Topic: FIBA EuroBasket 2022 - page 3. (Read 939 times)

Eurobasket will have new champions. Slovenia got eliminated by Poland, it's biggest upset in this tournament without any doubts and probably best achievement in Poland history. At one point Poland were leading by +20 points and I didn't believed in my eyes what I see. In 3rd quarter Slovenia made comeback and won it 24:6. They already took a lead and it looked that they will run away and will win it by double digits. But Poland didn't gave up and won game. Mateusz Ponitka - triple double, 26 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists, you don't see it often in European basketball. It wasn't night of Doncic, just 14 points and fouled out in crucial moments.
So, 3 biggest stars, Doncic, Antetokounmpo and Jokic eliminated.
Italy - France, what a game! Italy had chance to win without overtime, but Fontecchio missed two free throws and and later missed field goal on last attack. France in this tournament have not just lot of luck, but their players have big ball on decisive moments.
Semifinals - Germany - Spain and Poland - France.

Don't know, Scariolo expect that he won't retire after Eurobasket. He may be old, but is still clutch player.

Congratulations. That was one heck of a risk you took there. How much was it if it was ML?

I am tailing that ride with Italy against France. Right now it's ML is 2.55. Yes, they are the underdogs even if they beat Serbia which is good for those willing to take the risk just like us. 
The game will start in an hour. I am expecting this to be an entertaining one and I hope another shocking upset will happen.

They slayed Serbia and their confidence level by now must be very high so i'm riding with them to beat Rudy Gobert and company in the next few hours. Not so familiar with the players of Italy but the fact that they beat Serbia, they must have a solid lineup than have the chance to take the crown this year's FIBA or at least fight in the finals.

^Finland exhausted their energy in the first half. They had a good lead until Spain started doing a suffocating defense in the 2nd half.
Rudy Fernandez. Damn old man's energy was in the spotlight from a suicidal ball save to avoid a turnover and highlight steals that changed the pace of the game in favor of Spain.
Then the Hail Mary 3-point shot put the last nail in the coffin.
Did I hear it right, this will be his last season in Eurobasket.

Dirk Nowitzki should be proud. Germany returns to elite after long absence. They scored 107 points against one of the best defense in tournament Greece and eliminated one of main contenders. 17/31 3-pointers, 54%, it's very impressive. Maybe Germany don't have big stars besides Schroder, but they are great as a team. Giannis was solid again, despite getting ejected in 4th quarter. But you simply can't expect to win when you let opponent to score 107.
As FIBA wrote on their page, there is some inevitable things - death, taxes and Spain in the semifinal. Finland looked very solid in first half, even had 15 points lead, but in 2nd half simply dominated. Before tournament not many saw Spain even as medal contenders, but now have not bad chances to win another gold.
Tomorrow Italy - France and Slovenia - Poland. With all respect to Poland, there is no questions about this game. France is favorite against Italy, but Italy already kicked out one favorite, why not to do it another time. It should be amazing game.

Betting for Finland with +5.5 in case those few points that you mentioned will be near it. I hope below my bet. 
A win though will be better and I took the risk because of the performance they did against Croatia. They are not to be underestimated especially Lauri Markkanen. 
In the other game, I am going for Greece with -5.5. Transition plays will be a big factor because that's where Giannis can take advantage of using his size and strength. With the post-up game, he is having trouble forcing his way to the rim, it will just end up being an offensive foul.

Are officials getting stricter at this stage of the league?

Serbia losing to Italy is a proof that we have talent, but do not have a team, and this is how it happens, expected much more, but came short of (few three pointers aligned in fourth quarter helped Italy, but we should have solid difference by that moment)

Greece is much better than Germany, but they are too much focus on Giannis, will be interesting to see them against team players, like Italy
Spain will win easily against Finland, IMO

So, today we have two 1/4 final games. Spain - Finland and Greece - Germany.
Spain is favorites against Finland. Maybe they are understimated in whole tournament in general, but they have pprobably best coach in tournament and they always look better in playoffs than in group. I expect good fight, but Spain should win by few points.
Greece - Germany. It should be interesting game. Germany looking very solid and they're playing at home, what is big factor. But Giannis is unstoppable. Greece is favoured a bit, but I'm not going to predict who will win.

