[EuroBasket 2013] Asik, Motiejunas, Casspi, Papanikolaou & Llull -- Sep. 4–22

Yeah at least the Belgium-Serbia game was a complete flop for such a close game.

Neither side showed much passion. Serbia was coasting as they often have done in the past with much more talented teams. Belgium seemed to be content after getting to the second round and didn't look hungry at all for more.

It's a shame since all the teams in the other group deserve to qualify for the quarterfinals. (OK, I might be a bit biased )

 

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1uck8UC9pU

 

Man I really wish the NBA would adopt these FIBA flopping rules. They have a 0 tolerance policy and I actually think the 2 free throws, the tech, and the earn-full from the coaches mean more to the players than the 5,000 dollar fine.

 

Batum geeting a tech for flopping, I love it.

I agree with all the posters saying that group F is much better than this one. Belgium and Ukraine are under average teams, Latvia is just ok and Serbia has a meh team, but they're pretty solid because they have the best coach in the tournament.

 

Man, the Lithuanian coach is really bending over backwards to not start Valanciunas. 13/6 come on in 16 minutes, the kid is a monster.

 

For years in reading about international play I have never understood the Lithuanian rotation... Can someone explain? Logic would seem to dictate that you start Valanciunas/Motie because they are young and seemingly the future of your program.

 

Lithuania is here to win the competition, not to develop young players.

 

but 5000 dollars mean more to NBA:grin:

 

Why not both?

 

Beautiful idea! You're an embodiment of lateral thinking in the best tradition of Edward de Bono my dear rockets friend...

 

Greece Vs. Spain starts here in about 15 minutes on ESPN3 FYI.

 

Greece pulls a stunner to beat Spain. Truly an effort win from Greece. Gritty defensive effort that forced a ton of turnovers.

Papanikolaou didn't play a huge role as expected, but this wasn't the type of game or the type of team where any player would really get a chance to put up huge numbers. They score points wherever they can, but its largely a well rounded team effort.

Llull didn't really have any impact whatsoever other than a few turnovers where he tried to hard to penetrate the defense, and ended up having to make a pass in the heart of the defense. When Llull was playing off the ball, he pretty much is useless.

Gasol was a beast as usual, but couldn't get much help elsewhere

Rubio had a scare when he had to come out of the game in the second half with what looked like a knee injury. Come to find out it was a muscle cramp type of injury.

 

Nice dunk by Boki! Didn't think he would still be this athletic.

It's hard not to root for Slovenia, they are basically the team of ex-Rockets with Goran&Zoran and Boki

 

Rubio put himself in harm's way a lot out there today. Especially on defense, he just kept trying to go through screens pretty much every time. They only called it once, cause he wasn't strong enough to make Bouroussis or Kavvadas budge, but I think I saw him go over a screen once and never under while trying to guard Spanoulis. He pretty much crashed into the Greek big men 9 times out of 10. Good for him that he dived into them elbow first, otherwise he could do a lot worse than a cramp when playing so carelessly.

 

Boki dunks over Shawn Br... Patrick Pat.. Nicolo Melli!

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Where is Malone when you need him?:grin:

 

DMo and Lithuania against Belgium in a minute.

 

D-Mo with a pretty sick tip-dunk.

Then follows it up with a coast to coast and-one dunk.... big man showing some handles on the fast break.