Greece (V-Span) vs. United States (Battier), 6:30 a.m, Friday, Sept. 1

Here u go.

http://sports.espn.go.com/extra/wbc/boxscore?gameId=260903930

 

I agree with a lot of the previous commenters. You don't need to play "best out of 3" or "best out of how many multiple games" in any international tournament. Most international competition do not use that kind of system anyway. It's all about the game of odds. If two teams of similar caliber play each other multiple times, each will end up winning a few and losing a few. But that system is set up by the likes of NBA and MLB in order to generate ratings and rake in the $$$ for the league. If you're the best, you should be prepared to play at any moment. You don't see a best out of 3 or best out of 7 in the Superbowl. Stop finding excuses for the US. With the talent on their squad, they're more than qualified to beat the Greek team. However, NBA basketball is very different from international competition. What might work in the NBA might not workin FIBA. And vice versa. That's just the way it is. Stop trying to rationalize everything.

 

Chris VS Spanollis

 

Excuses don't matter in one thing - there is no dream team a long time ago. The dream team is a joke as a name.

 

Of course you would say that who would want to play USA more than once. But everyone knows the best team doesn't always win. Greece had to play an almost perfect game and USA missed a ton of free throws and too many 3's to to allow the opportunity for a Greece win. Not to take anything away from their victory they were the better team this morning but in a seven game series you increase the chances that the best team will win.

 

Luck is an element of every game, every sport. There's no way to keep it out of a game (unless you're really that good so you can win even against bad luck but that rarely happens). And wouldn't you say that Greece is unlucky as well to be playing with one player less? But hey, that's the nature of sports. And as we say here in Greece "Luck favors the bold and the best"

Slovenia went through even by losing that game. China went through because they netted the last shot? Was it luck or skill? We'll never know. Puerto Rico could have gone through if their last shot had got in against Italy but it didn't. Was it bad luck or lack of skills? We'll never know.

And anyway, as I said it's not like this system is used only by FIBA. All the sports associations in all the world use the elimination system since the dawn of athleticism. Sports people know it and live by it. Sometimes it produces "fair" results and sometimes "unfair" but that's how life is.

 

Nobody's finding excuses, it's elementary probablility that you're more likely to get a majority outcome rather than a minority outcome if you increase sample size.

It's not set up to generate ratings, when they set up the system basketball games weren't on TV; they did it because they could, plain and simple (unlike american football where a best of seven could conceivably take 7 weeks to play out), and that's why European teams largely do the same thing in their domestic leagues.

I don't particularly care what kind of tournament they want to run in Int'l tourneys as like I said, they're basically a sideshow in between real basketball. But the fact remains that in a short tournament you're more likely to find an upset than in a long tournament, no matter what the sport.

 

This should be a wake up call for Colangelo and Coach K. The game plan for the 2008 Olympics still needs some work, the US absolutely needs a dominant big man. Shaq comes to mind, but he will be 2 years older in 2008 and even if he was capable of contributing he has never shown the patriotic zeal to play for team USA. Damn, I wish Yao was born in the USA.

 

from what i saw of the game, it still looks like the USA hasn't worked out how to play against a zone

 

No offence, but I think real basketball is what we're watching right now in Japan. Unless you consider dunk and 3p contests and running up and down the court with no reason or gameplan at all as "real" basketball.

 

It's true the better team may lose one game, on the other hand, the best team must win every game to advance. If Greece misses free throws and 3 ptrs like the USA in a previous game, they would've been eliminated already. Team Greece stayed in every game played in WBC and pulled out victory. The USA didn't stay in every game played in WBC and pulled out every possible victory. Why? It's not because of luck. It's because of heart and team work.

 

The Reality is that Team USA has the idea all wrong. They need to find about 6 guys who are average to bench players on NBA teams who are geared to the international game. have them play innumerous tournaments and games together, then add about 6 stars to that team to give it a little oomph. allows you to have a cohesive unit out there together.

 

As dissapointed I am that the US lost at least I'm glad V-Span looked great and the Rox season is looking brighter everyday.

Interesting discussion on whether they should play more series instead of single elimination games. I agree the better team would win but considering how much Beyatching there is about Yao playing CNT games can you imagine the bellyaching if Yao, V-Span, Battier and other NBA players where playing a lot more international games. Also like it or not luck is a huge part of sports and even in a series the best team doesn't always win consider how the 1995 Denver Nuggets knocked off the Sonics. The beauty of elimination games be they game 7's of a series, March Madness or any other game is that it all comes down to showing who is better prepared and mentally prepared to give it all in that one game. I mean would football be better if there were series? Would it have been better for Seahawks to play the Steelers best out of three? I don't think so.

 

Basketball is a strange game...on any given night, a team can get hot and win over a better team. We see this all the time in the NCAA's.

Point is, the world isn't so much poorer then our squad anymore that we can't lose a game or two here. We lost to the Greeks, they had a stellar outside shooting game, and we did not.

That's just the way it goes now.

 

Somehow . .. I get the feel ssssoooo many people Love this
they just love to see the NBAers lose

Why do ya'll hate America?

ONE MORE THING, at what point does coaching come in and grad some blame.
[YES I AM LOOKING AT YOUR GEORGE KARL!!! ]

Rudy took some Never have beens . . and got Bronze

*Sigh*
we could certainly use a man like Rudy T again
[sung in that ALL IN THE FAMILY Theme kind of way]

Rocket River

 

International game
heavily favors jump shooting
over driving and posting

Rocket River

 

What time was the game? I set the DVR for 5:30 am and it is Argentina vs Spain......and it said USA vs Greece in the guide....WTF happened?

DD

 

Well you see Vspan would disagree with you as he said he we play our best and have bit of luck we can win. He also agreed that USA is very talented. And lets be very clear Greece made 31 of 44 shots in the last 3 quarters. Better than shot against any other team in the tournament far better. I would bet they could play USA 10 more times and never shoot that good again. But all that being said they won the game played their hearts out and they deserve to advance. And nothing should be taken away from their victory.

 

That's true. I think if they had fielded a normal NBA team like the Rockets or the Pistons for example (minus the internationals of course), they would have had more chance for the gold than by fielding 12 superstars who have never played together in the past and are required to learn how everyone else is playing in just 1 month. If they even bothered to learn their teammates way of playing that is.

 

LOL, same thing happen to me. I woke up around 5ish trying to catch the start of the game and the game was going down the wire. The game was two hours earlier than advertised. Too bad I missed the VSPAN coming out party.