Interbasket

The third day of Olympic Basketball starts August 14th local Beijing time. You can watch the games live online, find out which official site is streaming your games here.  These group of six games are the most competitive thus far; unlike other days, each game is vitally important and the stakes are high. You can find a Olympic basketball day three preview of the games below the schedule.

August 14, 2008 Game times
09:00 : Germany vs. Spain Live Online
11:15 : Australia vs. Iran Live Online
14:30 : Angola vs. China Live Online
16:45 : Lithuania vs. Russia Live Online
20:00 : USA vs. Greece Live Online
22:15 : Argentina vs. Croatia Live Online

Germany vs. Spain Preview: Germany is coming off a blowout against Greece that put their record at 1-1.  The Greeks put the clamps down on Germany’s big guns Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman, and held Nowitzki to just eight attempts for 13 total points.  Kaman ended up with only 4 points and 2 rebounds.  Spain comes off an overtime win against China in which the favorites found themselves down 15 points in the second half before roaring back to take the game in the extra period.  Prediction: Look for both teams to come out focused, Nowitzki to find his scoring tough (re: more FG attempts), and for Spain to evenutally come out on top.

Australia vs. Iran Preview: Both teams are 0-2 and both teams have been surprising in their two losses for different reasons.  The Iranians (0-2) have surprisingly put up a decent fight against both Russia and Lithuania, while the Australians (0-2) have looked unprepared and overwhelmed in their two losses.  With games against Croatia and Russia ahead of them, this is a must win for the Aussies in order to keep their chances of advancing alive.  Prediction: The Boomers should get a nice shot in the arm by using their frontcourt to bully Iran in the paint.

Angola vs. China Preview: A key game for both teams if they have hopes of advancing to the quarterfinals.  Both teams have lost both their games, but as with Australia-Iran, they’ve both done so in completely different fashions.  Despite the 31-point margin, China (0-2) looked great in the first half and showed that they can compete at a high level for extended periods of the game.  That was further cemented when they took the Spanish to overtime a couple nights later.  Zhu Fangyu has been solid at the shooting guard, leading the Chinese in scoring with 13 points (as well as 5 rebounds and 1.5 steals a game). Angola (0-2) on the other hand has looked confused on offense, accumulating a tournament low 15 assists total in 2 games while getting spanked by Germany, and whipped by the Americans.  The Angolans missed Olimpio Cirpriano during their game against the USA because he had suffered an injury against Germany, and they’ve also mssing usual scoring production from one of their top players, Joaquim Gomes, whom has totaled only 6 points in two games (though Gomes is averging 8 rebounds a game).  Carlos Morais has been a pleasant surprise, leading the Angolans in scoring with 19 points a game, but also leading them in turnovers (11).   Prediction: Hard to say, the leaning here is that the Chinese, with the home crowd cheering them on and building confidence in their previous two games, will come out victorious.  Still, Angola recognizes that this is a key game for their chances of advancement.

Lithuania vs. Russia Preview: Lithuania (2-0) hasn’t looked spectacular in their wins, but they’re wins none the less and along with Croatia, they’re in first place in Group A.  Linas Kleiza has been the man for Lithuania in their two wins, leading the Liths in scoring both games.  Kleiza hit the game-winning three against Argentina, and scored 22 points in their win over Iran.  Robertas Javtokas has also been solid, putting up 10 points and 6 rebounds in each of their two wins.  The Russians (1-1) got a nice boost with Viktor Khryapa rejoining the team. Russia struggled at times to put away Iran in their first game, and put up a good fight before eventually losing to the hot-shooting Croatians.  Hard to get a good idea of how Russia will perform.  Prediction: Russia will squeeze this one out.

USA vs. Greece Preview: The United States “Redeem Team” (2-0) will look for their first serious competition when they take on Greece (1-1) in the fifth game of day three.  Some players are gone, but the majority of them are back in this rematch of the 2006 World Championships semi-finals.  The USA has cruised past China 101-70 Sunday and Angola 97-76 Tuesday, while Greece was setback by a 81-66 loss to Spain in their first game, before shutting down Germany 87-64 to notch their first win.  Prediction: Look for the Redeem Team to redeem themselves in a 20-point win.

Argentina vs. Croatia Preview:  This is a key test for both Argentina and Croatia.  Win or lose, this game will gauge how dangerous Argentina (1-1) really is as a team.  And not to mention that it is vitally important for Argentina to win this game or their game against Russia, if they don’t want to end up on the bubble.  For Croatia (2-0), it is whether they can maintain their consistency and remain on top of Group B.  Can they continue shooting 64% from three as a team?  This team is definitely the dark horse in the tournament,“We have no pressure after the qualifying tournament in Athens,” Croatian guard Zoran Planinic said. “We said to ourselves we are going to the Olympics to play tough and we are going to leave everything on the court.” Prediction: If you were forcing me to guess, I would put Argentina in a tight win, they’re the more veteran team and have a lot more to lose.

Links and Resources: Watch Olympic Basketball Live? (interbasket), Olympic Basketball Day One (interbasket), Day one recaps: USA, Spain, Lithuania win (Interbasket) Group A, day 3: Argentina vs Croatia (Live Game Thread), Group B, day 3: USA vs Greece (Live Game Thread), Group A, day 3: Lithuania vs Russia (Live Game Thread), Group B, day 3: Angola vs China (Live Game Thread), Group A, day 3: Australia vs Iran (Live Game Thread), Group B, day 3: Germany vs Spain (Live Game Thread)