China won the gold medal in Men’s Basketball at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China on November 26, beating Korea 77-71 in the final.

(Discuss the 16th Asia Games in our Asian Basketball Forum)

The Men’s Final was a successful ending of the basketball events at the Asian Games. All basketball games were sold out for the entire tournament. The brand new venue, that holds up to 18000 fans was finished 6 months ago and is a state of the art basketball facility.

FIBA was represented by its President Yvan Mainini and its Secretary General Patrick Baumann. FIBA Asia, responsible for basketball at the Asian Games, was represented by its President Sheikh Saud Bin Ali Al-Thani and Secretary General Dato Yeoh Cho Hock.

The Men’s Final was not an easy ride for the Asian powerhouse China to overcome their rivals from Korea. Korea was leading in the second quarter by 37-31 with 5:10 minutes left before a number of consecutive three pointers put China 43-37 ahead at the end of the first half.

China defeated Korea 76-66 in the preliminary round.

Wang Zhizhi, who scored 20 points for China, led all Chinese starters to score double-digits. Ding Jinhui and Sun Yue each added 14 while Wang Shipeng and Liu Wei got 10 apiece.

Korea had three players scoring double-figure with Kim Joo Sung and Cho Sungmin each 15 points, and guard Yang Donggeun 17.

The women’s team took home gold earlier today in a 70 – 64 win against Korea.

Read the original article at FIBA.com.

Tianjin, China - The 2009 Asiabasket All-Tournament team was named yesterday amidst a little controversy over one of the selections.

(edit: this was an unofficial selection from sports.cn – we apologize for the inconvenience)

The team was led by Asia Championships MVP Hamed Haddadi of Iran, followed by Chinese veteran Wang Zhizhi, do-it-all Iranian swingman Samad Nikkhah Bahrami,

Asiabasket’s top scorer Rasheim Wright of Jordan, and Lee Hsueh Lin of Taiwan.

C: Hamed Haddadi (Iran)
F: Wang Zhizhi (China)
F: Samad Nikkhah Bahrami (Iran)
G: Rasheim Wright (Jordan)
G: Lee Hsueh Lin (Chinese Taipei)

The inclusion of Lee Hsueh Lin is a head-scratcher.  Lin is not a bad player, but is his 8.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.3 steals a game for the fifth place Taiwan squad really that impressive to the panel?

To many of our forum members, it was certainly a shock to find the 5-9 point guard on the star-studded first team.

Especially when there were other play makers that not only had better numbers, but also played larger roles for better teams. Players that we feel got snubbed were Rony Fahed (Lebanon), Sam Daghles (Jordan), Mahdi Kamrani (Iran), and Qatar’s leading scorer Saad Abdulrahman Ali.

Discuss the selections in our forum.

Iran successfully defended their Asia Champions crown last night, dropping favored-China in a laughable 70-52 win.

Led by Memphis Grizzly center Hamed Haddadi‘s 19 points and 17 rebounds, Iran dominated the Chinese in the first two quarters; outscoring their opponents by 11 in the first quarter and by six in the second.

The Iranians took a 17-point lead into halftime, see the lead balloon up to 25, and would never look back.  This was China‘s first ever loss in an Asiabasket gold medal match.

This year’s win is significant because it signals a new age in which Middle-Asia teams, namely Iran, Jordan and Lebanon,  may have finally caught up with their East Asian brothers.

Up until 2007, China had won 14 of 16 Asia Championships.  And East Asian teams, the Philippines, Korea, and Japan, have taken the title in every other year previous to 2007.

Iran’s win is much more significant this year because they went against a Chinese team,  even without Yao Ming, that was still favored to win the tournament.

In Iran’s win in the 2007 Asiabasket, the Chinese fielded their junior team, having already automatically qualified as the hosts of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Now Iran can be truly crowned the Kings of Asia, having won the 2007 and 2009 FIBA Asia Championships, the 2009 Asia Cup, and the 2009 Williams Jones Cup.

Hamed Haddadi, who was named MVP of the tournament, shot 9-17 from the field, shredding the Chinese interior and scoring 9 points in 12-4 run in the fourth quarter that slammed the door shut on any thoughts of a Chinese comeback.

Oshin Sahakian was the only other Iranian to reach double-figures with 10 points.  Javad Davari added 9 points and 6 rebounds.

Samad Nikkhah Bahrami, who came in averaging over 18 points, failed to reach double-figures for the first time in the tournament, finishing with just 8 points.  The star guard did pass out 6 assists.

The Iranian defense held Yi Jianlian to just 11 points on 5-17 shooting, while Sun Yue, Shipeng Wang, and Liu Wei combined to shoot just 3-15.

Wang Zhizhi was China’s only consistent threat, the former NBA player shot 10-16 from the field, and scored a game-hih 24 points and added 8 rebounds.

In the third place game, Jordan took the final berth to the World Championships by defeating Lebanon for the second time this tournament, 80-66.

Lebanon finished without a medal for the first time in three championships, having earned a silver in the 2005 and 2007 FIBA Asia Championships.

In the classification rounds, Chinese-Taipei took fifth place over Qatar 87-79, while Korea edged the Philippines, 82-80 on Donggeun Yang’s jumper with one second remaninig.

RP’s James Yap’s missed a three at the buzzer that would give Korea seventh place, and the Philippines would finish eighth.

The New York Times has a story about Wataru “Wat” Misaka’s first trip back to Madison Square Garden since the he played three games for the New York Knicks in 1947.

