4:20pm Perth time. Not sure about Christmas Island, Eucla or Australian Antarctic Territory though.

Pretty sure they're comparable in size to us. As for if we need to improve, offensively definitely. Defensively we're pretty much where we need to be. But I think we'll have an easier time running our stuff against a less-athletic Italy than we did against Nigeria.

I am going Australia by under 10 points. Of course another game I am wary of though. Anyone can beat anyone at this level but I just feel like Australia has more pedigree, a lot of experience together, more athleticism. But they cant come out of the gates tentative like last time.

Good luck Boomers for whenever this game is. I've got NFI.

ME i think you are spot on here. This one will be tight and tough but i think the Boomers defense will wear Italy down over the 40 and give us a tight win. As long as we don't/havent underestimated Italy given a few months back we would never of expected to be meeting them. I'm sure Goorj the wily old fox wont allow it, surely !

It's a traditional Olympic rivalry for the Boomers with classics played out in 1980, 1984 and of course the QF in Sydney which was a cracking game, get on it if you can find it anywhere. Italy's coach Sachetti was a powerhouse of those 80's teams. Tonights match is sure to add to the legacy and don't be surprised if it gets chippy.

Need less than 26 turnovers for a start

Boomers by 11.

953

Perthworld.

Eucla time is simples- 45 minutes ahead of WST. From memory it's halfway between CST and WST.

Welcome Euclaworld.

Isaac, please don’t check if it’s someone else’s computer- I love it.

All, it’s donate life week. Go here:

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Help save lives.

Boomers by 8

I think there will be a serious adjustment for us in this game going from playing a loose unstructured team like Nigeria to a seriously structured Italy.

I think we have too much world class talent to lose but they will be able to keep it relatively tight.

Landale continues to struggle.

Kay definitely looks more mobile than he used to, moving his feet real well defensively.

Great start.

Love the injection of bench energy.

Solid start. I like the looks we're generating.

Boomers offense already looking infinitely better against Italy than Nigeria.

Thybulle getting 2 early fouls doesn't help though.

Tied 25-25 at Qtr time

This ranga is pwning Sobey atm

I mean why wouldn't you want sobey forcing shots

Boo ginger boo!

Ingles having one of those games where he doesn't want to do anything

Luckily for us Baynes has been money from range.

The Ranga is beating everyone not just Sobey.

What channel is the Aus commentary on?

rjd, 7Two

That's better Joey

Landale showing that running the floor works at any level, including International Ball.

If you are going to knock Goulding and Sobey at least have a username. If you are going to be Anonymous your comment has no value and you should be ignored.

Giddey would look like a young foal. He would be picked apart. Hasn't grown into his body. Will be good in a couple of years but is not now.

Giddey = Turnover City

We've been running essential 4 guards and a big for most of the 2nd quarter. Getting back cut consistently is infuriating with a quicker lineup.

Ingles us going to have to shoot more if we want to win

"Mccarron better suited than sobey"

McCarron was also better than Sobey in the Boomers B team.

Exum spends at least every 3rd possession on the ground. I wince everytime "is it a knee".

The amount of blind spins he does with the ball is a real problem. Like another posted suggested, he's missed so many games and hasn't learned what does work in the pros.

Whilst Kay is handy on offense, he is getting seriously exposed defensively... How is Reath not getting a single minute?? We need a big interior presence, they're just strolling to the rim repeatedly!

I never understood how Exum got drafted and still don't understand how the guy is still in the NBA seven years later.

Some timely threes to keep us in touch, but some worrying signs in that 2nd quarter. Offence stagnated and Italy got themselves a lot of easy looks.

I thought the shots Goulding took were all good shots for him. Just didn't drop unfortunately. But I approve of the idea of throwing him in there to give the offence a different look.

How is Reath not getting a single minute??

The problem for the Boomers is at the defensive end. Italians shooting 55% from the field. Too many easy baskets. Clean that up and the Boomers will be in good shape.

Gotta keep Reath fresh for the Hawks obvs

I agree Rat10. This team is very well built to get transition points, but we're constantly retrieving the ball from our own basket.

LOL Anonymous asks me to take my own advice. I take responsibility for my comments right or wrong.

I stand by my comment that Giddey isn't that great yet. And for those knocking Exum. He can get into the paint against any team on the planet. While he may not be able to finish as efficiently as is possible it is a net benefit to the team to have a player that can do this. You may not have noticed a few assists he made that gave us some of the easiest baskets in the first half either.

