It sure did. Like Serbia "did". And Lithuania deserved it as well - maybe a tad bit more than the others. It's a matter of perspective too btw : For some, USA DIDN'T "deserve" to be a finalist ('cause of their emphasis on their athletic skills instead of playing a "heroics" basketball game). Serbia for others deserved it because of Ivkovic (his name alone "opens gates") and of the "creative" plays given by Teodosic (everybody loves a "mastermind point guard" that feeds his other 4 fellow players with awesome assists and that he moreover takes decisive 3 point shots, along with the lead of his team). There were ones that thought Lithuania deserved to be a finalist, 'cause of their extremely talented and tenacious young players that played in run and (effectively) gun mode, providing what's been missing in the new era of basketball : enjoyable plays. And of course, there are the ones, Turks mainly, that claim their team deserved a shot in the final game, for showing consistency throughout the tournament, and giving a couple of overwhelming games as well.
And they probably all are right.
History however wrote that the final was played between Kevin Dur,,,,,I MEAN Team USA and Turkey.
Only problem being that "controversial" semi with Serbia, which was leading the game till the last minutes and then came Asik's "theatrical performance" to avoid shooting that couple of free throws he earned, 'cause of his awful FT percentage and Krstic's disqualifying foul that seemingly only existed in the fantasy of the ref that called it that btw also endowed Erden with a single FT (the aftermath included mainly Tunceri's infamous out-of-bounds stepping when he got the ball from Turkoglu so as to make the last and actually silver-medal winning basket in those last 4 secs). I mean if Turkey got the lead for the most part and finally won by, say, 10+ points, I don't think that there'd be grounds for others to moan.
And it's true that the 5th foul called on Krstic was the "unfair"/decisive call.
All other stuff could be excused due to the intensity of the last minutes of such a game.
But does such a technicality make the Turkish team not eligible for the final?
I do not think so. And it would be sad if it goes down as such.
'Cause, for example, shouldn't there be a flagrant foul call on Teodosic for bashing Asik in the manner that he did?
Home teams may get the officials' support as a standard - but they seldom get the support of the other teams' fans. In the case of Turkey, this was kinda in the utmost degree. Why so?
Well, to begin with, "they are the Ottomans that suppressed the Balkans for half a millennium", "they are the ones that have been butchering Kurds, Armenian, Greeks and others even in modern times", "they are an uncivilized and of a retrograde religion nation of cocky ethnicists with offensive militaristic profile that also gives head to the Americans", "they are good for only home tournaments", "they don't have a certain basketball school and on the contrary their best players aren't clear Turks to begin with" and so on....
However, the fact is that this Turkish team utilized its home advantage, considering good psychology, to the best extend, and they played nicely and effectively through Mundobasket and of course shouldn't take any historical, political or religious blame for that matter. They surely weren't a team that gave you the feeling that they are an unbeatable force of nature - but then again we all saw what came of "unbeatable Greece", "formidable Spain", "mighty Argentina" and even of those "hungry Serbian youngster-gangsters who lost a game to the "nothingness" of the Germans, and had a close call with the Argentineans.
It would have been nice if the Turkish players made it to the final in a more convincing/matching to their previous games manner, and if they also fought more against Team USA, but to say "they didn't deserve that silver medal" is, I think, profanity against a team that had a certain cool, that played quite wisely/convincingly/effectively at times, a team that for the most part didn't provoke others with nasty behaviour/fouling (...unlike others did...).
All in all, yes, Turkey did (too) deserve to be in that final, even if they stepped on it with one leg........out of bounds.
So it's really not nice to attack the Turkish fans and their joy, is what I say. Even the occasional not so mature ones.
