BallinEurope’s Official Fearless Predictions™: 2012 Olympic Basketball Group B

July 29, 2012

And now, round two. Or maybe that should be “round B.” With BallinEurope having (sort of) Fearlessly Predicted the entries for the 2012 Olympic basketball knockout stage from Group A, it’s onto the Official Fearless Predictions™ for Group B – and we’ll do this one from the bottom up.

BallinEurope's upset specialists: Team Britain...

6. China (0-5)
5. Australia (1-4)
4. Britain (2-3)

Damn right BiE’s going there, taking Team Britain to advance for purely selfish reasons: BiE wants the European sweep. BiE supports the fledgling program they’re trying to maintain on the Isle where basketball is a low (*low*) priority in sports fans’ hearts. BiE loves the proverbial pluckiness, the dogged daring, Luol Deng and Pops Mensah-Bonsu. And because BiE wants the highlight YouTube clip potential of a USA-Britain Olympic tournament game.

Besides, who’s to say Team Britain can’t ride the home-court advantage against a couple of mid-range FIBA squads after a serious test run of Brazil/Russia/Spain?

Britain, 2-3 in 2012 Olympic basketball pool play: You read it here first.

Meanwhile, at the top, an otherwise perhaps tightly contested group may be skewed thanks to Team Spain’s appallingly easy opening run of China/Australia/Great Britain. We still have yet to see the complete Team Spain that international basketball devotees have been expecting, with injuries limiting the guards earlier this summer, Marc Gasol and Sergio Rodriguez taking DNPs lately and Juan Carlos Navarro getting fewer minutes than typical even when active.

...and Team Russia

So which Spain will we get, come the tournament? Los Rojos have certainly been gifted with enough time to ready themselves in pool play, but might yet be susceptible to a rolling Russia and/or Brazil.

In fact, BiE’s going out on a limb here vis-à-vis game four: BiE likes Team Russia to oust Spain in that one. Pau Gasol’s missed last-second shot or no, the Reds displayed a blueprint to beating the Spaniards back in Eurobasket 2007. While five years is an eon in international basketball and Team Russia returns just three players from that championship squad (Andrei Kirilenko, Sergei Monya, Anton Ponkrashov), Team Spain has remained remarkably the same with half the roster returning, including key players Rodriguez, Navarro, the Gasols, Rudy Fernández and Felipe Reyes.

Plus David Blatt’s still the mind behind Russia. And while BallinEurope has noted that the coaching styles of Sergio Scariolo and Aito Garcia Reneses, coach of the silver medal-winning 2008 Team Spain, differ, Scariolo’s game plan is not entirely dissimilar from that of 2007’s Pepu Hernandez.

Does Blatt still have the keys? Can he outcoach Scariolo? Will Russia have enough after a potentially seriously grueling game three against Brazil? BiE says “Sure. Why not?” Combined with a woken-up Spain topping the Brazilians to close out pool play, BiE gets a final table top of the following.

3. Brazil, 3-2
2. Spain, 4-1
1. Russia, 5-0.

And millions of Team Spain backers, knowing BiE’s track record in these things, just cheered…

Jul 29, 2012ballineurope

This post was published on July 29, 2012

Comments: 46

Jack
12 years ago
Olympics are becoming a joke for basketball. The USA is almost the only country in the world that is even airing the basketball games on TV.

It’s astonishing how insane NBA American fans are with how they really believe the “whole world watches Olympic basketball” and it is “the most prestigious event”.

At the point Olympics basketball is about 1/10 as relevant as the World Basket Cup is to every country in the world other than the USA.

That thing 2 years ago was on TV all over the world and this Olympics basketball is hardly being aired anywhere outside USA.

No wonder Stern and Cuban want to abandon the Olympics basketball. No one except stupid racist xenophobic Americans gives a damn about it.

How can they, the games don’t even get shown on freaking TV.
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- Gabe
  12 years ago
  Sounds like someone upset they’re not able to watch the game. It was hard to find in the US too. Not on network NBC but NBC sports channel.
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  - Phileus
    12 years ago
    It’s actually streaming online at nbcolympics.com (if you have cable and are in the US like we are) but without announcers, which is awesome 🙂 It’s at least better than that ESPN3 nonsense, which is impossible to get with any of the major internet providers in my area.
    
    But this streaming thing is great. I spent countless hours watching table tennis yesterday. Awwwww yeah.
    Reply Cancel
Vincent
12 years ago
I watch the games on Comcast that has the Olympic basketball channel. Funny, I was trying to explain to my sister and a couple of my friends that the Olympic basketball tourney is most important maybe only here in the USA and a few other countries at most, and that the World Championships were the big deal. They only grasped it when i mentioned the comparison to the World Cup in soccer.

