Interbasket

With less than a week left before Olympic basketball begins, Interbasket is previewing the twelve national teams participating in the tournament.  We will review the six teams in Group A today and Group B later on this week (Click here for Olympic Basketball Group B Preview).

Group A is filled with teams that are more equally-matched.  Outside of Iran, who is the definite underdog in the whole tournament, the remaining five teams, Argentina, Australia, Croatia, Lithuania and Russia, each have good chances of advancing to the quarterfinals.

In other words, we are basically looking at four available quarterfinal spots for five teams.  Group A features strong competitors in defending Olympic Gold-Medalists Argentina, Oceania-champions Australia, Croatia, Lithuania, and 2007 Eurobasket Champs Russia.

Argentina is the slight favorite of this group as they bring back the majority of their core team from 2004.  I would position Argentina just ahead of Lithuania, Russia, and Croatia with Australia being ranked fifth in the group.  Croatia isn’t the most well-known, but is the definite darkhorse of this group.

Check back tomorrow for the Group B Preview.

Argentina Olympic Preview (discuss)
FIBA World Ranking: 2 (726)
Qualified: 2007 FIBA Americas Tournament (2nd)
Roster: Carlos Delfino, Manu Ginobili, Román González, Juan Gutiérrez, Leonardo Gutiérrez, Federico Kammerichs, Andrés Nocioni, Fabricio Oberto, Antonio Porta, Pablo Prigioni, Paolo Quinteros, and Luis Scola.
Facts: Likely to be Ginobili’s last Olympics, Manu was chosen to carry Argentina’s flag in the opening ceremonies.

Note: Oddly enough, the gold medalists from the 2004 Athens Olympics are going to have to re-prove themselves in this tournament.  With the focus on team USA, Spain, and Greece, everyone seems to be overlooking the perennial contenders this time around.

In the same vein, everyone is looking to unseat the defending champions, “There’s no surprise factor this time,” said center Fabricio Oberto. “We’re up against the wall, because everyone knows they’re playing against the Olympic champion.  You can’t just show off your gold medal and expect to win.”

Admittedly, there are two main issues facing Argentina: #1 They are without their veteran point guard Pepe Sanchez, whom retired from international play and #2 is a worn out Manu Ginobili and his jammed ankle. They’ll also have to deal with the loss of key sub Walter Herrmann, whom pulled out from the tournament early on.

On the bright side, the Argentinians have a pretty good replacement for Pepe.  In Pablo Prigioni, they have one the world’s great playermakers, the 31-year old was voted ACB’s best base player (point guard) in 2007 and led the 2007 Tournament of Americas in assists at 6.3 assists.  The question is, how will Quinteros and Porta do as a backup?

Even better news is that Ginobili has now had a couple months off to heal, relax and decompress, since being eliminated from the NBA playoffs. “It feels great, and that makes me very happy.” said Ginobili after a couple National Team practices.

And let’s not forget that Argentina still boasts the hardworking Luis Scola, energetic Andres Nocioni, athletic swingman Carlos Delfino, and solid team contributors in Federico Kammerichs, Paolo Quinteros, Leonardo Gutiérrez, and Fabricio Oberto.  With a team like that, against Spain or USA or whatever, this is a team to be dealt with. “I’d love to play the Olympic final again, and it doesn’t matter against who.” says Ginobili.  Argentina’s First Game:  August 10th, 2008 vs. Lithuania (16:45 local time)

Links and Resources: Basketball at the Summer Olympics (Wikipedia), The Home Team… of Argentina (MySA.com)

Lithuania Olympic Preview (discuss)
FIBA World Ranking: 5 (486)
Qualified: 2007 Eurobasket Championships (3rd)
Roster: Linas Kleiza, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Simas Jasaitis, Robertas Javtokas, Rimantas Kaukėnas, Darjuš Lavrinovič, Kšyštof Lavrinovič, Mindaugas Lukauskis, Jonas Mačiulis, Marius Prekevičius, Ramunas Siskauskas
Facts: This is Sarunas Jasikevičius’s third Olympics, Saras will bear the flag for Lithuania in the Olympic opening ceremonies. Lithuania had received a bronze medal in three straight Olympics (92, 96, 00) before placing fourth in 2004.

Note: Even without Arvydas Macijauskas and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Lithuania is always a force to be reckoned with as the Liths can shoot the lighs out and are battle-tested with their superstars and proven winners in Ramunas Siskauskas and Sarunas Jasikevicius.

