Great game against us by Battier. He was the only guy I could cheer for on the US team. His 4 threes were encouraging, he should get plenty of open jumpers next season for us.
I summarized what all the teams in the tournament have done so far, statistically. I included team rankings as well. Quick definition of terms: Overall Pace: possessions per 48 minutes ORtg: points scored per 100 possessions DRtg: points allowed per 100 possessions Net: point differential per 100 possessions Offense Four Factors Shooting: effective field goal % (taking 3's into account) Turnovers: % of offensive possessions resulting in a committed turnover Rebounding: % of rebounds grabbed on offensive end Free throws: free throws made per field goal attempt Defensive Four Factors Shooting: effective field goal % (taking 3's into account) allowed Turnovers: % of defensive possessions resulting in a forced turnover Rebounding: % of rebounds grabbed on defensive end Free throws: free throws made per field goal attempt by opponent Overall Code: team Gm Pace ORtg DRtg Net -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 ARGENTINA 7 89.7 2 120.1 1 87.3 32.7 2 SPAIN 7 92.6 3 120.1 2 89.0 31.0 3 USA 6 98.8 1 132.5 9 101.8 30.7 4 GREECE 6 87.2 5 112.2 5 94.7 17.4 5 SERBIA & MONTENEGRO 6 89.4 9 109.3 6 97.2 12.1 6 ANGOLA 6 86.1 4 113.1 10 102.7 10.4 7 LITHUANIA 7 93.0 13 100.4 3 91.6 8.9 8 GERMANY 6 83.6 6 111.8 12 104.2 7.7 9 FRANCE 6 84.1 15 99.6 4 93.2 6.3 10 ITALY 6 85.2 11 106.5 11 102.7 3.9 11 BRAZIL 5 94.3 12 101.9 7 99.3 2.6 12 SLOVENIA 6 93.2 7 111.6 18 111.7 -0.1 13 PUERTO RICO 5 91.4 8 110.3 19 112.3 -2.0 14 AUSTRALIA 6 93.1 17 95.1 8 99.4 -4.3 15 NIGERIA 6 89.2 14 99.9 15 106.2 -6.3 16 TURKEY 7 87.7 16 98.4 14 105.6 -7.2 17 NEW ZEALAND 6 87.3 19 93.5 16 107.7 -14.2 18 CHINA 6 87.0 10 108.5 24 124.7 -16.1 19 JAPAN 5 88.6 21 88.0 13 104.8 -16.8 20 VENEZUELA 5 93.2 22 86.9 17 109.0 -22.1 21 SENEGAL 5 91.1 18 93.8 23 118.1 -24.3 22 LEBANON 5 93.3 20 91.4 21 116.3 -24.9 23 PANAMA 5 91.6 23 84.8 20 113.9 -29.1 24 QATAR 5 91.7 24 82.3 22 117.2 -34.9 Offense (Four Factors) Code: [size=1] team Gm Shooting Turnovers Rebounding Freethrows ORtg ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 USA 6 1 59.5% 1 12.5% 3 37.1% 4 31.1% 132.5 2 ARGENTINA 7 3 56.2% 6 17.6% 5 34.8% 9 24.5% 120.1 3 SPAIN 7 2 57.9% 5 16.9% 18 29.8% 2 34.0% 120.1 4 ANGOLA 6 12 51.1% 3 15.9% 9 33.2% 20 20.3% 113.1 5 GREECE 6 5 54.6% 12 19.8% 17 30.1% 1 34.2% 112.2 6 GERMANY 6 9 52.5% 13 19.9% 10 32.8% 7 26.6% 111.8 7 SLOVENIA 6 7 53.5% 15 20.9% 1 37.4% 10 24.1% 111.6 8 PUERTO RICO 5 4 55.5% 9 18.4% 23 22.2% 3 32.1% 110.3 9 SERBIA & MONTENEGRO 6 10 52.5% 