Review Of France VS Spain FIBA Opening Round
by 420Phenom on Aug 28, 2010 2:11 PM PDT
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via d.yimg.com/Getty images
What a magnificent game of basketball, all around. It came right down to the wire, with France pulling away late & then holding onto the lead with some clutch free throw shooting all around. Vincent Collet did an excellent job, that was some magnificent coaching. Overcoming the loss of talents like Tony Parker, Ronny Turiaf, Rodrigue Beaubois, Joakim Noah & Mickaël Pietrus. All of which play in the NBA. They won on a day when the "team veteran" Boris Diaw shot a horrendous 1/7. Not enough can be said about France's team performance today.
This Spanish team has been together for the better part of the decade, although missing the likes of Pau Gasol & Jose Calderon. It featured a veteran lineup with Felipe Reyes, Jorge Garbajosa Juan Carlos Navarro - All who have been playing together since 2001. The Spaniards run & gun style offense at first startled the Frenchman early in the game. With Rubio making a couple of his usual eye opening plays. Old Rudy was present here today as well, a nice finish on an alley oop, a great cut through the lane & a couple of his (former?)trademark 3's. In the end, the excellent ball movement, slashing & team defense of The French National team was too much for Spain.
Now lets take a closer look at some standout individual performances.
Spain:
Rubio - With such inferior competition at the PG spot I really expected him to flourish in the game. That wasn't exactly the case, but I think NBA scouts are very pleased to see that he can be a legitamate defender, he has the size and positions his feet well. Offensively, he did not look comfortable should have considering the competition although he looks so very natural running the break its fun to watch.
Rudy - Looked like the Rudy of old. Seems like Rudy is synergyzed when surrounded by his countryman. He did a good job getting(arguing calls ;) ) to the line, hit a few treys and surpirsingly grabbed 5 boards. Definitely raised his value showing his old flair.
Marc Gasol - His usual dominant self on the boards, but offensively a disappointing performance(3/7) considering Frances depleted front court & inferior talent. Both him & Rubio need to step up their aggression if Spain is going to make some noise in this tournament.
France:
Alain Koffi - He took about half the load of Frances down low duties offensively, making himself free for easy baskets. Effeciently scoring 4/4, with 4 rebounds he showed nice hustle & defense. Nice job playing his role.
Andrew Albicy - For his age(20) and size(5'10",165lbs) not to mention the quality of competition he was facing(Rubio/Llull/Lopez) he had an outstanding game. Scored 13, 2-4 deep, hit some clutch freethrows down the stretch to secure the game,
Mickael "Jellyball" Gelabale - He was feeling it today with his jump shot, 2-4 from deep & 6-10 overall. Showed some nice hustle too, coming down with 7 boards. Looked good defensively too(Though he didn't take Rudy or Rubio, the other guys on Spain aren't exactly blow by drive to the basket players. It was a nice matchup for France. He looked like a legitimate NBA role player today.
Ian Mahinmi - Although he looks very raw on offense, he played an excellent game today defensively. To top it off it was against a legitimate NBA center in Marc Gasol, forcing him to 3/7 shooting.
Nicolas Batum - Our man ! Played his usual lock down defense & played through early foul trouble as well. Over came a slow 1/4 start to finished 4/8, which was impressive to see him shoot himself out of his funk - Including a MONSTER dunk. He moved the ball well & took good shots. He showed a nice crossover too which is very promising ! He ended up with 14 points, 2 impressive blocks, a steal, an assist & 3 boards. He played a very important role when his banged up team needed him the most. Great overall game by Nicolas ! Now for your viewing pleasure, BATUMSHAKALAKA
Nicolas Batum dunk vs Spain (08.28.2010) (via DejanBody2010)
All in all it was an excellent game. Can't ask for any more, I was so happy to see some basketball finally I thought I would write a review. France plays Lebanon tomorrow I believe. I can't wait to see how the French National Team develops, once they get everyone back & healthy I don't see why they can't contend with the US in the Olympics.
Spain 66
France 72
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Rec for a good quality post
Also it was a useful recap for me personally as i am at work and unable to watch/catch up on stuff.
by blazerbeliever97504 on Aug 28, 2010 6:23 PM PDT reply actions
Glad I could help.
If I can I’ll be sure to continue to watch France throughout the tournament & document their games. Love me some Batum !
