Group C (Ankara) - Group Stage

[TalkBasket]

Greece vs. China 16h00 (GMT+3)

Russia vs. Puerto Rico 18h30 (GMT+3)

Cote d'Ivoire vs. Turkey 21h00 (GMT+3)

[Black Urum]

Predictions:



Easy game for Greece...



Greece vs. China

Russia vs. Puerto Rico

Cote d'Ivoire vs. Turkey

[ZEUS]

Not much of any fantastic result in Ankara.



Greece had trouble with China, we weren't expecting such resistance, but I think their super tall squad had something to do with us being quite apprehensive of driving to the hole as well as them playing zone 40 minutes, that's quite unusual to see in a NT. Still, China were vastly improved since we played them last WC beating them for 30 or so points. Sure you could say Sofo's and Fotsis'absence didn't give us as much athleticism or strength in the paint. China's Yi (who plays in the NBA) was immensely impressive. His quality of moves and accuracy looked to me like he could be someone who could surpass Yao Ming in terms of greatness. China had great accuracy, which is not the same that could be said for us. Diamandidis had a pretty off day today, playing almost non-existent defence, with 3/13 perimeter shooting. Bouroussis had a fine game and showed to be in excellent form, being a threat from inside the arc as well as outside it. Zisis too stepped up with decisive shots too and kept the score rolling in our favour. Still, our defense had a lot of holes, which the Chinese took advantge of very well. Their 3p shooting was some of the most solid I've seen from a non-European NT (apart from the US). I think China could very well be a rock solid contender for going deep into the tournament. Especially if someone dares to under-estimate this super tall team.



In the other games, Russia was shaky in beating Puerto Rico, but then again the team is very young and inexperienced, so it was an excuse for them to not play as solid as one would have expected from the ex-European champion. Puerto Rico also fought hard, not wanting to become a boxing sack for Russia. That way they lost with their heads help up high.



Ivory Coast vs. Turkey was pretty lame in the sense that Ivory Coast seemed like it was a team of streetball players making up a National Team. No sense of any proper team setup, plays, or anything. They shot enough bricks to build another Blue Mosque. The difference with Turkey was like comparing night and day. Turkey had a super-easy opening night, with Tunceri making a big game from behind the arc, and Ilyasova as usual was everywhere, doing everything, great performance. Asik was a pile of crap (can't believe Boston signed him), getting his attempted dunks properly dunked by players 20 cm shorter than him at least, it was pathetic. Lots of inexcusable shots were missed under the basket too. What about Turkoglu? Once more I see him playing for Turkey and he really sucks. Hard. Why have him on the team? Apart from using his experience every now and again for the benefit of the team, he's a waste of space. Without fail, each and every time I see him playing, he is a disappointment. The exact opposite can be said for Ilyasova who is a rock-solid player.

[Black Urum]

What a nervous first game for both Greece and China...



Terrible basketball style... some crazy stats, like Diamantides 3/13 for three... the Chinese playing a dumb 2-3 zone and letting the Greeks to shoot on purpose...



Bourousis is indispensable for this team while being a fan of Zisis I was happy...

[ZEUS]

^ I was also pleased with Kaimakoglou's performance, he did a lot of dirty work for the team and really like his under-stated and quiet style, yet his addition to the team gives a HELL of a lot to the team. Honestly, he deserves more time than Vouyoukas who's younger and still soft under the basket, he lacks hustle and strength. Still we didn't have a great game today since we played China's game and not our own.



I don't think China was nervous at all. They saw their plan working and they fought as much as they could to win. I'm very impressed by their improvement since four years ago. You have to admit their shooting was of marvelous accuracy. They showed their inexperience however at the final minutes of the game were the ball was red hot. They couldn't rise up to the occasion and keep themselves in the game, whereas that kind of situation is our bread and butter, lol.



Hopefully our true game unfolds tomorrow <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thup.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':thup:' />

[Black Urum]

By the way anyone saw Greece game on FIBA TV? The commentator was calling Zisis "Zizic" for some reason...



