I think Greece's problem was just not having Thanasis out there. If he was there, I think Greece drastically improves on both ends and would probably win a lot more games.
Tbh Thanasis wouldn't even be the worst player on the team (Moraitis is in another level. And Laretzakis isn't that bad in terms of skill but he is basically Jordan Pool of Euroleage).
The US playing Serbia 3 times in 2 months is wild to me. The bracket allocations shouldnt have been done like that. First and second in a group shouldn't have been in the same side of the knockout bracket.
@@lakritz1987 that's the problem. The winners and the runner ups from each group should've been in completely different sides of the draw. Germany and France shouldn't be playing each other again unless they both make the finals
They are trying to make sure it's USA vs France in the finals because if Serbia or US played with France they might lose so they are trying to make sure France reaches the finals it's that simple
I had a bet before the tournament. I was so confident that France would not reach the semis, that if they did, I'd be topless in the streets. I'm a man of my word so... Anyway, I believe that France needed to hit rock bottom in order for change to happen. After a disastrous loss to Germany, public disagreements and signs that the group was imploding, that's when the coach finally made big decisions and for the first time in 3 years, had a clear gameplan to follow, and it worked. Regardless of what happens next, the Collet era will not end in disgrace. It's France's 5th Olympic Semi-finals, and Collet will have coached 2 of them when it's all said and done. Another reason why he is forever gonna be the greatest coach we ever had, in spite of everything that happened in the last few years. Thank you Cordinier for the clutch basket and Lessort for being an absolute bully inside, with Canada being forced to foul, unable to cope with the physiciality
I knew after the game that people would claim that the ref cheated Canada… just watch the game you’ll see the clear foul. Btw all the turnovers and a horrible average fg% has nothing to do with ref… Canada started really bad and then Shai started to get some steam but the other couldn’t follow. I’ll admit I did see 1 or 2 fouls that could have been called for Canada but this happen literally every game with every team. And I’m pretty sure France could have gotten a few more. If you just look at the number then you won’t understand that no one could stop Lessort inside.
Agreed. There were a few bad calls here and there... on both sides. Fournier offensive foul for example on his floater is the least understandable. On one side, we can say Powel was set before contact and it should have been an offensive foul and no basket. On the other hand, he sets his feet when Fournier had already jumped and so we can also say that he inserted himself on Fournier's landing area and that's a defensive foul plus an additional free throw. Normally, the latter interpretation is used by the refs but they decided to do a middle ground interpretation, which was odd. There were other stuff like Fournier's foul on Murray at the very end which was not counted and gave France the ball back, or the last Wemby basket which was a violation because the ball didn't touch the basket before he got it back in his hands. But earlier there was a ball kicked out of bounce by Brooks which was given to Canada, and also the "steal" by Dort on Cordinier ending with a 2 points fast break to put Canada back at 5 point with 2 min to play (and a change of momentum) was an enormous no-call because Dort snatched not only the ball but Cordiner's entire arm. All in all, the bad calls offset each other. There were some physical intensity in this game and the ref left the game play, like they do in the Euroleague. They officiated pretty much the same way on both sides. 42 free throws for France yes, but most of it is by attacking the rim and provoking the foul inside. Canada didn't really attack the rim before the second half, at which point they started to get free throws too. Fouls were called, all the guard who had to defend on SGA were almost out (Ntilikina fouled out, Albici and Cordiner both at 4 fouls, Coulibali, despite a very limited play, was at 2 fouls if no mistake). They were just clever enough to foul before the shot. But, you know, people see what they want to see. I guess the guys who complaint are used to watch the NBA and not the Euroleague (not even mentioning the ones who only watched highlights and the score board). They talk about Wemby and Gobert and don't know Yabusele and Lessort. France shouldn't have won this game if they would have continued playing the way they were playing in group phase. They came in the game as the clear underdog. But this game was really different by the offensive strategy, the personnel on the court, the rotations and time allocated to each player, and also the energy of the overall squad who finally woke up to compete.
France had that much free throws because they played bully ball the whole first half, every possession was a post up and canada didn't have the physical strength so they fouled a lot, if you're a boxscore watcher it looks like it was bad officiating but if you watched the game it didn't feel too bad except for one or two questionable calls but I don't think those decided the match
I don't get the thing about referees... they made 3 bad calls against France for out of bounds plays where the replay was very clear, they called Lessort for travel, and so on. Many North Americans just think Euroleague players are trash, whereas Lessort and Yabusele are clearly way, way above the Canadians interior players who had to foul them everytime down the floor! Cordinier is the only real surprise here, as well as Wemby in his own way because he really disappointed offensively. Canada was not called for more fouls than France, they were just dominated physically and are not used to it.
