Normalcy returns to Eurobasket 2009 (?); plus not-so-fearless predictions

September 15, 2009

All right, so normalcy has apparently returned to normal in Eurobasket 2009, with favorites going three-for-three and BallinEurope’s ratio of correct-to-incorrect fearless predictions brought down to a more realistic level.

As It Should Be Then: Turkey rolled on but got a good overtime fight from Serbia (they’ll both be in final eight), while Poland’s dream ride may be ending after an again smooth-playin’ Slovenia team. And if Team Spain still didn’t resemble the dominant form everyone expected from them in beating hapless Lithuania, well, they may yet make the next round.

In brief, then, here are today’s BiE (not-quite-as) fearless predictions for today’s games: Russia bounces FYR Macedonia; Croatia tops Germany in an OT shootout; and in the game of the week (though that Turkey-Serbia game last night was a doozy), France overcomes Greece.

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This post was published on September 15, 2009
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Comments: 11
  1. Janus
    16 years ago

    Just for fun, let’s try to outpredict the predictor and put my own 10 cents in it.

    Russia will beat Macedonia, I am pretty confident with that. – Russia

    Croatia will be nervous, which could cost them dearly, so if it’s the overtime, Germany will win. However, I expect Croatia to win after almost blowing a comfortable lead in 4th period. – Croatia

    Greece wins simply because it needs the victory more. For France it will not matter if it’s 1st or 2nd place, since both Serbia and Spain are beatable, if fact, it would probably prefer to play Serbia in the quaters, in case Spanish finaly wake up. So they might not be in this game mentaly. But Greece will want to avoid Slovenia, so they will play with more zeal. – Greece

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  2. Teo
    16 years ago

    I simply do not know what is better for Greece…playing a tough slovenia that we know is good or a Spain team that is getting better every game and has had greece’s number the last few years (even if sometimes with some theatrics involved).
    Also I think that France really wants this, as greece has knocked them out a few times the past….20 or so years. I think France goes all out and beats Greece, which seems to lose its form after a few days of games. But then France loses to Spain.
    Mark my words, winning this game may well not be a good thing, except for the better schedule the winner will have.

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  3. Janus
    16 years ago

    Sure, vut one thing is important. First two teams will be playing on Friday, and the last game og group F is on Thursday. So the winner and runner up will have a day to regenerate and prepare, before facing an oponent that had to play a game and travel to another city in just one day. That might prove a big advantage in the quater finals.

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  4. Dimitrios
    16 years ago

    France-Greece turned out to be a farse of a game. I’ve never seen a team so obviously sad to win a game EVER!

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  5. Janus
    16 years ago

    Well, I stand corrected, I’m not better at predicting then fearless. Hats off to him. Why was France sad? Perhaps they think they have a better chance with Serbia then Spain? From what I’ve seen so far, Spain should be easier to beat specially for an athletic offensive team like France.

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  6. Teo
    16 years ago

    Well, Spain is still the most loaded team when it comes to talent. All they need is a good day and all their woes are history. Any other team is beatable even on a good day, but Spain is just that tad bit too talented to really warrant success if they are rolling.
    So I understand France for not wanting this, their next game might turn out to be a final. They would be better off against a serbian team that plays fantastic but is on the verge of overachieving (considering their experience and age).
    That said, France looked strong and often bullied the greeks. We always say that just jumping isn’t basketball, but that athleticism was an insurmountable problem for us yesterday….

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  7. migala
    16 years ago

    Does anyone think that France has shown so much athleticism (well, let´s call it they are in very good shape as a team) because they had a very long and competitive way to reach the final stage (games against Italy, Belgium and the like)? I think they are better prepared than any other team.

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  8. Teo
    16 years ago

    I think france is naturally a more athletic team than, say, Greece.
    Not only is the french league big on athletic, high-flying players, but also they probably have more nba players than any other team. and the nba pkayers are probably the best athletes in basketball, even if not always necessarily the most skilled ones.
    Where I agree with you Migala is, that France probably found better team chemistry than in other years through this process, as it always was a bit parker’s team and the others weren’t quote as involved as they should be. This year they appear quite tight.
    Still think Spain might give them a very hard time if they manage to not appear tired tomorrow.

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  9. migala
    16 years ago

    Thanks for your reply, Teo. I am very excited about the game, and even if I obviously support Spain (have been following basically the same players since 1999) I really admire France and their ability to impose their game thru simple things: an elbow here, some offensive rebounding here, pick and roll when no-one (sometimes not even themselves) expect it…, etc…

    I don´t see Parker being a key to this game. Actually I think that if he scores 30 points or so France could be defeated. But if he distributes the ball well and makes sure things go smoothly and with a relatively slow path Spain has no chance and hats off to the French!

    What a monster game for tomorrow! Reminds me of Boston-Cleveland during the play-offs…

    Time to enjoy, right?

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  10. migala
    16 years ago

    BTW: what a strange game France-Greece was! They both are playing WAY better than SPAIN but the smirk on the Greek players’ face was… kinda happy…

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  11. Teo
    16 years ago

    The greeks really don’t exactly need to face spain too early, we got a few beatings the last years and really never underestimate Spain.
    Everyone is happy when they can avoid this team, but I still think that greece did not lose on purpose. Ok, they could have fouled in the end and probably could have done a lot of things, but France played better and deserved to win.
    Anyway, watching the game it looks as if spain will just run over france, to be honest.
    We all knew spain is a big team and big teams step up in these kind of games.
    Now if only we (greece..) can give Turkey some serious business, I would be quite happy, because they have played better than us thus far….
    Btw. spain employs great ball movement in this game. What is it about this team that makes them look so effortless when they are clicking? It reminds me of the Greece-USA game in 06 where just everything was going right, only spain does it more often..
    Weird how they fell apart at the start of the tourney, poor Scariolo 😉

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