Some surprises came in the way as each team played in the group-stage round robin. Argentina, for instance, the top-ranked team was stunned by Serbia in Group A and finished the first stage with a 4-1 record.
Group B saw the dominance that team USA showed over most of its contenders. Team USA finished with a 5-0 record, put really had to go into overdrive mode for its two points win against the Brazilian squad.
Turkey was able to hold its ground and won all of its matches, finishing first in Group C, ahead of the talented teams from Turkey and Greece, which finished second and third respectively. They have been great host, and the event itself has been a great success. Nevertheless, the Turkey’s National Basketball team is going to have to bring out the big guns to survive what is coming in the knockout stages.
Group D was certainly an important surprise. The Spanish team was among the favorite teams to win the tournament, but early losses against the French and Lithuania, seriously hurt the team’s morale. They were still able to recover and win their last two games of the round-robin stage, to finish with a 3-2 record and in second place of the standings, but it was certainly the Lithuanian team who really came out to make a difference with their 5-0 record.
Team USA will now play Angola. Even though the Americans have defeated the National team of Angola in each of their previous games in either Olympic Basketball of FIBA tournaments, the Angolan’s are a very aggressive and physical team that could get the Americans into some trouble.
If they manage to pass (and they are expected to) the Angolans, they will face the winner of the round-of-16 game between New Zealand and Russia. The Russians are a -6
No comments:
Post a Comment