FIBA World Cup 2023
- Thread starter ifmanis5
- Start date
Yeah we play Jordan at 4:40am tomorrow, but unlike yesterday I won't be watching, because we have already won the group and Jordan has already been eliminated. Greece and NZL will play at 8:40am, winner moves on, loser eliminated - from what I saw, I think Greece wins easily. I expect the USA to rest some players vs Jordan (with a roster of 12 you can't really do that, but you can give many fewer minutes to your starters).
The second round is an interesting format. Starting Friday morning, we will be in a new group together with our own group's runner-up (our result against them carries through), and Group D's top 2 teams (Lithuania and Montenegro). And so we play 2 more games, against those two, with our win over Greece or NZL counting in this group. So realistically, a first-round group runner-up can only advance out of the second round by beating both of the other group's top-2 (and conversely, a first-round group winner can generally only fail to advance by losing both of those crossover games). USA vs Montenegro will be Friday morning, and USA vs Lithuania will be Sunday morning; times haven't yet been announced. Top 2 in this second-round group go to the Quarterfinals.
In other tournament news from the first round:
The second round is an interesting format. Starting Friday morning, we will be in a new group together with our own group's runner-up (our result against them carries through), and Group D's top 2 teams (Lithuania and Montenegro). And so we play 2 more games, against those two, with our win over Greece or NZL counting in this group. So realistically, a first-round group runner-up can only advance out of the second round by beating both of the other group's top-2 (and conversely, a first-round group winner can generally only fail to advance by losing both of those crossover games). USA vs Montenegro will be Friday morning, and USA vs Lithuania will be Sunday morning; times haven't yet been announced. Top 2 in this second-round group go to the Quarterfinals.
In other tournament news from the first round:
- Somehow the Dominican Republic has won Group A, over co-hosts Philippines (the fightin' Jordan Clarksons), Angola, and also over Italy, who had beat them in Olympic qualifiers. Italy will advance as runner-up, but I may have overrated their roster, or just underrated Karl-Anthony Towns. DR would really have been contenders if Al Horford had come along for the ride.
- In Group B, South Sudan got a win over China, which economically and politically is just nuts. Sports! And it was by 20 points too, no joke. However, Puerto Rico is likely to go through ahead of South Sudan unless the latter can somehow beat group leaders (and tournament dark horse) Serbia, ranked #6.
- Group E was dramatic, with co-hosts Japan getting their first-ever competitive win over a European team by beating Finland, a game involving a huge comeback and where the aftermath left the Japanese squad in tears of joy. However, Australia (World #3) and Germany (#11) did as-expected, and will advance from the group. The real surprise was Germany's 85-82 win over Australia on Sunday.
- Australia can likely feel good about their chances of moving through the second round, though, as the likeliest to advance out of Group F are Slovenia (Luka Doncic SC) and Georgia - the country. Australia beating Slovenia (which would make the Slovenia-Germany game a loser-goes-home affair) will be hard, but certainly possible for this loaded Australian roster.
- Spain has predictably won Group G, but Ivory Coast will get a shot (at the same time as the USA match tomorrow) to knock off Brazil and advance at their expense. Unlikely though that may be.
- Group H had the giant-killing of the first round, with losses to Canada (expected) and Latvia (very unexpected) sinking the 5th-ranked France squad, which only 4 years ago was the team who knocked out the United States and took home the bronze. France gave such a Gallic shrug about this tournament that they only beat Lebanon this morning by 6. Wembanyama is really going to have to knock some heads, or they're going to get embarrassed at their home Olympics next summer.
Great recap thanks! Been following, but not very easy in Canada, outside of the Canada games. I love Shai!
See @InstaFace post above for details, but after the first round of group play (groups of 4 teams, so 3 games each) the top two of each group advance together into a 2nd group stage where the results/points of the first group games will be transferred over and every team will play another 2 games against the top two teams that came out of another group.
Again the top 2 teams of each 2nd round group will advance into the KO games (quartel finals).
Other games:
Italy (who had one loss in the first group stage) win a close one against Serbia to keep their chances alive.
