By Panos Katsiroumpas/ info@eurohoops.net
The World Cup shots is 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 of the epic victories of France and Serbia!
BRASIL- SERBIA
Serbia played an unbelievable team game against Brazil, a “perfect” game if we assume that both teams in terms of their rosters were close at quality. They won the game 84-56 and controlled totally the rhythm, they were very well prepared and took advantage of all Brazil’s weaknesses. Let’s see the key parts of the game.
Milos effect
Teodosic was a real factor in this game. He dictated the rhythm and he was the brain of Serbia in the offensive end. He organized the game perfectly, he spread the ball when needed and executed with high percentages. He never lost his mind in the game, found all the miss matches and the great passes for his teammates. He was really impressive.
Nemania Bjelica
He is the key in most of the games of Serbia in this World Cup because he becomes inside the game the fourth source of creation in the Serbian offense. He set pick and roll plays with the center like a guard and he can execute behind the screens very effective. He can also penetrate to the basket and he is a good passer. He was wonderful against Brazil with 8 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and great defense against any bigger opponent he faced tonight.
The mistake of the two centers
Brazil decided to play all the game with two centers on the court but this decision was a real destruction for them. They couldn’t match Bjelica defensively because he was very quick for Varejao and for Splitter. On the other side in the offensive end, where Brazil had the size advantage over Bjelica, they couldn’t find the isolation plays and the post-up game to hurt him. Ruben Magnano never tried to play with a “lighter” lineup in order to match up with Bjelica and Brazil paid for this.
DEFENSE!!
Serbia played really solid defense. They stopped the transition game of Brazil with very clever fouls. They achieved to hide all their weaknesses. They were focused on sending double teams in the defensive miss match of Bjelica and they played great individual defense in all the athletic players of Brazil, using Kalinic and Markovic. They risked to give their opponents open shots but Brazil never punished them, except the two consecutive three points shots by Garcia in the second quarter.
SPAIN- FRANCE
This was the biggest upset so far. France destroyed Spain and no one could have predicted this final result. It’s also an unbelievably fair result for the French who dominated the game from the beginning to the end. You cannot speak about key facts after such a game but there are some things worth of mentioning.
Defense, defense, DEFENCE!!!
The French played unbelievable defense during the game. They preferred to play man to man defense in the post against the Gasol brothers and send double teams only from the player who guarded Rubio. They took the risk to take damage from the inside than from three point shots which give rhythm and psychology to the Spanish team. They also faced all the pick and roll with a very attacking hedge out in order to open the distances and make the passes more difficult. Gobert and Lauvergne played huge individual defense and gave great helps in the pick and roll defense. Everyone from the French team played huge individual defense
Rebounds
France controlled the boards totally, they didn’t give second chances to Spain which was one of the best rebounding teams in the tournament. The total number of rebounds was 50-28 in favor of France. That help them control totally the rhythm of the game
Heurtel, Gobert and of course Diaw.
These were the key players from France. Heurtel played wonderful, despite the press of the Spanish backcourt. He controlled the rhythm and in the end he was the extra offensive weapon of France scoring 9 points in the last 4 minutes including a big three point shot that sealed the win.
Gobert was a rock in defense and rebounding. A great rim protector, stopped almost all the pick and rolls of Spain, controlled the boards (13), stopped all the penetrations of the Spanish guards and played great individual defense against Pau Gasol. Diaw is the heart and the brain of the team. He played excellent, with high quality passes, reading the game of the Spanish defense and making plays for everyone. He finished the game with 15 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists
2/22 threes…
This was the terrible percentage of the Spanish team behind the three point arc. We said that French defense was exemplary but with these percentages you cannot defeat anybody in a quarterfinal game of the World Cup. Most of those shots were made under huge pressure but this is not an excuse for a team with such talent.