2012 London Olympics 1st round Recap + Schedule.

The pool play is now over, 8 teams have advance to the quarterfinals and four have been eliminated.  The quarterfinals start on Wednesday and here are the recaps from each team during the first round and the schedule. 


Russia (B1)  -  Lithuania (A4)      2:00 PM London time,  9:00 am EST.

Russia finished with a 4-1 record in pool play, they defeated Great Britain and China easily.  Russia also came away with a one point win over Brazil due to a miracle three pointer by Vitaliy Fridzon and a game that stunned half the world, the Russians beat Spain 77-74 after they felt behind 20-2 in the first quarter.  Their only loss was to Australia in their final day of pool play, and the Aussies needed  a Patty Mills buzzer beating three to get the W. If Shaq was here, he would've typed "One lucky shot deserves another"

Lithuania finished with a disappointing 2-3 record,  didn't played well during pool play and they still managed to come as close as anyone to beat team USA.   Lithuania beat Tunisia and Nigeria (Honestly, who didn't?!) and lost to Team USA, France & Argentina.  All of the teams that beat Lithuania are better than them, but they were disappointing in their lack of effort, they got blown out in the first day against Argentina, struggle to beat Tunisia in a must win game, but there's hope for them, they almost beat team USA and not even Argentina did that in pool play.

France  (A2)  -    Spain  (B3) 4:15 PM London time,   11:15 am EST


France lost their first game in the Olympics to the United States and didn't looked any good after the first quarter of that game, however, they bounced back and won the remaining four games and finished with a 4-1 record.   Beating Tunisia and Nigeria was expected, even beating Lithuania wasn't a surprise, but beating Argentina was a huge plus for the team's confidence and frankly, not a lot of people expected it.


At the beginning of the tournament Spain was regarded as the challenger to team USA, how the might have fallen.  After beating China and Australia by double digits, Spain struggle vitally against a Great Britain team that isn't even close to Spain's level,  beating them just by a single point, then choked away a 20-2 lead against Russia to lose by three (77-74) and being accused of tanking their last game against Brazil to avoid facing The United States (if they beat their first quarterfinals opponent.) 

To Spain's defense, the Eurobasket 2011 most valuable player and longtime member of their squad, Juan Carlos Navarro, has been facing different injuries including plantar fasciitis and it's obviously not himself. Navarro is the most consistent player after the Gasol Brothers, he can knock down three pointers with ease and can create his own shot, unlike many of Spain's guards, he doesn't need someone else to create for him.


Argentina  (A3) -   Brazil (B2)  8:00 pm London time, 3:00 pm EST


Argentina ended up with a 3-2 record, they beat Lithuania by twenty three points in the opener, then lost to France (Which wasn't a huge surprise, but still most expected ARG to win that game) then took care of  Tunisia and Nigeria before going down again, this time to the United States.  Pablo Prigioni missed two of the five games due to having kidney stones.

Brazil struggled in the early part of the Olympics, but they still managed to beat their first two opponents even without playing their best.  They beat Australia by 4 points and Great Britain by 5, they lost to Russia by a point, then beat China by a million (Only by 39) and defeat Spain in the last game of the first round.  Coach Magnano sat Nene from their final game, but it was more of rest thing than an injury situation.

United States (A1)  -  Australia (B4)  10:15 pm London time, 5:15 pm EST

Australia went 3-2 after five games, they did better than expected.   They  started 0-2 after losing to Brazil and Spain, then they beat Nigeria and Tunisia (Again, who didn't!?) and then defeated Russia with a buzzer beating three, that last one was the only surprising result.

The United States finished  undefeated with a  5-0 record, they beat France by 27, Nigeria and Tunisia by more than 30, Lithuania played them tough and only beat them by 5, then they beat Argentina by 29. The 83 point win against Nigeria was a historic thing, most likely to never happen again.  Team USA was impressive, nothing new here, they haven't played perfect and will still get better (Scary, scary sight for the rest)

Photo Credit:  Garett W. Ellwood (Getty Images)

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Quick Recap: Olympics Day #2

Russia 73 - China 54

Russia had yet another strong defensive effort against  China, they allowed the Chinese to score just 54 points (Yi Jianlian had 30 against Spain)  in the game and didn't let them reach 20 points in any of the quarters.  Andrei Kirilenko, Alexey Shved, Sasha Kaun and Timofey Mozvov had 53 points between them while China had 54.  Yi Jianlian, China's best scorer, only had 16 points.

Spain 82 - Australia 70

Spain didn't started the game that well, they missed Juan Carlos Navarro's offense terribly in the game. Australia kept the game close for two quarters, but Rudy Fernandez exploded in the third quarter, he made three shots from downtown, he finished with 17 points and the Gasol brothers combined for 29 points.  Patty Mills shot 5-16 from the field and only scored 11 points.

