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I like that Nic is aggressively looking to take advantage of Belinelli.
 
Batum blocks at a strategic moment, the announcer goes bananas and yells, "The arms just go on forever!"

Did he just say Batum leads the tournament in steals? He just got his third. 1-point game, about 2 1/2 minutes left.
 
I take back what I said about Italy having the better big guys. They have the better height, but French guys are showing their inside moves now. Batum plays stealth there like here, with steals and blocks. His coach saved him for the last 3 minutes.

Half a minute left, France up 5. Turns out France had a higher gear in reserve that they showed only in the last 3 minutes.
 
Nic on both ends, and Diaw in the post on offense sealed it. Gallo and Bustnani wilted under the pressure. Nic with his best game of the tourney so far, with Parker benched for some reason.

20pts, 5rebs, 1ast, 4stls, 1blk.
 
Final score 91-84 France, but it was really closer than that. Italy led most of the game.

Batum (rank on his own team) 20 points (2nd), 5 rebounds (4th), 4 steals (1st).

The French sometimes stood around waiting for Parker to do something. Maybe taking him out is what energized the other Frenchmen at the end of the game.
 
I agree that that was Batum's best performance - he just looked totally different out there. Either it was because Parker was playing like shit (first time he hasn't been clearly the best player on the floor) or because Batum had some kind of beef with the wops, but he was looking for his and going at whoever was guarding him all game. If he hadn't missed a couple of total gimmes (where he'd left the guy "guarding" him in the dust and just blew layups (one was a rimcheck)) he would have had a dominant game. He was also really alive on D with a MONSTER block on Bargnani (who was also playing out of his mind).

That's what's frustrating about Batum: he could be like this ALL THE TIME. He seems to have something to prove against certain players (Pau Gasol, for example) but is content just to fade into the background otherwise.

The French Coach impressed me: he saw that Parker was struggling, but realizes that all the other players just defer to him when he's on the floor, so he went with backups and it really worked. That might also explain why Batum was energized - he wasn't looking just to give it to Parker every time down the floor.

Diaw has the same infuriating mindset as Batum: when he decided to, he just scored effortlessly with beautiful post moves (and a key three pointer). But most of the time he just coasts. He has so much talent: I bet someone like Phil Jackson could do wonders with him.
 
I also watched GB's first win against Portugal. Once again, Freeland had a MISERABLE game. GB is just much better when they play Robert Archibald (who looks like Freeland will in ten years: much craftier, much heavier, much less athletic, but facially very similar) or the goofy-looking blond kid Clark, who is totally outplaying Freeland. Either Freeland just is a scrub or he REALLY needs the right system to be effective.

The best game of the morning, though, was Finland vs. FYR Macedonia. (Yes, I have no life.) Koponen was good (certainly better than Freeland and Claver have looked), and I think he could be a serviceable backup in the NBA (he has a great attitude - one that Batum could certainly stand to have - he's FEISTY) but he doesn't really excel at anything. The best player in the game was one of the African-American Eastern European All-Stars, Bo McCalebb. That guy is carrying that team, and they even beat perennial powerhouse Greece yesterday.
 
It's funny: Gallinari, Batum and Claver are all from the 1988 generation, and of the three, Claver was probably highest rated when they were teens. He's a non-factor for Spain, but that's probably not surprising, as, if your name isn't Gasol or Navarro, you're not getting any plays run for you. Even Felipe Reyes, still a big star in Europe, isn't getting any burn for that team now they've got Ibaka.
 
At the half, Spain beating Lithuania 62 to 36. Absolutely destroying the only team to beat them this Summer. Navarro just can't miss. On this form I think Spain could beat the Mavs. Comfortably.

Claver still hasn't gotten off the bench...

The only plus for Lithuania is that Valenciunas looks good. The Raptors may have lucked out for once.
 
I wish we had traded Claver to Dallas instead of Koponen. I think the latter is mentally tougher.
 
France was behind until Parker stayed out. I think Italy kneeing him cost Italy the game.

France plays better without him. The coach doesn't know how to integrate him in, or the opposite, how to have a PG-oriented offense.
 
France with Parker is like Philly with Iverson. (In this scenario, Noah gets to be Mutombo.)
 
Rastapopoulos said:
At the half, Spain beating Lithuania 62 to 36. Absolutely destroying the only team to beat them this Summer. Navarro just can't miss. On this form I think Spain could beat the Mavs. Comfortably.

Claver still hasn't gotten off the bench...

The only plus for Lithuania is that Valenciunas looks good. The Raptors may have lucked out for once.
Click to expand...

:) I missed the game but that's good to hear. He really hasn't gotten much burn in previous games.
 
Batum scored his team's first 10 points in the first 5 minutes. He scored his other 10 points in the other 35 minutes.
 
batum, loooks good man, id like him to play with this kind of confidence for the blazers

and thanks for the updates guys, you rock
 
Serbia's shooting is ridiculous. Teodosic and Kristic are stars on this stage.
 
Boy, the refs are REALLY letting them play. I saw Seraphim get hammered so hard that he was sure it would be a foul, walk several steps with the ball, realize that it wasn't being called, and then dribble the ball, and nobody cared!
 
I love watching Diaw in the post. Can we trade for him just in the hopes that Nate can motivate him? After all, there was that ONE YEAR when Amare was injured... But then again, he and Felton would be bad influences on each other at the buffet.

But he sure has skillz. He's like a shorter fatter Lamar Odom.
 
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I like how teams are actually nice to each other and help each other off the floor. None of that Pat Riley warrior bullshit.
 
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