FIBA World Championship 2014

[zmurko 7,622]

Any basketball fans in the crew?

 

World championship is starting next weekend and we definitely have some members from countries taking part: USA, Canada, Australia, France, Finland, Slovenia, Mexico ...

 

There's actually a friendly preparation game today between the mighty USA and my national team, Slovenia, apparently even televised on ESPN2 at 2PM EST. I'll most defnitely be watching that. USA has a very strong team despite some of the stars not on the team. They haven't lost a game in 8 years with 53 consecutive wins. Our team is a bit weakened with 2 of our best inside players missing due to injuries and it's not like we can find couple of NBA star to take their spot either, so we're a bit undersized this year.

 

Basketball is by far my favourite sport to follow (and play).

 

[Fido_le_muet 5,197]

Yes yes yes !!!!

 

Didn't you were a basketball fan Z. I am too. Love to watch and to play but I can no longer do that since I've moved and am now far from my friends.

Plus the NBA being at 1-4am, it's a bit hard to watch any games but I the NBA Top 10 every morning.

And the All-Star Game of course !

 

Have high hopes for France, being Euro champions and all !

But a few of our top players like Parker and Noah aren't on the team this year. I hope both we'll be returning for the Olympic Games in 2016.

I follow the NBA closely and will of course follow Team USA and Derrick Rose particularly.

Coming back from his second grave injury, I hope he's back to his best.

 

Tough group for us and I see you have Lithuania and Australia in yours.

[zmurko 7,622]

Oui, oui, oui!

 

Yep, I've been to few games in last euro championship, including the finals where France took the gold.

 

It's gonna be tough for our guys, we're really thin under the basket this year and with both Lithuania and Australia being very strong there it wont be easy to get at least 3rd place in the group and avoid USA in 1/8 finals.

 

I used to follow NBA much closer back in the 90's and early 00's and I started to follow it more last couple of years, especially Phoenix Suns (Dragic). Watching Top 10 every morning at breakfast is one of my rituals too.

[Fido_le_muet 5,197]

Ah I forgot that euroBasket was in Slovenia last year.

I will probably do the same thing as you next year since EuroBasket will maybe be in France.

Hope to see a couple matches then.

 

Used to follow NBA back in the 90s as well. Completely forgot about it for 15 years and I got hooked right back a couple years ago.

Great sport§ Absolutely love it !

Used to go see my local team (Poitiers) a couple years ago when they were in the top league in France.

But since I moved to another city : no more basketball. Here in Tours it's volleyball and soccer. OK but not as cool as basketball

[ssracingn2 935]

Team USA is a smaller team this year than in previous years. With that being said I don't see them losing this year unless it is against Spain. I watch a little basketball mainly Pacers and seeing what happened to Paul George killed nba for me next year.

[zmurko 7,622]

Day 1, August 30th

 

Group A

 

Egypt : Serbia 64:85 (43:68, 31:43, 13:21) 

Elgammal 12, Gendy 11; Teodosić 15, Raduljica 13

 

France : Brazil 63:65 (41:46, 26:28, 18:11)

Diaw 15, Batum 13; Huertas 16, Vieira 10

 

Iran : Spain 60:90 (50:70, 33:48, 18:27)

Kamrani 18, Haddadi 16, 15 reb.; P. Gasol 33, M. Gasol 15, 10 reb.

 

 

Group B

 

Croatia : Philippines 81:78 (71:71, 57:49, 37:31, 23:9) - overtime

Bogdanović 26, Simon 12; Blatche 28, 17 reb., Chan 12.

 

Puerto Rico : Argentina 75:98 (49:69, 38:45, 19:27)

Barea 24, Balkman 10; Scola 20, Nocioni & Safar 18 

 

Greece : Senegal 87:64 (64:36, 45:17, 18:9)

Kaimakoglou 20, Vasileiadis 13; Dieng 21, Badji 14

 

 

Group C

 

Ukraine : Dominican Republic 72:62 (48:40, 27:27, 12:13)

Jeter 16, Kravcov 13; Garcia 18, Sosa 11

 

New Zealand : Turkey 73:76 (56:52, 38:28, 17:8)

Webster 22, Loe 11; Savas 16, Preldžić 14

 

USA : Finland 114:55 (89:39, 60:18, 31:16)

Thompson 18, Davis 17; Huff in Koponen 12

 

 

Group D

 

Angola : S.Korea 80:69 (52:48, 36:18, 16:6)

Cipriano in Moreira po 16; Kim 15, Yang 11

 

Australia : Slovenia 80:90 (60:69, 43:49, 19:27)

Baynes 21, Andersen 14; G. Dragić 21, D. Lorbek 13

 

Mexico : Lithuania 74:87 (53:67, 41:45, 27:22)

Cruz 21, Gutierrez 13; Maciulis 19, Motiejunas 15

 

 

Only saw 2 games, Australia : Slovenia and Mexico : Lithuania.