Lithuania 72 - Nigeria 53

Lithuania took advantage of Nigeria's poor shooting right from the start. Nigeria made 1 out of 16 three pointers and shot a bad percentage from the line.  Lithuania was lead by Linas Kleiza 11 points and Darius Songaila 12, however, Jonas Valanciunas kept struggling for the second straight game. Ike Diogu had another double double for Nigeria with 12 points and 10 boards.

Brazil  67 - Great Britain 62


Tiago Splitter lead Brazil with 21 and 6, this game was much closer than what everyone was anticipating, the Brazilians scored just 4 points in the first quarter and shot horribly from the three point line, they made 3 out of 22 attempts.  Luol Deng had 12 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals.

France 71 - Argentina 64

This was the first time Spurs teammates, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, played against each other and they both had  very good games.  Ginobili scored 26 points to lead Argentina in scoring, but Tony Parker saved his best for last, despite shooting a horribly 4 for 17 from the field,  Parker had 11 out of his 17 points in the 4th quarter to beat Argentina. Luis Scola struggled against France's athleticism, he finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds.

USA 110 - Tunisia 63

The Americans weren't playing a smart game in the beginning of the game and it showed, Tunisia had the lead more that once in the first quarter, including a 15-13 lead.  Coach K had enough of his team coasting and once he brought the bench into the game, the game was over for Tunisia.  Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Love had 16 points and Kevin Durant had a double double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Makrem  Ben Romdhane had a good game with 22 and 12 for Tunisia.

Standings

Group A

United States                    2-0                              France                                1-1

Argentina                          1-1                              Lithuania                             1-1

Nigeria                             1-1                              Tunisia                                 0-2

Group B

Spain                              2-0                                China                                 0-2

Brazil                              2-0                                Australia                             0-2    

Russia                             2-0                                Great Britain                       0-2

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Olympics Day #2 Group B: Russia - China instant recap.

1st Quarter


Russia finished with a 20-12 lead after the game first 10 minutes, five of Russia's seven field goals were assisted (Alexey Shved got 3 assists)  Russia's defense was suffocating China.

Alexey Shved scored 5 points, 3 assists & Andrei Kirilenko had 4 points, 3 rebounds and a block.  Yi Jianlian tried to keep China afloat with 4 points and 4 boards.

2nd Quarter


7:56 - Shved dishes the ball to Ak-47 for a basket and a foul, this duo keeps looking for each other and doing so perfectly. Russia leads 23-15


5:57 - A Timofey Mozgov dunk gives Russia their biggest lead of the game, 30-18.  Russsia's cutting to the basket, running their offense for easy layups and open baskets, however, China is struggling to even get a clean look, Russia's defense is very good.


4:31 - Yi Jianlian  is 2 out of 6 from the field, not exploding offensively like he did against Spain, Russia has him in check.


2:10 -  This is a no contest, Russia has stolen the ball at least 3 times in a row against the Chinese, Russia's being doing alley oops, trying passes behind their backs, they couldn't be more relaxed.  Andrei Kirikenko has 13 points, 6-9 FG.

End of 2nd quarter -  Shved missed a three at the last second and Russia goes to the locker room with a 40-25 lead.  Kirilenko lead all scorers with 15.

Russia out rebounded China by 11 (28-17) and forced them to commit 9 turnovers, just one less than all the baskets they made in the first half  (10)



Impressive stat:  Kirilenko, Shved and Khryapa have scored 25 points, grabbed 15 boards and dished out 7 assists. China as a team has 25 points, 17 rebounds and 4 assists.



3rd Quarter


9:00 -  Sun Yue got a beautiful and took layup around AK-47. 


6:13 - Russia leads 49-30.  Last 2 Russia baskets have been a three by  Vitaly Fridzon and a pretty well executed give and go.


5:00 -  China started the quarter by making their first 2 baskets, for 5 quick points, but haven't scored in at least 3 minutes.


2:07 -  Sasha Kaun has scored 7 points in the quarter (Including last 2 baskets)  he's getting really good position and there's nothing China can do.  Kaun has 7 points, while China as a team have 9.

China got 5 quick points in the last minute of the quarter and cut the lead from 27 to 22. China finished with 15 points in the quarter, however, there were times i didn't even thought they were going to reach 10. 

End of 3rd quarter:   Russia 61, China 39.

4th Quarter

9:00 - Yi Anlian took his frustration out and put Timofey Mozgov on a poster.  China's down 21 (63-42)

2:30 - Russia has an 18 points lead (69-51) China has actually outscored Russia this quarter 12 to 8.