BATMAN
Please do
Ad if there is any Batumshakalaka make that priority numero uno.
by blazerbeliever97504 on Aug 29, 2010 12:28 AM PDT up reply actions
Here you go ! France VS Lebanon highlights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msbZpfFzgQU
The game was delayed for over 15 minutes with 5:07 left in the second quarter after France's Nicolas Batum, who plays for the Portland Trail Blazers, dunked and twisted the rim. Officials scrambled to put a new rim on the basket and reattach a net.
Wow. A post actually about basketball? Why couldn't you make a Chris Paul trade post?
In all seriousness nice read. Rec.
"What people need to know is that those pictures were taken a year and a half ago, and I've grown since then." - Greg Oden
It was entertainig once it got to the second half
other than that Nicolas Dunk. I remember thinking that the NBA makes these guys look like freshamn dominted college teams…
That batum throw down seemed to get France into the game, really got some offense going for them. France was pretty lucky in this game. It was pretty obvious Spain thought they were going to run over these guys. I am glad the frenchmen humbled them, they sure needed it.
Rudy had SOME of his old spark back, but he still looks, how to put, wrong? Something just is not right with him. Fouling out on a technical was super dumb. Not to mention that France had several much much worse whistles. I have seen guys dramatically run up into the stands like that from time to time but usually because their momentum was at least carrying them in that direction. I mean Rudy flat out ran 8 rows up into the press row from a dead stop, he spun around and just ran into the press rows like he was running from the bulls in Pamplona…That just got to me for some reason…made me think “good riddance, I hope he does not show up for camp.”
"Oh Yeah!" ~ Kool Aid Man
reminds me of the incident with Travis in the Rocket's series
where Nate yelled at Trout for letting his man beat him baseline, and Outlaw “snapped” and went after the coach and had to be restrained
some guys just can’t deal with added pressure, it’s best to ID these mental midgets and weed them out before the team starts playing games in May/June
Matthews > Martell, for much the same reason
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
I think Martell played pretty well in the playoffs though, didn't he?
Though I agree with you, Martell was one inconsistent guy!
And he wanted to be traded but didn’t blow up the the media wavelengths with his whining!!!
pretty well, but below average when compared to Matthews
when you look at the long-term benefits, Matthews > Marty + Rudy for the same basic salary slot
Is Wesley as advanced an offensive player as Fernandez? No, but he steadily improved as an undrafted rookie until he was starting for Jerry Sloan in playoff games—matched up against Melo and K*be, no less
Matthews is a spot up 3-pt shooter which dovetails well with Nate’s system for wing players. Plus, he’ll take the ball off the dribble and attack the basket, which is something that Webster did poorly (he showed the ball too early and got his shot blocked routinely) and Fernandez has rarely dared to drive into traffic in the NBA (even though everyone remembers his dunk on Howard in the 2008 Olympics)
Portland basically upgraded the backup 2-3 win one fell swoop and alleviated those noisy PT conflicts. I’m a little concerned re: how effective the Bayless-Matthews backcourt will be running a halfcourt offense, but it’s up to the coaches to find ways to stagger the rotation so Roy or Miller are on the floor as much as possible when key games are still in doubt.
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
Ricky Rubio
Anybody else see a little Pete Maravich in his ball-handling style?
He can’t shoot like the Pistol, though…..
I agree with this.
But about his shooting, in a more natural surrounding(ACB) he has looked quite confident & capable to hit his shots. Must take into account his age. He is going to be something special I believe, with the right coaching.
BATMAN
I'd like to apologize
For not preparing a recap of todays game of France VS Lebanon – I was quite bummed I missed the game. I had to wake up at 4am & go to Oregon City street fair, until 4PM! Although on a high note, I did find myself a Blazers sweat band(sealed) for just one dollar. Not only that but I found myself laughing hysterically when I saw a Rasheed Wallace Blazers Lunch Box for sale.
Although, if none of you have seen it yet, I figure you deserve a box score from the French team in todays game VS Lebanon:
BATMAN
Apologize for the tiny pic(coincidentally the direct link is from tinypic.com - at which time it didn't look small)
If you can’t read it, zoom in on your browser by holding Ctrl, then scroll up on your mouse !
BATMAN
8 assists by Diaw is impressive
…especially considering the inexplicable stinginess of FIBA scorekeepers with regard to assists. I’ve never understood that. I think passing should be encouraged by loosening up the standard for assists—hockey has it right.