Germany stay flawless with a 100:73 against Georgia while playing most of the tournament without one of their top 2 guys in Franz Wagner who got injured in the first game but may be available for the next game against Luka/Slovenia.
Multiple former C's are also part of Team Germany in Theis, Schröder and Mo Wagner.
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Greece and Lithuania tied after 1Q 
(a Greece win would mean we could maybe advance even with a loss vs Lithuania)
Slovenia up 9 at half vs Australia (Australia is #3 and in the tier right behind US for tournament favorites)
US played Montenegro this morning, lemme post the mini match...
(a Greece win would mean we could maybe advance even with a loss vs Lithuania)Slovenia up 9 at half vs Australia
(Australia is #3 and in the tier right behind US for tournament favorites)US played Montenegro this morning, lemme post the mini match...
Slovenia is going to be a tough out so long as Doncic has a pulse come these elimination games when he steps it up.
Well Montenegro got the game that is needed to beat US. Vucevic went for 18 points and 15 rebounds. US was dominated on the boards 48-31 (including 22 offensive rebounds). That creates a half-court game. US was 5-19 from 3P line, including 1-9 in 1st half. JJJ went an entire game without being credited with a rebound.
https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/38304289/team-usa-survives-tough-test-montenegro-fiba-world-cup
Canada layed a massive egg today. Their best players were meh and the surrounding pieces were god awful. Looking for a huge bounce back vs Spain....can't wait to see the number on this. It should be relatively low due to recency bias.
USA vs Montenegro hasn't been posted yet in condensed-game form, but here's USA vs Jordan from the other day:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4OXXIfYJlI
There's also some other huge results news rumored, but I'll wait for the condensed games (and will post here) and avoid spoilers.
And here's Latvia vs Canada from the other day - this was really fun to watch. FIBA games just have such great flow to them, the reffing rewards fast action and not grifting for calls. And the Latvian traveling crowd is just having the absolute best time. This is their super bowl, this 3-week tournament, and they are bringing it - drums, face paint, thunder stix, wigs, you gotta love it.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSv9pB6PJ2U
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSv9pB6PJ2U
Very much doubt it, US treated the Jordan game way more seriously than I would have, both teams know that (A) they need the reps trying hard at maximum speed against another great team, and (B) winning the game gets you Dominican Republic or Italy in the QFs, losing the game gets you Serbia (who don't have Jokic, whose tank was on E, but still are a fearsome team).
USA vs Lithuania will be 8:40am ET Sunday morning, btw. Hoping to catch it live.
Iso ball doesn’t work on the world stage anymore, and guys seem shocked that traveling is actually being called.
Really pathetic showing here.
I've always hated Ingram and he is really showing why today - good individual stats, team getting destroyed while he is out there.
I've always hated Ingram and he is really showing why today - good individual stats, team getting destroyed while he is out there.
I turned this on only recently because I had to get the family out the door to the beach this morning, and hoooooooly cow are we glad we already qualified for QFs, even if it means Serbia. Our D can't stop anything.
Edit: apparently we get Italy, rather than Serbia - somehow Italy beat Serbia 78-76 the other day. So that's nice.
Edit: apparently we get Italy, rather than Serbia - somehow Italy beat Serbia 78-76 the other day. So that's nice.
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Welp, no more mulligans or bad games allowed from here on out. We've burned our one.
I think good job closing the gap, from what I saw. They were just too hot from 3.
I think good job closing the gap, from what I saw. They were just too hot from 3.
Yup. He flashes it from time to time. I think when he's on a top 4 team we'll see it more consistently.
Canada is locked in an elimination match with Spain, tied 55-55, 3rd quarter.
Edit: captain Kelly Olynyk?!
Edit: captain Kelly Olynyk?!
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I'm not expecting Italy to pose many problems. Who's the likely semifinal opponent for USA?
Depends on who wins Spain-Canada, which is going on right now. Canada has the tiebreaker vs Latvia but Spain lost to Latvia. So the other QF match on our side will be Germany vs Group L runner-up, either Latvia if Canada wins now, or Spain if they win.
I think we don't want to face Spain, but that seems like the likeliest outcome. So, go Canada. Pour it on like maple syrup, SGA.
