FIBA World Cup

[HFCS]

Announcers mentioned fiba championship assist record is surprisingly only 10 and Haliburton had 12 twice in tuneup games.

Canada has had nba firepower for so long and always surprised they haven’t had more international success.

 

[HFCS]

USA advances out of group phase pretty easily with a game left.

I'm not sure a fan's all star vote with every veteran American born player would be much better than this group. Edwards, Brunson, Haliburton, Reaves and some other guys really playing lights out. At times it seems like every guy on the team other than those four is an extremely athletic role player whose role is to grab rebounds and drain 3s.

Haliburton had 3 blocks today. The ball really moves when he is in even if he isn't having a high points/assist game.

 

[ABW]

From The Athletic:

It was a four-point game when Kerr turned to Reaves, Tyrese Haliburton, Paolo Banchero and Hart. By the time those four and Cam Johnson, the fifth player off Kerr’s bench, returned to the sideline with 4:31 in the second quarter, the Americans were ahead by 15, had led by as many as 17 and rode a 13-0 run to get there.

 

[HFCS]

From The Athletic:

It was a four-point game when Kerr turned to Reaves, Tyrese Haliburton, Paolo Banchero and Hart. By the time those four and Cam Johnson, the fifth player off Kerr’s bench, returned to the sideline with 4:31 in the second quarter, the Americans were ahead by 15, had led by as many as 17 and rode a 13-0 run to get there.

Edwards is just a beast, but I'm not sure the first five off the bench haven't been more trouble for opposition outside of him. Reaves was incredible yesterday and very possibly one of the best overall offensive players in the tournament.

 

[HFCS]

USA rolled Jordan to go 3-0 1st group phase in what was effectively a practice game for them.

Tyrese insanely efficient again and the ball just flies around the court on offense when he is in. Team high minutes at only 21 minutes and game high 6 assists, 2/3 from field 6 pts.

Looks like second group will be 3-0 Lithuania, Montenegro and Greece again whom they beat pretty handily.

 

[OscarBerkshire]

Feeling cautiously optimistic about Team USA's chances, although that Lithuania game will be tough

 

[HFCS]

Feeling cautiously optimistic about Team USA's chances, although that Lithuania game will be tough

They would have to REALLY drop off to not make it out of group phase and then in knockout phase it might be Doncic as the threat. He didn't play in the tuneup game vs USA.

 

[AdRock4Cy]

Conditt in a battle with Karl Anthony Towns right now in a tight finish

 

[AdRock4Cy]

Conditt with a huge block with under a minute left. Leads to a 3. He's got 18 and 7 and 2 blocks.

 

[AdRock4Cy]

Puerto Rico wins. Will next play to advance to the quarterfinals.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

USA over Montenrgro by 12, 85-73.



(Would it kill USA Basketball to use the correct possessive pronoun?)

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

There's a tight one on now with a Cyclone on the court - Canada and Brazil, knotted at 59-59 with about 2 minutes to go. Edge is on the court in crunch time.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

There's a tight one on now with a Cyclone on the court - Canada and Brazil, knotted at 59-59 with about 2 minutes to go. Edge is on the court in crunch time.

Canada loses down the stretch to Brazil, a team that lacks NBA-caliber players. Dillon Brooks gave up back-to-back layups to Brazil's quick guard, Yago Santos to put it away. Brazil managed to create good shots down the stretch while Canada couldn't generate good shots in the final three minutes. Ejim got an offensive board when they were down 62-60 in the last minute but they followed that with a shot clock violation. Surprising loss for Melvin and Co., 69-65.

I doubt that embarrassment will stop Dillon Brooks from his stupid trash-talking.

Canada may be too dependent on SGA for shot creation.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

This might look surprising, considering that Spain is the defending world champion and Porzingis is not playing for Latvia. However, you can see that Spain does not have the same level of players it's had in some tournaments in the last 20 years. And if you get a chance to watch Latvia, do so - even some of their group stage games if they're still on ESPN+. They might not have a ton of NBA-level talent (Bertrans is their big shooter) but they're loaded with guys who know how to play the game. Really good ball players and they have a ton of fans that traveled there.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

Going into this, I'd have given Australia a decent chance, given their nine NBA players vs. Doncic and Dragic. Doncic went for 19-7-6 (plus 6 TO). I have to watch this one because Giddey and Mills had been playing very well for the Aussies. Ingles didn't score a point in 26 minutes, which had to hurt.

 

[TitanClone]

There's some nasty storms hitting Southeast Asia this weekend. Tyrese gave the first Cyclone alert, mother nature coming with the second.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

Throwdowns by Conditt:

 

[demoncore1031]

Basketball is the only sport that is popular in the Philippines so I'm trying to get tickets for my wife and 3 step-sons to go see Haliburton and the U.S. team play.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

Basketball is the only sport that is popular in the Philippines so I'm trying to get tickets for my wife and 3 step-sons to go see Haliburton and the U.S. team play.

I was surprised at how empty the arena was for the USA-Montenegro game, given the sport's popularity there.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

I finally got through the Puerto Rico - Domincan Republic game. It's on ESPN+ - I recommend watching it if you like basketball. Or George Conditt. Puerto Rico trailed from the 2nd quarter until the final couple minutes but pulled off a win 102-97, over Karl Anthony Townes and company. The DR has more talent than I thought they'd have, as a baseball country. Some notes on our guy George:

* He had 18 pts, 7 rebs and 2 bks.
* He's LEADING THE WORLD CUP IN OFFENSIVE REBOUNDING
* He missed his first 4 FTs but hit 4 in a row down the stretch to help clinch.
* Around the 2:30 mark, he grabbed an offensive rebound vs. KAT, made a move to hit a jump hook and hit the and-one FT to put Puerto Rico up.
* Under the 1-minute mark, he stoned a driving Dominican's shot and grabbed to the ball to preserve the lead.
* He got the d-board on an attempted 3 that would've tied it with about 25 seconds left.
* He made a perimeter jump shot, which I don't ever recall seeing at ISU

Now, there were some other moments - he got scored on for 3 consecutive possessions in the 1st half - twice by NBA All-Star KAT who drove on him and one by (ex Illini) Andres Feliz who took it righ to his chest. George also bit on a top-of-the-key pump fake by KAT who blew by him for a flying dunk.

In general, George has really progressed and has learned how to use his very good motor. So happy for the guy.

But, man, is it fun to watch George after he's learned to harness his great motor.