The only thing you have to be weary of with big time players guarding each other is exhaustion. I don’t know if you want them guarding each other throughout this game. Foul trouble is another thing. I think Battier guards Durant until LeBron feels it’s necessary to take over the duties. Durant may have to guard LeBron if Sef guards Wade.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Collison has a little go on LeBron. Can’t wait to see the strategies used by each of the coaches.

B.A Sports,

James is definitely going to have to continue to put up computer game numbers for the Heat to win this series. I think Sef will be used on Wade to limit his influence. I think Wade is going to have to earn it the hard way all series.

I don’t think Durant and LeBron will guard each other that much as both coaches won’t want their superstars exhausted. It could mean we won’t see them matched up until the last quarter. I think Battier guards Durant for most of this series until LeBron feels necessary for him to take over the duties.

LeBron doesn’t post up enough so putting Sef on him wouldn’t matter so much. I don’t think Spoelstra is smart enough to focus on James in the post. If he does then it could smell trouble for the Thunder as he is virtually unstoppable from down there.

America are a great basketball team everyone knows that..however the rest of the world is catching up. The spanish national team is playing in the NBA and some of them are extremely good.

Team USA struggle against the zone and playing team basketball isn’t a strength of theirs. With no Dwight and Rose this could be a tough one for the states. There is no real dominant big big to either score on or stop the Gasol boys.

Saying this there isn’t too many euro teams that can stop LBJ, Kobe and Durant. If Spain play a great zone and the USA don’t shoot well from the outside I think the Spanish win!

Big call but thats why the Americans aren’t $1.01 in the bettting outright. Anything can happen in a one off game!

Wheres the plus at?? Please!!

Definitely agree with you mate on some things? How are the Spurs on the decline? They are flying and have assembled a great roster. The lakers are on the decline but may snatch dwight howard this off season. They had their chance against OKC but couldn’t finish them off.

Boston are playing extremely well for their roster. I’m hoping they can steal one just like OKC did today!

OKC will be a force for years to come. If Perkins can continue to play as he is now for the next couple of years they will be even better. They struggle mightily without him covering the paint.

No I’m a Toronto Raptors fan. KD is one of my favourite players, it’s pointless writing about him. Everyone knows how good he is, not many people know how good Leonard is though.

KD is one of a kind mate, very hard to go past him!

True! Lets hope he comes back in time for the Olympics. We desperately need him to put Australia on the basketball map for good. I think he can do it by himself if he is fit.

Milwaukee will now struggle mightily with no big man at all..Kwame Brown is no big man if that is what anybody is thinking.

The warriors should be tougher now with solid big guys and a good back court. Ellis could produce but was a ball hog. I think they have a solid system now and their defence will be all the better for it. They have enough scorers on that team already!

Hope noone is a Bucks fan. I’m just glad they wont be on ESPN anymore!!

It’s happening alot these days in basketball. You only have to look at Macedonia qualifying for the Olympics to understand the impact an American can have on a national team. He single handedly carried their side to the semi finals of the EuroBasket.

I dont think it’s right but I do believe that Australian basketball would have taken him in with open arms. There are only a number of players on that team that bring passion to the green and gold jersey. Barely any of them fully commit to the squad throughout the year so it is not like he would be a ring in as most of them are anyway!

College and the NBA is much different. But we will see how Noah goes.

Russia took their world university team to China for those games against Aus and NZ. You don’t want to be looking at those numbers at all. They just toweled Lithuania though.

Nice Preview mate.

I have Spain winning but doing it tough. There are some classy teams.

I believe Turkey are a big chance if healthy, i am wondering if Asik has recovered from his injury in the NBA Playoffs.

Serbia are a big chance. Teodosic is a machine! If he gets hot they will go seriously close to winning this thing!

I think Russia is a massive chance. They have a really strong playing group, if Sasha Kaun is fit they will make the qtrs if not semis.

I think the let down of the tournament will be Greece. They have 6/7 guys out with injury, some of their biggest names too. I think Croatia win that group.

NBA players really struggle in this tournament, Noah is going to find it really tough with how physical the game is. I love how the refs put their whistle away in European matches! Really looking forward to the comp. My value is with Turkey and Russia.

Good luck

I was reading an article on sportal.com.au regarding this issue. The guy was saying that Australia is really the only country these days where you still are able to see sports stars having a drink with the locals.