And for those knocking Exum.

Dante Simmons :/

Exum blows back to back FT's.

Nice patty

Great start to the half though

Exum gets the shit blocked out of him.

Landale really stepping up

Mills and Landale combining nicely.

Anything that thinks Landale can't compete in International Ball is an idiot.

Exum is not trash, he just has play making decisions of a 20 year old not a 26 year old.

Sobey may be good in the nbl, but he is outclassed at the international level. He should not have been selected.

Reath seems very reliable as a big dude, no idea why hes not getting minutes by sobey and goulding have (no josh green either!)

Also "AussiePride" you're no less anonymous than those of us posting without a random username. Get stuffed.


Sorry, which Anonymous are you?

Get Exum off the court FFS

Yeah, Exum really lacking composure

Delly really needs to just attack the basket there....

This is way too close for comfort.

Good onya Patty!

Thybulle great stop there.

Needed that finish to the quarter.

I like delly, but geeez he's shot. I hope the nbl aren't paying him too much

Simmons could have easily taken Dellys role as point guard and equally not looked to score (but with better d, rebounding and passing)

Nice find there by Patty - looking forward to seeing him take over the game late.

No commentary on the feed here in NZ - which is far better than whichever American journo they've had on our broadcasts for prior games (mistaking Australia for Argentina on multiple occasions in the last game).

Kay looking great. Landsdale doing a nice job running the floor and finishing but looks like BBQ chicken defending the perimeter...

We have got a few hand offs under the basket but not really any backdoor slips or cuts. Italian defense very organised.

Thybulle again! What a block.

Cecil never played for Goorj. Stated in seabel for bulleen then played with north melbourne giants melbourne tigers and then geelong

Thybulle for PM

I bet United fans can't wait to see that Delly shooting form next season

It's time to try a no-point-guards lineup because this is painful

Uh, Nick Kay what!?

I gotta say, i was never sold on kay. Too slow and unathletic etc.

But he's growing on me, sorta like a olympics scott fisher. Dependable if not exciting

And sets with Patty Mills as the screener at the elbow with less than 12 on the shot clock seem a waste of time.

OMG that Mills three rimming out. Argh.

This fake crowd noise is somehow even lamer than the AFL version

Yeah Jock!!

Landale three. Huge.

Oh yes Jock!!!

Good to see Jock getting more comfortable

Huge board by Kay too

Classic Landale!!

Kay is out there doing all the things ... as always. I can't comprehend how some people still don't see his value.

Huge swing from that Mills missed layup

Oh shit.

That was awful. The two player missed dunk then Joey WHY!?

Lucky O board. Yessss.

Joey YEEEES!

After today's game if people don't see the value in Kay they should stick to the swimming heats.

Those who understand the game already know how valuable he is after the World Cup.

Interesting time to pull Landale out. He has been huge this quarter.

John Rillie on the bench

Squeaky bum time.

Yeah Kay showed his quality at the WC's. It took me by surprise then, but not anymore.

Kay and Landale's work on the O'boards has been huge in the 4th.

Manion on a tear.

Good boy, Matisse

Phew.

I get why Delly's in the game right now over Landale, but man is it frustrating.

Good boy, Patty

"Delly guards 4 people in one possession"

Yeah, but it wasn't great. Kinda maniac and very lucky

Mills sinks both free throws this time.

Patty in a Boomers jersey is a sight to behold. What a legend.

Any idea why we just let Manion stroll through for open layups.

Been a good game of basketball this.

You're giving me the shits, Mannion. Seriously. Go away!!!

Delly will always give 110% effort but his regression offensively is tough to watch at times

Any idea why we just let Manion stroll through for open layups.

Yay.

Whew! Quality win.
Way too close for comfort but good composure down the stretch.

Massive win. Italy defense never let us get into our stuff.

That was the key game of our group. Germany look ordinary.

Never in doubt

Anyone notice that Baynes wasn't on the sideline in the last quarter?

Injury or pissed at lack of court time?

Had a stinker against Nigeria but I thought he played well tonight when he was on.

Phew. Down to the last possession. I think that guarantees a spot in QF. Very pleased with Kay showing his worth and Patty being still being reliable. Hopefully its a good thing that Goulding is struggling in the early stages so we can see more of his sharpshooting. Go boomers!