1:35 -  Shved dunked the ball and brings Russia up by 20 again. Biggest lead was 27

Final score:  Russia 73, China 54.  

China scored 12 points in the first quarter, 13, 14 & 15 in the other three. When was the last time something like that happened in a game? Really a bizarre stat line. 

Andrei Kirilenko ended up with 16 points & 9 boards, 14 and 6 for Shved,  13 and 6 for Kaun and 10 points for Mozgov,  Yi Jianlian had 16 points and 7 boards for China

China now falls to two losses and no wins, while Russia stays undefeated.

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London Olympics Preview

The 2012 London Olympics start on Sunday the 29th until August 12.  Twelve teams will be divided by two groups of 6 and only 4 of them will advance to the quarter finals.

Group A : USA, France, Argentina, Lithuania, Tunisia & Nigeria.
Group B:  Spain, Brazil, Australia, China, Great Britain, Russia.

*I predict the ones in bold to advance to the quarter final stage.

Here's some information about all participant teams.

Argentina

  
*Argentina obtained it's first and only gold medal in basketball during the 2004 Athens Olympics by defeating Italy 89-64.

Argentina hopes to get back to the elite level they were at during the 2004 Olympics, which they got the gold medal.  Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola, Carlos Delfino and Andres Nocioni are the only four members left from that squad, but they remain very effective.  Although they haven't confirm or deny it, many people think this is the last run for them, they are the best group of basketball players Argentina has ever seen, they are called  "The Golden Generation"


Roster

Centers
Juan Gutierrez
Martin Diario Leiva

Guards 
Emanuel Ginobili
Pablo Prigioni
Carlos Delfino
Facundo Campazzo

Forwards
Luis Scola
Andres Nocioni
Leonardo Gutierrez
Marcos Mata
Martin Diario Leiva
Federico Kammerichs
Pancho Jasen

Coach: Julio Lamas 

Gone from their last Olympic appearance:  Fabricio Oberto, Roman Gonzalez, Paolo Quinteros & Antonio Porta.

 *Fabricio Oberto played in the 2011 Fiba Americas Championships, but couldn't participate in the Olympics due to personal problems.

How they got here:  Argentina won the 2011 Fiba Americas played in Mar Del Plata, just in front of their own fans.  Argentina went 9-1 in the tourney, the clincher game was against Puerto Rico, Argentina won  81-79 and then moved on to face Brazil in the final game.  the Argentinians beat Brazil 80-75 &  Luis Scola was named most valuable player, he averaged 21 ppg and 6 rebounds per game.

*Argentina celebrating their 2011 Fiba Americas win.

Brazil

 *Brazil's last tournament win was in the 2009 Fiba Americas Championships.

Brazil has been a very solid basketball team over the last decade. They won the Fiba Americas 2009 Championships in San Juan, Puerto Rico and they also finished in second place in the 2011 Fiba Americas Championships in Mar Del Plata, Argentina.  Brazil's main problem has been consistency, they have a lot of talented players, but they have rarely played together on the same team.   The Brazilians have everyone healthy this time around, minus  Rafael Hettsheimeir, they are looking to prove they deserve to win a medal.

 *Hettsheimer averaged 9 ppg and 4 rpg in the 2011 Fiba Americas, he won't be participating in the 2012 Olympics due to injury.

Consistency problems

2007 Fiba Americas Champiionships in Las Vegas.
Leandro Barbosa, Marcelo Huertas, Tiago Splitter & Nene represented their team, however, Anderson Varejao wasn't available.

2009 Fiba Americas Championships in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Leandro Barbosa, Anderson Varejao, Tiago Splitter and Marcelo Huertas were available,  Nene didn't participate. 

2010 World Championships in Turkey
Same situation as 2009, Leandro Barbosa, Anderson Varejao, Tiago Splitter and Marcelo Huertas were available to play, Nene wasn't.

2011 Fiba Americas Championships in Marl Del Plata, Argentina.
Marcelo Huertas and Tiago Splitter got Brazil the Olympic clincher. Leandro Barbosa, Nene and Anderson Varejao sat out the tournament.


Roster

Centers
Caio Torres
Maybyner Nene

Guards
Leandro Barbosa
Alex Garcia
Marcelinho Huertas
Marcelo Machado
Raulzhinho Netto
Larry Taylor

Forwards
Anderson Varejao
Tiago Splitter
Guillherme Giovanonni
Marcus Vieira

Coach: Ruben Magnano  (Coached Argentina in the 2004 Olympics)

 
Gone from their last Olympic appearance:  Everyone, this group of players haven't been in the Olympics.