One of my dreams is to have Zisis, Zizic and Zhizhi in the same team and listen to the commentators... <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/huh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[ZEUS]

^ lol, ZhiZhi is one of the Chinese basketball players?

[skangles]

[quote name='ZEUS' timestamp='1283038965' post='24466']

^ lol, ZhiZhi is one of the Chinese basketball players?

[/quote]



Yes, he played for the Mavs in the early 2000s. Over the past few years he would have been a prime example of a player who should have been playing in Europe. He has the skillset to succeed but he was restricted to the Chinese league. I do not understand the narrow minded Chinese mentality of NBA or domestic. The gap between these two leagues is incomprehensible.



The popularity of basketball in China will rest with the success of the Chinese national team and Europe is the ideal location to develop talented Chinese players who can't quite make it in the NBA (i.e. Wang ZhiZhi and Sun Yue). These guys are not going to improve in the pathetic CBA.

[Black Urum]

China vs Cote d'Ivoire (16:00)

Puerto Rico vs Greece (18:30)

Turkey vs Russia (21:00)



All times are local Turkey time (GMT+3)

[TalkBasket]

Certainly didn't expect Greece to have such a tight game against China. But I guess that often happens in the opening games.

[ZEUS]

^ One thing is for certain. Don't underestimate China because you could get really punished.

[ZEUS]

Jesus, today was our worst game so far. We seem to be psychologically affected by the whole bad feeling on the team after the fight with Serbia. We were abysmal. Tsartsaris and Bouroussis kept us in the game, and so did Spanoulis WHEN HE DOESSN'T TURN THE BALL OVER WITH HIS DUMB PASSES. Free throws were shit. Wtf is wrong with us? We are eternally shitty at free throws. Let's not talk about shooting from the arc either. We have a psychological hang-up where we aren't performing to our real capabilities. Puerto Ricans just confirmed their status as punks. What a dirty team. Not once did they not b*tch about receiving a foul. At least they received a technical for all their bitching. I've never seen a player like Ramos before, 2.21 and he has a kind of appearance that doesn't quite look human-like <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/huh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />



Diamandidis is in quite bad shape where he's not making his shots and playing much of his well-known defence. Luckily, he tried hard and pulled his boot straps up making some clutch shots, but his clutch play was the steal on Varea with two minutes in the game and the score was fragile. That's what sealed it for us. That's the end of Fotsis and Sofo being punished from the FIBA mafia, so I hope now we can regroup ourselves and come together for the important game vs. Turkey this Tuesday.









China only beat Ivory Coast with a 10 point difference. I expected much more from them, but apparently IC had a better game today and put up a much better resistance.







The Turkey vs. Russia game was interesting to see how Turkey would handle a more serious opponent, playing against Russia. They handled themselves well playing some very solid basketball, usually maintaining a 10 point lead for most of the game. Asik was on much better form today, he made up for yesterday's fiasco of a performance. Tunceri was once more very good, and Erden very positive, even though he (Erden) got blocked in quite an embarassing manner when he first went in. Strangely, Ilyasova disappeared today, he didn't seem to be involved in the game a great deal. One thing I can't understand is why Tanjevic keeps Turkoglu in. Hedo is in the worst form of his life mainly being a waste of space for the NT, I'm not sure any coach would want the ball in that player's hands when it was clutch time.



The Russians were a fresh team, however they showed a lot of inexperience in games like this, and theit shooting was pretty bad, almost as bad as Hellas's probably <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> Try as they might, they could not overcome the well-organized defense of the Turks and didn't make their shots when it really mattered. Kaun showed a lot of heart, but he was about the only one that really shone in my opinion. Russia isn't a bad team, but still has a long way to go to be considered a highly dangerous opponent.