Misaka is the first non-white and first Asian NBA player (the NBA was known as the Basketball Association of America at the time).

From the New York Times:

(Misaka) is remembered as the first non-Caucasian player in modern professional basketball, three years before African-Americans were included.

Misaka recalls a few so-called teammates giving him faulty advice to make him look bad on the court, but he seems to accept that a 5-7 guard was at a disadvantage, even in 1947. The Knicks had given him a rare guaranteed contract, worth $4,000, but they cut him, anyway.

(Misaka) was offered a place with the all-black Globetrotters, but he declined. He went home, earned his degree, married and worked as an engineer.

His name and his life are celebrated in a documentary, “Transcending: The Wat Misaka Story.”

He is part of basketball history but also part of American history, having lived through the internment period during World War II and later serving in the United States army in Hiroshima, three months after the atomic bomb was dropped there.

For as much as the United States treasures personal stories that helped to break the color barriers in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, somehow Misaka’s story gets lost in the history books.  

More than fifty years before Wang Zhizhi and Yao Ming played in the NBA, Misaka footprints can be barely be seen these days.  It’s a crime that Wat is unknown to even the most fervent of NBA fans.

Not only did he overcome race, but he also overcame height (he was a 5-7 guard), and was the New York Knicks’ first ever draft pick.

The short, Japanese-American, who wore size seven Converses, played in what would become the NBA  in 1949 (a year before the league admitted its first black player), that’s nothing short of amazing.

Previous to going pro, Misaka played for the University of Utah and helped the team defeat Dartmouth in the NIT.

Discuss Wataru Misaka in our forum

Yi Jianlian and Hamed Haddadi came up big for their respective national teams last night, propelling each squad to an unblemished 5-0 record in the 2009 Asia Basketaball Championships.

With the two NBA big men leading their teams over Jordan and Korea, China and Iran are now the remaining teams without a loss.

China to the quarterfinals undefeated
Yi wasn’t just big, he was huge as he scored 29 points, pulled down 18 rebounds, passed for 4 assists, and blocked 2 shots, all game-highs, against Jordan, who was also 4-0 coming into the game.  China won the game 89-83 in what was the closest challenge to China in the tournament.

Wang Zhizhi added 23 points and 8 rebounds for the victors.  Rasheim Wright led Jordan with 28 points, but the 6-3 Jordanian guard needed 22 shots to achieve his total.

Iran also undefeated going into quarterfinals
Hamed Haddadi was strong in the middle for Asiabasket defending champions Iran. The 7-2 Haddadi put up 21 points, 16 rebounds, 6 blocked shots, and 4 assists in pushing Iran over east Asian squad Korea, 82-66.

Haddadi completely dominated Ha Seung-Jin, formerly of Portland Trailblazers, as the 7-3 Korean center managed just 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes of play.

Iran was led in scoring by Hamed Afagh’s 24 points.  Donggeun Yang led Korea with 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists.

Asiabasket Quarterfinals
After the fifth day of games, the Asiabasket quarterfinals are set for August 14, 2009:

• Jordan vs. Philippines, 14h00 (GMT+8)
• Qatar vs. Iran, 16h00 (GMT+8)
• Chinese-Taipei vs. China, 19h00 (GMT+8)
• Korea vs. Lebanon, 21h00 (GMT+8)

For the entire Asia Basket schedule, click here.

Title: Asia Championships of Basketball
Location: Tianjin, China
Official Website: http://china2009.fiba.com/
Description: The 2009 FIBA Asia Championships of basketball (discuss) will be held in Tianjin, China from August 6-16, 2009 with 16 teams divided into four groups.

The sixteen teams competing for the gold and a spot in the 2010 World Championships are hosts China, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Philippines, Qatar, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, and Uzbekistan.

Discuss the 2009 Asia Championships of Basketball in our forum.

Despite the absence of Yao Ming, the tournament still features many national stars in Yi Jianlian (China), Hamed Haddadi (Iran), Kim Min-Soo (Korea), Rony Fahed (Lebanon), Zaid Abbas (Jordan), Sun Yue (China), Lin Chih-chieh (Chinese-Taipei), Samad Nikkah (Iran), Fadi El-Khatib (Lebanon), Wang Zhizhi (China), Yuta Tabuse (Japan), and Tien Lei (Chinese-Taipei).

The top three teams from the four groups advance to the second round of the championship.

* Group A: Japan, Korea, Philippines, Sri Lanka.
* Group B: Chinese Taipei, Iran, Kuwait, Uzbekistan.
* Group C: China, India, Kazakhstan, Qatar.
* Group D: Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, UAE.

The top three overall teams will automatically qualify for the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey.  Even without finishing in the top three, there is still a chance to qualify for the WBC as 3-4 more teams can be selected as wild cards by FIBA to complete the 24-team field.

Day one of Olympic Basketball has finished with Russia, Germany, Spain, Lithuania, Croatia, and the USA getting their first wins.

Russia 71 : Iran 49 (Russia-Iran Boxscore)
Despite the 71-49 score, Russia didn’t have quite as easy a win as expected, though a late run in the game made for the final margin against feisty Iran.  Russia was outscored 16-8 in the third period, and Iran pulled within 8 points going into the fourth period 46-38.  Russia would go on a 25-11 run of the final period.