The 6-4 Rimantas Kaukėnas will be Lithuania’s starting shooting guard with the aggressive and physical Robertas Javtokas and Linas Kleiza supporting the perimeter players.

In the last several years, Siskauskas has catapulted himself into superstardom in Europe, proving to be one of the best players in the world with his ability to do a little of everything on the floor.  Siskauskas was named to the 2007 Eurobasket All-Tournament Team, won the 2008 Russian league championship, and was named its best player.

The key to Lithuania’s team comes from their perimeter players, mainly Jasikevicius, Kaukenas, and Siskauskas.  If the Lithuanians hope to medal, Saras has to pick up his game and be his magical self, Siskauskas has to live up to his reputation as the European Scottie Pippen (Siska has a much better jumpshot might I add), and Kaukenas must be consistent from the perimeter.

With Darius Songaila likely out of the Olympics because of an injury, Javtokas and Kleiza must be strong on the Lithuanian interior in both defense and rebounding.  They’ll be tested early on as their first game in pool play is against Argentina.  Lithuania’s First Game:  August 10th, 2008 vs. Argentina (16:45 local time)

Links and Resources: Basketball at the Summer Olympics (Wikipedia)

Russia Olympic Preview (discuss)
FIBA World Ranking: 16 (186)
Qualified: 2007 Eurobasket Championships (1st)
Roster: Sergei Bykov, Vitaly Fridzon, J.R. Holden, Victor Keyru, Viktor Khryapa, Andrei Kirilenko, Sergey Monya, Nikita Morgunov, Zakhar Pashutin, Petr Samoylenko, Aleksey Savrasenko, Andrey Vorontsevich.
Facts: Andrei Kirilenko, like Ginobili and Jasikevicius, will have the honor of being the flag-bearer for Russia during the opening ceremonies.  The last time Russia participated in the Olympics was in 2000, where the 19-year old Kirilenko led the Russians to eighth place while leading the tournament in steals.

Note: The 2007 Eurobasket surprise champions Russia, led by the do-it-all Andrei Kirilenko, whom was named Eurobasket MVP.  Fortunately, it looks as key-contributor Victor Khryapa will make it back from an ankle injury in time for the Olympics.  Khryapa will take the spot of former-Kansas center Sasha Kaun on their roster and will add another dimension to Russia’s frontline’s versatility.  Russia has one of the better tournament playmakers in American-born, Russian-naturalized JR Holden, but needs to remain consistent and unflustered throughout the game.

The 6-11 Nikita Morgunov is solid in the Russian frontcourt, and when I say solid, I mean it in a good way, but it also means he has slow feat and not much of a consistent offensive threat.  Think a poor man’s Fabricio Oberto.  Keep an eye out for Sergei Bykov, whom can shoot the three.  These international tournaments always seems to have breakout three-point percentages.  Russia’s First Game:  August 10th, 2008 vs. Iran (09:00 local time)

Links and Resources: Basketball at the Summer Olympics (Wikipedia), Andrei Kirilenko, Russia Basketball (Salt Lake Tribune), Blatt refuses to give up on Khryapa (FIBA)

Croatia Olympic Preview (discuss)
FIBA World Ranking: 20 (100)
Qualified: 2008 World Olympic Qualifying Tournament
Roster: Marko Banić, Stanko Barać, Davor Kus, Krešimir Lončar, Sandro Nicević, Zoran Planinić, Marko Popović, Nikola Prkačin, Marin Rozić, Damjan Rudež, Marko Tomas, and Roko Ukić.
Facts: The last time Croatia participated in the Olympics was in 1996 with players like Toni Kukoc and Dino Radja, placed 7th in the Atlanta Olympics.  Marko Banić, their 24 year old power forward, shot an amazing 93% from the field in the Olympic Qualifyng Tournament, going 14-15 from the field.

Note: Since winning silver in 1992, the Croatians haven’t been able to qualify a team in the last two Olympics despite having some of the more talented players in Europe.  They were able to qualify by going unbeaten in this year’s Pre-Olympic World Qualifiers with a 4-0 record, with much thanks to efficient performances of rising European player Marko Tomas, whom averaged 17 points on high percentages.