Guys that was awesome throughly enjoyed that game. Our bigs were just outstanding. I have no idea why Nick Kay can't even get a summer league look in. He is just an outstanding basketball player.

I feel like Exum doesn't have the passing IQ to be our PG.

Much better quality game overall than the Nigeria game. Kay shutting down the haters time and time again. Disappointed with the lack of game time for Green, he's locked on when he's on the court. Jock huge! Baynes was great too.

Nick Kay is a great player but the NBA has changed their rules to suit athletic superstars. Would find it hard to find a role unless the focus changes back to team basketball rather than individual iso crap.

This game along with the 2019 World Championships were further evidence that Landale and Kay are very good at International level. They were incredible down the stretch.

Landale running the floor beautifully, hitting threes, blocking shots on the perimeter and his tap out rebounds leading to open threes were invaluable. Then Kay doing all the little stuff as he has for years. His improved and he was pretty good when he left the Wildcats. Just so efficient. You'd love to have him on any team.

Strange to me what many would regard as Italy's best player, Danilo Gallinari only played 19 minutes. Maybe he's injured and if so we caught a break there.

Patty is one of the greatest international ballers in history there's some validity in hall of fame conversation for him. He is 100% going to be the first Australian to have his jersey retired by an NBA team. If the Spurs can do it for Bruce Bowen they will for Patty.

Don't tell that to United.

Used to watch Mannion playing for Arizona with Josh Green. Sensational player. Didn't know he was Italian.

Agreed Delly is so past it. United have been sold a Lemon.

As an Atlanta Hawks fan my whole life i remember his watching his father Pace Manion playing in the late 80's.

Our inability to execute late in 4th was a big concern, very hesitant and no motion.
One big and 4 guards???

Kays right baseline hook suggests we should feed him more in the post.
His defense was great.

Ingles looked slower than usual and far too reluctant to shoot early. I'd prefer he look to score early and distribute more later.

>>How is Reath not getting a single minute?? We need a big interior presence, they're just strolling to the rim repeatedly!<<
No idea.
It's frustrating as he can defend, and rebound pick, roll and pop.

Used to watch Mannion playing for Arizona with Josh Green. Sensational player. Didn't know he was Italian.

I think there are some lines in the sand Goorjian needs to draw now.

Okay, Nathan Sobey isn't up to it. I was one of the idiots who actually backed his selection. I regret it. I put my hand up and apologize. The guy got burned by Mannion three times in a row. That was good for 5 points. 5 points could cost a game.

Goorjian, stop with Sobey. I know it's a nice fairytale story but he's going to cost you a game - yes , even in 2 minutes of court time.

Secondly, Dante Exum. Someone tell that boy that before he drives, he needs to have some vague idea of the outcome he wants? How many times does he have to drive straight into defenders and lose the ball? This really is looking like social basketball level IQ we're seeing from Exum.

Patty had his first game where he wasn't quite "Boomers Patty". It's okay. He's entitled to it. I am sure he'll be back to himself soon.

Landale was the player of the game. It's good that we can have heroes stand up from unexpected places on the team. Good to see Landale bounce back from being non-existent against Nigeria.

Same goes gor Baynes and Kay. Excellent game from both.

Rat10, I made the same comment to some of my Pirie mates. Prior to the game I was concerned Gallo would burn our talls from outside.

I suspect he was simply considered too slow for the Boomers up-tempo style but I did notice he was strapped up when he muscled his way to the basket against Kay.

Patty was double of triple teamed - we better get used to it.

He played well, he adjusted by distributing the ball.

The rest of the team needs to learn how to move when he isn't in control of the ball, becomes too stagnant.

Kay, Landale, Ingles were huge. Baynes played well.

Exum reluctant to shoot - shoot the damn ball when you’re open.

His drives are dodgy and gets us into trouble.

Matisse needs to be careful with his fouls, otherwise he’s our X factor

I think Goorjian is opting to go mobile. There didnt seem to be anything wrong with Baynes movement out there, and he had a game that showed glimpses of his best form. I think baynes is probably in a pretty good place.

I am not sure whether criticism of the Boomers is too harsh. We don't really see Italy as one of the medal level teams but we're not the only presumed "top tier" team having issues dispelling teams we think are lesser - Czech Republic struggled with Iran, Spain actually had to get out of cruise control at times with Japan. I think there is still a lot of building teams are doing, even now.