Naturalized J.R. Holden scored 19 points for Russia while Andrei Kirilenko added 15 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks.  Viktor Khryapa, a key Russian player that had been a question mark for the Olympics, played 20 minutes and put up 8 points and 5 rebounds.  For Iran, Samad Nikkhah Bahrami scored 16 points, but also had 7 turnovers.  Iranian 7-2 center Hamad Ehadadi added 9 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks.  (comment on the game).olimpio cipriano defends germany\’s chris kaman” src=”http://www.interbasket.net/news/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/oly1-cipriano-kaman-rs.jpg” alt=”" width=”237″ height=”193″ />

Links and Resources: Russia put away gritty Iran in men’s opener (FIBA), Russia-Iran Boxscore (FIBA)

Germany 95 : Angola 66 (Germany-Angola Boxscore)
Playing in Group B, Angola is not going to have a lot of opportunities to advance.  Germany was one of their chances to get a leg up.  Unfortunately, Angola’s offense was erratic, and their defense wasn’t much better, giving up 54 points at halftime, 17 of those to Chris Kaman.  Kaman ended the game with 24 points and Dirk Nowitzki took a backseat with 23 points and 6 rebounds.  Together the NBA duo combined to shoot a blistering 17-21 from the field, and the German team shot 58.6% for the game.

Eduardo Mingas put in 24 points and 3 steals for the Angolans, while Olimpio Cipriano and Joaquim Gomes both played roughly 30 minutes, but combined to shoot only 2-13 from the field, though Gomes did have 8 rebounds.  Carlos Morais added 14 for the Angolans. (Angola-Germany Live Discussion)

Links and Resources: Kaman, Nowitzki power Germany past Angola (FIBA), Germany-Angola Boxscore (FIBA)

Spain 81 : Greece 66 (Greece-Spain Boxscore)
The big game of the day didn’t turn out to be much of a competition as Spain easily defeated Greece without much of a fight.  The Spanairds just seemed to be a couple steps ahead of the Greeks on both ends of the court.  It also didn’t help team Hellas that they shot 11-24 (46%) from the free-throw line.

Outside of the free-throws, the two team’s stats weren’t that dissimilar, but the difference was on the court, the Spanish just executed better on both ends and showed why they, along with the USA are the favorites to medal.  Rudy Fernandez led Espana with 16 points.  Jose Calderon added 13 points and Pau Gasol chipped in 11 points and 7 rebounds.

Former Houston Rocket Vasileios Spanoulis scored 15 points and had 4 turnovers for the Greeks, and Dmitrios Diamantidis put in 14 poinrs, 3 assists and 3 turnovers.  Spain has now defeated the Greeks in four straight contests.  (Greece-Spain Live Discussion)

Links and Resources: Spain win to continue recent dominance against Greece (FIBA), Greece-Spain Boxscore (FIBA)

Lithuania 79 : Argentina 75 (Argentina-Lithuania Boxscore)
In the game of the day, Lithuania squeezed by Argentina with the help of a big three-pointer from their 6-8 power forward Linas Kleiza.

With 3:23 remaining in the game and Lithuania up 11 points, Argentina would stage their come back.  Luis Scola‘s layup would complete eleven straight points that would tie the game at 75 with 1:33 left.  Lithuania would go scoreless from the beginning of the Argentina’s run until Kleiza’s three pointer with 2 seconds remaning.  A span of almost three and a half minutes.  An errant inbounds by Scola and a Siskauskas free-throw would make for the final score.

And the Lithuanian’s knew they were lucky to pull this one out, without Kleiza’s three, the Lith’s finish to the game was horrendous.  Instead they walk out of day one with a big win, “Argentina is the Olympic champion and it speaks for itself,” Jasikevicius said. “For us to start the Olympics in this way, it’s incredible.”

Kleiza led the Lithuanians in scoring with 13 points, shooting a perfect 3-3 from three and a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line.  Robertas Javtokas had 12 points and 5 rebounds.  Siskauskas, Sarunas Jasikevicius, and Marijonas Petravicius each added 10 points.  Jasikevicius also had 8 assists and 5 turnovers.

Argentina was led by Manu Ginobili’s 19 points, though he shot only 6-15 from the field including 1-7 from three.  Also shooting 1-7 from three was Andres Nocioni, whom scored 15 points on 5-14 and pulled in 9 rebounds.  Carlos Delfino added 13 points and 6 rebounds.  Fabricio Oberto chipped in a near double-double with 9 points and 11 rebounds.  (Argentina-Lithuania Live Discussion)

Links and Resources: Kleiza kills off Argentina with late three-pointer (FIBA), Argentina-Lithuania Boxscore (FIBA)

Croatia 97 : Australia 82 (Croatia-Australia Boxscore)
The story of the game was the Croat’s efficient three-point shooting.  They balanced their amazing 12-16 from beyond the arc, with fantastic defense.

Croatia limited Andrew Bogut to just one total rebound as well as four turnovers.  Bogut also had 10 points.

Though Croatia was able to hit 75% of their three-point attempts, they were surprisingly led by two players that did not even attempt a three pointer.  Croatia’s 6-10 center Nikola Prkacin and 6-8 forward Marko Banic each scored 16 points.  Prkacin contributions only took 11 minutes of play, he and Banic combined to shoot 12-13, all within the arc and 8-9 from the free-throw line.

With Prkacin and Banic holding down the offensive interior, it allowed for Marko Tomas (4-4) , Zoran Planinic (2-2), and Davor Rus (2-3) to bomb away from the outside.  Marko Tomas and Planinic scored 12 points each, Kresimir Loncar added 10 points, and recent Toronto Raptor signee Roko Ukic put in 9 points.

