Mirotic12 wrote:I really don't see much difference in skill level from Pau, to say Divac, Cosic, Sabonis, Meneghin, and so forth.
That's certainly not a surprise.
Moderator: THE J0KER
Mirotic12 wrote:I really don't see much difference in skill level from Pau, to say Divac, Cosic, Sabonis, Meneghin, and so forth.
Mirotic12 wrote:
I don't recall him ever beating the US.
daytripper wrote:1999: Junior World Championship (Portugal). Spain beat the US in the final, winning gold 94-87
2002: FIBA's World Cup (Indianapolis). Spain beat the US 81-75.
The 2008 and 2012 Olympic Finals were won by the US, with very controversial officiating, especially in 2008. There were like a zillion non-called travelling violations by the US. So much so that Navarro, in the last play, took like five steps before dribbling the ball, in protest. No travelling was called in that play either. The games were extremely close, and Pau was the leader of those teams. Even in the 2016 Olympics, in the semis, the US faced its toughest oponent in Spain, winning by just 6 points.
Just to realize the impact of Pau Gasol in the game, look at Spain's performance in 2005 Eurobasket and 2010 Workd Cup.
mojo13 wrote:Refs favored USA? You guys are laughable.
For every FIBA travelling violation the refs might overlook on USA players they seem to conveniently miss about 5x more moving screens and illegal hand checking. Let alone the physical mugging they allow in an attempt to negate the USA's superior athletes.
If the USA played other top counties using NBA rules the average margin of victory would be above 40 points. The FIBA rules are specifically geared to attempt to contain the USA's endless supply superior athletes. And I'm ok with that just to see some level of competition. I think they just let the traveling go, because it would be too hard to enforce, too hard for USA players to adjust that you'd have 50 violations a game and all hell would break loose. FIBA decided to let the illegal wrestling go as it conveniently slows the USA down without the need for 50 whistles killing the game.
mojo13 wrote:If the USA played other top counties using NBA rules the average margin of victory would be above 40 points.
mojo13 wrote:The FIBA rules are specifically geared to attempt to contain the USA's endless supply superior athletes.
sorokii wrote:mojo13 wrote:If the USA played other top counties using NBA rules the average margin of victory would be above 40 points.
If, if, if, but they dont. They play international rules of basketball, which is FIBAmojo13 wrote:The FIBA rules are specifically geared to attempt to contain the USA's endless supply superior athletes.
No. FIBA rules dont exist as any reponse for anything. FIBA rules exist because they are used worlwide. Only in USA we find different rules applied to favour speed and show.
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