Was Batum not starting?
"Knowledge will get you from A to B. Creativity will get you anywhere." Einstein
by Garden of ODEN on Aug 29, 2010 11:42 PM PDT up reply actions
4 assists by Batum too
Diaw is recognized as a good passing big man in the NBA, so not a shocker, but pretty nice.
I saw the highlights, it looked like all fastbreaks and alleyoops.
You can measure skill and talent with your eyes, but productivity is shown through statistics.
We all know Diaw can play that point forward role
He would be wise to stick to it, and not chuck up shots. If he had an unselfish mentality & defensive focus he could be a great player.
The game was delayed for over 15 minutes with 5:07 left in the second quarter after France's Nicolas Batum, who plays for the Portland Trail Blazers, dunked and twisted the rim. Officials scrambled to put a new rim on the basket and reattach a net.
These are good people right here.
Love me Rip City !
The game was delayed for over 15 minutes with 5:07 left in the second quarter after France's Nicolas Batum, who plays for the Portland Trail Blazers, dunked and twisted the rim. Officials scrambled to put a new rim on the basket and reattach a net.
I have no idea
My intent before realized I had prior obligations to my ol lady was to find a way to watch the game at any cost… Even if it wasn’t televised, SOMEONE had to at least took a picture of Batum twisting the rim, if not just the twisted rim itself afterwords?
The game was delayed for over 15 minutes with 5:07 left in the second quarter after France's Nicolas Batum, who plays for the Portland Trail Blazers, dunked and twisted the rim. Officials scrambled to put a new rim on the basket and reattach a net.
There’s some (very France-centered) highlights here. Batum had a couple nice dunks in there, apparently the first one broke the rim.
There’s also some highlights from the game against Spain here. Also Batum’s reaction (in French, I’m hoping to translate it this evening.
Batum Les Reactions regarding game VS France:
Nicolas Batum (14 points, 2 rebounds, 2 blocks)
“We knew we could do, even if it did not show much in preparation. For some, it was a small desire for revenge from last year, and it was a good win.
We’ll have to stay focused against Lebanon, they made a big match against Canada. We can beat the world champions but if we lose tomorrow it #%&@% everything on the floor. He remains four games behind. The Lebanese are all on the ground, they know they must play together, they have extraordinary courage. We’ll have to respect them and play 40 minutes like today. Some were beaten by them in Japan, I think they do not want to repeat that performance!"
Via http://basketsession.com/les-reactions-de-mike-gelabale-ian-mahinmi-et-nicolas-batum/
Translate it to french via google translate or if you have google chrome you will automatically be prompted to translate it to english or not – because you know you want to see Batum drop that F-Bomb
The game was delayed for over 15 minutes with 5:07 left in the second quarter after France's Nicolas Batum, who plays for the Portland Trail Blazers, dunked and twisted the rim. Officials scrambled to put a new rim on the basket and reattach a net.
I don't think it's actually in the original French
That translator takes a definiton that isn’t in my dictionary, anyway.
I just posted my translation here.
I can see that.
The game was delayed for over 15 minutes with 5:07 left in the second quarter after France's Nicolas Batum, who plays for the Portland Trail Blazers, dunked and twisted the rim. Officials scrambled to put a new rim on the basket and reattach a net.
Rudy – Looked like the Rudy of old…Definitely raised his value showing his old flair.
Nicolas Batum – Our man ! Played his usual lock down defense & played through early foul trouble as well. Over came a slow 1/4 start to finished 4/8, which was impressive to see him shoot himself out of his funk – Including a MONSTER dunk. He moved the ball well & took good shots. He showed a nice crossover too which is very promising ! He ended up with 14 points, 2 impressive blocks, a steal, an assist & 3 boards. He played a very important role when his banged up team needed him the most. Great overall game by Nicolas ! Now for your viewing pleasure, BATUMSHAKALAKA
Couldn’t have been a better outcome for a Blazer fan. More of this, please
When reached 40 years of following Portland basketball you have, be as passionate of the Trail Blazers you will not!
Indeed !
I’m looking forward to recapping France VS Canada tomorrow.
The game was delayed for over 15 minutes with 5:07 left in the second quarter after France's Nicolas Batum, who plays for the Portland Trail Blazers, dunked and twisted the rim. Officials scrambled to put a new rim on the basket and reattach a net.
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