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

There is nothing wrong with the FIBA/WBC system. If the team is suppose to be the best, then they should be able to show that and win their games. If they happen to lose by "luck", well, Then it means that Team really wasn't the best team. Obviously, the teams that advance all the way are the best teams. If they didn't, there not one of those teams. The Best of 3 thing would just take too much time.

 

Sure but you also have to consider that one bad call by ref or one injury can ruin a chance of a better team to win that one game. Now you can argue that its part of the game but if we have a best out of 3 system than you will have no excuse to lose since a team beat you twice.

 

no way, yes the greeks may have shot well from the perimeter, but they had plenty of post targets and more importantly player and ball movement....

i love the nba and i certainly not one of those glad they lost types....

they just have no idea how to break down good zone, you gotta move the ball and look to get it inside instead of dribbling on the perimeter and looking to break it down that way....

the greeks also looked much more in sync whereas in the last the US seems to be on different pages....

although the Greeks handled it reasonably well Coach K waited too long to go to the full crt D

the drive and 3 by Kill Bill really won them the game

 

What, US lost to Greece? This is so unfriggin'believable.

 

Well i wasn't talking about luck in this game. I was referring to the Slovenia and China game.

 

Luck helps those who help themselves.

My point is that Greece didn't win every game because of luck, you point is that Greece won this specific game against the USA because of luck. My point is verifiable and your point is guess.

Even if the USA win in a series, it doesn't mean team Greece won this game because of luck.

You think that only the USA can get unlucky to the extent of losing a game? Why team Greece didn't get unlucky in so many games played for even once? Not even once, is that because they are charmed? is that because the USA is cursed? The constant of team Greece is heart and hard team work every game, the constant of team USA is lack of heart and excuses of luck, referees and rules.

 

good game... both teams played hard.

Free throws and help defense, they sucked at both of those things, that's why they lost.

Why were D'Antoni, McMillan, and Boehiem there? I didn't see the Phoenix offense, the Seattle offense, or Syracuse defense. It was like watching a Duke game. Ah well... They played hard, they just don't have the necessary skills to beat a great international team playing at it's absolute best.

This things isn't over yet, they have to beat Argentina.

Anyway... Brad Miller should have played... Chris Bosh belongs in the WNBA... Dwight Howard is far from being a great player... Wade and James play looks a lot better on a stat sheet than it did in real life... Anthony's play looks a lot better in real life than it does on a stat sheet... Hinrich was their best G...

 

Agreed, you don't need luck to make FTs.

 

so you never think a lesser team can beat a better team in any basketball game? ever? if the bobcats beat the spurs, to you the bobcats are better? it wasn't an upset, the bobcats are just better? so in the nba finals, dallas was actually the better team b/c they won the first game? we should just ignore that sometimes the lesser team wins some games but over the long haul the better team will win more?

 

LET THE V-SPAN LOVE TRAIN START A ROLLIN DOWN THE TRACK !!!!!


WELL MYSELF AND A FEW OTHERS HAVE BEEN SAYING IT !!

Starter by mid-season !!!!

V-Span was sandbagging the whole tournament waiting to show his REAL stuff in the biggest game !!!

That was the championship for Span and Co. !!

Un-Freaking Believable !!!

 

I am not arguing for USA or for Greece or for any other team. What i am trying to say is that if the FIBA is claiming a team after the tournament to be the best team in the tournament than it should have to be a team that wins over a team with a bigger sample size. Like for example Italy and Lithuania. Both played their hearts out and it came down to luck and thats it. There are other games that were won because of a wrong call by ref or some other wrong event. All of this does not help FIBA to present to us the best team in the world.
Sure its exciting to see an elimination round and upsets but if you are going to tell me that Greece or Argentina is the best team in the world than i would have to disagree because a lot could go wrong in one game but with 3 games you are certain to have the better team win. Who says Greece can't beat USA 2 times straight. If they beat USA 2 times then certainly they are the better team. Simple as that.

 

better to call it "dreaming" team next time. some people just in a denial mode, it is not like USA has won anything in the past quite the oppsite they were as low as 6th not long ago, damn even China reached the final 8 once in a while.

why can't you just admit USA is not the best basketball team in the world, by far?

 

you and RocketFire should stop trying to confuse everyone with this unbelievably deep logic. this stuff is really hard to grasp. according to most people in here, they would be perfectly happy if FIBA announced that starting next year, all games would be shortened to 2 minutes. hey, if you can't get the lead at the end of a 2 minute period, clearly you aren't the best. you should be ready for any two minute period. they shoot 2/3 on a lucky bank shot and you got 1/2, too bad, they were clearly better. i don't even know why FIBA messes with the other 38 minutes in each game. it seems a little silly to me, and should to most others in this thread.

tell me everyone, why do games last 40 minutes? there doesn't seem to be a need. it can't be because they wanna even out the breaks and the bounces and the off-performance and the good ones could it? that couldn't be what others are arguing for when they say they want 3 games or double elimination could it? no, couldn't be.

 

i think the u.s team isn't the best in the world, but say, if you sent the detroit pistons to the fibas, they would dominate the tournament.

much love to v-span.

 

There is no superior format, each and every format has different nature and its own right to establish the best team according to its nature.

Take war for example, the US army was a better army than the Vietcongs in regular ground warfare, but an inferior army than the Vietcongs in guerilla warfare. The US lost, the vietcongs won fair and sqaure. It has nothing to do with luck.

 

IMO, Greece, USA, Spain and Argentina are on the same level. I won't be surprised who wins when they play against each other.

When they are so close and the outcome is decided by one game, everything, including luck, will be a factor that decides the game.

 

there is no real basketball. there's just what one person preferes and what one doesn't. by real basketball, SF just meant basketball that people care about. as much as i am into this right now, it hardly compares to how i feel whenever the rockets make the playoffs and how i feel watching the nba playoffs (even when we're not there, which has been a lot the last few years).

if the international players are so much better than our players. so much more fundamental, so much more team oriented, so much more skilled and smarter and unselfish, why don't they dominate the NBA? why is dirk the best there is and then a decent gap down to the next guy? if we suck so much, shouldn't we get schooled in the nba (and as for the nba calling themselves world champs, the nba isn't just US players, it's all of the best players from all over the world, for them not to be world champs would be kind of silly)? why has no international player led a team to a title (hakeem doesn't count). someone explain it to me. if all the "real" basketball is played overseas, shouldn't it be "real" when it gets over here?

 

haha, I like that team "dreaming team". Right now, I don't care if the USA win or lose, I don't care who win FIBA. I care about good basketball. What irks me is they call themselves dream team and can't live up to it.

Team USA has lost in WBC over the years for three times in a roll. Of course, it's because they are unlucky in every game that you can see a dark cloud hanging over their head made possible by the bad to the bone format.

 

FIBA chairman(ex) just said he thinks that out of the final 4 USA is the weakest team and Agentina had a good chance to beat them.

 

In the NBA it is individual player that dominate the game. In the international game it is more about the team! The NBA rules are made to make star players, which the USA still have plenty of. But star player does not translate to best teams! Plus right now the USA team lacks inside presence that was there in the past. That is why Rockets are so lucky to have Yao on the team.