Hoops

Spain v Lithuania

Brazil will finish 5th regardless of the results of the last game as they lost their game against Croatia.

Opps,^ of course not, I keep thinking we finished top. We obviously play the 3rd team.
USA v Brazil would be a pretty exciting knockout game though.

If Lithuania beat Croatia, Croatia and Brazil finish equal 4th, right? Who will take 4th position? I guess we would rather play Croatia to avoid the crazy home crowd support for Brazil.

The only reason it happens in the olympics and worlds is because the US are seen as an unbeatable path that needs to be avoided at all costs. Although I still don't see why Lithuania would take in first spot...

Croatia includes a long stretch of coastline along the Adriatic Sea, and as a result seafood features prominently in its national cuisine.

Just because they do it, didn't mean we had to. I hope we never do it again, it was beyond pathetic.

You would hope FIBA would look into this game, and not just as lip service like they did when they "looked into" our dive.

Either make taking a dive legal, fine teams who do it, or make the crossovers blind. At the moment it's just a grey area, what's the point in having any rules against it?

Nigeria also beat Croatia...is something fishy there?

That's what the Euros do, like it or not. Will be interesting to see if FIBA investigates after the tournament or whether they only act when Goran Dragic complains!

This is problematic. Something needs to be done to avoid tanking at the Olympics full stop. Even though Australia has been guilty of it. Not sure what though.

Thanks for the link, Naph. If it was gamesmanship, then they really took it to extremes. 50 points!

If you read the link that ME put up in the "Boomers crossover opponent impossible to predict" thread.

http://www.eurohoops.net/featured/298605/thriller-in-group-b

It looks very likely that Lithuania will now finish either first or third. Which conveniently means that they will now avoid the USA until the final should they advance.

A few things had to break their way for that to eventuate, but I think its fairly likely that there was some gamesmanship going on here.

Watched the first few minutes. Spain looked focused, locked in and ready to go. They were playing with intensity. Spain hit a couple of early threes and looked confident. Lithuania looked like they just wanted a day off.

So I fast forwarded a few minutes. Every time I fast forwarded a few more minutes, Spain’s lead had grown, so I didn’t bother watching anymore. I can only assume the pattern of the first few minutes continued, and that Spain were playing confident basketball while Lithuania didn’t bring the necessary mindset.

I was wondering the same. I can understand a team in Pool B trying to avoid finishing fourth (face USA in first crossover) or second (on USA's side of the bracket in the semi-finals) but why wouldn't they want first spot?

Lithuania's final game is against Croatia who will have a particular interest in escaping fourth spot. Is the deciding factor head-to-head or overall plus/minus? If the latter, then it looks like Lithuania could still fall to fourth? They're -27 while Croatia are -16.

Dan Harris & Captain Klinger each made 50's in a remarkable run chase with Tom Cooper going nuts in the final overs to give the Redbacks a 5 wicket win with three balls left over the loaded IPL powerhouse.

Mumbai 7/180

SA 5/182

Redbacks undefeated after two games with lowly Guyana up next on Friday night and almost assured of a spot in the semi-finals.