By Panos Katsiroubas info@eurohoops.net
The World Cup shots is going to be an everyday round up from Eurohoops in which we will summarize everything that we liked or dislike during the games! So sit back and enjoy some very important details.
Twelve lions and a MONSTER! Senegal shocked the basketball world twice in less than 24 hours. They beat two teams which are among the sport’s elite, Puerto Rico and Croatia. The truth is that tactically, they don’t have something new to present.
They prefer to play with their instict, they run a lot and try to use their athletic advantage. In the game against Croatia they scored some crazy baskets, but also they had a shining star! Gorgui Dieng is the player who makes the difference. The Louisville alumni and 2013 NCAA champion is a beast. He can attack, he can rebound, he can play great individual defense and he is a great rim protector. His numbers: 22 points, 11.7 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1.7 steals & assists per game. It is very simple! He can do anything!!
The value of supporting cast: Argentina won a very tough battle against Philippines, and this was a result of the performance of two players that are the supporting cast of this team. Marcos Mata and Nicolas Laprovittola came from the bench to save the day when Scola faced foul troubles, while Nocioni and Campazzo had a mediocre day. Mata scored 17 and grabbed 9 rebounds while Laprovittola added 10 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists. If Argentina wants to go far, it’s needed to take everything from everybody.
Coach we have a problem! Serbia beat Iran with ease, but this is not the point. This is the second game in a row that Serbia cannot defend against anybody in the low post. Raduljica plays well in the offensive end but he is a real hole in defense. Yesterday it was Lauvergne that killed Serbia, today Haddadi scored 29 points without missing a shot even though he had foul troubles. Krstic is not playing at all and the only good defensive player, Stimac, plays only few minutes. The front line of Serbia will meet Varejao, Nene and Splitter of Brazil and the Gasol brothers and Ibaka of Spain. With this low post defense, it won’t be easy.
An unusual Greek Team! The Greek team had as a major characteristic in all previous competitions, good defense and talented guards who could create and score in set offensive plays. This year the team is different, maybe due to the major absence of Vasilis Spanoulis. Of course defense is still very important, but this team tries to run in every opportunity. They try to use the transition even in set plays, setting many screens early on in the possession, and use a lot of movement from all players, even with screens away of the ball in the weak side.
Calathes is very important for this kind of play but also forwards like Papanikolaou, Antetokounmpo, Printezis and Kaimakoglou like to run and are mpre than useful. For sure this is not the most talented Greek team of recent history, but it’s a beautiful team to watch.
Team on a mission! Tonight was the first difficult task for the hosts and they proved that they play like a team on a mission. The mission to win the World Cup at their home maybe in the last of this “Golden” generation. They had a huge offensive game against Brazil with Pau Gasol being the leader of this unbelievably talented team.
They have – maybe together with the United States – the best backcourt of the tournament and also maybe the best front line alongside Brazil. They can run, they pass the ball extremely well, all of them can create plays on one on one situations, they rebound and they defend well. They are great in almost every aspect of the game but the most important is that they enjoy it, they love to play all together. In our opinion they are the favorites to go all the way.