2010 World Championship preparation games

[Trifilli]

I don't know if there are any links as it's usually hard to find a link for games on NovaSports, especially Test Games without huge interest.

Russia leads 52:48 after 3 Quarters, level of play decreased a lot now though...

[Trifilli]

Popovic choking... first he misses the three, then he plays the bad pass in the next offense... but he's lucky that it somehow gets touched by Fridzon before bouncing out. 6.9secs left for Croatia, being down 64:66... Ukic goes 1vs1, missed the layup, Tomas can't convert the tip, Russia wins.

Bogdanovic kept Croatia in the game during the 2nd half, scoring 6 out of Croatias 7 threepointers. The rest of the team was throwing bricks though, both from the arc and the FT line...

Russia in the end was stronger down low, scoring not only with Kaun, but also with some high-low game where the Guard converted after the big mens pass.

Croatia should look much better with Tomics return though (he will return, will he?), Banic was good in the first half today, but Andric wasn't up to it and in the 2nd half Russia was better inside the paint and in the rebound part.

[Srle]

Sweet dunk from Shved in the first half

[Picek]

Bogdanovic kept Croatia in the game during the 2nd half, scoring 6 out of Croatias 7 threepointers. The rest of the team was throwing bricks though, both from the arc and the FT line...

Russia in the end was stronger down low, scoring not only with Kaun, but also with some high-low game where the Guard converted after the big mens pass.

Croatia should look much better with Tomics return though (he will return, will he?), Banic was good in the first half today, but Andric wasn't up to it and in the 2nd half Russia was better inside the paint and in the rebound part.

yes, Tomić will return.. he is actually training with the team but they won't force him on this tournament..
and Lončar will be a part of the final team I'm quite sure..
we got outrebounded (my impression atleast, I haven't seen the stats at the end) and outhustled and we shot way too many threes
way, way too many..
a lot of them were bad shots simply because we didn't knew what to do with the ball..
I don't think we ever had a lead in the game, so Russia won deservedly not that it is of any importance..
Žorić had a huge block couple of minutes before the end..
that block kept us in the game..
all in all a good prep game, a lot of things to be learnt from it..
and russians look o.k., strong in the paint, hitting some mid range jumpers, hitting threes with high precision since most of them were well created..

[christodoulou76]

greece germany link

http://www.fromsport.com/v-0/2/92/v-29352.html

[g.g]

Greece - Germany half time 43-20

[Mindozas]

Lithuania - Slovenia here or here (tourney in Spain)

23-21 after 1qtr Slovenia leads

[g.g]

Greece - Germany 82-54

[christodoulou76]

Greece-Germany 82-54

A good performance by Greece.

Working well:
Assists - disciplined on offense; most points came off penetrations by the guards and hand-offs to the big men or kick-backs to guards waiting to shoot the three. Not a lot of forced shots.

Free throw percentage: the refs called too many fouls, but nevertheless Greece did well in converting their free throws.

Interior defense - strong help defense inside led Germany to take a lot of desperate threes, especially in the second half. It is because they made many of these threes that the game was not a bigger blow out.

Players - Bourousis looked good inside, nice post moves, steady hands, good rebounding in traffic; Calathes ran the offense well; Tsartsaris got fouled so much it is hard to say how good he is going to be, but he is clearly Greece's 3rd option inside (behind Bourousis and Schortsanitis who won't play in the tournament due to a finger injury).

Needing work:
Fast break - the Greeks attempted to speed up the game but often did not find the open man or missed lay ups at the conclusion of fast break plays. They have clearly worked hard on this aspect of their game, but more work is needed.

Players - Vouyoukas looks slow and will probably be the last man off the bench at the WC 2010. Kaimakoglou did not play much or well, so my sense is that he will be the one to get cut (Pappas and Papanikolaou did not play and are certainly not going to make the final roster). Perperoglou is the other leading candidate to get cut - he is not as good as Printezis and with Zisis, Calathes and Spanoulis all likely to get a lot of minutes at the guard spots, Diamantidis might play some 3, making Perperoglou more expendable.

Overall, the team showed good discipline and energy on both defense and offense. They are well coached and have few weaknesses on their roster. We will learn more in the games tomorrow and Sunday against tougher teams.

[melizei]

Serbia 76-71 New Zealand

Serbia: Teodosic xx 5, Velickovic xxx 11, Rasic xx 2, Keselj xx 9, Perovic xx 13, Milosovlyevic xx 2, Bjelica xx 2, Markovic xx 10, Savanovic xx 9, Raduljica xxx 11, Paunic xx 2

New Zealand: Penney xxx 34, Vukona xx 6, Kench x, Bradshaw xx 7, Pledger x 2, Tait xx 6, Jones x, Cameron x 4, Abercrombie xx 4, Fitchett x 3, Anthony x 2, Frank x 3

Turkey 93-53 Iran

Turkey: Kerem Tunçeri xx 7, Ömer Onan xx 13, Hidayet xx 6, Cevher xx 10, Semih xx 10, Ömer Aşık xxx 14, Ersan xxx 17, Sinan xx, Oğuz xx 5, Engin xx 4, Cenk xx 5, Fatih xx 2

Iran: Kamrani xx 7, Zandi xx 9, Sahakian x, Bahrami xx 8, Ehadadi xx 10, Kazami xx 6, Amini x, Veisi x, Doraghi x 4, Davari x 2, Nabipoor xx 7

[Franz]

Disappointing performance by Serbia

[Red 7]

A good performance by Greece.

Working well:
Assists - disciplined on offense; most points came off penetrations by the guards and hand-offs to the big men or kick-backs to guards waiting to shoot the three. Not a lot of forced shots.