I think we need more player movement on offense, though, and we need to not be giving up fucking lay ups!

I think we will smooth those things out though as we continue to move forward.

Germany will be a good test for us. Another team we should beat but they're actually the tallest team in the tournament, so it will be a chance for us to look at our bigger line ups and see how we might grapple with teams like France and Spain inside.

It wasn't pretty. It isn't ironed out yet. But we're on track.


As for Delly, yeah I mean you could say he looks 'past it' but he's not doing dumb things. He's handling tough defense. He generally makes the right pass or the right read. I think he still has a stablizing and calming effect on this team that is very important.

I think Reath is basically there when we come up against teams that are more athletic down low, USA, Nigeria etc. Our bigs can bang with Euro bigs.

I think Reath is good enough to warrant regular minutes. So is Josh Green. I am going to blow my stack if I say Nathan Sobey in anything other than a blow out.

I also think Reath should see minutes against the Spains and Frances of the world. He's a legitimately good piece and we need to find him minutes heading into the prickly part of the competition

Should have brought Giddey or extra euro big in Motum over Sobey.

As to why they'd play Exum, the alternative is Delly. Patty played 35 minutes and his playing load was a clear problem at the end of the last WC.

At least they're keen and committed, I guess, but Exum is a gamble on every possession and Delly looks like the veteran grasping for any advantage. There's the PG stocks, if Sobey isn't going to be an option and Mills' is double-teamed. I think Giddey is one of those players who'll be fine at any level and should've been taken in the team.

Simmons in almost any state of mind would've been a massive advantage, obviously. Not going to lose out on shooting when the alternative is Exum.

Mature game from Mills and great spread of contributions from the bigs. Those offensive tips out to guards in the second half were critical. Would've been toast without them.

Good win

There's definitely room for improvement, but to be fair, we just beat the winner of a pretty tough qualification tournament - a team that managed to beat Serbia in Serbia to even be there. Italy is a tough team and I respect the way they went about it tonight.

We seemed sloppier than them, and like we made more mistakes than them, and yet we clawed away a tough, tough win. There is room for improvement but a lot of reason for optimism. I like that we've shown we can have different heroes on different nights as well.

Agree with all the props our guys are receiving. They deserve the accolades.

Win the 1st game against great players with little team structure by 15 and the 2nd over a great team by 3. 1 to go.

We have Germany next and then the cross-overs, Semi's (?), is that right?

I am not convinced that we are medal shoe-ins yet, let alone Gold, but we are getting to that level fast.

Thankfully, not too many blow-outs so far so it looks like our future opponents are very much just finding their way too and doing what they must to advance.

Further more, with USA losing to France, and whopping Iran, it probably makes them best 2nd-placed so, they will also be seeded. We won't have to face up to France or the USA 1st up. 1 of Slovenia or Spain should top their pool so will be seeded. The other should go to Pool-the-Weaker with Czech Republic and Italy(assuming we beat Germany)(as other 2nd-placers)and a best 3rd-placed as I see it(?).

First place and one best second place make it.

Second place will be USA at this rate. Therefore all other teams must finish first to move on

Baynes had a slip apparently which is why we didn't see him in the 2nd half, to be reevaluated but they think he is OK.

Ah I read some where there wasn't.

Damn that’s another game we could choke - too much anxiety!

The Real Nostraballmus sees that this is not the last time we will see Italy in this conquest.

Firstly if someone as brilliant and experienced as Brian Goorjian can't work out the deficiencies in which he needs his team and players to work on then his very able assistants and experienced players should certainly be able to point out to him what is wrong...

Very happy that we didn't have any player in serious foul trouble in this game unlike with Bogut during last Olympics.

So so happy that with Mills being double and triple teamed that our front court stepped up and will give opposition teams more to work on than following our legendary flag bearer around.

Ingles scored 14 in this game and if he averages 14 points per game for the rest of the Tournament then that will help Mills and stretch the floor as should be his role.

As for Italy, it felt with Gallinari not getting as much of the ball and court time as I was expecting going into the game that they were perhaps still keeping their cards close to their chest.

Very exciting game and easily the best basketball we can see on this planet

Yeah there are quarters. It goes like this -

The three first ranked teams and the best second ranked team in pot one.

The rest of the second placed teams and the two best third teams in pot two.

The two pots are randomly drawn against eachother for quarters.