Greece is supposed to be too much for the Czech but surprisingly, the latter team did some good adjustments in that game and try to keep up with the phase.

Even the Greece main guy, Giannis Antetokounmpo end up in decent stats, the Czech didn't allow themselves to be overpowered.

As for pre-betting on this match, I think Greece has a -12 handicap and should be easy-covered. Many bettors maybe got wrecked on that bet and that shows we can't really trust handicaps in some cases for top teams even if they have an NBA Superstar on the roster.

Honestly, I took the bet the other way around. 

IIRC, I input the bet when Finland was in the lead by two in the 2nd quarter. My mistake, which happens when you are expecting too much from a team with NBA players, especially Bojan Bogdanovic and Saric.
Finland found a big hole when Saric was defending Markannen, the paint is always open wide when he goes up and defends. They took advantage of that or they will let Markannen use his speed and attack it on his own. It worked and they won.

A lot of stuff happened last weekend including a lot of surprises.

Lithuania-Spain was a great game and I thought the Lithuanians will upset the Spaniards but they came up short after losing in overtime. But this was already surprising as underdog Lithuania nearly made it. But the best game was France versus Turkey. What a game. I had a small bet on France but I knew anything can happen in that game including a possible Turk victory.

Everyone thought Giannis and the Greeks were too much for the Czech but they only won by 6 points. And anybody here bet on Finland to win over Croatia? And the biggest surprise? Serbia lost to Italy. Damn, I cannot believe it. I predicted earlier that Serbia and Greece will vie for the championship. Now I think France or Slovenia or Greece can win the championships.

I watched the whole game of this and all I can say is Lauri Markkanen dominated the entire 1st to 4th quarter of it. That's his night, all his shots were hitting and the pace of the game was playing in his hands. Bojan Bogdanovic cannot even answer in all of his attacks. That young player has a lot of future ahead of him that's why I was confused about why the Cavaliers traded him to Utah Jazz.
IMO, they made a big mistake and it's all showing now. He is on his way to stardom in the next few years of his career as long as healthy. Better, his experience will be broad playing Euro and NBA.

Pozzeco was one of the most memorable person of this tournament and his reactions were incredible. Look at this as well:
https://twitter.com/EuroBasket/status/1569032952008556544

What Italy accomplished is highly respectable. Serbia was my personal favorite of this tournament to win, for they are the most over-all good team in my opinion but Italy had a great game.

On the other hand, Turkey - France game was also incredible. The lead of France in the first half and how Turkey got ahead in the second half was absolutely crazy. And how Turkey lost the game... I can hardly find words the describe the frustration. Turkey basically gave the game that they could easily win. It was on of the most unbelievable games in recent memory.

I think we can clearly see who will advance to the semi finals. Except the Greece - Germany match. Can Germany surprise everyone with their home-court advantage? If so, then I think this tournament can be considered even the best one of all time.

