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]

Lithuania is Feeling Good

Whoa! That was one terrific game for Lithuania. And as for the Croatians, they simply didn't have enough power in defeating an undeniably good team. The Lithuanians thrashed the Croatians, 86-73, with Mindauqas Lukauskis pouring 20 points and Linas Kleiza of the Denver Nuggets finishing with 18 points and setting the 3-pt arc a hotspot for the Lithuanians.

The game was pretty tight during the first half and continued to the third quarter. But as soon as last quarter began, Kleiza began shooting three's and the Croatians were in their heels trying to make up for the large deficit that the Nuggets' star has done. And it was soon too late for the Croatians to defeat the Lithuanians, which remains undefeated with 4-0 in the record and clinching a sure spot in the quarterfinals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics Men's Basketball. But let's not get too excited, the Lithuanians still has another tough team to beat and that's the Aussies. =p

Clash of the Titans

As I watched the game between Croatia and Argentina last night, I reminded myself that the Croatians are as good as the other teams, so it could be a close fight. But as the game continued, the Croatians were suffering both on the offensive and defensive ends of the game. The Argentines were in control of the game and seized the chance of taking the lead right on the first quarter. What's probably worse for the Croatians was the 9-point score during the second quarter, which was the result of their poor shooting. And when it comes to defense, the Argentines displayed the best they had, stopping the Croatians from scoring in double-digits.

Andres Nocioni was the Man of the Night for Argentina, posting 18 points and eight rebounds. Following him was the Toronto Raptors star, Carlos Delfino adding 15 points, mostly three's, and six boards, sealing the game for Argentina and ruining the perfect record of Croatia, who is now tied with the Argentines in Group A.

As for Group B of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Men's Basketball, things are going smooth for the undefeated team USA. Team USA had no trouble defeating Greece 92-69 on Thursday, proving that they're better. I remember, the last time these two teams faced each other, it was the Greeks who ended up victorious. But since the Americans have proven that they're better and more mature, they deserve to be eventual winners of Group B if they win against Spainiards tomorrow, August 16. The court will definitely look like a battle field as soon as these two Group B titans meet.

One World, One Dream

I haven't written any post here for quite sometime and that's because, hmmm... it's a long story. I might as well just forget about it. And yes, I've pretty much changed the layout of my blog, for a change. [wink]

What I'm writing about this time is the approaching 2008 Beijing Olympics, which my friends is about to happen this August 8, 2008 [8-8-8]. Yes, I'm excited. Who isn't anyway?! Of course, among the highlighted events that'll take place ing the Olympics and what I am and most of my fellow-NBA fans have been anticipating is basketball. Twelve teams will be battling it out for the Olympic Gold. So, who's in? On Group A: Argentina, Australia, Croatia, Iran, Lithuania, & Russia. On Group B: Angola, China*, Germany, Greece, Spain, & the U.S.A. Achieving the Olympic Gold is going to be hard this time especially for the defending Olympic Champions - the Argentinian team. And that's because of the more solid lineup of team U.S.A. and of course, you can't count out teams Spain, Russia, and Greece. There's also a women division for basketball, which includes Australia, Belarus, Brazil, Korea, Latvia and Russia on Group A. Group B includes China*, Czech Republic, Mali, New Zealand, Spain, and the U.S.A.

So, how does a team achieve the Olympic Gold? First, the 12 teams will have to trim down their number to eight, meaning the top four teams for each group will be the ones who are moving on to the knockout stage. During the knockout stage, the top four teams from both groups will face each other and the four winning teams will carry on to the semis. Then, the two teams who will survive the semis are going to battle it out on the Gold medal game. The team who wins will achieve the elusive Olympic Gold. So, which team's are you rooting for? Are you going for the Kobe-powered team U.S.A.?