Matt Nielsen of Lietuvos Rytas, led the Boomers with 13 points with 5 rebounds, David Barlow had 12 points, and Patrick Mills scored 9. (Australia-Croatia Live Discussion)

Links and Resources: Croatia gun down Boomers in Beijing (FIBA), Croatia-Australia Boxscore (FIBA)

USA 101 : China 70 (China-USA Boxscore)
The home country crowd erupted as Yao Ming hit a three pointer China’s first possession, giving the home team a 3-0 advantage over the favored Americans.  It would become a theme throughout the first half.

Even though it was expected that China would come out energetic and focused, it wasn’t expected that the Chinese would be tied with the United States at 29 apiece with six minutes before halftime.  Bolstered by blistering three-point shooting in the first half, the Chinese hit 8-12 threes in their first 16 minutes before finally misfiring on the final four attempts.

And in the span of those final four minutes before halftime, the US outscored China 14-5, to open up a 12 point spread.

The third quarter saw the Americans more than double their lead by wearing down Team China, forcing them into seven of their 18 turnovers in the quarter and outscoring the Chinese 25-11.  The United States wouldn’t be seriously threatened from then on.

Despite the score, Team China played well and showed a greater understanding against the Americans.  However, the game showed that their guards still had some work to do as Dwyane Wade was able to easily pick both of China’s point guards’ pockets (Liu Wei and Chen Jianghua).  Yi Jianlian relied way too much on dribble moves that ended up in fadeaway jumpers that barely hit the rim.  Jianlian started out 0-7 before hitting some garbage time baskets that included a spectacular follow-up dunk dunk over Carmelo Anthony.

Dwyane Wade continued his efficient play with 19 points on 7-7 shooting in just 20 minutes of play.  LeBron James added 18 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 tremendous blocks.  Kobe Bryant shot 6-14, but only 1-7 from three, including a team-leading 3 turnovers (tied with Jason Kidd).

Yao Ming led the Chinese with 13 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks.  Zhu Fangyu contributed 11 points, 8 rebounds, and outside of Ming, Zhu looked to be the most prepared player on the court.  As mentioned before, Yi Jianlian scored nine points, the 7 of which was during garbage time. Wang ZhiZhi and  Sun Yue, the recent Laker signing, added 8 points each. (China-USA Live Discussion)

Links and Resources: Americans win over China in thrilling Olympic encounter (FIBA), China-USA Boxscore (FIBA)

With a few days left before Olympic basketball begins, Interbasket is previewing the twelve national teams participating in the tournament.  We reviewed the six teams in Group A on Tuesday, and we’ll be reviewing Group B today. (Click here for Olympic Basketball Group A Preview).

With the United States, Spain and Greece all in Group B, the group is obviously the tougher group of the two. Unlike Group A where five teams have a chance for four spots with Iran a 100-1 chance to win a game, Group B will likely have one spot for either Angola, China, or Germany assuming that the heavyweights take the top-three spots.

United States Olympic Preview (discuss)
FIBA World Ranking: 1 (832.2)
Qualified: 2007 Fiba Americas Tournament (Gold)
Roster: Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, Tayshaun Prince, Michael Redd, Dwyane Wade, Deron Williams
Facts: If the USA wins the gold, Jason Kidd will join Larry Bird as the two oldest basketball Olympic gold-medalists (Larry was an older 35, beating Kidd by a few months).
Note: This may be the first real group of US players that are coming in with a real sense of urgency and respect (basketball-wise) for their opponents.  “For too long, we’ve been saying it’s our game,” said USA coach Mike Krzyzewski. “It’s really the world’s game. You can’t be arrogant and win.”

I’ve followed their U.S. coverage and their play and teamwork seems as cohesive as I have seen a US team with a couple exceptions. Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade have proven they haven’t completely bought into the team concept when they step on the court as they’ve broke the offense many times to go one on one with only mixed results.  Wade has converted on his individual forays, while Kobe has not.

This type of play will hurt the US especially against more disciplined teams such as Greece, Spain and Argentina, but if they make the shots that will add to the US’s intimidation factor.  And though the intmidation factor is not nearly as it was in the previous years, the USA still can seem imposing.

“(The USA) can intimidate a lot of people,” said Australia‘s Chris Anstey.

The key for the USA and their intimidation is their defensive ball pressure and offensive flow.  One feeds into the other, and if the US runs into a defensive team with capable guards (see Greece, Spain, Argentina and Croatia), it can cause major problems for the United States.

Every time Jason Kidd has put on a USA jersey, he has been an important player for the United States, but his needed impact is less necessary this time around with the growth and skills of the spectacular Chris Paul and powerful Deron Williams.

Outside of needing work on his help defense, Carmelo Anthony continues to be the most-adapted international player on team USA, Instead of being the explosive scorer he is in the NBA, Anthony is quietly getting 15 a game by letting the game come to him.

LeBron James is adapting, though he’s been tempted to shooting fadeaway jumpshots as he does in the NBA, his amazing shooting percentages in the FIBA tournament of the America and the recent pre-tourney games shows he is picking and choosing his spots.  (He averaged 18 ppg in the TOA on 76% from the field and 63% from three).

