Hmmm..... i beleive this should have been the finals but lets see what happens if the US get to the quaterfinals they will face Spain i beleive this is the best matchup in the Olympics. Now that we have seen the US struggle with Greece and lose to PR and Lith. what do you think about USA´s chances against SPAIN ??
not sure how we're supposed to beat the "tougher" opponents of the quarterfinals if we can't even beat teams like puerto rico and lithuania sigh.
I thought lithuania is one of the top team in olympics? I still remember lithuania lost to USA for only 3 points way back in 1996 or something, when USA was still dominating the whole world
Team USA will wake up in the medal round. If they really play against each other, Spain will have no chance. Duncan is gonna school Gasol. 92-79.
Well Lithuania is still the best team of the world and Puerto Rico is probably a top 5 team. Spain played great so far but normaly they aren't much better than for example Germany. Lithuania is a real team where Spain is pretty much only Pau Gasol. Don't get me wrong, I do think Spain has a chance to get the gold medal. But it's not correct to unterestimate Puerto Rico and especially Lithuania.
Spain beat Puerto Rico by like 35 pts in an exhibition there 4-0 they have dominated the favorites Argentina and Serbia and Montenegro ?? PAU GASOL is an important part on the team but they have a couple of players that right now are contributing more than Gasol , like Navarro. And about Puerto Rico how are they considered top 5??? Because they beat USA ??? They had a hard time against the Aussies and lost to Lithuania... For me the top 5 would be 1. Spain or Lithuania 2. Spain or Lithuania 3. Argentina 4. USA 5. Italy ( they were in a lot harder division)
Though I think the U.S. will obviously have to play pretty well to beat Spain I still think that Spain will not be as bad a matchup for them as Lithuania was. Lithuania is the epitome of what sinks the U.S: one of the best zone defenses in the world with a lineup of 5 three point shooters.
Well it's not like the US isn't allowed to guard them.... AND - more importantly, it's not like the US isn't allowed to take an outside shot. So many guys get it WIDE open and then dribble into traffic.... it's funny to watch! I know they haven't been falling - so play the guys who can hit them (any chance of checking Lebron in coach?) - why Jefferson is out there I don't know - although thank goodness he hit some shots late against Lithuania - now he'll retain his spot so the Spanish can beat you up! Hope Lithuania wins gold... they came so close last olympics!
Lithuania beat spain in the qualifiers in europe and gasol played in that game. i think lithuania has no NBA players but they are still very good because of team work and good shooting. I think if the US wont win the gold lithuania would win it.
Lithuania would have NBA players except their best guys don't want to play - they get pretty big money over in their local league! Although I think Songaila played for the Kings? (can't be bothered to look it up...)
Alot of Euro Players dont want to play in the NBA because : 1. In Europe they only play like 1 game a week. 2. The rest of the week they practice and there practices are hard but not compared to the NBA ones. 3. Because of the Money they get made alot in Europe. Not the likes of the NBA but they play alot less too.
1. In Europe, you have national championship, league cup, and European competision ( for best teams Euroleague). That means 2-3 games per week. 2. They do practice a lot. I think (i can't prove it I just think so), that they practive more then NBA teams, which normaly don't even have time because of the schedule and travels.
they practice alot but not as much intensity not all teams play all the european competitions only the top teams play them most teams just play there countrys league, i could prove this because once here in spain i met REX WALTERS ex heat player who was in a team in LEON , SPAIN and he told me all of this and most NBA players that go overseas dont train as hard than in the NBA. This is were i got my information from.
I'm from Slovenia an my club Olimpija was known for having extremly hard trainings and for makeing good players (in Olimpija played in their youth - Jasikevicius, Jiri Welch, Nesterovic, Udrih, Stepania, Brezec... all except Sarunas are in the NBA). As you probably know in Eurore big clubs or wealthy clubs usually buy allready proven or made players, while clubs who can't afford them must have good scouting and trainings. So it depends, somewhere you train like crazy and somewhere you don't. I supose it's the same everywhere.
