Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Quarterfinal Matchups

This is it! I'm talking about the quarterfinals of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Men's Basketball. The final list of countries for the quarterfinals are set. First, let me present to you the four teams of each group.

Group A: Lithuania [4-1/A1], Argentina [4-1/A2], Croatia [3-2/A3], & Australia [3-2/A4]

Group B: USA [5-0/B1], Spain [4-1/B1], Greece [3-2/B1], China [2-3/B1]

Honestly, I'm impressed with team USA. Team USA is definitely the ultimate Dream Team of the country. Whoever it was that was behind the roster of team USA, I salute him! I really do. But I don't think the upcoming games is going to be easy for them. Well, I really hope Australia will give them trouble. Speaking of trouble, I'm a bit troubled with regards to Kobe Bryant. He is a member of team USA, right? Why can't I see his name on the stats, I just can't find his name. Where is he? I can't feel his presence.

Okay, now let's talk about Lithuania, Argentina, & Spain. I'm still can't believe how good the Lithuanians are, particularly Linas Kleiza. He's been on fire, lately. And the Argentines, as I admit to you my dear reader as my favorite, is more balanced than ever. Spain, who only lost to team USA, is very persistent which makes them very dangerous and even if I'm miles away from Beijing, I can see their hungry in winning the gold. I mean, every team is but Spain's aura is just too strong that I think they'll do everything just to win.

For Croatia, I think they haven't been very consistent both on their offense and defense. But there's not enough time to improve, though. Greece, on the other hand, was just lucky to have survived after being beaten by USA and Spain. But all in all, the Greeks have shown that they're good. The Australians have also proven that they have world-class players that just don't give up and that can be scary and tiring for their opponents.

And last but certainly not the least is China. To be honest, I never really thought China would survive the tough competition in Group B. But they did it, so, I'm giving them my full respect. I'm really expecting to hear loud cheers from the crowd once team China gets into the court. For the Lithuanians, who are planning on watching the game live at the courtside, I wish you all the luck to be heard.

These are the matchups for the quarterfinals:
  • Argentina [A2] v Greece [B3]
  • USA [B1] v Australia [A4]
  • Spain [B2] v Croatia [A3]
  • Lithuania [A1] v China [B4]

1 comment:

John said...

This is my prediction.

I think USA wil roll over the Boomers. The depth that team USA has is no match for even the Aussies starting five. But I hope Brian GOORIJAN team will give them some fight, at least.

Croatia have improve a lot but I feel the Spanish team has more edge should overcome then easily.

It will be interesting to see how the Chinese coach will fare against his fellow countrymen. The problem with China is that they rely too much of YAO to make a difference.

Last but not least my team, Argentina. Looking at the way the Greece has perform so far its to tough to judge them. This is not the team that won Eurobasket 2005 and knock USA out of the World Championsip two years ago.

But Manu & Gang should not have any problem with the Greek sides.