World Cup Basketball!!!!!

[MrWhereItsAt]

Originally posted by academia
And i have to tell you that they aren´t that good. They don´t have outstanding, superskilled players, but they give 100% all the time!! they play rough, with thier hearts, show courage, never surrender!!!

And i respect that

Heck, that's the culture here. Few superstars and very good teams. I haven't seen any games yet (I might have to try get home early enough to see a game some day soon), but we expect nothing ( I mean New Zealand and the World Cup of Basketball? Come on, be serious ), so every win is a very pleasant surprise, and to be celebrated! But then again we have been Olympians/World Cup champs of the strangest of things. An NZ woman is the Commonwealth champion in Table Tennis, and for ages the NZ softball team The Black Sox have been the world champions.

[academia]

Una vez mas, disfrutenlo:

U.S.-Yugoslavia Postgame Quotes


UNITED STATES

COACH GEORGE KARL
Opening statement:
“We saw playoff NBA basketball in September. I'm proud of my team. We gave the world a great show. I'm very disappointed, we did not make shots. Yugoslavia made free throws and shots down the stretch and we did not."

On having more time to prepare as a team:
“To answer that now is very hard. I like my team. We didn't have the cleverness or the edge that other teams have. My team is a very good basketball team. Last night was much more discouraging, but tonight we can be proud."

On the best players playing:
“I coach. That's for the hierarchy for the NBA. It would be great someday for the international stars to play with us. I'm proud of how we played. All the time we played, we played pretty damn hard. We didn't always play together, but we played hard. Would we be better if Kobe or Shaq played, that's for you (media) to talk about."

On the end of an era:
“I think it’s a tremendous celebration of basketball. The rest of the world is playing better basketball. They've been beating our college teams in other championships for over a decade. More countries love the game and play it with great spirit."

MICHAEL FINLEY
Opening statement:
“It was a good game to be a part of. Two teams were giving it their all. At the end you need to make key shots and stops and we couldn't do that tonight."

On Team USA selection process:
“The selection committee offered spots to them (Shaq & Kobe) and they decided not to play and that's their right. The guys who did play took pride and gave up part of their summer to be here. I don't think the committee would want players who didn't want to be here. For the players they did choose to sacrifice their time, I commend them."

REGGIE MILLER
“I thought we got a lot of movement. Late in the game we went to a lot of one-on-one, a lot of fouling. What really got us that 10, 11-point lead, we discontinued.”

‘I feel for the younger guys. It’s their first shot, really, at international competition. There’s been so much hype. So much has been said about this team

On fifth place:
“We’ve still got to go out and compete. You’ve got a job to do. We still have to come out and play tomorrow night.”

On attendance:
“It would have been nice to have a packed house against a team like Yugoslavia, with both fans chanting and going back at one another. You like to see the fans having a good time in the stands, and you like to see the two rival fans going at one another. You got a little bit of that tonight.”

On US players’ familiarity with each other:
“I think defensively, we’re pretty much on target. Offensively, it takes a while for teams to jell. Our defensively has been definitely ahead of our offense all tournament and I think that has shown in the latter stages in especially the last two or three ballgames.”

PAUL PIERCE
“We didn’t really think about defensive pressure like we should have. In the fourth quarter, we gave them a lot of open threes, let them get to the foul line when they didn’t hit the 3-point shot. That was the difference on the defensive end. Offense in the fourth quarter seemed to get stagnant. Ball movement wasn’t quite the same as it was in the third and it cost us the game.”

On getting ready to compete for fifth place:
“It’s difficult for me; it’s tough to swallow for me. I’m very disappointed in the fact we let our country down – on the U.S. soil.

Reaction to final 15 seconds:
Unfortunately, we didn’t get the shot we wanted. They played good defense down the stretch. They limited my opportunities in the fourth quarter. That’s what a good ballclub’s going to do.”

How the final play was set up:
“It was a double screen for me to come off, but they switched out on me, denying me the ball. Our other option was Reggie (Miller) on the right side and they just denied him the ball.”

Reaction to how this team might be remembered:
“I’m still young, I still have an NBA career to think about. Unfortunately, I couldn’t win a gold medal at this stage, but hopefully I’ll have that opportunity.”

On whether a “call to arms” might be sent around the NBA for the Olympics:
“To tell you the truth, I hope it is. All these other countries – they’re bringing their best. We brought a team over here with some of our best. We didn’t bring the players that obviously everybody was looking forward to seeing like Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal), Kobe (Bryant). Hopefully this will be a call for some of these guys to help out in the Olympics so we can play our very, very best superstars. We had established superstars that had a chance to come and play. Hopefully it will be a wake-up call.”

ANTONIO DAVIS
“All I can do now is apologize now for not representing the game of basketball the way we were supposed to. There’s no excuses and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have gotten it done. The bottom line is we didn’t get it done. Coming into this thing I don’t think we realized how important it is to the other teams and how important it should’ve been to us, not only to represent our country, but to represent the game of basketball. I hope the outcome will show the countries around the world that these countries are getting better. These countries are growing tremendously in a lot of different areas of the game that they weren’t before. They’re stronger, they’re bigger and they’re smarter and they have learned how to play at a young age and we have to respect that. Our young people today and our coaches of today have to go out and teach guys the game of basketball the right way. I think if we continue to do that we’ll grow as much as they’ve grown.”

With a 10-point lead did you think you could put them away:
“You could say that, but they have too many weapons. They have guys who can shoot three’s. We talked about it, and any time you’re up double digits they only way for them to come back is to shoot three’s, and I don’t know why we go out and give them up. We should force them to drive the basketball and then get help. We didn’t do things the right way, and there’s no excuse. We just have to apologize for our showing. Our philosophy is we have to play as a team to win. We didn’t win, so we didn’t play as a team. The bottom line is that we needed the 12 guys on this team to play with the togetherness of other teams. With all the given circumstances, not practicing together and all of that, we still had to come in and do that. It’s a huge task, but it’s one I felt we could accomplish, and obviously we didn’t.”