How they got here:  Brazil got the second spot in the London Olympics by ending in second place  in the 2011 Fiba Americas.  Brazil  finished with 8 wins and only  2 losses, their 83-76 win over the Dominican Republic in the semifinals clinched their Olympic spot.  Marcelo Machado scored 20 points and 5-8 from downtown in the victory.  This will be Brazil's first Olympic appearance in 16 years.

 *Most of the Brazilians got Mohawks as a result of clinching a spot in the 2012 Olympics.

United States

 *The 2008 "Redeem Team" brought back the gold for the Americans, they had an 8 year drought without any Olympic gold medals. Dwyane Wade and Lebron James lead them in scoring with 16 PPG each.

After losing their first game ever in the Olympics with NBA talent in a 92-73 loss to Puerto Rico in Athens 2004 and finishing with a bronze medal, the United States knew they had to changed their approach to a more serious one.  If they still had any doubts, Greece showed them enough was enough by beating them 101-95 in the 2006 World Championships in Japan and with that, the americans ended up with another bronze medal.

Starting in 2008, the United States brought their best players on every competition and they have gone undefeated since then.   They won the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and the World Championships in Turkey 2010.

They are expected to win every single game and bring yet another gold medal to the states, it will be a huge disappointment if they fail to get anything but the gold.

Roster

Centers
Tyson Chandler
Anthony Davis

Guards:
Kobe Bryant
Chris Paul
Deron Williams
Russell Westbrook
James Harden

Forwards:
Andre Iguodala
Kevin Love
Lebron James
Carmelo Anthony
Kevin Durant

Coach: Mike Krzyzewski

Gone from their last Olympic appearance:   Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Michael Redd, Carlos Boozer, Tayshaun Prince, Dwight Howard & Jason Kidd.

 

How they got here: By winning the 2010 World Championships in Turkey, the United States clinched a berth to play in the 2012 London Olympics.  Team USA brought their "B" squad that featured Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Derrick Rose, Chauncey Billups, Lamar Odom and many others.

*Kevin Durant lead the United States in the 2010 World Championships in Turkey with 23 PPG and 8 rebounds.

Spain 

Spain have been the kings of Europe basketball the last few years (Runner up in Eurobasket 2007 and winners of  Eurobasket 2009 and 2011 ) and also team USA biggest threat so far.

                         *Spain won Eurobasket 2009 in Poland. Pau Gasol averaged 19 PPG and 8 RPG.

*Spain won Eurobasket 2011 tournament in Lithuania. Juan Carlos Navarro (Middle) won the Most Valuable Player award. Navarro averaged 19 PPG and 3 APG.


Spain has done almost everything, the only thing they haven't done so far, it's getting a gold medal in the Olympics.  Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka are the best front court in the world right now, Spain has the ability to play using their big men or use Juan Carlos Navarro from the perimeter, JCN is a living legend, one of the best Spaniards basketball players of all time.  If any team can beat team USA for just one day only, it's them. Spain came close to beating the United States in Beijing 2008, 118-107,  in perhaps the  best gold medal game in the history of the Olympics, can they win it this time?


Roster

Centers
Pau Gasol
Marc Gasol

Forwards
Serge Ibaka
Felipe Reyes
Victor Claver

Guards
 Jose Calderon
Juan Carlos Navarro
Rudy Fernandez
Fernando San Emeterio
Sergio Rodriguez
Victor Sada
Sergio Llull

Coach: Sergio Scariolo

Gone from their last Olympic appearance:  Alex Mumbru, Carlos Jimenez, Ricky Rubio, Berni Rodriguez, Raul Lopez and Jorge Garbajosa.

*Ricky Rubio suffered a torn acl in March 2011 in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers, he missed the last 2 months of the NBA season and will miss the Olympics as well. 

France

                                  *France is going to their first Olympics since 2000.


France is a team full of NBA experienced players, Tony Parker is their main player.  He took the team on his shoulders and made sure France wasn't going to miss another Olympic appearance.

This version of France will have Nicolas Batum, Ronny Turiaf, Boris Diaw, Kevin Seraphin and the latest French player to make it into the NBA, Nando De Colo.  However, one important player that won't be joining France in the Olympics will be center Joakim Noah, Noah injured his ankle during the Chicago Bulls first round loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in the playoffs.  Mickael Pietrus, Rodrigue Beaubois and Ian Mahinmi  won't be available for team France, those three players have been in and out of lineups with injury problems.


Roster

Center
Ronny Turiaf
Ali Traore

Forwards
Nicolas Batum
Boris Diaw
Mickael Gelabale
Yakhouba Diawara
Kevin Seraphin
Florent Pietrus

Guards 
Tony Parker
Yannick Bokolo
Fabien Causeur
Nando De Colo

Coach: Vincent Collet

Gone from their last Olympic appearance:  Did not qualified to Athens 2004.

