France vs Argentina

[ironcrotch]

Right now.

Batum with 8 right now in the 1st.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Back must be better?

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

http://www.nbcolympics.com/liveextra/video-watch.html?video=mens-group-a-france-vs-argentina

 

[illmatic99]

Can't watch. How's Nic doing?

 

[Mediocre Man]

Can't watch. How's Nic doing?

10/6/2 right before half. He looks very good

 

[illmatic99]

Damnit. I hope this is archived somewhere. I don't have access to this nbcextra site as I don't have cable.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Damnit. I hope this is archived somewhere. I don't have access to this nbcextra site as I don't have cable.

Me too because if you were to miss this, I don't know how you could live with yourself? It's literally the best Ihave ever seen any SF play in the history of basketball

 

[VanillaGorilla]

Batum's playing well, I was hoping to see this 'ball-handling guard' people keep saying Batum is with France, and I haven't yet.

 

[illmatic99]

He can't do that with TP dominating the ball. He did it with Nancy last year, and a few yrs back when TP was hurt with the national team.

 

[VanillaGorilla]

He can't do that with TP dominating the ball. He did it with Nancy last year, and a few yrs back when TP was hurt with the national team.

Very true, but the times I've seen Batum run the pick and roll I have not been impressed.

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

I'd like to see Batum be more assertive and aggressive, play like he is the 2nd best player on the team!

 

[Mediocre Man]

I'd like to see Batum be more assertive and aggressive, play like he is the 2nd best player on the team!

He doesn't do it for Portland, why should he for France?

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

He doesn't do it for Portland, why should he for France?

True. Silly me for expecting him to dominate more against lesser competition.

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

I hope France can hold on for the win. I'm not a big Ginobli or Scola fan!

 

[BBert]

Nico with a nice three. Ginobli a one man team. The Ginobli flop and he gets called for the tripping foul afterwards. Batum steal. Parker trying to do it alone. France leading by 8 three minutes to go.

 

[ironcrotch]

True. Silly me for expecting him to dominate more against lesser competition.

I wouldn't consider Argentina lesser competition. Their starting line up is made up of all NBA guys. Prigioni, Delfino, Manu, Scola, Nocioni.

 

[BBert]

Parker keeps shooting (and missing) threes. Not his game. Ginobli OTOH is the best player in the game.

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

I wouldn't consider Argentina lesser competition. Their starting line up is made up of all NBA guys. Prigioni, Delfino, Manu, Scola, Nocioni.

That'd be a 15 win team in the NBA.

 

[BBert]

Turiaf and Diaw fouled out within 5 seconds of each other. France up 6 with two minutes left.

 

[VanillaGorilla]

Turiaf and Diaw fouled out within 5 seconds of each other. France up 6 with two minutes left.

How the hell was that a foul on Diaw?

 

[BBert]

France wins.

 

[BBert]

Didn't use Nico much. He played well and made some defensive plays, spreads the court to facilitate instead of dominate, but the game plan in the fourth quarter (all I saw) was for Parker to dominate the ball. France won in spite of it.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

That'd be a 15 win team in the NBA.

Bullshit.

 

[craigehlo]

Argentina had some amazing flopping in this game.

Batum came out strong and then just floated at the 3-point line the rest of the game. Somehow I don't think his problem with being passive is Nate's offense.

 

[VanillaGorilla]

Bullshit.

They really would be one of the worst teams in the NBA. Ginobili and Scola are the only ones who could be really effective.

 

[Tince]

That'd be a 15 win team in the NBA.

I'd have a hard time finding the 15 wins with that squad!

 

[NOVoodoo]

I'd have a hard time finding the 15 wins with that squad!

Agreed, but I also think that most Americans tend to just look a the big names on national squad without considering how the team plays. NBA basketball has transitioned away from a team orientation and favors teams that have a lot of high level talents that can be ball dominant amongst role players, but a team that's cohesive, plays well together, and has a lot of talent to boot will always fair well on any level of competition.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

Here's another Ben Golliver review of Batum and Freeland and Claver. He gave Batum a grade of 7 of 10. Sounds like Freeland will struggle in the NBA and I am still not sure why they signed Claver to a three year contract. http://www.blazersedge.com/

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Claver doesn't really have a role on that Spanish team as currently constituted. But neither did Ricky Rubio (he looked great with the previous coach in the 2008 Olympics, but not so much with Scariolo) and he turned out all right.

Claver is suited to be a glue-guy starter. He stretches the floor and plays defense. Like Batum, he defers almost to a fault. But he's an NBA player - if he wanted to stay in the US he could have a long career, just not a particularly notable one. He's sort of the polar opposite of their other backup SF, San Emeterio, who looks a lot more impressive because he's always looking for his offense, but would probably struggle to have an NBA career because he's not quite athletic enough to have the featured role he's used to.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Here's another Ben Golliver review of Batum and Freeland and Claver. He gave Batum a grade of 7 of 10. Sounds like Freeland will struggle in the NBA and I am still not sure why they signed Claver to a three year contract. http://www.blazersedge.com/

I was actually pretty impressed with Freeland in this game. He really battled, and he was going against Nene, Splitter and Varejao. He wasn't as good as any of them, but he's not paid half as much either, and he made them work for their points.

But the next time Freeland plays with a real PG will be the first time in his entire career.