Free throw percentage: the refs called too many fouls, but nevertheless Greece did well in converting their free throws.

Interior defense - strong help defense inside led Germany to take a lot of desperate threes, especially in the second half. It is because they made many of these threes that the game was not a bigger blow out.

Players - Bourousis looked good inside, nice post moves, steady hands, good rebounding in traffic; Calathes ran the offense well; Tsartsaris got fouled so much it is hard to say how good he is going to be, but he is clearly Greece's 3rd option inside (behind Bourousis and Schortsanitis who won't play in the tournament due to a finger injury).

Needing work:
Fast break - the Greeks attempted to speed up the game but often did not find the open man or missed lay ups at the conclusion of fast break plays. They have clearly worked hard on this aspect of their game, but more work is needed.

Players - Vouyoukas looks slow and will probably be the last man off the bench at the WC 2010. Kaimakoglou did not play much or well, so my sense is that he will be the one to get cut (Pappas and Papanikolaou did not play and are certainly not going to make the final roster). Perperoglou is the other leading candidate to get cut - he is not as good as Printezis and with Zisis, Calathes and Spanoulis all likely to get a lot of minutes at the guard spots, Diamantidis might play some 3, making Perperoglou more expendable.

Overall, the team showed good discipline and energy on both defense and offense. They are well coached and have few weaknesses on their roster. We will learn more in the games tomorrow and Sunday against tougher teams.

So what do you reckon Greece will look like? I think the following:

1. Spanoulis
2. Diamantidis
3. Calathes
4. Perperoglou
5. Bourousis
6. Schortsianitis
7. Tsartsaris
8. Printezis
9. Zisis
10. Fotsis
11. Kaimakoglou
12. Vassiliadis

The last two are questionable as I could see Vougioukas being chosen instead of either.

I was hoping that one of the two youngsters (Papanikolaou/Pappas) would make it in order to create a smooth transition with the younger generation. That however looks quite unlikely as they where not tested against the theoretically easiest team in the tournament.

The team looks promising although so far I am not convinced with Zisis. I believe that either Papanikolou or Pappas could do better than him right now... hopefully his game will change soon (he has not been the same since Varejao).

[g.g]

A good performance by Greece.

Working well:
Assists - disciplined on offense; most points came off penetrations by the guards and hand-offs to the big men or kick-backs to guards waiting to shoot the three. Not a lot of forced shots.

Free throw percentage: the refs called too many fouls, but nevertheless Greece did well in converting their free throws.

Interior defense - strong help defense inside led Germany to take a lot of desperate threes, especially in the second half. It is because they made many of these threes that the game was not a bigger blow out.

Players - Bourousis looked good inside, nice post moves, steady hands, good rebounding in traffic; Calathes ran the offense well; Tsartsaris got fouled so much it is hard to say how good he is going to be, but he is clearly Greece's 3rd option inside (behind Bourousis and Schortsanitis who won't play in the tournament due to a finger injury).

Needing work:
Fast break - the Greeks attempted to speed up the game but often did not find the open man or missed lay ups at the conclusion of fast break plays. They have clearly worked hard on this aspect of their game, but more work is needed.

Players - Vouyoukas looks slow and will probably be the last man off the bench at the WC 2010. Kaimakoglou did not play much or well, so my sense is that he will be the one to get cut (Pappas and Papanikolaou did not play and are certainly not going to make the final roster). Perperoglou is the other leading candidate to get cut - he is not as good as Printezis and with Zisis, Calathes and Spanoulis all likely to get a lot of minutes at the guard spots, Diamantidis might play some 3, making Perperoglou more expendable.

Overall, the team showed good discipline and energy on both defense and offense. They are well coached and have few weaknesses on their roster. We will learn more in the games tomorrow and Sunday against tougher teams.

It was quite solid performance but there are few negatives as well; Zisis in not NT material anymore while Calathes is getting better and better. fast breaks poor but unbeatable inside the paint. Printazis is ok but I am expecting far more by him to be satisfied. On the other hand Germany is half-solid team and last year was quite competitive against Greece while tonight if Greece had push it the score would had been huge.
Another thing that I hate is Spanoulis making the game and the few dead min in Greece's performance.

[buterbrodas]

Lithuania 86-84 Slovenia

PG problem is a solid one...Delininkaitis proved that he's true SG not even a second position of his is PG. Eitutavicius did nothing worth to mention, Kalnietis looked a bit better, but still pretty much sucked ass Big Time!

Goran Dragic played top noch basketball.

[Basket_]

Lithuania 86-84 Slovenia

PG problem is a solid one...Delininkaitis proved that he's true SG not even a second position of his is PG. Eitutavicius did nothing worth to mention, Kalnietis looked a bit better, but still pretty much sucked ass Big Time!

Goran Dragic played top noch basketball.

Lithuania: Robertas Javtokas 14, Linas Kleiza (6 reb) 13, Paulius Jankūnas 11, Mantas Kalnietis 9, Martynas Gecevičius (4 assits) 7, Tomas Delininkaitis 6, Simas Jasaitis 5, Tadas Klimavičius 5, Mindaugas Lukauskis 5, Martynas Andriuškevičius 4, Jonas Mačiulis 3, Renaldas Seibutis 2, Arvydas Eitutavičius 2.

Slovenia: G.Dragic 21, S.Becirovic 14, B.Nachbar 13, P.Brezec 13, H.Rizvic 5, G.Jagodnik 5, U.Slokar4, G.Vidmar 4, J.Lakovic 3, S.Udrih 2.