How they got here:  France finished in second place in the Eurobasket 2011 tournament played in Lithuania. France only loss came to Spain in the final game 98-85.  France beat Russia 79-71 in the semifinal game to clinched a spot in the Olympics. Tony Parker averaged 22 PPG and 5 APG & Joakim Noah made his debut with team France and averaged 9 PPG and 8 RPG.

Australia

 Australia is a team that needs a lot of help in order to compete for a medal, they finished in 7th place in the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and 10th in the Fiba World Championships in Turkey.  The only competitions they dominate are the FIBA Oceania Championships in which they've finished first in 2005,2007, and 2011 and in second place in 2009.

Roster

Center
Aron Bayness
Aleks Maric



Forwards
David Andersen
Joe Ingles
Matt Nielsen
Mark Worthington 
David Barlow


Guards  
Adam Gibson
Matt Dellavedova
Peter Crawford
Patty Mills
Brad Newley

Coach:  Brett Brown

Gone from their last Olympic appearance:  Andrew Bogut, Chris Anstey, C.J Brutton, Shawn Redhage, Glen Saville.

*Andrew Bogut played in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, he won't play in London due to various injuries.

How they got here:  Australia won the 2011 Oceania Championships, they went undefeated. Patrick Mills  averaged 14 PPG & 3 APG.

China

China qualified for the Olympics yet again, however, their goals of winning a medal in the Olympics remain very far away.  China didn't win a medal when Yao Ming was there, now it will be even more difficult to win one without him.  China has some talented players like Yi Anlian and  Sun Yue.

Roster

Center
Max Zhang
Zhizhi Wang


Forwards
Fangyu Zhu
Shipeng Wang
Ding Jinhui
Zhou Peng
Jianlian Yi
Li Yi

Guards  
Jianghua Chen
Aliun Guo
Wei Liu
Yue Sun

Coach: Bob Donewald Jr.

Gone from their last Olympic appearance:  Feng Du, Nan Li, Lei Wang,  Yao Ming & Qinpeng Zhang.

 

* This will be China's first Olympic appearance without Yao Ming in over 16 years, Yao played in his first Olympic games in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

How they got here: China went 9-0 in the 2011 FIBA  Asia Championships, Yi Anlian was their best scorer, he averaged  17 PPG.

Russia

Russia isn't a lock to win a gold medal. the silver can be a stretch, but they can absolutely win the Bronze Russia has multiple players that can score, four of them averaged double digits in scoring in the 2012 Olympic qualifying tournament:  Andrei Kirilenko, Alexey Shved,  Sasha Kaun and Vitaliy Fridzon . Russia always plays tough difficult defense on the opponents, very tough to score against them.

Roster

Center
Timofey Mozgov
Sasha Kaun


Forwards
Andrei Kirilenko
Semen Antonov
Sergey Karasev
Victor Khryapa
Sergei Monia
Anton Ponkrashov


Guards
Sasha Fridzon
Dmitriy Khvostov
Alexey Shved
Evgeny Voronov

Coach:   David Blatt

Gone from their last Olympic appearance:  Sergey Bykov,  J.R Holden, Victor Keyru, Nikita Morgunov, Zakhar Pashutin, Petr Samoylenko,  Alexei Savrasenko & Andrey Vorontsevich.

 

*J.R Holden retired from Basketball and won't be playing in the Olympics. Holden played with Russia in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. 

How they got here: After finishing a disappointing third place in the 2011 Lithuania Eurobasket Championship, Russia didn't get the spot to the London Olympics right away. However,  due to finishing third they were one of the teams invited to play at the 2012 FIBA Olympic Qualifiers in Venezuela.


Russia also finished in the top 3 in this tourney, but that was enough to get into London (Only 3 teams could get to London via the Olympic qualifiers)   Andrei Kirilenko had a fantastic tournament, he averaged 16 PPG, 8 RPG & 4 APG, Alexey Shved averaged 11 PPG and 5 APG.

Great Britain

The last time Great Britain went to the Olympics in a basketball competition was in 1948, if that isn't saying much, i don't know what will.  Great Britain depend on Luol Deng to do almost all the scoring for them, Joel Freeland helps on the inside more than the rest of their teammates, but they need more help, those two can't do it alone.  In last year's Eurobasket 2011, Deng averaged 24 PPG and Freeland contribute with 11 PPG, nobody else averaged double figure scoring.