I love this game! Another amazing day in Eurobasket, all 4 games were so good. Italy made biggest upset so far by eliminating one of main contenders Serbia. In the end of 3rd quarter Italy coach Pozzecco got ejected and it's amazing how Italy started to play after it. Maybe Serbia had much more talent, but Italy players played with heart and gave everything. Just watch Pozzecco emotions in the end, unbeleavable. I remember this guy as player, and now as coach he didn't changed at all, he is called La Mosca Atomica not without a reason:
https://twitter.com/BasketNews_com/status/1569027234286997505
Greece - Czech Republic, what a great game, Czech gave great fight. Giannis in the end closed the game, but opponents still didn't gave up. Giannis struggled in previous FIBA tournaments, but now he simply dominate like in NBA.
Finland won against Croatia, I'm not sure that I can call it as upset. I can complain about Lithuania performance, but what Croatia is doing for almost 30 years is simply shame. They always have good player, but they didn't achieved anything since 1995. Lauri Markkanen, what a performance, 43 points 19/29 FG, simply wow!
Ukraine lost against Poland. Poland were underdogs, but they played much more solid in the end.
Interesting coincidence that 3 of 4 today's games ended withsame score 86:94. Only Greece - Czech Republic ended 94:88, Czech scored 2 points too much
Now we have 1/4 finals Greece - Germany, Spain - Finland, Poland - Slovenia and France - Italy.

Sure do. I think that's one of the reasons why MJ likes him. It's not about the shoe, it's being wise inside the court and knowing where the officials are to hook a foul or just get away from it when he is in defense.
If he keeps this up, he will be one of the players that will dominate both the Euroleague and the NBA.
Hey, you are a Mavericks fan. That's biased. 

Poland won, damn. I was sure Ukraine can handle them.

Can't wait to see how he will adjust to that new rule in NBA. As he mentioned before, it's easy to score buckets in NBA compare to Euroleague because of the different rules and way of gameplay. As I watched some of his highlights recently, his scoring came from different zones therefore if taking a foul driving to the hoop won't work now in NBA, he can easily shift gears.

Since there's no change of the rules regarding that in FIBA or in European Basketball in general, he will continue to take advantage of that.

But above all of my statement, damn Luka. He is really turning into a monster.

^I got lucky with that comeback of Montenegro, somehow it covered the +10 bet for them.


I thought Belgium could keep up with Slovenia so I can hit the Over 169. But they just stopped making points in the 4th quarter. They were great and even had a chance to take the lead and commentators are even predicting the biggest upset that could happen.
Luka Doncic is just bad. He got used to the different rules in FIBA. Those attacks aiming for the opponent to take the foul won't work in NBA because of the new rule but here he could do it again.
It should be either an offensive foul or no-call.

Lithuania wins against Lithuania after overtime. Championship is over for us... Lithuania were leading bigger part of game, but we simply can't win close games. We don't have players who can't kill opponents like other elite teams have. Brazdeikis buzer which sent game to OT was miracle, but in OT we had no chance.
It's incredible how Turkey managed to lose game that they already almost won. And in OT when they had another chance to win, on last attack they simply lost ball without even making shot.
Final result of Slovenia - Belgium don't reflect game. Belgium gave good fight and even were leading in 4th quarter, but in the end Slovenia were better. But I don't like what threatment from referees Doncic is getting. He can talk with refs how much does he wants and he wont get technical foul. And offcourse, every touch against him is foul.
Germany had very powerful start and were leading by almost 30 points, but Montenegro made a comeback and managed to stay in fight until final minutes. But their efforts weren't enough and Germany won game.

Unfortunately, Türkiye unsuccessfully uses the last ball in their matches. same thing happened today and sadly lost the match.
Missing a free throw is very sad and not acceptable, professional basketball players should not make this mistake in such critical matches. It was ridiculous that Furkan Korkmaz could not use the last ball, I wish he had tried to make a pass. I did not think that such an unsuccessful offense would be used while there was still enough time.
Buğrahan Tuncer deserves a special applause today, he made very critical shots

Turkey was given a lot of chances to close it out in a good lead but those 2 free throws were missed by Osman and then the bad possession.
I can say they fought well, it was a rollercoaster ride, it even got me standing in my seat while watching both teams doing their best to win the game.  
Gobert also changed in the overtime, he became more aggressive in the paint and it was rewarded although those free throws are also wasted.

Furkan Korkmaz is a damn good player, and even without Larkin they almost won it, I bet he is so proud to see it end up like that good.
Lost my bet but watching it was worth it.