The play of the big guys, Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh, will be particularly important against the more competitive teams.  Howard is at that stage of his career where consistency is still an issue.  Some days he looks like a thinner, more athletic Shaquille O’Neal and other days he seems content, almost biding his time, watching LeBron, Carmelo, and Wade get their shots.  I think the US is definitely one of the favorites, it’s how this team will respond to being challenged will be the true test; will they come together or will they be tempted to play one-on-one?  USA’s First Game: August 10th, 2008 vs. China (22:15 local time)

Links and Resources: Basketball at the Summer Olympics (Wikipedia), US survives toughest test, beat Asutralia by 11 (Associate Press)

Spain Olympic Preview (discuss)
FIBA World Ranking: 3 (580)
Qualified: 2006 World Championships (Gold)
Roster: José Calderón, Rudy Fernández, Jorge Garbajosa, Marc Gasol, Pau Gasol, Carlos Jiménez, Raúl López, Álex Mumbrú, Juan Carlos Navarro, Felipe Reyes, Berni Rodríguez, Ricky Rubio
Facts: A tribute to how strong this Spanish team is, they won the 2006 World Championships without leading scorer Pau Gasol, whom was injured the game before.  Espana’s medalcount stands at 97 total medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics, placing them 34th overall in the world, behind Greece.

Note: The Spaniards are a disciplined, emotional, talented, and they don’t just want to beat you, they want to embarrass you.

The Spanish National Team hasn’t changed much in the last two years and they’re bringing almost the same squad as they had in the 2006 World Championships (where they won first), and the 2007 Eurobasket (where they took 2nd).

Speaking to the talent of the Spanish team, they boast seven players that have played, currently play, or will play in the NBA, the most in the Olympics outside of the USA.

Spain brings back 10 of the 12 players from those two tournaments, only swapping out point guards Carlos Cabezas and Sergio Rodríguez with point guards Raul Lopez and Ricky Rubio, arguably the best 17-year old basketball player.  With only minor changes to the team, and without significant losses to their core, Spain’s chemistry and gameplan will be amongst the strongest, if not the strongest, in the field.

With that said, Group B has the best guard play in the tournament, and Spain boasts a really strong backcourt in fiery Jose Calderon, La Bomba Juan Carlos Navarro, solid Raul Lopez and teen phenom Ricky Rubio.  Look for Calderon to be all over the floor this tournament, whether because of opponents or self-inflicted.  Also look for opposing fans to hate him.

Their frontcourt is nothing to sleep on either with their cog Pau Gasol and brother Marc are intense on the inside.  Swingman Rudy Fernandez is a better-Carlos Delfino – much better.   Carlos Jiménez is one of those players that is more than willing to sacrifice any individual accolades so that his team succeeds, that’s a nice way of saying he’ll do the real dirty work.

Spain has been looking great in preliminaries blowing out contenders in Argentina and Lithuania.  I know that using friendlies as a gauge is flawed, but I think it does help to determine a team’s preparedness, especially when playing against other senior national A teams.

Pau Gasol is weary about the competition, but it doesn’t phase his confidence “There are several big teams in the competition, such as Argentina or Greece — and especially the United States is very strong this year,” the Spanish superstar said “Once we are in the quarter-finals we will begin to make plans. We must demonstrate to everyone why we came here as the favorites.“ 

Their first step towards those quarterfinals is a huge one, they’ll play Greece in their first 2008 Olympic match.  That’s going to be one intense game, people.  Spain’s First Game: August 10th, 2008 vs. Greece (14:30 local time)

Links and Resources: Basketball at the Summer Olympics (Wikipedia), Kobe can Wait, says Spain’s Gasol (AFP), What about Carlos Jimenez? (Interbasket)

Greece Olympic Preview (discuss)
FIBA World Ranking: 6 (429)
Qualified: 2008 World Olympic Qualifying Tournament
Roster: Yiannis Bourousis, Dimitris Diamantidis, Antonis Fotsis, Andreas Glyniadakis, Theodoros Papaloukas, Michalis Pelekanos, Giorgos Printezis, Sofoklis Schortsanitis, Vasileios Spanoulis, Kostas Tsartsaris, Panagiotis Vasilopoulos, Nikos Zisis
Facts: Throughout its history, Greece has totaled 104 total medals in both the Summer and Winter Olympics, placing them 33rd overall in the world (behind New Zealand and ahead of Spain).

Note: Not far behind USA and Spain, is Team Hellas.  Aggressive on offense and defense, the Greeks have an all-world defense led by their starting backcourt of Theodoros Papaloukas and Dimitris Diamantidis.

The Greeks came off a unbeaten record in the World Qualifying Tourney (4-0) defeating their opponents by a decisive 32 points a game, including a complete 57-point drubbing of Lebanon.  Yowza.

Along with the United States and Spain, Greece’s backcourt is amongst the strongest in the tournament with all-European player Theodoros Papaloukas, defensive genius Dmitrios Diamanditis, the fearless Vasillis Spanoulis, and solid Nikos Zisis.

Theodoros Papaloukas is a pure point guard that stands 6-7, and is arguably been Europe’s most successful player in recent history, as well as being the Euroleague’s all-time leading assist man and thief.  Diamantidis is the Joe Dumars of the Euroleague, quiet, smart and known for his defensive prowess, the Octopus Man has being named as 2007 Euroleague Final MVP,  2005, 2006 and 2007 Euroleague Best Defender, 2006-07 All-Euroleague First Team.  Spanoulis provides an aggressive player that can get to the basket and Zisis a consistent perimeter threat in both running the offense and shooting the three.

Zisis is coming off a shoulder injury from the World Qualifiers, but should be ready in time for Greece’s first game matchup against Spain.

On the frontline is the 6-10 Antonis Fotsis, a skilled athelete with a knack for rebounding the ball can also step back and shoot the three.  6-9 Sofoklis Schortsanitis who was a force in the 2006 World Championships, but since has had trouble controlling his weight and 6-11 center Yiannis Bourousis.  Bourousis will fill the space of the national team center mainstay Lazaros Papadopoulos, whom wasn’t included on the Olympic roster.