So before you go on bashing us Americans, some of us actually realize the scoop.
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mike
12 years ago
Well, if it is really true that other countries other than the US consider Olympic basketball less prestigious than the Worlds, then how come so many top foreign players opted not to play in 2010? Most of those top players are playing in the Olympics now, though.

The fact is the Worlds is not prestigious, and this is one of the reasons that the NBA and FIBA is conspiring to make it more relevant, and put more money in their pockets as well. Lately, there have been US team members like Kobe and Chris Paul who have opposed the under 23 concept for the Olympics, and a fight seems to be on the horizon within the NBA over this. The US NBAers are committed to playing in the Olympics, but it seems Stern and FIBA have already made a decision they won’t publicly admit at this time.
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Vincent
12 years ago
hmmm decent point. most of the top players do play in the NBA now so maybe American and NBA owner opinion is rubbing off on them
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James
12 years ago
Australia 1-4? We have a quality roster full of guys from the biggest clubs in world basketball.

David Andersen – Mens Sana Basket (Italian Champions)
Matt Nielsen – BC Khimki (Eurocup Champions/Russian league runners up)
Joe Ingles – Barcelona (Spanish Champions/Euroleague final four)
Aleks Maric – Panathinaikos (Greek league runners up/Euroleague final four)
Pat Mills – San Antonio Spurs (NBA Western Conference runners up)
Brad Newley – Valencia (Spanish semi finalists/Eurocup runners up)

Then you have guys like Aron Baynes (Greek rebounding leader) and David Barlow who play for weaker clubs but in strong leagues, Greek and Spanish respectively. The last four spots on our roster are with Matthew Dellavedova from St Marys College of California and Peter Crawford, Mark Worthington and Adam Gibson who are all from our local competition the NBL and all three play for teams that have made the playoffs the last couple of years.

This team can play ball. Of course I’m not expecting them to top the group, I actually see them only finishing 4th or 3rd and if 4th I believe they will beat the USA. I’ll even be putting my money where my mouth is and be betting on it. It is a long shot but they are capable and $100 can go a long way with the odds they are giving.
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- Gabe
  12 years ago
  “Full of guys from the biggest clubs in world basketball”. Only Mills plays in the NBA and he averaged under 4 points in the playoffs.
  Reply Cancel
Miguel
12 years ago
The ONLY countries in the world that consider Olympic basketball more important than the FIBA World Cup are USA and Lithuania,

Because of the old cold war propaganda between USA and USSR (it was basically a Lithuanian developed team).

They still live 30 years in the past and cling to this cold war propaganda bull shit.

EVERY other country considers FIBA World Cup to be much more important.

And yeah, in Europe it’s almost impossible to get any of the basketball games on TV. The FIBA World Cup 2 years ago had extensive TV coverage in Europe.

So it is very obvious why Stern and Cuban are pushing so hard to drop the Olympics. It’s dropped way behind the FIBA World Cup in terms of popularity for international basketball.

Actually, the interesting thing is that both the 2010 FIBA World Cup and the 2011 EuroBasket generated more revenue than 2008 Olympics basketball did.

FIBA is absolutely kicking the NBA’s and Olympics basketball ass in revenues and popularity lately. So of course that is why all of a sudden Stern and Cuban acknowledge the FIBA World Cup is the biggest tournament – MONEY.

Where before that the whole rest of the world had to listen to this propaganda from the cold war BS from the USDA that “no one gives a shit about the world cup”.

Sorry for my rant, but it REALLY pisses me off that most Americans have been making fun of the World Cup for years (including on this site) and saying it is a “minor competition that no one cares about”………….even though it is much more important in truth.

But then, when all of a sudden it starts totally destroying the Olympics basketball in revenues, INSTANTLY the NBA and Americans (including here) start saying they need to make it #1.

It makes me sick how the USA bases EVERYTHING on money and EVERY single aspect of life on money.

SICKENING and disgusting.
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Miguel
12 years ago
“Full of guys from the biggest clubs in world basketball”. Only Mills plays in the NBA and he averaged under 4 points in the playoffs.

Panathinaikos and Barca are much better than most NBA teams genius. Siena was too, at least through last season.

Most NBA teams are much worse than those 3 teams from last season.
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Vincent
12 years ago
I love FIBA amd NBA ball. but if you think Pana and Barca are bigger in hoops than any NBA team than it’s just not true.