JAY WILLIAMS
“They are extremely good basketball players. They came out to win, no doubt about it."

On Yugoslavia defense:
“They play hard 'd' for 40 minutes. That's their style of play, something we have to do more."

On U.S. team outlook:
“We have great players out there, they have the skills to win."
YUGOSLAVIA

COACH SVETISLAV PESIC
Opening statement:
“We had an excellent start to the game. I'm grateful for the good concentration and effort in the game. We knew after yesterday that we had to have the same intensity (as Argentina). They (USA) are very quick and get back, so we had to have rested legs. By the second half, we didn't have legs. We beat a very good, complete team. I don't always have an opportunity to congratulate the other team. Vlade had his best game for the national team. I hope for the same tomorrow. Free throws helped us at the end of the game and will help give us confidence. Two Markos helped us win the game."

On playing New Zealand on Saturday:
“First of all, I want to congratulate New Zealand on their victory. We know they are a good team. We lost to them in a tournament in Germany. As you've seen in this tournament, there are tough teams here. I believe the best four teams are playing for the championship."

On chance of playing son in finals (Germany):
“I think that would be a good thing for European basketball. I'm happy for Germany. They beat an excellent team in Spain, who along with Argentina might have been playing the best basketball here. I'd like to thank our fans; I forgot to do that earlier. They were making so much noise, it felt like we were at home."

MARKO JARIC
On his four free throws in the final 23 seconds:
“I cannot tell lies and say I did not feel the pressure to make those shots. But I tried to relax and focus, and my teammates said some good words to me to make me feel confident. I was able to make them, thankfully”

On team play:
"We have a lot of top NBA players who come together and all contribute in their own ways. The most important thing on this team is our spirit, that's so much a part of our game. We've been together training for so long"

VLADE DIVAC
On beating the United States:
“Of course, it’s a great win when you beat a team like the United States. It’s a big win for us because it gets us to the semifinals and allows a chance to reach our goal of winning this tournament. That was our goal, not to just beat the United States but to win the tournament. This is just one win, and it won’t mean as much if we lose the next game.”

On the pressure felt by the United States team:
“I think it’s really unfair for the United States team to feel the pressure they feel to win every single game. They are not together for very long and they don’t get a lot of practice time. Then they are expected to come here and win easily. It’s not that simple because other teams are getting better and this tournament has shown that anything can happen.”

[academia]

[academia]

See you in 4 years!!!
Suerte para la proxima!!

[academia]

[academia]

Jeje!!! Tengo que seguir poniendo estas fotos!!!
Esto es muy divertido!!!!

[academia]

Ya estamos cerca!!!!

[Palaiologos]

At the Olympics of 2004 it's our turn.

Those yankees sure got their lesson.

[Palaiologos]

I really hope they bring their best of the best at the Olympics so it will make our victory sweeter.

[Palaiologos]

And as for the New Zealand team only two words:


BURGER KING!!!!!!!

[academia]

BTW, how is the greek Team doing? You know, i remember the 1998 World Cup. You finished 4th!!
But after that, it seems that you have disappeared from international competitions.
What´s wrong?

[Palaiologos]

Yes it was our chance to claim the title then but we lost against Yugoslavia in a cracking match at overtime at the semifinals. Papanikolaou , a crap player, lost six!!! consequtive free throws and the Yugoslavians with a few three point shots send the match to overtime.

In the European basketball cup last year we finished 9th after a disasdrous defeat by Germany( we were ahead by 24 points in half time!!) and hence we did not qualify for the World cup for the first time in 20 years!!.

It was all coach's Petropoulos fault and we seemed to have realized this. Untill then the policy was to hire for the national team whoever Greek coach was unemployed at the time.

But now all has changed. The team is coached by the best one around, Ioannidis, and we are ready to claim the European title in Sweden.

At our last match for the preliminaries we crushed Spain by 15 points.

[Palaiologos]

By the way why are you so surprised we finished fourth?
It was considered a failure. We have a very good team. We also finished 4th at toronto where we defeated Canada 71-74 at the quarter finals.

And also i want to comment you for this truly excellent thread which you supply constanly with all the new photos and articles.

GREAT JOB.

P.s You Argentinians have the best team in the World cup.I don't think the Yugoslavians will be able to stop you on your way to the title.

[academia]

You misunderstood me Palaiologos. I´m not surprised because you finished 4th in the last World Cup.
I´ve been following basketball since I was 10.
And i remember that at the beggining of the 90s the best teams in Europe were Yugoslavia, USSR and Greece You were in the elite.
So, that´s the reason of my surprise!!!! You were one of the top teams and now you dissapeared!!!

And also i want to comment you for this truly excellent thread which you supply constanly with all the new photos and articles.

Thanx!!!
Like the old NBA jingle said:
"I LOVE THIS GAME"

[Palaiologos]

Sorry.

Yes we were in the elite but in Greece the interest for Basketball has wanned in the past few years tired of constant successes(Amazing but true) at club level,and that has made an impact on the National team.

You know 3 Yugoslavs of the national team(Gurovic, Stojacovic, Yaric) have a Greek citizenship and made their first Basketball steps in Greek teams. Yaric and Gurovic played in "Peristeri BC" since they were 14 year's old.

Many others played in Greece for many years(Bodiroga 4 years, Rebraca 3 years, Stojacovic 5 years etc.).

Greek Basketball is in decline.