[Black Urum]

Slovenia vs Croatia (16:30)

Tunisia vs Iran (19:00)

USA vs Brazil (21:30)



All times are GMT+3

[Efes4ever]

[quote name='ZEUS' timestamp='1283114227' post='24498']

Jesus, today was our worst game so far. We seem to be psychologically affected by the whole bad feeling on the team after the fight with Serbia. We were abysmal. Tsartsaris and Bouroussis kept us in the game, and so did Spanoulis WHEN HE DOESSN'T TURN THE BALL OVER WITH HIS DUMB PASSES. Free throws were shit. Wtf is wrong with us? We are eternally shitty at free throws. Let's not talk about shooting from the arc either. We have a psychological hang-up where we aren't performing to our real capabilities. Puerto Ricans just confirmed their status as punks. What a dirty team. Not once did they not b*tch about receiving a foul. At least they received a technical for all their bitching. I've never seen a player like Ramos before, 2.21 and he has a kind of appearance that doesn't quite look human-like <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/huh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />



Diamandidis is in quite bad shape where he's not making his shots and playing much of his well-known defence. Luckily, he tried hard and pulled his boot straps up making some clutch shots, but his clutch play was the steal on Varea with two minutes in the game and the score was fragile. That's what sealed it for us. That's the end of Fotsis and Sofo being punished from the FIBA mafia, so I hope now we can regroup ourselves and come together for the important game vs. Turkey this Tuesday.











China only beat Ivory Coast with a 10 point difference. I expected much more from them, but apparently IC had a better game today and put up a much better resistance.







The Turkey vs. Russia game was interesting to see how Turkey would handle a more serious opponent, playing against Russia. They handled themselves well playing some very solid basketball, usually maintaining a 10 point lead for most of the game. Asik was on much better form today, he made up for yesterday's fiasco of a performance. Tunceri was once more very good, and Erden very positive, even though he (Erden) got blocked in quite an embarassing manner when he first went in. Strangely, Ilyasova disappeared today, he didn't seem to be involved in the game a great deal. One thing I can't understand is why Tanjevic keeps Turkoglu in. Hedo is in the worst form of his life mainly being a waste of space for the NT, I'm not sure any coach would want the ball in that player's hands when it was clutch time.



The Russians were a fresh team, however they showed a lot of inexperience in games like this, and theit shooting was pretty bad, almost as bad as Hellas's probably <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> Try as they might, they could not overcome the well-organized defense of the Turks and didn't make their shots when it really mattered. Kaun showed a lot of heart, but he was about the only one that really shone in my opinion. Russia isn't a bad team, but still has a long way to go to be considered a highly dangerous opponent.

[/quote]



Hedo goin under pressure when he cant scoring. I dissapointed russia. Monya was so bad.Russia has no play-maker thats for sure

[Black Urum]

Russia lacks in PG so much... JR Holden is missing so badly... the Turkish guards killed them with their pressure, the Russians didn't know what to do with the ball...



Also Khryapa would be great help...

[Black Urum]

USA beat Brazil die to luck with just two...



Slovenia beat Crotia again...

[Black Urum]

Turkey easily beat Greece...

[Black Urum]

China vs Russia

Cote d'Ivoire vs Greece

Turkey vs Puerto Rico

[ZEUS]

[quote name='Efes4ever' timestamp='1283202058' post='24513']

Hedo goin under pressure when he cant scoring. I dissapointed russia. Monya was so bad.Russia has no play-maker thats for sure

[/quote]



But that's the thing. Hedo NEVER scores. He's over the hill. As much of a brick he is, you're lucky you've got Ilyasova pulling up Turkoglu's slack.

[ZEUS]

[quote name='Black Urum' timestamp='1283289072' post='24524']

Turkey easily beat Greece...

[/quote]



Well of course, the game was fixed. They certainly didn't wanna start any funny stuff with the refs with our minister watching the game. After watching Turkey vs. Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico was SLAUGHTERED by the refs. The end of the third quarter was an absolute farce with fouls they kept calling on PR. The Turks even 'accidentally injured' <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> Barea, PR's best player. I'm convinced that FIBA is fixing things up for Turkey to at least make it to the semis for a medal. Kutluay even said it, a big win for Turkey would mean that the popularity of basketball would rise in the country a great deal more.



After watching this slaughter on PR's behalf, I'm convinced that we too played like shit on purpose to lose. This kind of fix-up was of course also evident the last time Turkey hosted the Eurobasket with their team getting every game fixed up so that they would reach the finals. Of course there was no chance that they could beat Serbia & Montenegro thankfully <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />