FIBA World Championships

[Ridders]

Starting in a couple of days. Tournament is being held in Turkey.

This is the official site for the tournament http://turkey2010.fiba.com/eng

I'm not 100% on this but I think the top 4 from each group qualify to a round of 16-like stage, and then it turns into a typical knock-out tournament.

Group A

Angola
Argentina
Australia
Germany
Jordan
Serbia

Group B

Brazil
Croatia
Iran
Tunisia
Slovenia
USA

Group C

China
Cote d'Ivoire
Greece
Russia
Puerto Rico
Turkey

Group D

Canada
France
Lebanon
Lithuania
New Zealand
Spain

Disappointing that Bogut won't be there for us. Patty Mills will be looking for a good showing given the uncertainty of his playing future in the states. We should get past the group stage.

Not sure how Team USA will go tbh. Pretty young and inexperienced team and obviously lacking in size. Says alot when Tyson Chandler is your only legit big.

 

[Fast Eddie]

Hopefully we can squeeze out of our group. Had two good wins over Russia and Slovenia in the warm up matches.

 

[Ridders]

USA to kick of their campaign against Croatia

 

[Ridders]

Australia won their first game 76-75 against Jordan

NZ lost their first game against Lithuania 79-92

 

[Fast Eddie]

Yeah we're lacking the inside scoring big time.

 

[Beavers Headgear]

Hopefully we can squeeze out of our group. Had two good wins over Russia and Slovenia in the warm up matches.

1 more win over Russia and we are in the Quarters !!

Penney and Abercrombie are going awesome, and it is always a pleasure watching Pero play, what a ball player he has been for so many years

 

[edabomb]

Great stuff from NZ and Oz qualifying for the round of 16. Oceania basketball is still strong.

 

[Ridders]

Yikes not a good end to the tournament for us after getting pumped by Slovenia

 

[Ridders]

Final score - Slovenia 87 Australia 58

We got killed from downtown. Slovenia went 16/33 from 3-point range while we only made 2/19.

 

[Ridders]

Woah this Serbia vs Spain game has been a f**king classic.

It's raining 3s!

 

[Ridders]

IT'S TEODOSIC TIME!!!!!

Serbia beat Spain 92-89 after Teodosic hit a 3 with 4 secs left to put Serbia ahead.

 

[Tiger Hawk]

US through to the semis after beating Russia earlier, and will play Lithuania. Gotta say am surprised Spain, Argentina & Brazil won't be featuring in the semis.

On another note, in seven games Ricky Rubio averaged five points per game on 27.5% shooting (2-for-15 on 3s), 5.7 assists per game & 1.9 turnovers in 27 minutes per game. How a guy that could only manage 5 points and 27.5% shooting (not to mention a 3:1 A/TO ratio) against mostly non-NBA talent is going to cut it in the NBA is anyone's guess....if I'm the Wolves I'd be trading him for some quality players while I can.

 

[Ridders]

Tbh I think Rubio's reason for failure at FIBA are the same as Rondo's. If you're a point guard and can't shoot (in particular the international 3-ball), your usefullness in international basketball is greatly limited. I mean you can just see, by the boxscores, that the amount of shots taken from down-town every game is ridiculously high.

What was a bit concerning about Rubio imo was his defense. He was terrible, letting opposing guards consistently get off uncontested shots and going to sleep off-ball.

He's still such a gifted passer with great court vision, so I think he'll make it. But he needs to go to a situation that would favour him i.e. up tempto, free flowing, not so much emphasis on defense. So pretty much the Knicks.

Not sure he'd fit into a triangle offense.

 

[Tiger Hawk]

Rondo can still finish at the basket though and scores in the teens, and I think that's where Rubio comes up short (literally and figuratively). Rondo is an absolute freak athletically whereas Rubio is just sort of average, so he'll struggle to get his shot away against the stronger & quicker NBA players. And I question how you'd hide him on defence.

He reminds me a bit of Jason Kidd, but Kidd has been able to consistently score in the teens throughout his career (certainly in his prime), even with his sketchy shooting. Rubio though will at least have to figure out a way to score at the rim to make it in the NBA, and preferably develop a solid jumper. He's still young enough but if he can't score, smart teams will figure out how to defend him pretty quickly.

 

[Tiger Hawk]

Double

 

[Ridders]

Rondo can still finish at the basket though and scores in the teens, and I think that's where Rubio comes up short (literally and figuratively). Rondo is an absolute freak athletically whereas Rubio is just sort of average, so he'll struggle to get his shot away against the stronger & quicker NBA players. And I question how you'd hide him on defence.

He reminds me a bit of Jason Kidd, but Kidd has been able to consistently score in the teens throughout his career (certainly in his prime), even with his sketchy shooting. Rubio though will at least have to figure out a way to score at the rim to make it in the NBA, and preferably develop a solid jumper. He's still young enough but if he can't score, smart teams will figure out how to defend him pretty quickly.

Yeah I wasn't comparing Rubio and Rondo as players, just saying why their failures at the Worlds (pre-tournament for Rondo) may have been the same.

Ageed that unless Rubio can become a consistent shooter, he's going to find it tough in the NBA.

 

[Ridders]

So the final will be USA vs Turkey.

USA with a comfortable victory over Lithuania with Durant going nuts. Scored 38 points and was pretty much unguardable.

In contrast, Turkey just went through a nail-biter against Serbia. 2nd game in a row where a game involving Serbia has gone down to the final play.

 

[Fast Eddie]

When is it? Should be a rabid crowd.

 

[Ridders]

When is it? Should be a rabid crowd.

Woah sorry for not replying earlier.

Game's starting now lol.

 

[Ridders]

Lol Durant is killing Turkey. USA up 50-35 midway through the 3rd.