Great fight by our guys with their bigs and some good scoring too, pretty strong paced game.

Also surprised to see Mexico playing quite well, not a bad team at all, at least their starting 5 can definitely play, didnt see an entire game though.

 

Looks like a tough loss for European champions against a strong brasilian team.

 

 

Forum wins: USA, Slovenia

 

Forum losses: France, Australia, Finland, Mexico

Edited August 31, 2014 by zmurko76

[Fido_le_muet 5,197]

Yeah, I saw the end of the France match and they were behind most of the time.

Too many balls lost and not enough rebounds.

Got to win today's game against Serbia or it's already over.

 

Very nice win for Slovenia, against Australia no less. Kudos.

 

And Team USA : wow

[zmurko 7,622]

Day 2, August 31sth

 

Group A

 

Serbia : France 73:74 (62:60, 42:34, 21:20)

Raduljica 21, Bogdanović 12; Lauvergne 19, Diot 15, Jackson 12 

 

Brasil : Iran 79:50 (61:36, 40:24, 17:18)

Garcia 12, Barbosa 11, Splitter 10; Jamshidi 13, Kamrani 11

 

Spain : Egypt 91:54 (64:37, 42:24, 26:10)

Ibaka 18, Fernandez 14, Gasol 12; Elgammal 16, Kamal & Genedy 8

 

 

Group B

 

Argentina : Croatia 85:90 (63:75, 44:46, 20:28)

Scola 30, Campazzo 13; Simon 18, Bogdanović & Šarić 16

 

Senegal : Puerto Rico 82:75 (63:58, 41:40, 21:11)

Faye 20, Dieng 18; Balkman 21, Barea 15

 

Philippines : Greece 70:82 (45:58, 27:37, 10:20)

Blatche 21, Fajardo 10; Printezis 25, Bourosis 12

 

 

Group C

 

Dominican Republic : New Zealand 76:63 (51:50, 34:27, 14:16)

Garcia 29, Martinez 12, Feldeine 9; Abercrombie 22, Penney 16

 

Finland : Ukraine 81:76 (57:52, 35:37, 20:22)

Huff 23, Koponen 14, Murphy 12; Jeter 24, Pustozvonov 15

 

Turkey : USA 77:98 (60:66, 40:35, 16:16)

Akyol 12, Güler, Preldžić & Savas 9; Faried 22, Davis 19, Harden 14

 

 

Group D

 

Slovenia : Mexico 89:68 (65:50, 46:37, 24:18)

Z. Dragić 22, G. Dragić 18, Omić 12, Klobučar 10; Ayon 23, Cruz 13

 

Lithuania : Angola 75:62 (63:49, 38:35, 23:22)

Motiejunas 12, Valanciunas 11; Mingas 14, Cipriano 13

 

S.Korea : Australia 55:89 (41:66, 29:44, 17:26)

S. Kim 13, Cho in J. Kim po 10; Ingles 17, Bairstow & Baynes 13

 

 

Forum wins: USA, Slovenia, Australia, France, Finland

 

Forum losses: Mexico

[Fido_le_muet 5,197]

2 on 2 for Slovenia, great start !

First win for us after another game full of suspense (one free throw at the last second)

 

Team USA less impressive than on sunday but still +21 ^^

[zmurko 7,622]

Day 3, September 1st

 

Group A

 

Iran : Serbia 70:83 (51:67, 38:42, 18:21)

Haddadi 29, Bahrami 20; Bjelica 18, Bogdanović 16, Raduljica 13

 

France : Egypt 94:55 (68:36, 49:26, 23:15)

Lauvergne 12, Pietrus 11, Diot & Tillie 10; Elgammal 12, Genedy 11

 

Brasil : Spain 63:82 (47:66, 32:45, 14:30)

Barbosa 11, Varejao 10; P. Gasol 26, Rodriguez 12, Navarro 10

 

 

Group B

 

Croatia : Senegal 75:77 (52:59, 32:41, 16:18)

Šarić & Bogdanović 15; Dieng 27, Dalmeida 15

 

Argentina : Philippines 85:81 (71:61, 43:38, 22:25)

Scola 19, Mata 17, Laprovittola & Hermann 10; De Ocampo 18, Alapag 15

 

Puerto Rico : Greece 79:90 (52:68, 33:41, 19:20)

Balkman 23, Barea 21; Zisis 19, Antetokounmpo 15, Calathes 14, Bourousis 12

 

 

Rest day for groups C and D.

