Sorry ,I'm not very aware of the situation in Group A. Maybe Argentina or Lithuania. If China ends up 4, face Argentina.If it ends up 3,Lithuania. Maybe...
You can say it now, because USA has won over Spain. But you were not right at the time you said it, since the tiebreaker would be among USA, German and China if USA lost to Spain and USA and China both lose their last round matches. In that case, among themselves, USA, China and German all has the same win-lose, ie 1-1. By the second tiebreaker,China would be the worst in score-ratios, ,so China would be the one not to advance to last 8. Now USA has won, therefore China advances. Interesting.
FIBA is different than the NBA... they call travels and even carries which is almost never seen in the NBA. The charge is legit in FIBA rule, they don't have the area for blocking foul like the NBA. China would've won if Dirk had 2 FT at the end anyways (and I don't think it's a foul anyway, dirk almost fall on his own and lost it)
i'm from germany, so i know a little bit about fiba ball from watching it in the last 10 years or so. i know the rules are different. but, still, the travel call was a call that shouldn't be made and won't be made most of the time in this situation. the charging call probably was legit, like i've said (still lucky because yao moved his upper body a bit and nowitzki seemed to be pushed by another player from behind. i don't have the replay, though.). the non call was a wrong call doesn't matter if nba or fiba ball. so, you had the refs on your side a little bit (of course, not intentionally). and the luck as well with that in and out. the bottom line is that china has won and they deserved it because they played solid (still not good) while germany had one of it's worst games since i can remember. but, to say that dirk choked is just wrong. losing a game because of some unadvantageous calls and because of tough luck isn't choking. that's all i'm saying. but it's all good. i'll be cheering for yao and china in the quarter finals.
watch it on nbcolympics.com the quality is pretty good too... u want to watch it in high quality so download the microsoft silverlight.. its better than any downlaod since there is no dl requiered. its streaming
looks like german fans are not like sore losers like some of the other countries. wink wink. i will be cheering for germany against USA.
It wasn't Dirk's fault. He had to force up a lot of shots since there really was not a better option in many possession. He also had to be a "play maker" like McGrady more than he's capable of. The only play that seems to have worked consistently for Germany are plays on which guys came off screens for an open 3 pointer. Otherwise, the offense was even worse than the final stats showed. Yao wasn't having the most efficient day, either-- seemed to miss shots when he got tired. He also wasn't getting much support from his teammates on offense, particularly from his shooters. The Chinese players, particularly Yi, did a good job defending Dirk and the Germans, though.
Agreed. I like Yi's athleticism and he guarded Dirk pretty good on a couple possessions. But he also made a few stupid mistakes....It looks like hes the kinda player who hasnt been trained to play good D constantly. It was really a gamble to let him play 1on1 with Dirk all game long.
WTF? Chen is light years ahead of Liu Wei. The only reason Liu Wei gets to play is because he knows how to pass to Yao. Basic point guard duties: -Bring up the ball. Liu can barely get it past mid court. He stops right after passing mid court and is forced to pass it every time. Chen can actually drive and go in. -Make plays/assists. I have never seen Liu Wei making a play that isn't passing to Yao down low. Chen consistently drives and dishes. They both chuck threes. -Full court press/pressure. Liu Wei's never even heard of this. If he's not five feet ahead of the opposing point guard, he'll get burned. Chen gets steals every time he's gien significant minutes. Even the point guard from Angola can drive, run a full court. Liu Wei's full court involves dribbling into traffic and either losing it or causing a collision and a foul. He is NOT better than Chen. Chen will only improve his basketball IQ through playing more. Liu's a shooting guard with no height.
Most Chinese fans don't like Chen, because he made turnovers especially at some critical moments. He handle the ball too much and can't pass well. Like Su Yue, who was not good and is getting much better after coach gave much opportunities, Chen may be NO1 point guard one day after Liu Wei gets retired.
Chen has zero bball IQ period. as soon as he goes on, turnover, Germany guy scores 2x 3 pter in a row. when he brg the ball up court, it's a 50% gurenteed turnover. I'm not saying Liu Wei is better. at least he knows how to pass it to somebody wearing red/white. I suggest you read some of the chinese forums/articles and see how the majority of ppl feel about it.