Greece has been running on all cylinders as of late, that’s not good news for Group B, or the rest of the world for that matter.  Their first test is going to be a good one, they’ll be playing recent nemesis Spain.  Expect some sparks to fly.  Greece’s First Game: August 10th, 2008 vs. Spain (14:30 local time)

Links and Resources: Zisis to undergo intensive treatment (FIBA), Basketball at the Summer Olympics (Wikipedia),

Germany Olympic Preview (discuss)
FIBA World Ranking: 9 (284, tie)
Qualified: 2008 World Olympic Qualifying Tournament
Roster:  Patrick Femerling, Robert Garrett, Demond Greene, Steffen Hammann, Jan Jagla, Chris Kaman, Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Ohlbrecht, Pascal Roller, Sven Schultze, Konrad Wysocki, Philip Zwiener
Facts: Dirk Nowitzki will join Sarunas Jasikevicius, Manu Ginobili, and Andrei Kirilenko as the flag-bearer for Germany, which apparently is odd because only German Gold Medal winners who took part in several olympic games were considered. Germany’s total medalcount is at 648 for both Winter and Summer Olympics, putting them 5th in the world.

Note: This is Dirk Nowitzki’s first Olympics and the pressure is on. Because Deustchland is still all about Dirk Nowitzki, the burden for him to perform is at its highest since he led Dallas to the NBA Finals two years ago.

Recognizing the reliance on Germany’s best hooper, Team Germany has continue to fine-tune and tightened up Dirk’s supporting cast.

They’ve added naturalized American 7-0 center Chris Kaman whom will take a huge load off of Nowitzki by holding down the interior and pulling in his share of rebounds – Kaman averaged 8.6 rebounds and added 12.6 points to boot in the FiBA World Qualifying Tournament.

Germany has also tweaked the players outside the paint with solid preimeter players and outside shooters in Pascal Roller, Steffen Hamman, Demond Greene, and Robert Garrett.

Robert Garrett is 6-4, but Roller stands only 5-11, and Hamman and Greene at 6-1.  With significant players lacking in height, Germany will really miss their warrior in the paint, 6-9 Ademola Olulaja, whom pulled out of the Olympics after reportedly being diagnosed with a tumor in his spine.  With Okulaja out, the 33-year old, 7-1 center Patrick Femerling and 6-8 Konrad Wysocki will be called upon to contribute in the German frontcourt.  With all that said, this team’s fortunes begin and end with Dirk Nowitzki, and the 7-0 German has always delivered in international tournaments. Germany’s First Game: August 10th, 2008 vs. Angola (11:15 local time)

Links and Resources: Basketball at the Summer Olympics (Wikipedia), Nowitzki will be flag-bearer for Germany (Spiegel.de), Concerns raised over Okulaja’s health (FIBA)

China Olympic Preview (discuss)
FIBA World Ranking: 11 (252.7)
Qualified: Host
Roster: Yao Ming, Liu Wei, Yi Jianlian, Chen Jianghua, Weipeng Zheng, Chen Jianghu, Sun Yue, Wang Zhizhi
Facts: China has 319 total medals in both Winter and Summer Olympics, ranking them 15th in the world. Among the 433 torch bearers in the final Olympic torch relay from the Forbidden City to Beijing, Yao Ming was the ninth bearer.  Yao will also be the China’s flag-bearer for the opening ceremonies, this is the second consecutive Olympics that Yao has the honor of bearing the flag, he also did so in Athens 2004.  Including 2008, Chinese Basketball players have beared the flag for China in the opening ceremonies in seven straight Olympics Wang Libin (1984), Song Tao (1988), Song Li (1992),  Liu Yudong (1996 and 2000), and Yao Ming (2004 and 2008).

Note: Host team China has the pressure to do well on their homecourt.  Despite the obvious lofty expectations, Team China’s goal is progress, and that is to make it into the quarterfinals.  With USA, Spain and Greece all in China’s group, that would be a great accomplishment for the host team.

Chinese superstar Yao Ming is coming off another leg injury and whether his timing and stamina will be up is a concern for China.  “I went several months without playing and it’s hard.” Yao said.

Even if Yao doesn’t score 30 points and grab 15 rebounds in a game, the 7-6 center’s presence is invaluable to Team China on both ends of the court.  Teams have to be concerned that the Chinese giant is more than capable of getting 30 points and 15 rebounds.

Like the Aussies, the strength of the Chinese team is their frontcourt.  With the new walking great wall, veterans Ming, Wang Zhizhi, and newcomer Yi Jianlian (taking place of Mengke Bateer) standing at the frontline, they will certainly be imposing.  A couple issues with the big men is that they are all turnover prone, how well they will move their feet and how quickly they can get to rebounds, as none of the three are lightning quick or are naturally strong rebounders.

China has never had a problem filling their frontline with talented big men, but the question has always been whether China will have the capacity in the backcourt to finish off competitive games.

Liu Wei is an experienced international player and should do a decent job running the point as he played 10 years with Yao Ming and this will be his third Olympics.  Liu’s backup is Chen Jianghu, whom participated in the 2007 Nike Hoops Summit as part of the World All-Star team, is new to the National team and tends to play sporadically.

