2023 FIBA World Cup - Page 2 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

octothorp · 08-30-2023, 10:18 AM

So the second round is set. Interestingly all groups finished with the same configuration of one team with 3 wins, one with 2, one with 1, one with 0. Which makes the second round seem like a foregone conclusion... I'm not sure I see any team that is not currently 3-0 advancing to the final round... maybe Australia, but even they'd have to beat Georgia and Slovenia. The group that has the weakest 3-0 team (Dominican Republic) also has the weakest 2-1 team (Puerto Rico) so not much of a chance of an upset there.

Canada's next game is Friday at 7:30am, against Brazil. A win vitually assures them of advancing to the QFs (apart from some unlikely scenarios like where Canada loses to Spain by a huge margin, and Spain loses to Latvia by a huge margin, and Lativa beats Brazil). Raptors fans will recognize one of Brazil's key players, Mr Two-Years-Away-From-Being-Two-Years-Away, Bruno Caboclo, who has carved out a really nice role on their national team. He just might have a chip on his shoulder.

midniteowl · 08-30-2023, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by octothorp

So the second round is set. Interestingly all groups finished with the same configuration of one team with 3 wins, one with 2, one with 1, one with 0. Which makes the second round seem like a foregone conclusion... I'm not sure I see any team that is not currently 3-0 advancing to the final round... maybe Australia, but even they'd have to beat Georgia and Slovenia. The group that has the weakest 3-0 team (Dominican Republic) also has the weakest 2-1 team (Puerto Rico) so not much of a chance of an upset there.

Canada's next game is Friday at 7:30am, against Brazil. A win vitually assures them of advancing to the QFs (apart from some unlikely scenarios like where Canada loses to Spain by a huge margin, and Spain loses to Latvia by a huge margin, and Lativa beats Brazil). Raptors fans will recognize one of Brazil's key players, Mr Two-Years-Away-From-Being-Two-Years-Away, Bruno Caboclo, who has carved out a really nice role on their national team. He just might have a chip on his shoulder.

Let's go Canada!!!

octothorp · 08-31-2023, 09:48 AM

The 17-32 classification games that are going on right now have huge Olympic repercussions, as no Africa or Asia team advanced to the 2nd group stage, so the top teams from those regions in classification will advance to the Olympics. After beating Venezuela this morning, Japan almost has the Asia spot locked up. Egypt, South Sudan, and Angola are all in the mix for the Africa spot.

South Sudan getting to the Olympics would be pretty cool, for one of the youngest countries in the world; in the country's short history, they've only had five athletes get to the Olympics in any sport. The country has produced a couple great NBA players over the years in Bol and Deng (who's assistant coach on the national team). Canadian-born Marial Shayok is having a really solid tournament for South Sudan.

GirlySports · 08-31-2023, 10:12 AM

I wanted an Asian or African team to make the Olympics without winning a game.

octothorp · 08-31-2023, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GirlySports

I wanted an Asian or African team to make the Olympics without winning a game.

Oh, that would have been so embarassing for whichever continent did that! Not possible in the current format where you're inevitably going to get teams from the same region in the same group in the classification round, but a scenario where a team could go winless in the opening round and qualify for the Olympics almost happened.

Honestly Asia has had a really poor showing, Japan's win over Finland was the only win in the opening round... overall the continent went 1-17.

midniteowl · 08-31-2023, 01:57 PM

Just wondering, does any one knows if the second round Canada game going to be on Sportsnet West? And what time? I've checked the guide on Shaw and didn't see it. Thanks in advance.

CofR · 08-31-2023, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by midniteowl

Just wondering, does any one knows if the second round Canada game going to be on Sportsnet West? And what time? I've checked the guide on Shaw and didn't see it. Thanks in advance.

Should be on Sportsnet West, pregame starts tomorrow at 7AM

octothorp · 09-01-2023, 07:55 AM

Interesting first quarter with Brazil really slowing the pace. Don't mind the way that Canada's playing, they'll be fine over the full game. The problem for Brazil with playing at a slow pace is it makes it tough to go on a run.

Latvia beat Spain this morning, which really complicates the possible outcomes in the group, but this game is, if anything, even more important now, because Spain will be playing for their lives next game.

Slovenia beat Australia today which almost puts the nail in the coffin for the Aussies.

Johnny199r · 09-01-2023, 09:11 AM

4th quarter down by 1 with under 2 mins left. Canada have been very disjointed and poor.
Kelly Olynyk in particular has been terrible. Just an absolute black hole on the floor any time he touches the ball.

SuperMatt18 · 09-01-2023, 10:20 AM

That's a crushing loss for both this tournament and Olympic qualifying.

GirlySports · 09-01-2023, 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

That's a crushing loss for both this tournament and Olympic qualifying.

crazy that both the 1-loss teams won today in Canada's group. Now they have to be Spain to go through, which is a de facto Round of 16 match. They should win? I mean, Spain just lose to Latvia.

Who knows, watching FIBA is like watching Knicks-Rockets 1994.

octothorp · 09-01-2023, 05:29 PM

Brutal ending to that, but Brazil played a classic 'get a better team off their game' approach and that's been the achillies heel of this program. Was hoping that Jordi would be able to get a little more out of these guys in that situation, but too many guys were having unimpactful games.

CofR · 09-03-2023, 07:50 AM

Stressful first quarter. The officials being trash is not helping things

sleepingmoose · 09-03-2023, 08:22 AM

Also worth mentioning that with the other results today (PR, DR, Brazil all losing), Canada qualifies for the 2024 Olympics with a win.

octothorp · 09-03-2023, 08:49 AM

Yeah, not a fan of the way this game is being called, it figures that Canada's finally playing physical, FIBA-style basketball and they end up with the refs calling ticky-tack NBA-type fouls.

octothorp · 09-03-2023, 09:32 AM

Amazing! Best game in this program's history!

CofR · 09-03-2023, 09:32 AM

What a game!!!!! What a day! Quarterfinals and we’re going to the Olympics!!!!

EldrickOnIce · 09-03-2023, 09:34 AM

So happy I watched that!

activeStick · 09-03-2023, 09:45 AM

Incredibly clutch free throw shooting by Canada there. Spain just wouldn't go away easy. I've been damaged by watching the Raps too long screwing up the end of game free throws, I was so nervous lol. Really awesome win by the boys!

octothorp · 09-03-2023, 10:06 AM

So going forward, Slovenia with Luka, and then the winner of Lithuania/Serbia is our path to the gold medal game. Those are all really tough programs (JV would be such a handful for our undersized bigs), but none of them are a level above Spain, so there's no reason Canada can't keep winning.

Looks like 6:30 Wednesday morning for the next game.