eurobasket 2009

[mavErika]

...has already started:

Macedonia - Greece: 54 - 86
Russia - Latvia: 81 - 68

Germany vs France is about to start now.

Parker And France Take On Dirk-less Germany
07.09.2009
By David Hein

This showdown of neighbors in Group B matches up two teams who are real question marks coming into the tournament.

On the one hand there is rebuilding Germany as a team entering the tournament with and inexperienced roster and low expectations.

Then there is a France side which needed to go through the Additional Qualifying Round but still has high expectations - even serious title aspirations.


Gdansk will see the dawn of a new era for Germany - 2002 Worlds bronze medalists and 2005 EuroBasket runners up - with five players off the 2008 Olympic team not showing up on the Baltic Sea.

The biggest missing face is Germany superstar Dirk Nowitzki. But German coach Dirk Bauermann will have a fresh, motivated group of youngsters ready to show they are ready for the big time.

France meanwhile enter EuroBasket 2009 as the winners of the Additional Qualifying Round. Vincent Collet's team suffered defeats to Finland and Belgium on their way to Poland and drive supporters crazy with their inconsistent performances.

French star playmaker Tony Parker will be in charge of keeping Les Bleus in line. But he and Collet have plenty of weapons to choose from with the likes of Ronny Turiaf, Boris Diaw, Florent Pietrus and Nicolas Batum.

If France can solve the German defense, this could turn into a blowout while Germany hope to keep the low and stay in the game late.

Head to Head: France lead the all-time series against Germany with 7 wins and 4 losses. The last showdown came at the 2007 EuroBasket in Spain where France eased past Germany 78-66 in the Qualifying Round Group F.

Key match-up: Steffen Hamann vs. Tony Parker. Can Germany's playmaking and defensive leader slow down the NBA superstar Parker? That is probably the biggest key for Germany if the Bauermann's men hope to have a chance against France.

X-Factor: Ronny Turiaf. The French big man took off in the AQR, averaging 9.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.1 blocks. In the two-leg qualifying final against Belgium, the Golden State Warrior center averaged 16.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in pushing the French to Poland.

Key stat: Five. After Germany superstar Dirk Nowitzki decided not to play in Poland, German coach Dirk Bauermann made good on his talk to bring young players into the senior team with five players born in 1988 or later.

Sounding off: "We know the German team - despite their youth - will be organized, as all German teams are. Discipline will be one of their big strengths. So we have to fight against this. We must try to cut passing lanes, to try to put them out of their position because we also know they are very tall. And if we let them play their game it could be very difficult for us." -Vincent Collet (France Coach)

http://www.eurobasket2009.org/en/coi...leMode_on.html

[mavErika]

live play-by-play and boxscore: http://live.fibaeurope.com/netcastin...cope=undefined

[mavErika]

Turiaf with a big game thus far, but Germany surprisingly up 5 midway through the second quarter

[mavErika]

Mahinmi with a hard landing, may be hurt.

[GermanDunk]

The Germans are kicking the crap out of Parker--- 57:58 now

[mavErika]

Germany led most of the way in a close game, in the end T.Parker took over and France won 70 - 65.
R.Turiaf: 15 Pts(50% shooting), 14 Reb(5 Off), 3 BS

[mavErika]

ouch!

Gortat in Poland's 90-78 win vs Bulgaria:
16 Pts(88% shooting), 10 Reb(2 Off), 5 BS and 0 TO

The Germans are kicking the crap out of Parker--- 57:58 now

yep, he really had a bad game until the closing minutes. Hamann did a good job defending him. A win versus France would have been a surprisngly nice start for the German squad. That's sad, one more succesful shot and a Tanne-TO less probably would have made the difference.

[mavErika]

Spain lost against Serbia 57-66 and Pau Gasol struggled from the freethrow-line and recorded a "single-single"(9/7):

Stats: One. Thats the number of free-throws Pau Gasol made out of his seven attempts. Well actually it was eight attempts as there was a lane violation on one of them so he got to take one of them again and missed it.(...)Gasol missed his first seven free-throws before making one right before the end.