 

Surprise upset as Senegal beats a strong Croatia.

 

I've watched some of France:Egypt, Puerto Rico: Greece and Brasil:Spain games.

 

Egypt was African champion?! How did that happen lol? They wouldnt even qualify for an euro championship.

 

Spain put together their best team here and they look intimidating, you can tell most of them have been playing together for a long time now. Serious contenders to beat USA and get the gold medal in my opinion, they look much better than last year in Slovenia. They anihilated Brasil yesterday. Their 4 big guys are probably the best out of all teams (including USA, Brasil, Argentina & Australia), while they have a bunch of top class guards that can all play. I think 6 of them play in NBA, 4 in Real Madrid and 2 in Barcelona. I just can't stand them for some reason, eventhough I respect their talents. Rudy must be the most annoying basketball player you can find lol

 

[zmurko 7,622]

Day 4, September 2nd

 

Group C

 

Ukraine : Turkey 64:58 (41:39, 25:26, 13:13) 

Mišula 19, Zajcev 12; Asik 16 & 20 reb, Preldžić 14

 

USA : New Zealand 98:71 (75:54, 57:35, 27:20)

Davis 21, Faried 15 & 11 reb; Anthony 11, Bartlett 9

 

Finland : Dominican Republic 68:74 (49:60, 31:41, 15:16)

Koponen 23, Koivisto & Lee 8; Vargas 18, Garcia 16

 

 

Group D

 

Angola : Mexico 55:79 (45:57, 35:36, 20:15)

Joaquim & Moreira 13; Hernandez 24, Ayon 17, 12 reb.

 

Australia : Lithuania 82:75 (62:56, 47:28, 30:20)

Ingles 18, Baynes 14; Seibutis 21, Lavrinovič 14 

 

S.Korea : Slovenia 72:89 (56:70, 39:40, 21:19)

J. Lee 12, Oh, Cho & Moon 8; G. Dragić 22, Lorbek 14

 

 

Rest day for groups A and B.

 

 

Managed to just turn on my TV for the USA:New Zealand game to see New Zealand players perform the Haka dance. Awesome!

US players also seem to find it fascinating and looked very interested in it and also very respectful unlike turkish players the other day that walked to their bench during the dance and turned their backs to New Zealand players. Very disrespectful.

 

 

Otherwise, I was surprised to see the result of Finland:Dominican Republic game. And Australia played well to beat Lithuania, who is still trying to find a way to replace Kalnietis that got injured in their last preparation game. Our guys extend their winning streak by beating S.Korea, who managed to stay really close until the middle of 3rd quarter.

 

[zmurko 7,622]

Day 5, September 3rd

 

Group A

 

Egypt : Iran 73:88 (56:64, 41:48, 15:27)

Shousha 16, Elsabagh 13; Bahrami 24, 6 reb., Haddadi 23, 15 reb.

 

Serbia : Brasil 73:81 (64:60, 32:48, 16:23)

Teodosić 14, Raduljica 11; Vieira 21, Barbosa 16

 

Spain : France 88:64 (65:50, 44:34, 22:19)

M. Gasol 17, P. Gasol 15, Navarro 14; Batum & Diot 11

 

 

Group B

 

Philippines : Puerto Rico 73:77 (57:61, 44:39, 15:13)

Blatche 25, 14 reb., Tenorio 18; Barea 30, Sanchez & Huertas 13 

 

Senegal : Argentina 46:81 (38:53, 24:41, 15:20)

Dieng 11, Dalmeida 9; Scola 22, 14 reb., Herrmann 11

 

Greece : Croatia 76:65 (51:39, 36:23, 16:14)

Kaimakoglu 14, 6 reb., Papanikolau 14; Bogdanović 20, Šarić 10

 

 

Group C

 

New Zealand : Ukraine 73:61 (53:45, 36:30, 18:19)

Penney 17, 7 reb., Webster 11; Kornienko 15, Jeter 14, 6 ass

 