8 18.1% 19 29.2% 16 21.4% 109.3 10 CHINA 6 8 52.8% 18 22.7% 13 31.5% 5 30.4% 108.5 11 ITALY 6 14 49.7% 4 16.9% 16 30.3% 14 21.6% 106.5 12 BRAZIL 5 15 48.6% 11 19.2% 12 31.9% 8 25.5% 101.9 13 LITHUANIA 7 11 51.3% 22 25.7% 2 37.4% 11 23.9% 100.4 14 NIGERIA 6 21 44.4% 2 15.6% 8 33.8% 21 20.2% 99.9 15 FRANCE 6 22 43.5% 7 18.0% 7 34.3% 6 27.1% 99.6 16 TURKEY 7 13 51.0% 14 20.7% 21 23.5% 13 21.7% 98.4 17 AUSTRALIA 6 6 53.8% 23 26.6% 22 23.0% 15 21.6% 95.1 18 SENEGAL 5 20 44.7% 16 21.4% 14 30.9% 19 20.4% 93.8 19 NEW ZEALAND 6 17 47.1% 17 22.3% 20 26.2% 12 22.3% 93.5 20 LEBANON 5 19 45.0% 21 24.6% 15 30.4% 17 21.2% 91.4 21 JAPAN 5 18 46.4% 10 19.1% 24 13.5% 22 19.1% 88.0 22 VENEZUELA 5 23 41.6% 19 23.8% 4 34.8% 23 17.7% 86.9 23 PANAMA 5 24 41.4% 20 24.4% 6 34.6% 18 20.6% 84.8 24 QATAR 5 16 47.4% 24 32.6% 11 32.3% 24 10.9% 82.3 [/size] Defense (Four Factors) Code: [size=1] team Gm Shooting Turnovers Rebounding Freethrows DRtg ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 ARGENTINA 7 1 41.5% 9 20.9% 12 70.1% 4 18.8% 87.3 2 SPAIN 7 4 46.1% 5 22.7% 4 75.2% 1 14.0% 89.0 3 LITHUANIA 7 5 46.8% 8 21.5% 3 75.3% 10 24.0% 91.6 4 FRANCE 6 2 41.8% 15 19.6% 13 68.8% 13 24.7% 93.2 5 GREECE 6 21 55.8% 1 31.9% 17 66.2% 3 18.2% 94.7 6 SERBIA & MONTENEGRO 6 3 44.0% 13 20.4% 14 68.3% 18 27.3% 97.2 7 BRAZIL 5 20 55.7% 2 29.1% 6 71.7% 21 28.6% 99.3 8 AUSTRALIA 6 8 49.6% 7 21.9% 8 70.8% 8 22.7% 99.4 9 USA 6 12 50.9% 3 23.2% 10 70.5% 9 23.2% 101.8 10 ANGOLA 6 9 50.0% 12 20.4% 11 70.1% 12 24.4% 102.7 11 ITALY 6 11 50.1% 10 20.6% 7 71.1% 24 30.8% 102.7 12 GERMANY 6 10 50.0% 23 15.1% 1 79.6% 22 29.9% 104.2 13 JAPAN 5 7 49.0% 4 22.9% 23 59.4% 19 27.5% 104.8 14 TURKEY 7 6 48.9% 18 18.1% 16 67.4% 16 26.8% 105.6 15 NIGERIA 6 17 53.1% 6 22.3% 15 67.7% 6 21.4% 106.2 16 NEW ZEALAND 6 14 51.4% 11 20.5% 19 65.1% 15 25.2% 107.7 17 VENEZUELA 5 15 52.2% 21 17.1% 9 70.7% 5 20.9% 109.0 18 SLOVENIA 6 23 56.3% 19 17.7% 2 76.5% 17 26.9% 111.7 19 PUERTO RICO 5 13 50.9% 16 18.4% 20 64.8% 20 27.6% 112.3 20 PANAMA 5 22 55.9% 22 16.5% 5 75.2% 11 24.1% 113.9 21 LEBANON 5 18 53.6% 17 18.3% 24 58.2% 2 18.1% 116.3 22 QATAR 5 24 57.4% 14 20.0% 21 64.2% 7 22.6% 117.2 23 SENEGAL 5 19 54.2% 20 17.5% 18 65.2% 23 30.5% 118.1 24 CHINA 6 16 52.6% 24 12.0% 22 61.9% 14 25.1% 124.7[/size] While the US might be the favorite, statistically Argentina and Spain have slightly out performed them (due to their far better defense). Germany, our next opponent, is a solid all-around offensive team and a superior defensive rebounding team. They are 13th in committing turnovers, so the US defensive style of converting turnovers into easy points could work well against them.