Though the Croats are happy to be back in the Olympics again, they’re not satisfied with just being there,“(Being back in the Olympics) is a great success, a great gift for us, but we are not going to go to Beijing as tourists.” said Marko Popovic

This version of Team Croatia has the right amount of talent, chemistry, defense, and aggressiveness to move on to the next round.  There are no headcases or egos on this team.  And to boot, the 2008 National Team brings back 9 of the 12 players that defeated Spain in Eurobasket 2007.

This is a new generation of Croatian players, with a good mix of youth and experience, and are capable of playing and defending at different speeds and styles of play.  Much of that flexibility is due to their under-rated yet diverse backcourt, which is one of the strongest in the Olympics.

Croatia’s backcourt features Davor Kus, Zoran Planinic, Marko Popovic, and Roko Ukic.  These four guards were in Croatia’s top-six in scoring during Eurobasket 2007 and would expect similar production.

In the frontcourt, the 6-10 Damir Markota had injured his meniscus during the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament and won’t make the games.  Markota has been replaced by the versatile Damjan Rudež in order to shore up the forward positions.  Rudež, along with 6-11 Lončar and 6-8 Marko Banić will have to shoulder more of the interior with Markota out.

Even with Rudež, the Croatians will have to continue rebounding as a team.  In the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, no one Croatian player dominated the boards, but the Croats had nine players that averaged between 2.2 rebounds and 3.8 rebounds.  Croatia’s First Game:  August 10th, 2008 vs. Australia (20:00 local time)

Links and Resources: Basketball at the Summer Olympics (Wikipedia), Olympic Team Profile: Croatia (Euroleague), Rudez called by Croatia after meniscus injury knocks out Markota (FIBA), Croatia returns to Olympics with victory over Germany (FIBA)

Australia Olympic Preview (discuss)
FIBA World Ranking: 9 (284, tie)
Qualified: 2007 Oceania Championships (1st)
Roster: David Andersen, Chris Anstey, David Barlow, Andrew Bogut, CJ Bruton, Joe Ingles, Patrick Mills, Brad Newley, Matt Nielsen (C), Shawn Redhage, Glen Saville, Mark Worthington.
Facts: Recent aboriginal NBA draftee Nathan Jawai was left off the Australian roster.  Since 1980 Olympics, Australia has participated in all seven Olympic Games and have placed 8th, 7th, 4th, 6th, 4th, 4th, and 9th.  In the 1996 and 2000 games, where Australia took 4th place, they lost both Bronze medals to Lithuania.

Note: Qualifying through the Oceania region, the Aussies are bringing back five players from the 2004 team (Andersen, Bogut, Bruton, Neilsen, and Saville) and they all will play a large role in the wins and losses of the 2008 team.

The Aussies have always had the talent and size to make noise in international tournaments and they have.  Even though they’ve placed fourth in three of the last five Olympics, the Aussies never quite get over the hump, on the court or total respect off it.

The Aussies have one of the best frontcourts in the tournament with great size in 6-11 David Andersen, 7-0  Chris Anstey, 6-10 Matt Nielsen, and 7-0 Andrew Bogut, whom recently rejoined the team after finalizing his $76m multi-year contract with the Milwaukee Bucks.

With their sizable frontcourt, the Boomers success will also hinge on their guards; experienced point guard  CJ Bruton, Brad Newley, and newcomer Patrick Mills.

Having good guards is key to having a legitimate run for a medal, “You definitely have to have above-average guards.” said Bogut. “It’s not going to be Andrew Bogut or David Andersen averaging 20 and 12 for us to get a medal.”

Team Australia will certainly miss the leadership of Sam Mackinnon, whom is having various knee problems.  Sam Mack was named NBL’s defensive player of the year, MVP, Finals MVP, and international player of the year.

The game plan for Australia to be successful is team chemistry and effort, rebounding, defense or what Bogut likes to say “We’re going to have to junk the game up.”