If you add in the soccer side of the equation than yes, Barca are bigger than most NBA teams.

But the FIBA worlds have been bigger than the Olympic tourney for years. We here in the USA get so much Olympic coverage and propaganda it’s sickening at times. Would there even be an Olympics as a whole grand scale if NBC didn’t pay their billions to shove it down our throats day and night?
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Phileus
12 years ago
To make one quick point, the WC only *started* to become relevant in the US when the US lost in 2002. Look at its 2010 team. Sure, the US won, but most of the 2008 squad skipped the tourney for reasons that they wouldn’t have given if it were the Olympics instead. It just wasn’t as important for them.

You’re right, the reasons for this are rooted in history more than anything, but it will take a few more iterations of the tournaments to get American fans to really pay attention to the WC. But fact is fact. If the historically strongest basketball country in the world ignores the tournament, or treats it like a second-tier tournament, then the reality is that it’s not the premier tournament. Stern will probably get his way in the end, but it would take dramatic action like that to make Americans pay more attention to the WC than to the Olympics.

Be honest with us: you’re just upset that Greece didn’t make the Olympics. Before Greece was eliminated, you were outraged by Stern’s intention to emphasize the WC, and now you suddenly are saying that the Olympics are a joke. Hahaha. Okay, that’s fair enough. I’d be just as frustrated if USA lost – so be upset, and hope for a better tourney in 2014. Don’t be all sour grapes, though, just because your team didn’t qualify. If you really didn’t care about the Olympics, then you wouldn’t have cared at all about Greece getting eliminated in the OQT. You weren’t talking about how much of a joke the Olympics were then.
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mike
12 years ago
I completely agree with Phileus. Fact is the FIBA Worlds was and is INTENDED to be the biggest in the world, but I just don’t think it is. Just look how the players treat it. In 2010, the US B team got away winning because so many countries didn’t have their premiere players participating. Just from my memory, and please correct me if I’m wrong, Saras, Kirilenko, Pau, Parker, the 2008 US squad, and I’m sure there were others who didn’t play.Look at the Olympics and compare.

I don’t have time to do the research now, but I think if you compare revenues, the Olympics would trump the Worlds on a global scale. The NBA doesn’t make money from the Olympics directly except through endorsements and publicity so Stern sees this new World Cup as the new way in which to expand the NBA globally. This is their new “NBA Europe”. They will promote this World Cup and partially own and control this with FIBA as a partner.

Guys, read Adrian Wojnarowski’s articles on Yahoo sports and Chris Sheridan(SheridanHoops.com) of ESPN on this. They has done some research on this because this new World Cup thing with the 23 under Olympics is being opposed already by the player’s union in the NBA. Players see this as the NBA wanting to control everything, including all revenues. Many credible sports writers have said that this is a done deal with FIBA, but they won’t admit it at this time, at least until the Olympics end. Unless the American superstar all unite against this, the owners will get their way.

Basketball globally is about to change,guys, and the NBA and FIBA are directly conspiring on these changes. Colangelo was quoted as saying, “change is in the air”. This will be the last Olympics with these super teams from the US or even the Spanish, Russian,Argentinian, Brazilian powerhouses. The next one will be 23 and under.

Make way for the World Cup.
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- Gabe
  12 years ago
  From what I’ve heard the changes won’t take place until 2020 so Rio will still have the best of the best. I also don’t know how you can judge how the world championship and Eurobasket bring in more revenue than the Olympics? When thing I’ve heard is that in London basketball is the most popular sport and the Olympics is a much bigger even than the WC or Eurobasket. One thing that sucks is the Olympics don’t allow highlights of the games!
  
  And now when ever I hear that delusional argument that “Panathinaikos and Barca are much better than most NBA teams genius” i just have to respond with one word: Nigeria! lol (for those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, Nigeria’s national team which is made up of one NBA bench player and a bunch of NBA rejects, eliminated Greece’s national team which was made up of players from the Euroleague champion, from the Olympics!
  Reply Cancel
John
12 years ago
“Vincent says:
July 31, 2012 at 3.18am

I love FIBA amd NBA ball. but if you think Pana and Barca are bigger in hoops than any NBA team than it’s just not true.

If you add in the soccer side of the equation than yes, Barca are bigger than most NBA teams..”

I don’t know what you mean by “bigger”, but I know for damn sure that they are far better than the average NBA team in terms of the level of their players.
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John
12 years ago
Phileus says:
July 31, 2012 at 5.33am

“To make one quick point, the WC only *started* to become relevant in the US when the US lost in 2002. Look at its 2010 team. Sure, the US won, but most of the 2008 squad skipped the tourney for reasons that they wouldn’t have given if it were the Olympics instead. It just wasn’t as important for them.