Turkey : Finland 77:73 (68:68, 53:59, 27:41, 10:15)*

Asik 22, 8 reb., Predžić 13, 8 reb.; Koponen 17, Salin 15

 

Dominican Republic : USA 71:106 (52:81, 41:56, 22:25)

Liz 15, Santana 11; Faried 16, 6 reb., Cousins 13

 

 

Group D

 

Mexico : Australia 62:70 (45:59, 32:33, 19:22)

Ayon 11, 9 reb., Mendez & Gutierez 10; Baynes 21, Boekhoff 12

 

Slovenia : Angola 93:87 (65:66, 44:43, 17:17)

Lorbek 17, G. Dragić 14, Klobučar 12; Fortes 21, Moreira 20, Moore 17

 

Lithuania : S. Korea 79:49 (57:33, 39:29, 17:19)

Juskevičius 20, Motiejunas 18, 7 reb.; Moon 15, J. Kim 12

 

 

Only 1 day left in group phase and there's still a lot of teams that don't have a 1/8 final spot guaranteed, so should be an interesting day today.

 

[zmurko 7,622]

Day 5, September 3rd

 

Group A

 

Brasil : Egypt 128:66 (91:48, 67:23, 37:10)

Barbosa 22, Machado 16, Varejao & Garcia 15; Elgammal 16, Gendy 14

 

Iran : France 76:81 (49:63, 33:37, 23:13)

Nikkhah Bahrami 23, Haddadi 22; Heurtel 15, Fournier 13

 

Serbia : Spain 73:89 (56:71, 35:54, 20:34)

Bjelica 19, Raduljica 13, Teodosić 10; P. Gasol 20, Navarro 15, Rubio 12, M. Gasol 11

 

 

Group B

 

Senegal : Philippines 79:81 (64:64, 44:49, 24:37, 19:13) (ovetime)

Faye 20, Ndoye, Dieng & Ndour 13; Alapag & Blatche 18, Fajardo 15

 

Croatia : Puerto Rico 103:82 (84:57, 53:36, 28:16)

Bogdanović 23, Šarić 15, Markota 10; Barea 20, Franklin 13

 

Argentina : Greece 71:79 (50:64, 33:44, 16:28)

Scola 17, Campazzo & Prigioni 10; Calathes 18, Bourousis 16, Printezis 15

 

 

Group C

 

Finland : New Zealand 65:67 (45:57, 32:44, 12:18)

Lee 17, Koponen 13; Fotu 18, Penney 11

 

Ukraine : USA 71:95 (54:69, 32:44, 19:14)

Kravcov 15, Jeter 13, Zacev 11; Harden 17, Curry 14, Davos 12

 

Turkey : Dominican Republic 77:64 (60:41, 41:23, 14:13)

Savas 15, Gönlöm 10, Preldžić & Akyol 9; Garcia 18, Liz 12

 

 

Group D

 

Australia : Angola 83:91 (65:63, 42:29, 22:17)

Goulding 22, Motum 13; Moreira 38, 15 reb., Mingas 16

 

S. Korea : Mexico 71:87 (47:61, 30:40, 11:18)

Moon 16, Oh 13, Lee, Jang & Kim 10; Hernandez 16, Ramos 14, Cruz 13

 

Lithuania : Slovenia 67:64 (55:62, 36:44, 22:24)

Valanciunas 12, Lavrinovič 11; Lorbek 14, Zupan 13, G. Dragić 12, Z. Dragić 10

 

 

Playoff bracket and schedule:

 

 

[Fido_le_muet 5,197]

Dammit ! Spain in 1/4 finals if we win against Croatia ! That's tough for us.

 

I see a nice Slovenia VS USA coming soon Z

 

Brazil VS Argentina should be a nice game.

[zmurko 7,622]

Yeah, we're all basically screwed.

 

Bloody Australians, they most likely intentionally lost their last match to at least have a chance of 3rd place in the group and potentially avoid USA before semi-finals. If they won their last game, they were almost guaranteed 2nd place in the group and therefore facing USA in quaterfinals. Of course they're diplomatically denying it now. 

So it was a tough loss yesterday, Slovenia just couldnt score in last quarter, 4-5 open 3pt shots, couple of easy points under the basket bounced out ...

 

Oh well, we'll just have to beat USA now if we make it into the quarterfinals.

 

[Fido_le_muet 5,197]

YES !!!

Victory for us against Croatia after a tense match.

We were ahead most of the time but only a few points.

Very defensive first half (26-24) if I followed right.