At the moment looks like pot 1

Australia, France, (spain or slovenia), USA

Pot 2

(Slovenia or Spain), Argentina, Italy and Germany

From an update I've seen recently, that I am not sure is true or not, but as far as I understand because of the winning and losing margins in grouo A apparently their third placed team can't be the best placed third placed team. So in that case, the pots are starting to shape up.

Our most likely crossover is one of Slovenia, Spain or Argentina. Most likely either Slovenia or Argentina. I hope to god we get Argentina!

For Nostralballmus to be right on Italy, they'd have to beat one of France, Spain, Slovenia or USA and meet us in the semis or medals.

Pretty uphill road for them to travel. Really unless you're sitting pretty in pot 1, as we seem to be, you've got an uphill battle to the medals.

I am sure a lot of teams probably think that of Patty and the Boomers...

But while I agree with you, when you're dealing with a guy like Doncic, you have to accept that he's going to push that team well beyond where they should be in this tournament. He's that good.

Should we beat them? I'd say yes. But I'd much prefer take on Argentina who, frankly, aren't very good if we're being honest.

Very happy to be 2-0 and heading for the quarter finals

Our offense is more iso and less high post, less movement and constant screening.

It's personnel based (missing the elite post passer Bogut) and Goorjian has changed things up.

Either way, we seem to be struggling to create scores in the half court. So many of our points were generated from either fast breaks, 2nd chances, or just broken plays, or created by Patty. But in the half court it feels like we've dropped off a long way from Rio and the WC.

Unlike in previous tournaments where a superstar single-handedly smashes us, I'm thinking Nash, Sabonis, etc, this time we actually have strong defenders as options against Doncic. Although I'm still very fearful of us playing against Slovenia.

Is the 2nd ranked team who earns top 4 seeding based on %?

If so, then USA smashing Iran by 60 odd would mean they're highly likely to be the 4th team who goes straight through and avoids the lottery. (Assuming USA also beats Czech Republic of course).

There were flashes of Kay creating in the high post that were shown against Team USA. Wonder if we'll get back to that.

No quarter finals? Classic.

Since people evidently don't read:

6 games to win gold? Soon they will just replace the tournament with a lottery draw. It feels like these group games don't have the same urgency to perform well in, especially compared with the World Cup.

Teams mostly look ill-prepared from the games I've seen. Are 3 group games enough to get into good enough form to be playing quality basketball by the time the elimination stage begins? The Boomers are well off their 2019 form, at least at the offensive end.

It's fine as they only have two weeks. From a Boomers perspective I prefer this format considering how fatigue cost us a medal at the last World Cup.

"Czech or japan (close atm)"

Does this mean we have a 1/4 chance of being matched up with one of these two teams? I know the Czech's have chemistry, but whoever gets one of these opponents practically gets a ticket to the semis.

If we were to play Slovenia, would anyone be all for Thybulle starting for Ingles and chasing him for every second that he is on court to try and nullify his impact and have Ingles come off the bench as the spark that we need... well Kay is brilliant but he's more of a consistent controlled heart than a flame thrower and Goulding has cooled off recently as he saves it for the medal match.

Are the quarters decided by a random draw from the pots? ie team drawn at random from Pot A v team drawn at Random pot B ? Would this not mean that Aust could get Italy or Germany in the QF ? Or is there som emechanism preventing QF v teams from own pool ? Asking for a friend :)

All g answwered my own question. From FIBA

A draw will take place following the conclusion of the Group Phase to determine the pairings of the Quarter-Finals. The winners of the groups (3 teams) and the second-placed team with the best result (1 team) from the Group Phase are placed in one pot (D), while the 2 remaining second-placed teams and 2 best third-placed teams in another pot (E). Teams from the same group in the Group Phase cannot be drawn against each other in the Quarter-Finals.

"Teams to be drawn on 2nd August"

As in anyone who gets through could play anyone, ie we could have two 1st place finishers playing each other?

My understanding is the top 4 is matched up against the next 4 via a random lottery

So no top 4 teams will play each other in the QF

But how do they rank the top 4? eg USA would be the 4th, and should play the top ranked 4th finisher in the semi (Assuming they both win their QF)?

top ranked 1st* finisher I mean

At this rate, Boomers will be 2nd or 3rd ranked 1st finisher, so would avoid USA in a semi (assuming my assumption above re top 4 rankings).

So assuming top ranked teams won the quarters, we'd be scheduled to play Spain or Slovenia in a semi. And France would rematch with USA.