You’re right, the reasons for this are rooted in history more than anything, but it will take a few more iterations of the tournaments to get American fans to really pay attention to the WC. But fact is fact. If the historically strongest basketball country in the world ignores the tournament, or treats it like a second-tier tournament, then the reality is that it’s not the premier tournament. Stern will probably get his way in the end, but it would take dramatic action like that to make Americans pay more attention to the WC than to the Olympics.”

REPLY >

You sound like an arrogant and ignorant douche bag.
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John
12 years ago
Reply
mike says:
July 31, 2012 at 6.46am

I completely agree with Phileus. Fact is the FIBA Worlds was and is INTENDED to be the biggest in the world, but I just don’t think it is. Just look how the players treat it. In 2010, the US B team got away winning because so many countries didn’t have their premiere players participating. Just from my memory, and please correct me if I’m wrong, Saras, Kirilenko, Pau, Parker, the 2008 US squad, and I’m sure there were others who didn’t play.Look at the Olympics and compare.

I don’t have time to do the research now, but I think if you compare revenues, the Olympics would trump the Worlds on a global scale. The NBA doesn’t make money from the Olympics directly except through endorsements and publicity so Stern sees this new World Cup as the new way in which to expand the NBA globally. This is their new “NBA Europe”. They will promote this World Cup and partially own and control this with FIBA as a partner.

Guys, read Adrian Wojnarowski’s articles on Yahoo sports and Chris Sheridan(SheridanHoops.com) of ESPN on this. They has done some research on this because this new World Cup thing with the 23 under Olympics is being opposed already by the player’s union in the NBA. Players see this as the NBA wanting to control everything, including all revenues. Many credible sports writers have said that this is a done deal with FIBA, but they won’t admit it at this time, at least until the Olympics end. Unless the American superstar all unite against this, the owners will get their way.

Basketball globally is about to change,guys, and the NBA and FIBA are directly conspiring on these changes. Colangelo was quoted as saying, “change is in the air”. This will be the last Olympics with these super teams from the US or even the Spanish, Russian,Argentinian, Brazilian powerhouses. The next one will be 23 and under.

Make way for the World Cup.

REPLY

You people are freaking morons.
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John
12 years ago
Gabe says:
July 31, 2012 at 9.10am

From what I’ve heard the changes won’t take place until 2020 so Rio will still have the best of the best. I also don’t know how you can judge how the world championship and Eurobasket bring in more revenue than the Olympics? When thing I’ve heard is that in London basketball is the most popular sport and the Olympics is a much bigger even than the WC or Eurobasket. One thing that sucks is the Olympics don’t allow highlights of the games!

And now when ever I hear that delusional argument that “Panathinaikos and Barca are much better than most NBA teams genius” i just have to respond with one word: Nigeria! lol (for those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, Nigeria’s national team which is made up of one NBA bench player and a bunch of NBA rejects, eliminated Greece’s national team which was made up of players from the Euroleague champion, from the Olympics!

REPLY

2010 Basketball World Cup had over 1 billion TV viewers. According to FIBA it made about 8 times more revenues than the 2008 Summer Olympics basketball did.
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John
12 years ago
And now when ever I hear that delusional argument that “Panathinaikos and Barca are much better than most NBA teams genius” i just have to respond with one word: Nigeria! lol (for those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, Nigeria’s national team which is made up of one NBA bench player and a bunch of NBA rejects, eliminated Greece’s national team which was made up of players from the Euroleague champion, from the Olympics!

reply

You are a motherfucking POS. Go fucking burn in hell where you belong.
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- Gabe
  12 years ago
  Hahaha Team Greece with the best players from the Euroleague champions got their asses kicked by Team Nigeria, a team with one NBA role players and a bunch of NBA rejects! hahahahahahaha
  Reply Cancel
mike
12 years ago
LOL! John, you bored again making snacks for billy? Hey toy boy, setup a re-match first with the Nigerians vs your Olympiacos before comparing yourself with the NBA. Talk about delusions of grandeur.
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Erik
12 years ago
Nigeria’s national team which is made up of one NBA bench player and a bunch of NBA rejects, eliminated Greece’s national team which was made up of players from the Euroleague champion, from the Olympics!

———————————————————————————————————

You are a fucking god damn lying son of a bitch.

First of all, Greece’s team was not the roster of Olympiacos.

Second, Nigeria’s team is not one NBA player and a bunch of rejects.