It’s true. In Europe big time soccer and rugby players would rarely be seen trying to pick up a lass in a bar, same could be said about the American superstars we watch on TV. They know if they go out they are going to cop such abuse and name calling. With so much trouble going on these days with the league and AFL players you would think that they would start to do the same. A bunch of blokes getting on the piss at a pub are always going to have a jab at a high profile sports star if they see him out. They just want to see if they can get a reaction. This bloke got one. As much as I do not condone racism, I believe Benji should have walked away. This guy was a pisshead, I’m sure Marshall has encountered 100’s of them in his time.

I was at a pub in Sydney last weekend, while in the beer garden there was a bunch of young souths and penrith players there. All of them up and coming stars who may see some first grade this year. Every single one of them should be ashamed of their piss poor behaviour. They were a complete disgrace. I wonder where they get this type of behaviour from. I’m sure the first grade boys have shown them that they are gods whenever and wherever they are. There were brawls and blokes spitting and yelling right in the face of young girls. It was quite disgusting.

All in all I think that maybe it’s time for high profile sports stars in Australia to start thinking is it worth the hassle to go out on a weekend and get on the cans??

JVGO The Warriors have always been a fun team to watch….that playoff series a few years back when the crowd were all in yellow “we believe” shirts was unreal….I can’t wait to see David Lee in this team, I’ve been a fan of him for a few seasons now!

Bruski, the Rockets are the deepest team this year I think…I will be writing an article about which teams I think will right up there come playoffs time. I thought I’d start from the bottom, even some of those teams are looking good. Should be a great season.

The tournament was a huge letdown for the Aussies! They are lucky we had such a bad group!
Jordan- nearly/should have beaten us…it’s like letting Bangladesh beat us in Cricket.
Angola- aren’t any better
Germany- no nowitzki or Kaman
Argentina- no ginobli, nocioni or oberto..and still top the group.
Serbia- outplayed by a team who hadn’t played together for weeks.

We went in totally undersized and it showed. Mills had an awful tournament. He needs to learn how to defend a three point shotas good as he can put one up!
I thought Wortho had a great tournament and should have played more. As much as we can say Bogut was out, you can’t forget who was out for the others.
Better start getting ready for 2012 now.

I had a feeling that the Broncos would struggle and they did. This makes for an absolute ripper of a game next week against the Warriors! Lockyer will be playing no matter what!

It’s going to be great to see how he referees the game from an ex players perspective. I think he is going to understand the ruck much better than any other ref would.

Hopefully Phillips does a great job and they fast track some more ex players through the ranks. I also feel the players will respect them more.

Sledgeross,

Markovic and Brian Goorjian never really got along. There was much tension between the two. He was invited to many Boomers camp but Goorj never picked him. I’ve heard many stories about his attitude but after recently catching up with him, he seems really focused now that Brett Brown is the coach.

I agree with you JVGO..
I think Bogut however will play no matter what really..he has much to prove on the international stage. He has never really done anything special while playing for his country. I think before his career is over he will want to do that, just like the kobes and LeBrons of the USA.
I am friends with a few of the boys that you speak of when talking about the golden generation. I can’t wait to see them take the reign!
The one person I’m
Looking forward to watching is Steve Markovic. It’s been a long time since Steve has been given a chance! I hope he proves they’ve been making a mistake for the last few years!

The games are said to be broadcast on FoxSports.

This is totally correct about the promotion of the game. If I was a non basketball fan I would have no clue the Aussies are about to leave for the World Championships or that the NBL would be tipping off in less than two months. They spent very very little money on promotion last year but have hired a marketing specialist to get things off the ground this year.
Also basketball juniors in Australia have always been booming, it’s just that next step for the juniors, there just isn’t enough spots so kids give up. I know many of my friends who are great basketballers but just don’t want to further their career because of the NBL not paying them enough money.

Real Deal I think you are forgetting about David Anderson and Aleks Maric..they can both get it done but the problem is the back up for these guys!

We are very guard heavy though Jim. I think we needed to stock up on a few more big guys if we are going to get to that top 4. That is the one thing I worry about. I think Patty will play well, just don’t know about him playing alot of scrap ball in the D-League is going to help him.

When Australia did well in the World Cup four years ago, there was a boom in crowds at the A-League and children wanting to play soccer. What type of effect do you feel it will have if the Aussies get to the top 4? It must do something for the league especially if there is articles on the back couple of pages in the newspaper. The NBL is usually thrown with in the last couple of pages in the sport section, if they are lucky!

The more exposure the better, the money will start rolling in with it!

Soapit,
I’m wondering what you will think if he does play? Do you think that is fair?

Sorry if I’ve read your reply wrong but I did mention Anasta. He is more likely to play then Cooper is.