woohoo, are the refs biased or what? they need to call all those travelling violations (at least two) by the americans. and what was that bullsh!t with the continuation of dwight howard? come on, give me a break. germany probably has no chance to win this game but at least treat the teams equally fair.
you're ****ing me, right? there have been 2 different travels on germany that weren't called. and carmelo has been hit two different times going to the basket with no call (one time he didn't even get the ball to the rim he was hit so hard). wade just drove in and got bumped with no call. they just called some travel call on elton brand after he caught a pass from wade and went up for a layup and made it. what the hell was that? he caught it, landed on both feet, then jumped? was he supposed to hop? and then the best, wade drives baseline, dirk reaches out and slaps the ball out of bounds, and the refs give it to germany. clear as day dirk slaps it and somehow it's out on wade (didn't hit off his knee or anything). the continuation for howard was a bad call no doubt but this has been all germany so far from the refs.
bigger than dirk slapping the ball from wade with everyone having a clear view of it and the ball going to germany?
germany better hope every person on team USA remains cold as ice the rest of the game (and it could definitely happen). 41% 3 point shooting in the tourney and we're 4-17 so far, mostly all open looks.
yeah i can't believe they called him for slapping the guy. team USA should probably never go to the line when they take it inside. man, now finals mvp's can't even make breakaway layups for us.
If the Americans play in the semi-final like they're playing in this first half, Greece definitely has a chance
man we couldn't beat a girls junior high team the way we're playing right now. hopefully we can't shoot this terribly and miss this many layups two halves in a row.
if we even make the semis. we're in serious danger of screwing up all of our hard work with one horrific shooting performance. which is why having a single elimination tournament for basketball is stupid, especially after you spend 5 games to take all of 8 teams out of the tournament in pool play. it's like the ncaa tournament, a stupid (if exciting) format.
you are obviously choking. there was probably not one time where a american player was really hammered and got no call. on the other hand the best players of germany already have 3 fouls each. your telling me that the refs favor germany? give me a break. you obsiviously have no clue. they showed the travelling violation clearly on the replay. he caught the pass and took almost 3 steps without dribbling. get a clue about fiba rules. this is not the nba. on the other hand dirk has two touch fouls with barely contact already. wtf? if you can't admit that the americans were favoured early on any further argument is obviously pretty senseless.
definitely. germany's 2 best scorers aren't really in the game and the game is tied. i think the greek team is a lot superior to the german team so they have their chances. the problem with the american team is that they have no inside presence. dwight howard is a joke. they have no real center with a back to the basket game. and the american perimeter players (the superstars) can't really shoot. they can go one on one but that's it. against a good team that might not be enough.
this is what i mean. carmelo gets the ball on the break, nowitzki reaches in and pokes the ball away, carmelo picks it back up and gets called for double dribbling. what the hell is that? 14 ft's for germany, 9 for USA. yeah germany is getting killed alright.
not that germany is good, but i suppose it's encouraging that a team can go 20/21 at the line while you miss 30 three pointers (30 three pointers!) and you still win by 20. at least the D was good. hopefully this was just an aberration as the 3's we took today were as open as any we've taken all tourney while shooting 41%. and man i hope spain beats argentina. even if the USA can't win, i don't wanna see ginobili win, especially if it's over us.
Well, you couldn't ask for a better final four with all four undefeated teams. Greece vs. United States will be an awesome matchup...the unstoppable force (USA) vs. the immovable object (Greece). Plus, my wife's dad is from Greece, so there will be a little family rivalry going on. I actually saw (gasp!) some perimeter defense for the USA in the few minutes I saw of the Germany game. Our guards were going 4-5 feet beyond the arc and putting pressure on the ball. Hopefully, the US got their bad shooting night out of the way. One thing is for sure is that they're gonna get their asses kicked if Wade and Bosh go 5-22 again.
