Hoops

Spain 0 - 2

Well Spain finished 3 - 2 here, so I am getting off of the prediction game!

They were incredible in those first three knockout games. Some European teams just seem to know how to turn it on at the right moment.

I think all of these stories should perhaps make us more cautious in our praise of the Boomers- there's a long way to go! Playing well in the first 3 games is a good start...but that's all it is. A start.

Haha true

Another example of a team recovering is Serbia in 2014 world cup, they finished 2-3 and 4th in their pool and then ended up runners up.

In the finals, they defeated a couple of teams who had been them in the group stages, with a crushing 28 point win against Brazil and also defeating France.

Did you think I was just making that shit up? ;-)

True- my bad

(It's Friday, and I'm sleep deprived :-) )

Had Spain lost to Germany the two teams would have been tied on 2-3 and the Germans would have owned the head-to-head, relegating Spain to fifth and an early flight home.

In Eurobasket 2015 Spain finished 3-2 and Germany 1-4. Spain finished 2nd in their pool but would have still finished 4th, had they lost to Germany.

Is it possible that Nigeria's just a lot better than we all thought?

I expected them to not even get within 20 points of anyone but they've pushed Lithuania and Spain.

Really struggling at the moment, but you know if they click into gear like they did last year they can beat anyone.

You think they are showing enough form to get over Argentina and Lithuania? Maybe. But they are anything but impressive at the moment.

You do realise they beat Germany by a point at last year's Eurobasket to avoid elimination in the group stage and then went on and won gold?

Stick a fork in Spain - they're done.


Only just going to trip across the line against Nigeria here.

It's possible but it's also possible they'll play four other opponents too. All those teams will be tough, international basketball is full of tough teams these days.

And yes it's knockout once the pool games finish mid next week. Knockout QF, SF and then medal games.

So how likely is it that Australia will face Spain next round and is it a knockout round?

However, that all sort of falls apart if you want to avoid Spain.

Finishing fourth in our group might actually have been better this year.

"Spain tanking to line up Australia perhaps"

No idiot is going to tank their first few games in a tournament when they have no guarantee of wining against someone like Lithuania who are coming up for them. If they lose to Lithuania they will line up against the USA. I doubt they're playing those kinds of games right now.

By the fact that they've been 1 point losses, I'd say they've been trying but failing.

It’s not a case of tanking KET, it’s more not showing the tricks you might use against US in a medal game so they don’t have a chance to prepare for them.

I would rate the chance that Australia decides to tank as about the same chance as Australia wins.

I expect the USA to really come out and try prove a point against Australia largely because of Bogut and Delly.

KET's on the ball

There's no way Australia tanks against the US lol.

If we managed to pull off a victory against the US, that's like getting gold in itself, we will be trying 110%.

Plus, even trying our very hardest, we could easily get smacked by 30 points against the US so it's not like the question of tanking even needs to be asked.

I did notice some poor body language from Gasol, early in the game vs Brazil. Odd....

And Rubio- he's had 8 fouls in 28 minutes of play.

They have Nigeria next, perhaps a 30 point win is all they need to get their mojo back.

Slovenia? Serbia....

The way Australia are playing i don't think anyone would tank to get them, France and Slovenia both looking much more vulnerable.

Spain tanking to line up Australia perhaps

The Spanish group don't look happy at all. Rubio and Gasol in particular look really frustrated. Id like to take credit (I was sitting courtside so tried heckling Ricky. He did chuck up a poor jumper after I yelled to the defender to let him shoot coz he wont hit it) but they just seem really disjointed. On paper they have such a good team but just aren't putting it together.

Let the US beat us I say!

Spain have never been more susceptible to us now without 2 or their 3 best players in M. Gasol & Ibaka so gives us a little bit of a size advantage.

"They have a danger game left against Lithuania to come. If they lose that they will likely finish fourth and miss us altogether and get knocked out by the US."

It's a pity our game vs USA is before that one. Now we don't know whether we should play normally vs USA or whether we should let them beat us so that we can avoid Spain in the cross-over

Who knows. Anything can happen.

Lithuania is highly rated ($2.88 favourite to win Silver medal). But they've played one good half out of their two games so far.

They looked very shaky in the 2nd half vs Brazil, and just scraped through against Nigeria, with Nigeria staying close throughout and the game still up for grabs until the last minute or two.

All of these teams are full of NBA players and Euroleague players, and it'll just depend whose roster complements each other and who fires at the right time.

They have a danger game left against Lithuania to come. If they lose that they will likely finish fourth and miss us altogether and get knocked out by the US.

Hopefully they lose again and miss the next round, they will be a dangerous crossover opponent.

Don't worry- there's a lot of water to go under the bridge yet.

Spain could still even finish on top- You could have 5 teams all finishing on 3 wins, 2 losses. Spain would then probably finish on top because their two losses would have been by a grand total of 3 points.

Or Spain could very easily finish 2nd, or 4th...or even, incredibly, miss out.

Even so- Boomers would be every chance of beating Spain. Without Marc Gasol, Spain don't look as dangerous as years gone by. They'll still be very good once their outside shot starts dropping, but even so I'll still give the Boomers a very good chance.

I Just hope they don't find form, finish 3rd and knock us out in the first round

Gasol has been the opposite of clutch, gets blocked on the buzzer vs Croatia, and then gets to the free throw line with 20 seconds to go vs Brazil....and misses both.

Anything can happen in that pool. It's great to see

Speaking to a member of the score bench and even she's not sure where the 14 second front court reset came from?

Did I miss an additional rule change along with the 3pt line, keyway and cylinder?




And re: cylinder below the hoop - why the frak was that an offensive foul?! Ugh!