STOP FUCKING LYING YOU GOD DAMN STUPID BASTARD
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- Gabe
  12 years ago
  Let’s see….Greece’s Team:
  
  Spanoulis: Euroleague Final Four MVP
  Papanikolaou: Leading scorer in the Euroleague final
  Printezis: Player who hit game winning shot in Euroleague final
  Mantzaris: Olympiacos starter
  
  So Greece’s team has the 4 best players from Olympiacos.
  
  Nigeria’s team:
  
  Al-Faroug Aminu- averaged 6 pts with the Hornets last year
  Diogu-Released by the Spurs this year, averaged 6 pts in his NBA career
  Dagunduro- born, raised and played college ball in the US but never drafted by NBA team
  Oguchi-born, raised and played college ball in the US but never drafted by NBA team
  Skinn-raised and played college ball in the US but never drafted by NBA team although played in the NBA summer league in 2007
  Obasohon- born, raised and played college ball in the US but never drafted by NBA team
  Alade Aminu-born, raised and played college ball in the US but never drafted by NBA team although played in the D-league
  
  Those are Nigeria’s 7 main players (I’m not going to bother looking by their bench players but I am sure it is the same). Players who are from the US or at least played high school and college ball in US but couldn’t make the NBA (except Al-Faroug Aminu) beat a team who had the 4 top players from the Euroleague champion!
  
  So am I a lair or are you just bitter Erik? Nigeria hahahahahahahah
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mike
12 years ago
Hey Eric, have you stopped beating your wife yet?

No amount of shouting through those keyboards will change the fact that Team Greece is home watching Olympic basketball. Imagine that, after traveling halfway around the world to play “inferior” teams, Team Greece, with a nucleus of Euroleague Champion Olympiacos, lost to Nigeria.

That fact must be the loudest “shout” of all.
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mike
12 years ago
John, we will have to give you a little credit here. I checked it out and FIBA did in fact CLAIM a worldwide viewership of 1 billion for the worlds in 2010. Let’s examine this closer.

Part of the Google search also yielded an article from the Wall Street Journal on the claim by the Olympic people that the US-China game in 2008 also produced 1 billion viewership. According to the WSJ, there is really no such thing as worldwide tv ratings simply because many 3rd world countries tv ratings are totally unreliable. As such, claims of worldwide audience is usually hyperbole, and meant to gain more advertising revenue. The best gauge really of how successful or important a tournament is gauged by sponsorships and advertising revenue.

This is where the Olympics completely trumps FIBA worlds, and the players know it too. The one reliable indicator for the FIBA worlds is that 30 million people logged onto their website, As usual, almost no one in the US(about a million people) watched Darantula and the US B team trash all those scary European countries one after another.
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Sergio
12 years ago
After seeing Nigeria barely beat Tunisia (and struggle like hell to do so), then get destroyed by one of the worst Lithuanian teams in years (same Lithuanian team Nigeria best in QT thanks to crooked refs)……………….

It is an outright travesty of justice what those FIBA refs did in robbing Greece and gifting a victory to Nigeria.

We deserve better than this shit. Nigeria being gifted the Olympics by corrupt refs is ridiculous.

They are a joke team, and seriously, I doubt if they could win one game out of 50 against Greece with fair refs.

We deserve to see better teams than such crap like Nigeria at the Olympics.

Oh and message to that stupid fuck Gabe that keeps saying Nigeria is better than the best Euroleague team and whatever else bull shit —>

You are the dumbest motherfucker alive.
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Sergio
12 years ago
Gabe says:
July 31, 2012 at 3.20pm

Let’s see….Greece’s Team:

Spanoulis: Euroleague Final Four MVP
Papanikolaou: Leading scorer in the Euroleague final
Printezis: Player who hit game winning shot in Euroleague final
Mantzaris: Olympiacos starter

So Greece’s team has the 4 best players from Olympiacos.

reply

who the fuck is this god damn stupid son of a bitch?
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Sergio
12 years ago
layers who are from the US or at least played high school and college ball in US but couldn’t make the NBA (except Al-Faroug Aminu) beat a team who had the 4 top players from the Euroleague champion!

reply

God damn you are a worthless dick.
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Phileus
12 years ago
From the About BiE section of the site:

“Because we value our readers’ thoughtful opinions, we encourage comment from all on any discussion point. Please do not be offended if comments are edited for clarity or questionable content. BallinEurope.com reserves the right to delete any and all material considered potentially offensive and/or off-topic comments.”

