Quarterfinals: Lithuania vs. Puerto Rico

[Waneko]

Its probably Arroyo, I mean think about it. Back in 2002-2004 when Ortiz was our leader, we beat Yugoslavia, Spain, and Turkey by a basket in the WC, in Fiba Americas we beat Canada's Nash by 2 to qualify to Athens, we eliminated Brazil in that same tournament by a basket, then in 2004 we beat teams we shouldnt have even beat.

Either we are paying for those close wins by losing close games now, or there's something wrong with this teams leadership (and clutch play).

Arroyo was the point guard for all those teams, and played great against USA. I think as good as our guards are, they can only be effective in crunch time if there is another serious threat on the floor. Barea turning it over twice trying to pass it off clearly shows they need another dominant offensive player in the frontcourt. One that can stay on the floor unlike Ramos.

[Raze Lupin]

Is anyone watching the Argentina vs Brazil friendly?? Its an amazing display of basketball!

[saalsapr]

Arroyo was the point guard for all those teams, and played great against USA. I think as good as our guards are, they can only be effective in crunch time if there is another serious threat on the floor. Barea turning it over twice trying to pass it off clearly shows they need another dominant offensive player in the frontcourt. One that can stay on the floor unlike Ramos.

Yeah but Arroyo wasnt the leader when Ortiz was on the team. I dont know if you remember at the 2006 WC when Arroyo turned the ball over twice againt Italy in the last minute and we lost by 1 point. This was exactly like that, only Barea did it this time.

[Lietuvis]

Arroyo was the point guard for all those teams, and played great against USA. I think as good as our guards are, they can only be effective in crunch time if there is another serious threat on the floor. Barea turning it over twice trying to pass it off clearly shows they need another dominant offensive player in the frontcourt. One that can stay on the floor unlike Ramos.

Look Arroya is a legend and I have heard about him non stop on this forum. Was this his last swan song or will he keep playing? For us I believe a lot will retire after this qualification or Oulympics..

[Raze Lupin]

Arroyo was the point guard for all those teams, and played great against USA. I think as good as our guards are, they can only be effective in crunch time if there is another serious threat on the floor. Barea turning it over twice trying to pass it off clearly shows they need another dominant offensive player in the frontcourt. One that can stay on the floor unlike Ramos.

With Carmelo Anthony PR would have murdered Lietuva lol I believe you are over thinking Barea just lost focus. This is a great PR team. Barea and Arroyo abused the LT defense all night! PR beat themselves.

[Waneko]

Yes but in my opinion the bad calls started when we were up 7 - 9 points with a few minutes to go. So if you want to talk conspiracy I think the refs tried but end of the day was close game which is great to see. World basketball is so even and at the end of the day some luck counts...

Never said it was a conspiracy, just a really bad missed call that was far worse than the others. The others were arguable.

[Lietuvis]

Never said it was a conspiracy, just a really bad missed call that was far worse than the others. The others were arguable.

Each call is arguable and the closer it gets to the end only appears worse. But refs typically make up for bad calls they make earlier to try even things out. Like I said the game could have been blown out by 12-15 but bad calls for us made it a thriller so enjoy it at the end of the day!

[Lietuvis]

With Carmelo Anthony PR would have murdered Lietuva lol I believe you are over thinking Barea just lost focus. This is a great PR team. Barea and Arroyo abused the LT defense all night! PR beat themselves.

With Ilgauskas LTU would have a centre with Siskauskas we would have a consistent scorere.. What if , But , Maybe..DId it happen

[Waneko]

Yeah but Arroyo wasnt the leader when Ortiz was on the team. I dont know if you remember at the 2006 WC when Arroyo turned the ball over twice againt Italy in the last minute and we lost by 1 point. This was exactly like that, only Barea did it this time.

I agree he wasn't the leader in the locker room and in huddles, but by 2004 Piculin had slowed down, and by then it was Arroyo who was the leader when on the floor, for better or worst. Worst because as you say, he can't do it himself on the world stage.

[Darknemo2000]

Never said it was a conspiracy, just a really bad missed call that was far worse than the others. The others were arguable.

I think that refs were at least more or less consistently bad for both teams.

in Greece-Nigeria and Macedonia-DR games the refs werre also pretty bad but it lacked consistency as a result it seemed like they were favoring one team more than the other.

So in a way in reffing probably most important is consistency - if you are bad then be consistently bad for both teams rather than being bad for one and half-bad for another. This is what gives birth to all those conspiracy theories about FIBA punishing Euro's etc. Though for me it seems like just a simple lack of quality rather than anything else.

[Waneko]

With Carmelo Anthony PR would have murdered Lietuva lol I believe you are over thinking Barea just lost focus. This is a great PR team. Barea and Arroyo abused the LT defense all night! PR beat themselves.

Sure with Carmelo PR murders lots of teams, but Carmelo made his choice as do lots of guys who have that opportunity to chose between 2 national teams. Barea is used to having Dirk and Kevin Love around to take those big shots in crunch time. Santiago and Peavy are not Dirk and Love.

[Olympiacos]

I love when Greece and FYROM are complaining about the horrible reffing that cost them the Olympics, it's "shut up and stop complaining", "you didn't lose because of the refs", etc. but in much worse language than that.

Puerto Ricans were among the most vocal to tell Greeks to shut up and that they didn't lose because of the refs (even though they did)............

Does not feel so good does it Puerto Rico when it happens to you?

Talk about a bunch of hypocrites.

[Waneko]

Each call is arguable and the closer it gets to the end only appears worse. But refs typically make up for bad calls they make earlier to try even things out. Like I said the game could have been blown out by 12-15 but bad calls for us made it a thriller so enjoy it at the end of the day!

That's BS. The bad calls were against both teams, not just Lietuvis.

[saalsapr]

With Carmelo Anthony PR would have murdered Lietuva lol I believe you are over thinking Barea just lost focus. This is a great PR team. Barea and Arroyo abused the LT defense all night! PR beat themselves.

Anthony doesnt play for us, and considering how bad Lithuania played this game, we managed to "out suck" you in the last minute. Arroyo and Barea dont work together, the team commits a lot of fouls, and when we tied Greece and Lithuania in the second half, we decided to turn the ball over or miss stupid shots on consecutive possesions because apparently taking the late lead against an european team was too big for this team.

[saalsapr]

I love when Greece and FYROM are complaining about the horrible reffing that cost them the Olympics, it's "shut up and stop complaining", "you didn't lose because of the refs", etc. but in much worse language than that.

Puerto Ricans were among the most vocal to tell Greeks to shut up and that they didn't lose because of the refs (even though they did)............

Does not feel so good does it Puerto Rico when it happens to you?

Talk about a bunch of hypocrites.

Stop being butthurt about it, Im not complaining about the refs, Im complaining about our players choking.

Waneko wasnt one of the guys that was "oh stop complaining greeks" and stuff.