Roster

Center
Eric Boateng
Dan Clark



Forwards
Luol Deng
Joel Freeland
Pops Mensah Bonsu
Kieron  Achara
Robert Archibald
Drew Sullivan


Guards 
Andrew Lawrence

Mike Lenzly
Kyle Johnson
Nate Reinking

Coach:  Chris Finch

Gone from their last Olympic appearance:   Did not qualified to Athens 2004.

How they got here:   Great Britain finished in 13th place in last year's Eurobasket 2011 in Lithuania, but they got an automatic berth to the Olympics since they will be taking place in London. 

Lithuania

* Sarunas Jasikevicius is the oldest member of the Lithuanian basketball team, this will be Jasikevicius 4th trip to the Olympics (Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012)

Lithuania is always a threat to compete for a medal in any event they are in    Since 2010, Lithuania has finished in the top 5 on every tournament they have played. They finished in third place in the 2010 FIBA World Championships in Turkey, 5th in last year's Eurobasket and first in the 2012 FIBA Olympic Qualifying tournament in Caracas, Venezuela. 

The Lithuanians have also finished 4th in the last two Olympics (Athens 2004, Beijing 2008) and they feel they have the right mix of older (Songaila, Jasikevicius, Kaukenas)  and younger players (Valanciunas, Kalnietis, Kleiza & Pocius)  to get a spot into the elite level and finally get the medial they deserve.

Roster

Center
Jonas Valanciunas
Robertas Javtokas

Forwards
Darius Songaila
Martynas Pocius
Paulius Jankunas
Linas Kleiza
Jonas Malaciunas
 

Guards  
Sarunas Jasikevicius
Rimantas Kaukenas
Mantas Kalnietis
Deividas Dulkys
Tomas Delinkaitis

Coach:  Kestutis Kemzura

Gone from their last Olympic appearance:  Simas Jasaitis, Darius Lavrinovic, Marius Prekevicius, Marijonas Petravicius, Mindaugas Lukauskis, Ksystof  Lavrinovic.

How they got here:   Lithuania finished 5th in last year's Eurobasket. However, they still had a chance to clinch in the 2012 FIBA Qualifying Tournament and they did exactly that by finishing 1st in the tournament.

Sarunas Jasikevicius  averaged 11 points and 5 assists during the FIBA qualifiers & rising star Jonas Valanciuns ended up averaging  8 points and 4 rebounds. 

 

Nigeria

Nigeria is a team that no one thought they could get into the Olympics, this is the first time they will be competing in an Olympics.  They play as a team, no egos involved and they proved it could work.  Nigeria has a lot of familiar names on their roster, Ike Diogu (played 5 years in the NBA), Tony Skinn (Starting point guard of the 2006 George Mason squad that reached the final four)  Al Farouq Aminu (Selected 8th in the 2010 NBA draft by The Los Angeles Clippers) 

  

Roster

Center
Olumide Oyedeji
Ejike Ugboaja


Forwards
Al-Farouq Aminu
Alade Aminu
Koko Archibong
Ike Diogu
Ekene Ibekwe
Derrick Obasohan
Richard Oruche


Guards  
Tony Skinn
Champ Oguchi
Ade Dagunduro

Coach: Ayo Bakare

Gone from their last Olympic appearance:   Did not qualified to Athens 2004.

How they got here:  In a surprising and shocking turn of events, Nigeria clinched the third and  final spot to play in the London Olympics by defeating the Dominican Republic, 88-73, in the 2012 FIBA Qualifying Tournament played earlier this year in Caracas, Venezuela.  Ike Diogu was determined to get the win for Nigeria with 25 points and 10 rebounds.   This is the first time in Olympic history that  two African teams will be among the twelve teams playing in an Olympics.  Ike Diogu averaged 17 PPG and 11 RPG and Al Farouq Aminu had 13 PPG and 5 RPG. in the Tournament.

Tunisia

Tunisia was the first African team to qualify to the London Olympics (Nigeria was the other)   This will be Tunisia's first Olympic games in their team history, African basketball was dominated by Angola for more than 20 years, but Tunisia beat them during last year's Fiba Africa Championships 67-56  to the surprise of everyone.  

Roster

Center
Salah Mejri


Forwards
Macram Ben Romdhane
Mohamed Ghyaza
Mohammed Hadidane
Amine Maghrebi
Radhouane Silmane

Guards 
Omar Abada
Lassaad Chouaya
Mourad El Mabrouk
Marouan Kechrid
Marouan Laghnej
Amine Rzig

Coach:  Adel Tlatli

Gone from their last Olympic   Did not qualified to Athens 2004.

How they got here:  Tunisia went 7-0 and ended up first in the 2011 Fiba Africa Championship.  Maroaun Kechrid averaged 11 PPG and Macram Ben Romdhane averaged 13 PPG & 6 RPG.


Credit: Real GM for the team rosters.