Canada was outplayed by smart coaching. There were a couple of refs mistakes, but not about these free throws. Canada didn't have anyone who could stop Lessort/Yabusele. Powell is versatile but weak. They didn't move the ball well and Batum provided pretty good defence on Shai.
Serbia always struggle to get to quarter finals but than they wake up and put through hell anyone who they face and I dont think that USA will have easy win as everyone thinks
7 points for Wemby and Canada still loses? They shut him down but were inconsistent on offense. Team Canada is officially eliminated from the 2024 Paris Olympics. That sucks for them because they were the country who had the 2nd most NBA players on it. Obviously the U.S. have the most. I think it blew Team Canada's minds when the French exploded in the 1st quarter, building a huge early lead. It's not the officiating's fault. It was just an embarrassing loss for one of the top teams in this tournament.
If Andrew Wiggins and Zach Edey played they probably would've done better. Canada just has 0 size it looked like they were playing 5 guards on the court there.
Preciate your breakdown man! Not a lot of channels is beeaking it down like you are or so succinctly. Cant blame some channels tho, for just like you said, content is hard to make when clips and videos is getting limited
I'm tired of seeing "the reff rigged it for France", sure there was a foul on Jamal (Can someone explain to me why they didn't challenge?), k I'm with you on that, but why nobody mention the moment brooks shot with his legs the ball outside the court and Canada still got the possession? Why nobody also mentions that France lost their challenge when they shouldn't have? They were bad calls for both Canada and France, concerning the 42 Free throws if you are not an angry Canadian fans, an idiot and if you really watched the game, you should have seen that it was because Yabusele and Lessort completely destroyed Canada in the print and Canada had no choice to fool them out, if you really want to blame someone blame Jamal and Dillon honestly, especially Jamal, but honestly everyone except Shai should be ashamed of themselves, it was a deserved win for France.
Bro just said Shai is the best player of the tournament while Jokic had one of best games of all time in Olympics? Also weaker bracket? Serbia vs USA is finals before finals
@@afifsamirnasreddine3768 when he genuinely deserved the criticism he was getting. At the end of the day if they lose it all falls on LeBron even though he's like 80.
First, it was that there were too many selfish players and not enough "dawgs" on this team. Then, it was that they would not be able to handle the physicality of Olympic play. Then, their chances of winning were in question after they were pushed to the brink in some of their exhibition games, namely against South Sudan. Now that they've found their groove, it's an "easy path"? Stop it. 😒
@ChrisSchafer-zu9xy For God's sake we just went through the same argument with Boston in the playoffs. Can we stop the "hasn't been challenged so they will lose" argument? If they lose, that's gonna be for other reasons
U dont have to say the word "Team" before every country´s name, only Team USA and Team Canada are called that way, there´s no such thing as a "Team Greece" or "Team France", only Greece and France.
@@ryanamburgy2791 oh don’t get me wrong, Shai is by far the best player individually. SGA is a much better self creator, but Rj basically played perfect in the role he was given
Everyone laughed when ant said he would be the number one option. I don’t think anyone’s laughing now. Him and kd are a toss up on who you wanna give the ball to for a bucket.
Men’s Olympic basketball is starting to get close to the World Cup Just like Soccer , everyone in the world plays basketball and it’s the 2nd most popular sport in the world
Men’s Olympic basketball is starting to get close to the World Cup Just like Soccer , everyone in the world plays basketball and it’s the 2nd most popular sport in the world al
We win silver without Jokić last year im WC. Remember that? Yes,we play hard defense,but that is higlight of basketball in Europe. There is no acting.. That's why we are a superpower with 5 gold medal im WC. Canada need to continue im this direction,and medals Will come.. greetengs from Serbia
@@funkonede idk what u mean dirty (only dirty thing in game if someone want to injury someone but i didnt saw that) were there hard fouls,that yes, but dirty plays i didnt saw anyone beating australians(expect that one foul on Exum from Avramovic)
You have to know that the FIBA refs are not the best refs from all over the world because for example FIBA has had a few problems with the EuroLeague so the best EuroLeague refs are not at the Olympics because of the conflict between EuroLeague and FIBA
@@nydibs because Shai was getting constantly double teamed, he absolutely cooked France's defense and Barrett didn't do much. Barrett is underrated though for sure.
As a neutral - that Serbia Australia game was rigged so flagrantly in favour of Serbia. The refs couldnt be more clear about their favouritism towards Serbia
@@staxmontana4 Refs tried to win them the last game against Germany, but it didn't matter. The Germans don't foul much like the Canadians do and France doesn't have the perimeter defense to contain Franz. Gobert and Wembanyama are too underutilized on the French offense to take advantage of the size mismatch in the paint.