[mavErika]

Germany vs Latvia starts 10 minutes from now.
I hope too see Biedrins finally having an impressive game at eurobasket and Latvia being eliminated nonetheless.
They say Germany cannot lose by more than 8 points to advance.
Yesterday's win over Russia helped a lot!

[GermanDunk]

The Germans are kicking the crap out off the Lattonians :-)

[mavErika]

Should be an exciting 2 half, considering how intense the first half was played for most of the time!
Hypothetically spoken: If Kaspers Kambala puts up 13/8 on regular basis, would you like to see him as a Mav?

[mavErika]

the Jaggler FTW!

hits the 3, fouls the right man, secures the rebound and ices his free throws - that's impressive!

Latvia 68, Germany 62.

Germany advances to kick the crap out of Tony Parker one more time

[GermanDunk]

Uhg

[Dirkules41]

Schaffartzik, sick game!

[mavErika]

Germany vs Macedonia tied at halftime.

Tanne plays a solid tournament. Staiger is feeling it, but Hamann is just terrible today.

live score: http://live.fibaeurope.com/netcastin...cope=undefined

Germany advances to kick the crap out of Tony Parker one more time

I was wrong about that, results from the preliminary round are taken to the next stage. Time and time again I get confused about the competition system.

[mavErika]

OMG, Germany up by one after three quarters!

It's do or die for both teams!

http://atdhe.net/

boxscore: http://live.fibaeurope.com/netcastin...cope=undefined

[mavErika]

Schaffartzik at 100% again!

[GermanDunk]

Has Petrovic been Croatian ?

[mavErika]

Croatia 70 - Germany 68

They had enough opportunities to build a lead in the fourth Q, but they couldn't convert and let Croatia back in the game. It didn't help that nearly every pass out of the painted area resulted in a turnover. 20 defensive rebounds to 13 opponent offensive rebounds is also a telling stat.

Nonetheless that was one more inspiring effort by the Germans, who played overall a promising tournament with highs and lows.

[mavErika]

Originally Posted by GermanDunk

Has Petrovic been Croatian ?

[Leere]

[GermanDunk]

Drazen Petrovic died in a car accident in Bavaria when he was 27. He was recognized as the best european Player in the NBA ( i think until Tony Kukoc joined the Bulls ).
His former girlfriend is now married with National Soccerteam manager ( O*"MF" B***ho*** )

[mavErika]

Thanks GD!

Turkey - Greece starts now, should be an exciting game! It'll be my first look at Nick Calathes.

I'm curious how many fans of their respective teams have made the way (possibly from Berlin and Hamburg) to Poland.

[mavErika]

OVERTIME!!

btw, Calathes looks solid, but nothing on the the stat sheet for him after 6 minutes of play. He didn't make any mistakes either, as far as I can tell.

[mavErika]

Spain crushed Greece 82 - 64.

N.Calathes showed once more a solid effort, this time in extended playing time. Good passing skills, good ball handling(only one TO, a Rubio-steal, in 24min), solid defense, but no efficient scorer, although he managed to be his teams second leading scorer with 10 points on 4/10 shooting, along with 4 rebounds(3 Off.), 2 assists and 2 steals.

here's his eurobasket player-page:

http://www.eurobasket2009.org/en/cid...rID_70924.html

In March, he declared himself for the draft but, unhappy with his 45th pick, he chose to sign a 3-year deal (for supposedly €2.1 million) with Panathinaikos. He received his Greek passport on June 30th. His foot speed is solid but his athleticism is a concern.

this is news to me, as I was under the impression he signed a one year deal.
Financially, 3years/2,1million doesn't sound like a far superior offer.


Serbia plays Slovenia right now, to determine the second finalist.
I hope Serbia advances, as they have shown in their opener that Spain is beatable, although I'm not very optimistic about their chances of repeating that.