Just saying 😉
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John
12 years ago
This guy is psychotic and actually pretty funny with his multiple name rants. I read this to have a nice laugh every now and than and to assure myself that there are indeed non rational beings in this world.
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- Phileus
  12 years ago
  It assures you? Isn’t it scary that he might actually not just be a very skillful troll, but might really be, quite literally, insane? 😛
  
  BiE could be an even better site if (1) the comments threads were closed, or (2) the comments threads were moderated.
  Reply Cancel
  - Phileus
    12 years ago
    Oops, I realized I just replied to one of the troll accounts. Or did I? It’s getting hard to keep track of all the schizophrenia 😛
    Reply Cancel
Erik
12 years ago
Phileus says:
July 31, 2012 at 7.17pm

From the About BiE section of the site:

“Because we value our readers’ thoughtful opinions, we encourage comment from all on any discussion point. Please do not be offended if comments are edited for clarity or questionable content. BallinEurope.com reserves the right to delete any and all material considered potentially offensive and/or off-topic comments.”

Just saying 😉

__>

Gabe’s comments in this site are 1 million times more offensive than anything anyone else has ever said here. Gabe is a deranged lunatic and people are just treating him like he needs to be treated.

If you don’t like it, then you never should have started defending that psycho. People like you defending his insanity and his unbelievably racist, insulting, xenophobic, hate-filled, lies and bashing is what caused this site to end up like it did.

Any time someone tried to call Gabe out on his absurd and outlandish trash talking, lying, and vitriol, punks like you would be there to defend him and call the other people complaining about him “nuts” and “liars” and “delusional” and whatever.

You sow what you reap punk.

Just saying………………………
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- Phileus
  12 years ago
  “You sow what you reap punk.”
  
  It doesn’t make any sense to sow what has already been reaped.
  
  Just saying 😉
  Reply Cancel
Gabe
12 years ago
Wow. If Greece was so good they would just be able to blow Nigeria out and take it out of the refs’ hands. Maybe if they put a body on the Aminu brothers or played some defense on Dagunduro we wouldn’t be having this conversation. But the facts are that they didn’t and were down by 1 point with 2.6 seconds left and had to rely on the refs on making the call.

And worse Lithuanian team in years? They only won bronze in the last WC and were 5th in the last Eurobasket, beating Greece.

And “unbelievably racist, insulting, xenophobic, hate-filled, lies”? hahahaha Wow racist? Are you just so desperate you’ll call me any names. Might as well call me homophobic and anti-semitic as well. It would make as much sense.
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John T
12 years ago
No Phileus that was not a troll, my bad i had not seen that he was even impersonating me…lol
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Paul
12 years ago
August 1, 2012 at 3.27am

Wow. If Greece was so good they would just be able to blow Nigeria out and take it out of the refs’ hands. Maybe if they put a body on the Aminu brothers or played some defense on Dagunduro we wouldn’t be having this conversation. But the facts are that they didn’t and were down by 1 point with 2.6 seconds left and had to rely on the refs on making the call.

And worse Lithuanian team in years? They only won bronze in the last WC and were 5th in the last Eurobasket, beating Greece.

And “unbelievably racist, insulting, xenophobic, hate-filled, lies”? hahahaha Wow racist? Are you just so desperate you’ll call me any names. Might as well call me homophobic and anti-semitic as well. It would make as much sense.

Once again, this asshole with an incredibly out of line and insulting post.

Phileus, if you don’t want to be taken as a scum yourself, you need to stop defending this Gabe jerk.

I’m American and an NBA fan, and the stuff this Gabe says is absolutely outlandish and crazy.
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Oz
12 years ago
3 European teams won on the same day. If Europeans were as crazy and retarded as the Americans here – they would cthings like, “this proves that European basketball has reached above any other, and that Euroleague is the best”.

Of course, no Europeans say anything like that, because they are nuts and retarded like the Americans here are.

PS – Nigeria has looked like absolute CRAP so far playing with 50-50 refs. Hilarious.

Even more pathetic is after they lost to Lithuania, playing with 50-50 refs, Nigeria’s coach threw a big fit and told the media the refs were against his team and wanted Lithuania to win.

Yeah, not one complaint here from the American ASSHOLES about this.

For weeks the same American ASSHOLES have bitched about anyone that pointed out Greece got two horrible calls against them in the last 3 seconds of their game against Nigeria and caused them to lose……….

Endless bitching from the American fascists here about how dare anyone point that out and Greece needed to shut the fuck up.

Well, Nigeria gets reffed 50-50 (instead of being helped) and their coach tells the media his team lost because the refs wanted Lithuania to win.

