EuroBasket 2013 - 2nd Round

[mcege]

Belgium - Serbia Belgians were lucky and is satisfied to advance this round. They're coming off couple consecutive blow out losses, I don't believe they can be a match against Serbian team, which rested starters like S.Markovic and N.Krstic in last group game. Best Belgian player will have to match up with N.Bjelica, it may effect his performance and Bjelica's ability to play from perimeter will also effect A.Hervelle's rebounding numbers as well, who is Belgians' leading rebounder as well. Serbia can have concentration problems throughout the game, since this is a young team, which may allow a backdoor cover, but I don't think, game will be close enough until last minutes to result with a backdoor cover, I'm expecting Serbians to win by 15-16 points, even Belgians make a late 5-0, 6-0 run. Serbia(-12) 5/10 @ 1.99 Lithuania - France I'm not gonna write anything more about Lithuania, as almost I wrote it in every other day during first round. French team looked sharp in first round, despite playing in the easiest group, some aged starters like T.Parker and B.Diaw had conservative playing times. Whereas Lithuania played intense games with one over time, some of the starters played heavy minutes. France has adequate numbers of bodies to minimize Lithuanians' front court presence, has the deeper squad then Lithuania and had a better performance overall. Lithuania couldn't convince any of the first round games, they don't share the ball consistently, they forget time by time the strong points of their offense and they have offensive droughts throughout the game, which shouldn't change against athletic and solid rebounding team France. These two teams met 2 years ago, they had almost same main players in rotation, Lithuania had more options at back court, whereas France had the beast Joakim Noah at center, so more, or less both of them were a little better and France won by 6 points against Lithuania, at their home court. Today, I expect France to win by 7-8 points. France(-4.5) 5/10 @ 1.952

[mcege]

Re: EuroBasket 2013 - 2nd Round Serbia - Belgium: 76-69 Lithuania - France: 76-62 Terrible day, sorry to the followers. Stakes will be reduced to 3 for remaining games of Group E, until I find something winning from there. I'll do +/-, stats updating thing, at the end of the second round. Croatia - Finland I must admit, Croatians surprised me in positive way in first round. After getting destroyed against Spain, I wasn't expecting them to bounce back that well and stay calm, focused in clutch moments to win all other games. But, they covered 1/3, when they were a favorite and that one came against Czechs who shot 5/21 (!) FT and scored only 20 points in the second half, how much can it be related to Croatians' defense, as you consider they received 72 points per game, until that game. Finns will miss H.Mottola, which is a blow, even he had been used for limited time and couldn't bring too much in the court. But, his shooting abilities from perimeter and experience will be missed, anyway. This Finn team is not fluke, for sure. They are very spirited team, fights for every single ball. They have couple good perimeter shooters, who couldn't find their rhythm still, but despite that they scored 86 points against Russia and Greece for consecutive nights. They are 4-1 against the spread and won 3 of 4 games in which they were underdogs. They'll lack size at front court, but so far they managed to absorb that by putting more effort then opponents, I don't see any reason why it should change tomorrow. Finland(+5) 5/10 @ 1.935 Spain - Greece It's hard to discuss if Spain convinced in first round. They destroyed everybody, but against the hosts, they were clueless at the clutch time. Slovenians nailed some extraordinary shots, but that doesn't explain Spaniard's terrible performance at the offensive end, in that game. Missing P.Gasol and J.C.Navarro should cost them something in somewhere. They have a good guard rotation with skillful players, with different specialities and the best player of the tournament, Marc Gasol. But, I don't like their bench, new coach didn't provide a good test in the only match he mattered and they didn't face with a balanced team like Greece. Greece had lots of up and downs and they're in a must win situation. They start the second round with 0-2 W-L degree, despite their chances will remain mathematically, it's pretty obvious that they can't compensate going 0-3, at all. I don't know how this journey for Greece will end, but coach Trinchieri disappointed me, so far. I admire his coaching abilities and things he did with small club, Cantu, but he seemed not to have absolute control on the team. After losing to Finland, he complains to press about the FA to interfere his squad selection actions, this is not a thing, a mature coach will do. But, I expect players to fight for their pride, after losing to Finland and as they will face with the biggest favorite of the tournament. Greece has the deepest squad among all teams and adequate material to match with Spain's strongest positions. I expect a very spirited game, decided in clutch time. Greece(+6) 5/10 @ 1.952 LET'S BOUNCE BACK!!!