Just thinking out loud here, but would France rest players against Iran to avoid USA in a semi? To try and finish 2nd or 3rd of the 1st finishers instead of 1st?

Maybe the new system hasn't completely gotten rid of gamesmanship and thrown matches?

Or are the top 3 by lottery also, avoiding this issue?

Here at section 177

http://www.fiba.basketball/en/Module/85132837-66aa-4ff3-a063-8cdfe44ea14d/af6105e1-fac3-4456-8430-ee55ed3d2196

"The qualified teams shall be divided into two (2) pots. Pot D shall consist of the winners
of the groups and the second-placed team with the best result from the Group Phase,
which shall be established according to the FIBA Official Basketball Rules, Chapter D
- Classification of Teams"

And here

http://www.fiba.basketball/documents/official-basketball-rules-yellow/2020.pdf

From a quick skim it doesnt seem to resolve the issue of whether the top 3 are a lottery but I'm assuming top 3 is based on %. We'll see!

If Aussies go 3-0 and avoid USA in potential semi thats a pretty good result. Getting Japan or Czech in a QF would make it even better!

I think it must be a draw for match-ups, but there must be a way to avoid being if drawn against another team from the same first round group. An individual re-draw to avoid that outcome?

This means there are 3 possibilities for ua in the draw, so it's a 1 in 3 chance for us to be matched with a team from the lower ranked pot E. Surely semi-final match-ups are randomly assigned through the draw?

Surely semi-final match-ups are randomly assigned through the draw?

So if it is Spain vs Japan/Czech, for God's sake, someone please find the location of the FIBA headquarters.

As is the norm FIBA are super vague on any details. Anyone know where their head office is located so we can hit them up for more information?

Since the new format was introduced to prevent tanking in the group stages the random draw is to select the quarter final matchups between the top four and bottom four teams.

My assumptions are:

Since it has been published the quarter final draw includes the rest of the bracket makeup then if say the top four win their quarter finals it would be 1v4 and 2v3 in the semis using traditional seeding.

Typically these tournament formats include mandatory crossover and group protection to avoid duplicated matchups too early on so Germany or Italy would not be possible opponents we face in the quarter final stage.

>>But in the half court it feels like we've dropped off a long way from Rio and the WC.<<

Very much agree. Our execution has evidently regressed from Rio and the WC

A lot of our points in both games so far have been opportunistic and there's been a distance lack of offensive structire or movement.
Numerous times last night we played keepings off at the perimeter with no assertiveness and actually looked clearly confused and afraid to attack.

At the very least, can we have some high-low action set a few down screens, high screens and back cuts?

I think we might need to question swapping Lemanis for Goorjian a bit, especially if offensive struggles continue. Yes, Bogut. I get it. Bogut makes a lot of things possible. But it's not like Bogut was on the court every minute, and even when he wasn't the offense had purpose.

The offense looked Rio-esque against the USA a few weeks ago so I'll be interested to know if there's a reason why the team has moved away from that. Is it to do with match ups? Are we still playing the 'long game' and keeping some things to ourselves?

No need for assumptions PW, you cant be drawn against a team from you're own pool in the quarter finals, which means we face one of Spain, Slovenia or Argentina (whoever comes second or third) in the quarters with too many teams too far ahead in group A for Czech to be one of the two best third placed teams - unless crazy shit happens in group C.

I found a PDF last night of how it plays out in the qualifying finals. Top of each group play each other and so forth from the looks of it. Example.

Group 1
Australia
France
Slovenia
USA

Group 2
Spain
Japan
Argentina
Czech

Australia vs Spain
France vs Japan
Slovenia vs Argentina
USA vs Czech

Should be best v worst based on scores and points difference.

After that lottery it if necessary.

Senator11 - no. It's already been explained.

Its a random draw. It would make no sense for the competition to weed out the best teams by making 1 and 1 play eachother.

Very exciting game and easily the best basketball we can see on this planet

Ah yep, I see it says quarter finals pairings will be done on a specific date. I was looking at how they showed the matchups, D1 vs E1, D2 vs E2 etc.

I didn't see the injury either but the word has been that he should be fine. I think absolute worst case scenario he misses against Germany then comes back. we shouldn't have too much trouble with Germany I shouldn't think.

Why isn't 2 groups of 6 top 4 make quarters like always. 8 games to win good.

This format is just 6 games. Way too short.