And NOT A SINGLE FUCKING WORD from the American scumbags here about it.

On more thing, it’s a disgrace watching crap like Great Britain, Nigeria, China, and Tunisia at the “premiere and most prestigious basketball tournament”.

What a freaking joke. The level of the Olympics is just pathetic. Anyone that says this crap is as good or better than FIBA World Cup or EuroBasket needs to have a lobotomy.

I REALLY hope they do can Olympic basketball, because it REALLY sucks.
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- Gabe
  12 years ago
  Was the Nigeria’s coach’s big fit as pathetic as the Greek coach’s big fit when his team lost to Nigeria? Listen I hate it when coaches complain about calls to explain their lose. Man up! But when Zouros, the coach of the #4 team in the world spends the whole press conference blaming the refs for his team’s lost you can’t really blame the coach of the #21 team in the world for hearing Zouros’ crying and believing that complaining is a acceptable response for basketball at this level.
  
  And saying that Eurobasket is better than the Olympics is just laughable. The same Eurobasket where FYR of Macedonia made the semi-finals? The same FYR of Macedonia which couldn’t make the semi-finals of the Olympic QUALIFYING tournament?! Great Britain is in the tournament because they are the hosts, China because we need one Asian representative and Nigeria and Tunisia? Well Nigeria is here because they advanced out of a tournament which the #4 and #6 team in Eurobasket couldn’t and Tunisia won gold in a tournament when Nigeria only won bronze.
  
  And you really think that having patsies like Bulgaria, Israel, and Georgia is so much stronger than China, Tunisia and Nigeria? Great Britain placed 13 in Eurobasket last year, in this Olympics they will be 11th or 12th. So the pasties in both competitions are pretty similar. The difference is the Olympics have the American teams, USA, Argentina and Brazil, any one of which can medal, not to mention that the USA is overwhelming favorites to win gold and you can see why the Olympics are such a premiere tournament.
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mike
12 years ago
Oz, admit it, Greece just isn’t that good. They could have played better defense or rebounded better to prevent Nigeria from being even in the ball game so late. That’s what happens when you leave it in the hands of notoriously unreliable FIBA refs. Yes, they are known for their inconsistency, and Tim Duncan knows this, but the question is why not look within, and start blaming a weak basketball program in Greece. A program that hasn’t won a thing since 2006.

Face it, Greece is in decline when it comes to basketball. Okay?
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Oz
12 years ago
…….

Greece got two blown calls called against them in the last 3 seconds of the game that cost them the Olympics.

Nigeria got blown out by 19 points in a game that was reffed 50-50.

You are clearly a very mentally deranged person.

And why the fuck are you talking to me like I’m Greek? I’m an American you stupid dickheads.
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Aussie NBA Fan
12 years ago
Message to: Americans mike, Gabe, and Phileus

From Australia:

Greece didn’t get just one bad call. They 4-5 HORRIBLE calls called against them in the last 2-3 minutes of the game. 2 in the last 3 seconds. Why were they down 1 with 3 seconds to go?

Because Dagunduro did a clear offensive foul and instead of the refs calling him for it, they sent him to the free throw line. Otherwise, Greece should have been leading by 3 points with 3 seconds left.

You sound like petulant little spoiled brats the way you keep trash talking and ridiculing people over that Greece vs. Nigeria game. I am Australian and I was watching that game online and I was absolutely stunned at how the refs stole that game for the Nigerian team.

It was one of the most clearly rigged games I’ve seen in my life. It was like watching the 2002 NBA WCFs of Lakers against Kings all over again. I really think you need to shut up and quit bashing people that complain about that game.

Because the refs rigged it without question. Hell, there was an 8 second violation by Nigeria at the end of the game and the refs didn’t even call it. Nigeria got the ball over the line one on possession towards the very end of the game at the 12 second mark. 12 seconds on the shot clock and the refs didn’t even call the 8 second violation. This cannot happen unless there is a purposely done game rigging by the refs.

I really wonder what the hell is wrong with people like you three. You come here telling everyone that you are basketball fans, yet you are absolutely giddy, tickled, thrilled, and happy when one of the elite teams of world basketball gets blatantly stolen of the Olympics by the refs.

So instead we get to see one more scrub team like Nigeria competing. Between the hosts GB, China, Tunisia, and Nigeria we have 4 awful scrub teams to watch. Then we have my Aussie team, which isn’t a scrub team, but still is definitely below the European teams like Greece in quality.

I am sorry but I agree with the Euros here about you two. You are definitely NOT basketball fans. You are trolls. Because you obviously do NOT care about basketball at all. You are just coming here to attack and criticize Europeans on a daily basis.

