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.
Top performance! The honor belongs to Yanick Moreira, player of Angola. He plays for Southern Methodist University under Coach Larry Brown and in the last game against Australia he was perfect. He scored 38 pts and grabbed 15 rebounds with a performance index 45!
Come on Aussies… Australia played their last game against Angola, they were leading 42-29 in halftime and in the second half Angola transformed to Team USA scoring 62 points and winning the game. In our eyes Australia didn’t fight to win the game in order to finish third in the group and not meet the real Team USA in the quarterfinals, in case they advance after the round of 16.
Petteri Koponen! Finland lost in dramatic fashion the two most important games against Turkey and New Zealand. What was common in these two games? Petteri Koponen took almost all the big shots and missed it. But what we feel for this player is just RESPECT! He was the real leader of this team in this competition. The top passers in the competition with 6 assists per game, added to almost 16 ppg and 3 rebounds per game. He had the guts to take all the responsibilities and all the big shots and this is something that only big players do. So we have to show him the respect he gained with his games.
Resurrection! The team of New Zealand had a bad start in the tournament but in the last two games thanks to good defense, they achieved a real comeback and advanced to the 2nd round. They don’t have the talent of previous “Tall Blacks” teams but they are always very dangerous in knock out stages.
Do or die?? No thanks! Everybody waited the battle for qualification between Puerto Rico and Croatia but in this game only one team appeared on the court and it was Croatia. Dominating from the beginning to the end they beat extremely easy the “ghosts” of Puerto Rico. Basically, the ghosts would have played better defense than the actual players. Totally disappointing.
One quarter, pure disaster The team of Slovenia played the best basketball in Group D in Gran Canaria. They were unbeaten and had a seven points lead their last game against Lithuania in the end of the 3rd quarter. In the 4th quarter the unpredictable happened. Slovenia scored only 2 points, they had a very bad offensive game and in the end they felt short and lost. This is a total disaster for them cause they finished second in the group and they will face Team USA in the quarters, if they get to there.
Young and beautiful! Greece left Seville with the 5th win in five games, this time over Argentina. During the preparation stage the team lost many key players. Their biggest star Spanoulis and key role player Koufos. Even though this is a new team under a new coach, Greece plays wonderful basketball in both ends, they have strong character, they move the ball impressively and they play good defense. But their biggest advantage? This is a TEAM that loves to play together and enjoys it. More than enjoyable to watch.
What we will miss?
* For sure Finland and their great supporters! They were the heart of the group in Bilbao, and they gave a very beautiful color in the stands
* Andray Blatche. He was the attraction of the Philippines team and he played great in this competition. He finished averaging 21.2pts and 13.8 rebounds
What we will not miss?
* Puerto Rico. Taking into account their roster and their talent, their performances where completely disappointing if we exclude Juan Jose Barea. The only excuse is the injury of Carlos Arroyo. We will not remember something else from them.
* Very low level teams like Egypt and South Korea. In the World Cup of 2019 we will have 32 teams. Let’s hope that we will not have more teams like those two.