Even with all the questions about China’s National Team, Li Yuanwei, deputy director of the Chinese Basketball Association thinks this National team is the best team China has ever fielded: “I think the Chinese teams at the Beijing Games are the best.” We’ll have to wait and see.  China’s First Game: August 10th, 2008 vs. USA (22:15 local time)

Links and Resources: Basketball at the Summer Olympics (Wikipedia), China has best basketball teams in history, top official (Xinhua), Olympic Torch Relay begins final leg to Beijing (China Daily)

Angola Olympic Preview (discuss)
FIBA World Ranking: 14 (206)
Qualified: 2007 African Championships (1st)
Roster: Carlos Almeida, Felizardo Ambrosio, Milton Barros, Abdel Aziz Boukar, Olimpio Cipriano, Armando Costa, Luis Costa, Vladimir Geronimo, Joaquim Gomes, Paulo Leonel, Eduardo Mingas, Carlos Morais.
Facts: This will be Angola’s fifth-straight Olympic Games as the sole representative from Africa.

Notes: Angola is the perennial African champions, and have won the last nine of ten African Championships, dating back to 1989.  Despite the continental success, Angola has never placed higher than 10th in either the Olympics or the World Championships.  The southwestern African nation is looking for a lot more progress this time around.

Angola is assuming that powerhouse USA, Spain and Greece will advance to the quarterfinals so, they’ve marked the calendars for their games against Germany and China.  “Spain are world champions, and Greece and the U.S. are just very, very tough.” said Carlos Almeida, Angola’s veteran shooting guard. “China and Germany are tough teams but we will try to steal those games.  We know we have the ability to beat them.”

Defeating Dirk Nowitzki and Yao Ming’s teams would basically guarantee Angola a spot in the next round.

Angola comes back with a similar gameplan as in past tournaments – small ball.  Always seemingly bringing a roster that is lacking a legitimate big man, Angola plays small ball with their tallest players only standing at 6-8; leading scorer and rebounder Joaquim Gomes.  Abdel Aziz Boukar is also 6-8 and Felizardo Ambrosio is 6-7.

What the Angolans lack in height, they make up for in speed, energy, and athleticism, quite possibly matching the USA in overall athelticism.  Team Angola has will be led by the three-headed forward combination of Joaquim Gomes, Eduardo Mingas, and Olimpio Cipriano.

This threesome has consistently been Angola’s leading scorers over the last several tournaments, and we would assume that this will remain the case.  The 29 year-old Mingas and 27-year old Gomes have played together since the 2002 World Championships, with Cirpriano joining the tandem in the 2004 Athens Olympics.  Angola’s First Game: August 10th, 2008 vs. Germany (11:15 local time)

Links and Resources: Basketball at the Summer Olympics (Wikipedia), Angola aims to give China the elbow (Guardian.co.uk)

With the two Olympic Basketball Groups now set and determined, which group would you rather be in?  Or as a thread in our Olympic Basketball Forum asks, “which is the Group of Death, A or B?”

The twelve participating national teams were randomly drawn into two separate groups..  Each of the two group will have six teams, with the top four teams from each group advancing into the quarterfinals.   Here is what the groups look like:

Group A: Argentina, Australia, Croatia, Iran, Lithuania, and Russia
Group B: Angola, China, Germany, Greece, Spain, and USA

Group A
In group A, we have the aging gold medalists from the 2004 Athens Olympics, Argentina.  With age, an injury to Manu Ginobili, and the lack of Pepe Sanchez and Walter Hermmann, they’re not as fearsome as they were in 2004 or even 2006, but certainly cannot be overlooked.

Also in Group A are three very solid European teams.  The 2007 Eurobasket surprise champions Russia, led by the do-it-all Andrei Kirilenko and Victor Khryapa.

Even without stars Arvydas Macijauskas and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Lithuania is always a force to be dealt with as they’re battle-tested with Ramunas Siskauskas and Sarunas Jasikevicius.  Then we have the revamped Croatian squad that went unbeaten in the recent Pre-Olympic World Qualifiers, thanks to efficient performances by Marko Tomas.

Rounding out Group A is a competitive Aussie team with David Andersen, Brad Newley and Andrew Bogut, and a not so competitive Iranian team.  All in all, this group is probably the most-rounded of the two groups.

Group B
Group B features two of the favorites of the tournament – the United States (now with preparation and urgency!) and Spain, the 2006 World Champions.  The Spaniards are a disciplined, emotional, talented, and stacked team – a deadly combination.  Not far behind these the USA and Spain, is Greece.  Team Hellas just came off a 4-0 record in the World Qualifying Tourney, defeating their opponents by a sick 32 points a game, including a complete 57-point drubbing of Lebanon. Yikes.

I would place hosts China and the Dirk Nowitzki-led Germans in the same tier.  No two teams need more from their NBA stars than these two teams.  China has the pressure to do well on their homecourt, they have Yao Ming coming off injury, a young and talented 7-0 Yi Jianlian, and Wang Zhizhi coming back to the National Team.  Together they form the new version of the Great Wall.  Germany has really tighetned up their supporting cast, adding a naturalized Chris Kaman and solid outside shooters that will make teams pay for paying too much attention to Nowitzki.

Also in group B, is the perennial African champion Angola.  This team continues to improve year over year as they have the best organization and support of all African teams. Led by Eduardo Mingas, Olimpio Cipriano, and Joaquim Gomes, the Angolans are never an easy squad to defeat.

So which group is tougher?
Well, it all depends on which perspective you are taking. You have five competitive teams in Group A, but you also have Iran in that same group.  Group B has three top-tiered teams, with a three decent teams in Angola, China and Germany, each with an decent chance of upsetting any team.