I don’t know what your malfunction is, but you definitely act like ugly Americans on a daily basis here. Any REAL and actual basketball fan would be furious that FIBA refs are intentionally knocking good teams out of the Olympics and making the already extremely watered down tournament even weaker. To the point even of being practically unwatchable in the early stage.

USA versus Nigeria, Lithuania versus Nigeria, GREAT! What wonderful games to watch such a terrible team like Nigeria. Can’t imagine why any Euro nuts as you call them would have rather seen Greece instead.

Since naturally anyone thinking that is both Euro and nuts according to freaks like you. Also I really find it hypocritical that yanks are saying no one should complain about the refs to the Greeks that visit here.

Yanks are STILL complaining about the 1972 Olympic final, and that was a case where the refs didn’t actually help the Soviets, according to EVERYONE from outside the USA. Yanks are STILL bitching about that game and claiming the refs stole it from them, even though after numerous independent reviews FIBA has always claimed the refs did nothing to help the Soviets, and in fact actually helped the US.

Compare that to this Greece – Nigeria game that you bloody ugly Americans keep telling Greeks to shut up about it. FIBA reviewed the game and almost immediately sent a letter of apology to Greece’s federation and admitted the refs blew the game with bad calls at the end.

So, for a couple weeks some Greeks were naturally and understandably upset over the refs taking away their Olympics place, and you are here cussing them, telling them off, calling them crazy, making fun of them, etc. But you Americans are still going on about a game that happened 40 years ago and where no one from outside the USA has ever believed the refs actually blew the game.

Your own precious Coach K bitched about the 1972 Olympic final to the media just 2 years ago, and here you are openly trashing the Greek coach in this website for being mad that the refs screwed his team over.

You know what you are? I will tell you what you are. You are,

HYPOCRITES

HUGE HYPOCRITES

SICKENINGLY HUGE HYPOCRITES

Here we are even today with you calling Euro people nuts and telling them off over this and having the guts to call them trolls. I just want to vomit every time I have to read this idiocy from you fools. PLEASE just stop it.

You are either 10 years old, racist (as some others say), or you are psychos. I don’t know which, but just stop it. I assure you that many people coming to read this site are incredibly sick of you. You are low-life trash and you are destroying the good will of international basketball and making basketball fans from all over the world hate every yank and every NBA fan.

You really are three trashy individuals. I am so sick of reading your filth in this site that I am now actually hoping Team USA loses. I normally root for them, but now I think it would only be justice for them to lose, because it is clear that there is something very wrong with a lot of the NBA fans from the USA.

I could not even use the word arrogant or ignorant, because you three are about 1000 times beyond that. Your trashy comments in this site have made enough bad karma against Team USA to last for a decade.
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Phileus
12 years ago
:O

This thread has turned into Apollo’s mad masterpiece, his magnum opus of trolling. He really went all-out: he made all-new accounts impersonating people from all different parts of the world, all using the same kind of vitriolic language, all obviously the work of the same crazed mind, and presented it to us all at face value.

I don’t think it will be possible for you to top your performance in this thread. All the built up frustration from being banned in all the other forums, all came spilling out uncontrollably onto this webpage. You must be tired from that brilliant effort. Rest easy, big fella. The internet will not soon forget the genius witnessed here today 😉
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FIBA
12 years ago
BTW, Gabe is NOT an American. I work at the FIBA website watching the comments sections. Gabe is from Turkey and pretends to be an American.

His little friends Mike and Phileus might want to know that, while they are being so easily manipulated by him.
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Pissed Off NBA Fan
12 years ago
If was FIBA I would fire every ref that worked that qualification tournament.

Them rigging the tournament so Nigeria made it was the single worst decision in the history of FIBA.

Watching USA versus Nigeria and their roster full of guys that are somewhere in the 2000-3000 best player in Europe range was the most pathetic thing I have ever seen in sports in my entire life.

USA average margin of victory against Greece = 7 points

USA beat Nigeria by 83.

Seriously, at this point in time, FIBA and its corrupt bull shit has become the biggest disgrace in the whole world of sports.

We don’t fucking want to see shit teams like Nigeria in the Olympics. STOP RIGGING IT SO THEY MAKE IT IN.

BURN IN HELL FIBA.

I can’t even watch this crap the Olympics basketball competition is so fucking awful. This shit is rigoddamndiculous.
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Goran
12 years ago
This summer:

Greece 82 – Lithuania 70

USA 99 – Lithuania 94

Greece > USA

PERIOD.
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