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2012 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament Update

Last night in the quarterfinals Russia, Nigeria, Dominican Republic and Lithuania advanced to the semifinals by beating Angola, Greece, FYROM & Puerto Rico.  Today Russia played against Nigeria and Lithuania faced off against the Dominican Republic for the chance to compete at the London Olympics. However, the two losing teams are still going to play against each other tomorrow for the third and final ticket to the Olympics.

In the first of two games, Russia defeated Nigeria 85-77.  Alexey Shved scored 22 points, Andrei Kirilenko had 19 points & 8 rebounds.  Russia won the first quarter 26-20, they had a bigger lead after the 2nd quarter, 46-31.  Nigeria tried cutting the lead down, but they couldn't get over the hump.  Nigeria seemed to play a little slow, perhaps they used a lot of their energy to beat tough opponents like Lithuania and Greece.  Ike Diogu had 16 points and 14 boards in the loss.

In the 2nd game of the day, Lithuania defeated the Dominican Republic easily, 109-83.  Jonas Maciulis scored 19 points,  Raptors lottery pick from last year, Jonas Valanciunas, rebounded from his awful performance last night against Puerto Rico and went ___ from the field for 17 points and 9 boards & Linas Kleiza had 13.

Lithuania had a 21-16 lead after the first quarter and the game remained close until the third period, in which Lithuania got themselves a 20 point lead, 63-43 and the game went downhill for the Dominicans. Jack Michael Martinez had 13 points and 10 rebounds, Al Horford 12 and 10 & Juan Coronado did his part with 10 points for the Dominicans.

With the win, the Lithuanians are now headed to London to play in the Olympics (Same with Russia) , the Dominicans can join them tomorrow if they beat Nigeria for the third and final spot,  if they do that, the Dominicans will be going to their first Olympics in their history.

Photo credit: Endi.com

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2012 FIBA Qualifying Tournament Quarterfinal #1 Russia vs Angola

1st Quarter

7:27 -  Russia leads 8-3, every basket Russia has scored has being in the paint, they also hit 2-2 from the line.  Sasha Kaun, Alexis Shved, Andrei Kirilenko have 2 points each, Olimpio Cipriano made Angola's first and only basket.

5:40 - Russia still in front 12-9, Andrei Kirilenko has 5 points for Russia.

3:50 -  Carlos Morais hits another shot and gives Angola the lead, 17-15.

1:13 - Russia takes the lead 23-19. Sasha Kaun has 8 points, Kirilenko has 7.


End of 1st:  Russia 25. Angola 21. 


Kirilenko and Kaun have 15 points between them, attacking the basket and doing all the damage in the paint. Carlos Morais leads Angola with 10 points.


2nd Quarter

7:09 - Russia started heating up,  Antonov made a three and they now lead by 7.  30-23. Angola has draw more fouls in the 2nd quarter, however, they have missed 4 free throws in the quarter already.

3:46 - Morais hits another three for Angola and that breaks a 5 minute scoring drought for them, Russia still leads 32-26.

1:05 - Russia leads 41-26.  The Russians are current;y on a 9-0 run, Sasha Kaun has bee unstoppable

End of 2nd:  Russia 43, Angola 26. Russia ended the quarter on a 11-0 run.


Russia

Sasha Kaun  14 points

Andrei Kirilenko 9 points

Angola
Carlos Morais 13 points.

3rd Quarter


8:18 - Angola started the quarter with a 5-0 run.

6:49 - Russia leads by 17.   48-31 

5:47 - Angola keep missing free throws, they are 4-12, shooting 33%.

4:15 - Kirilenko steals the ball, passes to Khryapa and he dunks it. Russia has this, they lead by 23. 

End of 3rd:  Russia 60, Angola 42. 

Sasha Kaun (17 pts) Andrei Kirilenko (14) for Russia, Carlos Morais (14) and Eduardo Mingas (14 pts) for Angola. 

4th Quarter

7:20 - Russia is up by 20. 64-44 


5:42 - Russia leads 69-46  Angola has shot terribly from the field and even worse from the free throw line, they can't get anything to fall. Russia isn't leading up despite the big lead.  


1:40 -   Russia leads Angola 80-60

0:00 - End of 4th Quarter  Russia 80 - Angola 65

Andrei Kirilenko had 14 points and 5 rebounds, Sasha Kaun 17, Vitaliy Fridzon 18, they were just too much for Angola to handle.  Eduardo Mingas had 20 for Angola.  Angola is now eliminated from the tournament and Russia will face the winner of Greece - Nigeria.


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2012 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament Day 1.