The Boomers know that in order to advance, they’re going to have to play well together.  Head Coach Brian Goorjian realizes his team’s potential but understands the challenge of coming home with a medal, “There are only three medals. You have got the USA over there and some very strong teams in Europe. We are going to have to play very, very well together.” Australia’s First Game:  August 10th, 2008 vs. Croatia (20:00 local time)

Links and Resources: Boomers’ Andrew Bogut prepares to face basketball’s giants (The Australian), The Boomers (FoxSports.com.au), Neilsen reaches into his own pockets to reach Beijing (FIBA), Bogut says guards hold key to Olympic success for Boomers (Herald Sun)

Iran Olympic Preview (discuss)
FIBA World Ranking: 33 (33.1)
Qualified: Asian Championships (1st)
Roster: Hamed Afagh, Amir Amini, Samad Nikkhah Bahrami, Javad Davari, Saeid Davarpanah, Ali Doraghi, Hamed Haddadi, Mehdi Kamrani, Mousa Nabipour, Oshin Sahakian, Hamed Sohrabnejad, Iman Zandi.
Facts: The 2008 Beijing Olympics will mark only the second time that Iran has qualified and participated in Olympic basketball, the first time being exactly 60 years ago, in the 1948 Olympics held in London.  Iran placed 14th out of 23 participating teams.  Basketball is the only team sport Iran is participating in 2008.

Note: The keyword for Iran is “Experience.”  If being THE underdog of underdogs in this year’s Olympics wasn’t going to be enough already, Iran will compete with heavy hearts after they lost their best player, Aidin Bahrami, to a car accident a couple months after winning the Asian Championships in 2007.

Additionally, Iran may have lost their key player for the games, Hamed Ehadadi, as he went down with an ankle injury playing a pre-Olympic game against China on August 1st.  Haddadi is a promising 7-2, 254lb center that is also Iran’s leading scorer, rebounder and shot-blocker.  Whether Ehadadi will be ready in time for the games is still in question as of this post.

Still, this will be a great opportunity for the Persians to gain valuable experience against more established and competitive teams as is recognized by Serbian head coach Rajko Toroman “In my opinion, that’s only way to improve these players because Iranian league is not so strong. They don’t have enough tough games. Genetically (Iran has) good abilities. They have good body skills, but they do not have enough good technical games in Iranian league.”

“It is like a dream to participate in the Olympic Games — especially for us because basketball in Iran is not that … important,” Aidin’s brother, national teammate, and Iranian captain Samad Bahrami said.

And Bahrami recognizes the feat in front of Team Iran, “”Everybody knows . . . we cannot win any medals, but it’s going to be a very good experience.” Iran’s First Game:  August 10th, 2008 vs. Russia (09:00 local time)

Links and Resources: Basketball at the Summer Olympics (Wikipedia), Aidin Bahrami dies in car accident (Interbasket), Hamed Haddadi the next big thing (Interbasket), Hamed Ehadadi’s injury is the worst nightmare for Iran (Beijing2008), Iran gears up for Beijing Olympics (Iran Press TV)

Day three of Eurobasket 2007 saw several upsets that changed the face of the next round:

Israel 87: Serbia 83 (game thread)
Israel shocked Serbia today behind an excellent performance from Yaniv Green. Israel was the 16th and final team to qualify for EuroBasket.

Coming into the game, many believed that the size of the Serbs (specifically Darko Milicic) would punish the Israeli team in the paint. Enter Yaniv Green, who held down the middle, scored 26 points and pulled in 12 rebounds for Israel, including two free throws that gave Israel the lead for good with under a minute left. Green’s performance was doubly-important as the 6-9 forward was matched-up against his bigger opponent, in both size and name, 7-0 Serbian center Darko Milicic (18 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks). Yotam Halperin added 17 points for Israel. Milan Gurovic scored 19 points for Serbia.

Lithuania 84: Germany 80 (game thread)
In a battle of the two unbeatens in group C, Lithuania was able to squeeze out a close-win after almost forfeiting a 21-point lead against Germany. With 11 seconds remaining, Dirk Nowitzki hit two free-throws (after hitting a three the previous possession) to bring Germany within one, but an untimely offensive foul by Ademola Okulaja on Germany’s next possession closed out any chance for Team Germany. Nowitzki put up 28 points and 9 rebounds while Ademola Okulaja had 12 points and 7 rebounds. Darjus Lavrinovic led Lithuania with 18 points, Sarunas Jasikevicius added 15 points, 10 assists and 4 rebounds and Ramunas Siskauskas had 13 points and 6 rebounds.

