Will you be watching the Basketball World Cup? (China 2019)

[Kyriakos]

Haven't paid any attention to the teams, so don't know the likely winner (US? Maybe Greece due to the Greek Freak?).
Actually I don't know any of the other players of the Greek team cause it has been more than a decade since I bothered
Greece did reach the final of this contest a few years ago, when it defeated US (with Lebron and company) in the semi-final. It had won a few european national championships too, but I am not sure if the rest of the players are currently of a high level.

Giannis, obviously, is just awesome...

 

[Arwon]

It's all on stream here, but seeing commentary with English accents is weirding me out

 

[Arwon]

Canada v Australia has been a cracker so far

 

[Arwon]

And then we blew it out lol

 

[GoodEnoughForMe]

I don't know that the US is really much of a favorite, around 40 people originally invited declined because nobody cares about it (don't blame them), so the US team has a lot of players nobody even expected to be invited, or who are not up to snuff for international competitions.

 

[Arwon]

They're still among the favourites, it's just not a forgone conclusion and Serbia might be better than them (USA is paying 1.45 to Serbia 4.00 but I think some of that USA shortness is on Dream Team reputation)

 

[Kyriakos]

Monster plays by Giannis ^_^

 

[Zkribbler]

I am no basketball fan.

 

[Kyriakos]

I am no basketball fan.

Me neither - at least not since highschool - but Giannis is just a freak

 

[Arwon]

Australia still going okay

 

[Manfred Belheim]

Surely this could have gone into the existing generic, multi-discipline 2019 World Cup thread? I liked how disjointed that one was.

 

[classical_hero]

5 wins and we avoid America until the final, if we make it.

 

[Kyriakos]

Too bad for Giannis. Also, three way tie stopped Greece, although tbh we didn't have a good team (apart from Giannis, obviously).
Still, it makes no sense for a team to advance in a tie with you, when it lost to your team.

 

[Arwon]

Final 4! Mills for MVP!

 

[rah]

If US players can't be bothered to play, I can't be bothered to watch.

 

[Lexicus]

Like women's basketball - no can dunk, but good fundamentals

 

[Kyriakos]

The system of progression in groups should change, cause this time it just ruined the contest. It makes no sense to have groups lead to another group where your own group's two teams are half of it. This is how you got Czech Republic and Poland in the final 8 - I mean, come on, those aren't final 8 teams.

Again, while the Greek team was bad, it should at least have been in the final 8. Maybe if it had bothered to play, amirite

Looks like the final four will barely have any good team either. Spain no longer is a serious force, France never was. Don't know about Argentina nowdays - Australia was iirc always in top 5-8 category.

 

[Commodore]

If US players can't be bothered to play, I can't be bothered to watch.

I don't blame them for not trying though. It may be a global tournament, but it is far from being the highest level of competition in the world of basketball. The NBA is the highest level of competition and it's where these players make their money so why would they risk going hard and possibly injuring themselves or otherwise burning themselves out for the upcoming NBA season?

 

[rah]

Unfortunately it makes them look like spoiled brats to us old farts that can remember back when the greats took pride in competitions like the Olympics and would complain if they weren't included.

 

[Kyriakos]

Unfortunately it makes them look like spoiled brats to us old farts that can remember back when the greats took pride in competitions like the Olympics and would complain if they weren't included.

Jordan only went to one of those
But he did get Isiah banned from the team