Russia 91 - Korea 56

Russia knew they couldn't risk to lose this game against a weak opponent in Korea and they sure played like the superior team. Russia made 12 of their first 13 field goals and put the game away as early as the first quarter, they led the first quarter by 11 points and had a 19 point lead to enter the half.  Andrei Kirilenko had 16  points, Sergey Monya 14 and  Timofey Mozgov and Sasha Kaun each contributed with 12. 


Korea only had one player in double figures,  center Eric Andrin scored 15 points. 


What this means:  Russia has the day off tomorrow and only need a victory against the Dominican Republic on Wednesday to clinch or wait and see if Dominican Republic can beat Korea  tomorrow.  Russia will be safe with either of those two things happening.  Korea will fight for their life tomorrow, one more loss and they are eliminated, they will have a very tough task tomorrow, i don't see them beating the Dominican Republic. 

Greece 107 - Jordan  63

Greece dominated this game even better than Russia in the first game, and that's saying something.  Behind 8 first quarter points by Antonios Fotsis, Greece took a 33-12 first quarter lead.   The second and third quarter Greece finished with leads of  33 and 38 points.  Kostas Papanikolau ended up with 19 points and Georgios Printezis had 16, both players belong to the New York Knicks if they ever decide to play in America.  Enver Soobzokov had 14 for Jordan. 

What this means:  Jordan plays Puerto Rico tomorrow, Jordan will play for the right to stay alive.. If Puerto Rico beats them, it's over for them. Greece has the night off.



Angola 88 -  FYROM 84


This was the first surprised of the qualifiers, Macedonia looked really good during last year's Eurobasket, but didn't played like that today. Bo McCaleb scored 21 points and Pero Antic had 17, they tried to will Macedonia back into the game, getting as close as two points,  but that 13 point Angola lead was too much to overcome.  Eduardo Mingas and Olimpio Cipriano combined for 47 points in the win for Angola. 


What this means:   Tomorrow Macedonia will play against New Zealand, they need to win or they will watch the rest of the tourney from home.  New Zealand will get themselves a chance to go to the quarterfinals with a win tomorrow and eliminating Macedonia in the process.


Venezuela 71 - Nigeria 69

Venezuela had a 9 point lead in different occasions, but couldn't hold on to it and needed  every one of Greivis Vasquez 24 points to get a 2 point win. Nigeria missed a lot of easy shots that could have turned the result of this game in a different way.  David Cubillan and Gregory Echenique had 14 and 13 points respectively.   Nigeria counted with a double double from Ike Diogu (14-10) as well as 12 points from Ekene Ibekwe. 


What this means: Venezuela will play against Lithuania tomorrow and they will advance to the quarterfinals stage if they get the victory. Another possible way for the host to advance is to hope Lithuania beats Nigeria on Wednesday and Nigeria finishes with a 0-2 record.   Nigeria will rest tomorrow and their game against Lithuania on Wednesday is a do or die


Photo Credit: Raul Alzaga


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2012 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. July 2-8

The tournament to determine who will get the last three spots to compete in the London Olympics will start tomorrow and will be over by the eight, the location will be Caracas, Venezuela.  12 teams will be divided in  four different groups, each team will play all the other teams in its own group. Only two out of three teams in any group will advance to the quarterfinals, and after just 2 games, 4 teams will be out watching the rest at home.

The next phase will be similar to what the NCAA does in their tournament,  the eight teams that advanced from the first round will play against each other, four teams will advance, four will be eliminated.

Those four teams that won in the quarterfinals, will play a game and the two winners will go to London and the two losers are going to  battle for the third and Final ticket.


Group A
Greece
Puerto Rico
Jordan



Group B
Lithuania 
Venezuela
Nigeria



Group  C
Russia
Dominican Republic
Korea



Group D
FYROM
New Zealand
Angola



Memorable names playing:  Vassilis Spanoulis, Nick Calathes, Ioannis Bourousis, Carlos Arroyo, Renaldo Balkman, Jose Juan Barea, Jonas Valanciunas, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Linas Kleiza, Martynas Pocius, Greivis Vasquez, Andrei Kirilenko, Timofey Mozgov, Viktor Khryapa, Sasha Kaun, Alexey Shved, Al Horford, Jack Michael Martinez, Francisco Garcia, Pero Antic, & Bo McCalebb,

1st round Schedule:

7/2/12

Russia vs Korea

Greece vs Jordan

Angola vs Macedonia

Nigeria vs Venezuela

7/3/12

Korea vs Dominican Republic

Macedonia vs New Zealand

Jordan vs Puerto Rico 

Venezuela vs Lithuania

7/4/12

New Zealand vs Angola

Dominican Republic vs Russia

Lithuania vs Nigeria

Greece vs Puerto Rico 

Photo Credit: Raul Alzaga


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