Portugal 77: Latvia 67 (game thread)
Andris Biedrins scored 14 points, grabbed a tournament-high 18 rebounds and blocked 3 shots for Latvia, but that wasn’t enough to overcome his team’s overall 27% from the field. On the other side, Portugal was an efficient 9-18 from three and 90% (20-22) from the free throw line. Portugal was led by forward Joao Santos who scored 14 points and had 8 rebounds, and Mário-Gil Fernandes had 14 points. For Latvia, Kristaps Janicenoks hit 4-6 from three, 9-10 from the free throw line and scored 22 points, but missed all five of his two-point attempts.

Even with the win, it did not guarantee Portugal a spot into the next round. Croatia would have to defeat Spain for the Portuguese to advance, and if the Spanish beat Croatia, Latvia would move on.

Slovenia 67: France 66 (game thread)
Slovenia continues to surprise, bringing their overall mark to 3-0 with an impressive win over France.

Slovenia led 67-65 with 0.1 seconds left. Tony Parker, the 2007 NBA Finals MVP, went to the free throw line with a chance to tie the game with two free throws, but was only able to convert one. France focused their defense on Jaka Lakovic (Lakovic only got one shot up; he missed), so his backcourt mate Domen Lorbek responded with 15 points (5-5 from the field). Matjaz Smodis added 15 points and 6 rebounds for the Slovenians. Despite missing the crucial free-throw, Tony Parker scored 25 points for Las Bleus and Ronny Turiaf had 13 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks.

Russia 61: Greece 53 (game thread)
Greece just couldn’t get their offense going against the Russians today and succumbed from 37% from the field and 58% from the free-throw line. Super Greek backcourt Dmitrios Diamantidis and Theo Papaloukas combined for 16 points, 9 turnovers and just 2 assists. Andrei Kirilenko collected 17 rebounds, 12 points and 5 turnovers for Russia, while JR Holden scored 17 points. V asillis Spanoulis led Greece with 12 points but shot just 3-9 from the field and 4-8 from the free throw line.

Turkey 80: Czech Republic 72 (game thread)
The Turks got their first win over the tired-Czechs. Mehmet Okur and Hidayet Turkoglu led Turkey to a 15-2 start, and the duo finished with 16 points at the end of the first quarter. The Czechs fought back in the next quarter, to come within three, but another 15-0 run expanded the Turkish lead to 46-31 at the half.

CR made a couple more runs in the second half, but wouldn’t be able to overtake Turkey. Lubos Barton scored 22 points for the Cezch Republic. For Turkey, Memo Okur finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, Turkoglu scored 22 points, had 5 rebounds and 5 turnovers. Ibrahim Kuatluay scored 17 points after being held to zero points yesterday by Germany.

Croatia 85: Spain 84 (game thread)
In a day of upsets, this was probably the biggest one. Marko Tomas hit a three with 3.1 seconds left and Rudy Fernandez couldn’t convert the final shot; lifting the Croatian National Team over the 2006 World Champions Spain.

Spain, had been unbeaten for not only the two games of EuroBasket, but for 28 straight international competitions going back. The win gave the Croatians the top seed coming out of Group B.

Rudy Fernandez had a chance to win the game, but his drive into the heart of the Croatian defense yielded no basket. As the Spanish team complained that Fernandez was fouled on the drive, the Croatians celebrated their win. The three Markos led the Croatian team: Marko Popovic scored 18 points, Marko Banic grabbed 9 rebounds (+12 points), and Marko Tomas passed for 4 assists in addition to hitting the game-winning three. Pau Gasol’s 26 points led the Spanish, Rudy Fernandez added 14 points and 3 steals and Felipe Reyes had 10 points and 10 rebounds. With the win, Croatia will face Israel in the first round, while Spain will face Greece.

Italy 79: Poland 70 (game thread)
The stakes were high- the winner of this game would move on, the loser would go home. Poland finished the first quarter with a 16-14 lead, but Italy would capture the rest of the quarters, behind a strong second that included a 22-6 run. Marco Belinelli led Italy with 20 points and Andrea Bargnani went for 19 points and 7 rebounds. Lucasz Koszarek put up a double-double for the Polish, 10 points and 11 assists. Andrzej Pluta scored 15 points and Adam Wojcik had 12 and 6 rebounds. Massimo Bulleri added 10 points, 8 assists, and 6 rebounds for Team Italy.

With the completion of today’s games Latvia, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Poland have been eliminated from the tournament. The top three teams from the four groups move into two groups of six in the second phase, which starts in Madrid on Friday, September 7th, with the results from the first phase carrying over.