It really comes down to which likely-scenario is tougher – With Group A, there are five teams with similar chances advancing unto the next round, so four teams out of five, with the sixth team Iran unlikely to make any noise.  However in group B, it’s essentially three teams fighting for one spot because the United States, Spain and Greece are very likely to qualify into the next round.

So with that said, if I were a national team, chances are better to advance in group A scenario.

Links and Resources: Which one is the “group of death”, A or B? (Interbasket Forum), Olympic Basketball Forum & Message Board (Interbasket)

We’ve had a lot of positive traction on our forum from some under-represented regions as we’ve recently received some great members from Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, and Syria.

Great Egytian and Iranian Basketball Threads
First off, I wanted to recognize a couple great informational forum threads regarding domestic basketball leagues in Iran and Egypt. mohsena2631 and soliman have created and have updated these league threads with stats, news and other pertinent information. Check them out here: Egyptian Basketball and Iranian Basketball Super League.

Fadi El-Khatib Stronger than Yao Ming?
With only a few days left before polls close on the 2007 Interbasket Awards, we’ve had an influx of Lebanese basketball fans voicing their opinions on why Fadi El-Khatib deserves the Interbasket Asian Basketball Player of the 2007 Award over Yao Ming. Many of the votes may be nationalistic, but some true die-hards strongly believe that Fadi is the one.

What about Michael Madanly of Syria?
Also recently, Interbasket has been visited by Syrian basketball fans pushing for the inclusion of Syrian superstar Michael Madanly (misspelt several different ways on our forum mandanly, maadanly, madanley) into the 2007 Asian Player nominees. Unfortunately, we are too far late in the game to have included him. It’s nothing personal against him, just didn’t make much sense with the polls closing soon and Fadi and Yao so far ahead in voting. I hope that the Syrians stick around to nominate him in 2008 if he Madanly is still deserving.

A Question of Weighing Accomplishments
Even with Madanly having been included in our nominations for 2007 IBN Asian Basketball Player of the year, we still have the difficulty of selecting a player from a pool of players that participate in separate leagues.

It’s a question of worth — Does Yao Ming deserve the award simply because he is an all-league center, an all-star, maybe the best center on the earth playing in the toughest basketball league?

Or do we go for great domestic players that are setting precedence, as Fadi Khatib recently did dominating the Ukranian third league in his first year with Cherkaski Mavpi? How much is social change factor in when awarding player of the year?

Or do we go with players like Wang Zhizhi (China), Hamed Haddadi (Iran) or Michael Madanly (Syria)? These players may not be well-known across the continents, but accomplished much in 2007; from leading their team to domestic league championships in 2007 (Wang), leading their country to a surprising gold medal in the 2007 Asian Championships (Haddadi), to being the unquestioned best player in their country, and the leading scorer in the 2007 Dubai Cup and 2007 Asian Club Cup (Madanly).

Weighing the Diversity of Basketball
Different leagues, different competition levels, different awards, different circumstances, different social barriers; so how do does one reconcile all that to select one player? In a way, that’s the beauty of learning about international basketball – all the subtle and extreme differences.

My suggestion is to inform yourself about each player nominated and understand their circumstances. What if Yi Jianlian wins an NBA championship in 2014 and is the first Asian player to take home a NBA Finals MVP, but what if it was the same year that an 6-3 point guard from the Philippines leads his team to a unexpected silver in the Asian Championships, becomes the first Filipino drafted by the Spanish league and becomes an all-ACB performer? (I know that’s an impossible timeline for one calendar year, but I’m just using it to make a point)

o do those three accomplishments (Silver medal as an underdog, first Filipino in ACB, all-ACB) weigh more than an NBA Championship and NBA Finals MVP in your mind? It’s social change vs. important awards and though both are deserving, it would be up to you to decide which is a larger in the big picture. And the best way to do that is to inform yourself before choosing your winner.

Sources and Info: Egyptian league 07/08 – rosters (Forum Thread), Iranian Basketball Super League (Forum Thread), Iranian Basketball Player Aidin Nikkhah Bahrami dies in car accident, Iran: The rising basketball power of Asia, Fadi El-Khatib Dominates First Game in Europe (News), 2007 Interbasket Awards, 2007 IBN Asian Player of the Year (Forum Thread), Middle East Basketball Forum (Interbasket), 2007 Asian Championships Forum, 2007 Dubai Cup (Interbasket).

Preparation for Eurobasket and the Tournament of the Americas continued as National Teams from all over the world competed in friendly matches and regional cups.

In the Tuto Marchand Continental Cup, Brazil captured the cup by defeating the previously-unbeaten Canadian National Team. Marcos Viera scored 14 points for Brazil, and JP Batista and Marcelo Machado each contributed 12 points apiece.

The day before, Croatian-league MVP Carl English hit four three-pointers and scored 30 points to lead Canada over heavily-favored Argentina 84-78. The win moved Canada into the Cup’s final. The other game saw Brazil breezing by Puerto Rico 79-67, led by Tiago Splitter’s 24 points.

Germany defeated China again, this time in a closer match, 76-71. Wang Zhizhi and Yi Jianlian (23 points including a nice spin baseline two-handed dunk) were the main guns with Yao Ming sitting the game out. And as expected, Dirk Nowitzki led the Germans with 30pts.

In the Pierre de Coubertin stadium in Paris, Russia was blown out today against France, after a strong showing against Portugal yesterday 80-58. Tony Parker continued his strong play with