2010 World Championship

[Perseus]

i said that back in 2008 if USA play with same passion all the games they will get tired when they have to play serious (like it happened in 2008)

[Federoy]

Opening ceremony for the tournament...

Does anybody know if there will be an opening ceremony? If so, does anybody know of any internet links or stream sites I can watch it on?

[kyosphere]

Does anybody know if there will be an opening ceremony? If so, does anybody know of any internet links or stream sites I can watch it on?

tonight, 20.15 CET... Turkish network NTV will broadcast it but I don't know if there will be a stream... here's the ceremony programme:


- Cirque du Soleil
- Opening Speaches
- Symphony Orchestra
- Fatih Erkoç
- Müslüm Gürses
- Mehteran Team
- Sezen Aksu & Alessandro Safina
- Sezen Aksu & Haris Alexiou
- Fire of Anatolia
- Children of the World

[sagenas]

How far will Lithuania will go in this edition of the World Championships?

I'm familiar with the Lithuanian teams of the past but I'm not familiar with this team except for some players such as Javtokas and Linas Kleiza.

Can this squad reach the podium like in the past?

Well, in Lithuania almost everyone are realistic, so we think about quarterfinals, but if there we could get beatable opponent, then semis and it would be high score for us. This year in our team play many younger players, so we hope they'll develope here and next year in EC in Lithuania could go till top 4 (with our fans, it would be easier). This year Gecevičius, Pocius, Seibutis, Andriuškevičius and Klimavičius made to the first team, Kalnietis will be our main point guard (for first time ) and Jankūnas finally made it.
This team ahve big potential...Gecevičius last yerar was one of the best shooters in Euroleague, Kleiza was one of the best players in Europe, Seibutis is big talent, he just wasn't playing in the right place (when he was 19 years old, he played in Olympiacos and there was good enough bench player, then coach was Kazlauskas, but after he left, then injuries and other things was always with him).

And the most important thing - finally we have good enough coach.

I'm optimistic about this our national team, but you never know, what may happen.

[Franz]

Can we get a thread stickied for the Standings?

[Simonas123]

Hoops Leader: Linas Kleiza the Lithuanian bad guy: "I think the video will speak for itself - Kleiza has just found his new go-to move..." http://bit.ly/cLEkzS

You'll find a video of Linas Kleiza's crazy shot during practice in Izmir + a piece about the importance of Kleiza dealing with his character issues.

[Perseus]

I am ready








let the show begin!

[Justin in AZ]

Let me finish with this- is there be any team you would bet on to beat the U.S. in a 7 game series? I wouldn't. That to me says we are the best team in the tournament and have a better than 50% chance of beating anyone.

To the contrary, I think many teams could beat USA in a 7 game series. That would give teams a chance to adjust to the guard pressure and speed, while allowing them to hone in on USA weaknesses, such as no defense down low.

This USA team is built to surprise people in one-game, based on gimmicks like playing the passing lanes for easy steals, and guards jacking up lots of threes.

[Adon]

let the show begin!

You need also a couple of those:


(... a couple of ice creams)

[NorCal]

To the contrary, I think many teams could beat USA in a 7 game series. That would give teams a chance to adjust to the guard pressure and speed, while allowing them to hone in on USA weaknesses, such as no defense down low.

This USA team is built to surprise people in one-game, based on gimmicks like playing the passing lanes for easy steals, and guards jacking up lots of threes.

Who do you think would beat the U.S. in a 7 game series?
I think the U.S. has the best scouting and coaching staff and would therefore learn as much or more about the team they are playing than the team would learn about us. So we would be honing in on their weaknesses too. And, in this alternate world where we play 7 game series, the U.S. would also learn to play with each other much better as well since they don't have that experience right now.
And high ball pressure isn't just necessarily to get steals, its mostly used to force the other team into other types of errors (driving lanes that aren't there, fadeaways, quick contested shots). I don't believe the U.S. has the best team defense but we probably have the best individual defenders and if you've ever played against a team of great individual defenders you will once in a while get back door slips for easy baskets and things like that but many times you commit many more errors.

[Freaknick]

So now finally the ELA predictions are ready. Had to take it all in and wait for those final rosters but the decisions are in:

FIBA 2010 Predictionpalooza: Who's Golden? Plus group winners, All-Tournament Team and statistical leaders.

Hint: USA might end up with the Gold.

And in case you missed it, my Top 50 non-USA FIBA Players article is up also o ELA and SLAM Magazine. It's been getting a lot of comments on SLAM, so I can only guess that some of those are IBNers:

[Perseus]

i placed a 5 euro bet to USA +23,Australia +17 and PR +4.5

[g.g]

So now finally the ELA predictions are ready. Had to take it all in and wait for those final rosters but the decisions are in:

FIBA 2010 Predictionpalooza: Who's Golden? Plus group winners, All-Tournament Team and statistical leaders.

Hint: USA might end up with the Gold.

And in case you missed it, my Top 50 non-USA FIBA Players article is up also o ELA and SLAM Magazine. It's been getting a lot of comments on SLAM, so I can only guess that some of those are IBNers:

Come on Nick the only thing you see is NBA or Spain because you live there. Please do give me a break. Your predictions, rankings, top 50 players, every single wave of your thoughts is so blind.

[Adon]

And in case you missed it, my Top 50 non-USA FIBA Players article is up also o ELA and SLAM Magazine. It's been getting a lot of comments on SLAM, so I can only guess that some of those are IBNers:

Arbitrary and peculiar evaluation in many cases.

Pridezis higher than Sofo and Mozgov (?)
"38. Ioannis Bourousis, Greece: Just because he’s getting the cast off his hand won’t stop him from playing like he has one around each foot. (He’s slow.)"(!!!)
6. Nicolas Batum, France (!!!)
no Tsatsaris?

...and many-many other strange things...

I'm not convinced that you know what you're talking about.

[Perseus]

he is an agent of GL