2nd half was more interesting and we played better and better.

Hope Slovenia wins tonight Z.

It will probably be a revenge game for us against Spain.

Can't wait !

[zmurko 7,622]

Well done.

 

I wanted to watch 2nd quarter after I've seen the result, but it turned out it was already half time.

 

If you can slow down Spain this much, France definitely have a chance.

[Fido_le_muet 5,197]

Congrats Slovenia! Well deserved win !

[zmurko 7,622]

First 4 1/8 finals are done, 2 comfortable wins for heavy favourites and 2 hard fought battles for France and Slovenia.

 

USA : Mexico 86:63 (66:38, 42:27, 23:13)

Curry 20, Harden 12, Cousins 11; Ayon 25

 

France : Croatia 69:64 (46:34, 23:22, 7:15)

Batum 14, Fournier 13; Bogdanović 27, Tomić 17

 

Dominican Republic : Slovenia 61:71 (48:54, 28:38, 15:15)

Feldeine 18, Martinez 12; Z. Dragić 18., G. Dragić 12

 

Spain : Senegal 89:56 (62:43, 41:28, 23:17)

P. Gasol 17, Calderon, Reyes & Ibaka 11; Faye & Badji 12

 

 

[Fido_le_muet 5,197]

BREAKING NEWS !!!

 

France was selected to host EuroBasket 2015 !

Or at least part of it but the best part : knockout matches.

 

Group stage will be played in Germany, Latvia, Croatia and France and knockout games will be played in Lille, France.

I can say I will be in Lille during a weekend next year

[zmurko 7,622]

Well, Slovenia was able to hang with USA for first 20-25 mins, than we ran out of gas and they stepped on theirs, few turnovers/steals followed by few fast breaks, our guys started to miss and it quickly added up, final points difference quite large at the end. USA is an extremely athletic team though, especially when they really apply themselves. Apparently we placed 6th in the world at the end (not sure how they calculate that), which is not bad for a country with 2mil inhabitans missing some of the better players too.

 

Good luck to France for tonight!

 

 

Missing results from prevoius days:

 

1/8 finals, September 7th:

 

New Zealand : Lithuania 71:76 (50:58, 26:36, 9:23)

Webster 26, Fotu 11; Valančiunas 22, Pocius 11

 

Serbia : Greece 90:72 (64:55, 46:42, 23:20)

Bogdanović 21, Raduljica 16; Calathes 14, Printezis 12

 

Turkey : Australia 65:64 (46:50, 34:35, 15:18)

Preldžić & Güler 16; Baynes 15, Dellavedova 13 

 

Brasil : Argentina 85:65 (57:49, 33:36, 13:21)

Neto 21, Vieira 13; Prigioni 18, Campazzo 11

 

 

1/4 finals, September 9th:

 

Lithuania : Turkey 73:61 (47:44, 33:28, 13:18)

Seibutis 19, Pocius 13, Valanciunas 12, D. Lavrinovič 11; Gönlöm 13, Arslan 12, Asik 11, Preldžić 10

 

Slovenia : USA 76:119 (64:86, 42:49, 22:29)

G. Dragić 13, D. Lorbek 12, Z. Dragić 11; Thompson 20, Faried & Harden 14

 

[Fido_le_muet 5,197]

I was sad to see such a big difference between USA and Slovenia. Your guys deserved better Zmurko.

 

I hope France can do better by beating spain tonight but I'm affraid that's not going to happen.

Spanish players are superior.

[ssracingn2 935]

I got to watch the 1rst quarter of the game. Slovenia looked good and it is a shame the lead got so big.

I would love to see France beat Spain as well.

[Fido_le_muet 5,197]

Amazing win for France against Spain !

I never expected us to win this one so it feels incredibly good !

65 - 52

Without Tony Parker and Joakim Noah against a fully loaded spanish team!

In Madrid no less !

Usa, here we come !!!!!!

[zmurko 7,622]

Amazing job!!! I didnt get to see the game as I was out with friends, but we followed the score in last quarter.

 

Just like I predicted, if France manages to slow Spain down they have a great chance. Looks like they did an amazing job on defense.

 

I'm so happy that Spain is out and FIBA's arranged playoff system is out of the window.

 

Congratulations France! Enjoy the victory Fido!

 

A very tough game coming up against Serbia. I've watched their game against Brasila and they played amazing basketball, looked so simple and efffortless, but they literally destroyed Brasil.

Edited September 10, 2014 by zmurko76