Turkey, but then fell away,” he said.

“We didn't execute very well down the stretch and we did a few silly things.

“Hopefully we'll get better as the tournament goes on and get through to that second round and hopefully get a top two or three in our pool and a better cross-over match.”

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,20211643-23769,00.html
 
Stonecutter

Stonecutter

First Grade
Messages
5,447
21 August 2006

A/7 Argentina 96 Venezueka 56

B/7 Angola 95 New Zealand 73

A/8 Serbia & Montenegro 104 Lebanon 57

B/8 Germany71 Spain 92

B/9 Japan 78 Panama 61

A/9 France 64 Nigeria 53
 
Stonecutter

Stonecutter

First Grade
Messages
5,447
EIGHT-FINALS
26 August 2006

61/61 Argentina 79 New Zealand 62

62/62 Italy 68 Lithuania 71

63/63 Turkey90 Slovenia 84

64/64 Spain 87 Serbia & Montenegro 75
 
Mr Saab

Mr Saab

Referee
Messages
27,762
SHARK-SPURS said:
It will be a great game. BTW does anyone know if it will be shown live on FOX or will it be delayed?
Click to expand...

Tonight Foxsports (1 or 2...not sure) at 7pm
 
Stonecutter

Stonecutter

First Grade
Messages
5,447
27/08/2006

Game Report, USA vs Australia 113-73, EIGHT-FINALS

SAITAMA (FIBA World Championship) - Team USA held Australia without a field goal for more than seven minutes in the second quarter to build a 30-point half-time lead and cruise into the last eight of the FIBA World Championship with a 113-73 win.

Carmelo Anthony had a game-high 20 points and Joe Johnson came off the bench to score 12 of his 18 in the first half as the United States took charge in the second period.

"We just picked up our energy in the second quarter," Johnson said. "We haven’t really got off to good starts these past few games but we came out in the second period, picked up our defensive intensity and started making easy plays and getting easy baskets."

Next up for Mike Kryzewski's men will be a quarter-final match up with Germany after Dirk Nowitzki and company held on for a 78-77 win over Nigeria in the first eight-final of the day.

"We started very well and in the second quarter turned on the defensive pressure and that decided the game for us," forward Shane Battier said afterwards. "This team really cares about basketball and playing the game the right way, with each other and not against each other. It's a really fun way to play. The guys are unselfish and we are having fun out there. We have a tough game against Germany coming up, but it's exciting to see the hunger our team has and how we still want to play better."

The USA opened the game on a pair of three-pointers by Battier and Anthony but Australia seemed capable to match them from long range, with CJ Bruton and Brad Newley also hitting from downtown.

Brian Goordjian's men took their only lead of the game, 15-14, on a three by center Andrew Bogut, who finished with 20 points.

The United States - who changed their line up very regularly in the first half - brought Dwyane Wade and Kirk Heinrich off the bench with three minutes left in the first period and the pair contributed immediately.

Heinrich hit a jumper before Wade made two lay ups but Newley added another three and a dunk as Australia stayed within striking distance, 27-23, after the first quarter.

The second quarter proved to be the turning point as the USA tightened their interior defense and forced their opponents to do their damage from the perimeter.

And the plan worked like a charm for Team USA as Australia had to wait until CJ Bruton hit a jumper with 2:50 left to play in the first half to get their first basket of the second quarter, by which stage the lead had ballooned to 20, 46-26.

Chris Paul found Wade for a reverse dunk as the Americans started scoring in style and Australia's deficit reached 30 at half-time, 59-29, as Johnson stole the ball and went in for a uncontested flush to cap off a personal 7-0 run at the end of the second quarter.

Bogut re-established an inside presence for Australia early in the third quarter, getting fouled and sent to the free-throw line where he converted his two shots before hitting a hook shot.

However Team USA were in complete control and a three-point barrage headed by Battier and Brad Miller late in the third period helped them increase the lead to 40, 88-48.

Australia opened the final period with an 8-0 run - capped off by Aaron Bruce's back-to-back lay ups - to bring the deficit back under 35 points, 88-57, before Chris Bosh responded for the USA.

Bosh made a three-pointer, a long jumper and a pair of free throws for a 101-62 lead and Paul and Johnson then closed out the game.

After the game Bogut conceded that the second quarter hurt Australia's chances of making a real game of it.

"We just turned the ball over too much. They didn't really shut us down. They forced us into turning the ball over and we didn't really get any shots while they were able to run and get some dunks. If you play the USA like we did in that quarter, you're going to lose," he said.

But the center is hopeful for the team's future.

"It's definitely something to build upon for Beijing. We have a young team, a lot of college kids playing against NBA guys. Hopefully we can get a core group out of this bunch f players for Beijing and move on."
Kryzewski turned his attention to the next game and expects a tough challenge.

"This was a big win for us, because we have a lot of respect for the Australian team. we'll make adjustments to the base of defense that we have ahead of the Germany game. We'll study them to be as ready as possible. We hope to keep everyone healthy, with the moral high and then we might make some small adjustments."


IMO They played well considering the lack of experience and players with the likes of Neilson and Saville. Alot of open shots by Australia were missed and USA capitalised. I still believe Hinder gives nothing to the team and is only there bacause he is a Sydney Kings player. Too bad for the boys but we're looking good for Beijing. :)
 
Stonecutter

Stonecutter

First Grade
Messages
5,447
Fixtures for QF.

QUARTER-FINALS

29 August 2006

69/69 Spain vs Lithuania

70/70 Argentina vs Turkey


30 August 2006

71/71 Greece vs France

72/72 USA vs Germany
 
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