76ers Struggle, Stunned By FC Barcelona

KingKong

KingKong

Starter
http://www.nba.com/games/20061005/PHIBAR/recap.html

BARCELONA, Spain, Oct. 5 (Ticker) -- Maurice Cheeks might want to consider having the Philadelphia 76ers take some extra free throws in practice.

The 76ers put on a woeful shooting performance at the line as they lost to FC Barcelona, 104-99, in the NBA Europe Live Tour.

With commissioner David Stern in attendance, the Sixers sank just 26-of-48 free throws (54 percent) en route to becoming the first NBA team to fall to a European squad in Europe since the American franchises started visiting the continent in 1987.

By contrast, the hosts connected on 26-of-29 free throws (90 percent). Juan Carlos Navarro scored 18 points and Gianluca Basile added 17 for Barcelona, which lost to CSKA Moscow in the Euroleague Final Four last season.

Samuel Dalembert collected 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Sixers, pulling them within 91-90 on a layup with just over two minutes remaining.

But Jaka Lakovic countered with a layup and the hosts pulled away, opening a 100-91 advantage on a four-point play by Basile with just over a minute to go. Barcelona connected on 10-of-24 3-pointers, while the Sixers were just 3-of-8 from beyond the arc.

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I don't really understand the matchups. Why did Asvel (a total crap team) get to play against San Antonio ?
 
piksi said:
NBA rules didn't do much here. Let's see what excuses people will think of now.
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er...how about first week of training camp for the Sixers, and in the gym of a team and fandom really inspired for FC during their regular season. Same ole story. Its like Tel Aviv last year -- the top international teams are good enough now that if they take it serious and are better prepared they can actually play with lower tier NBA teams before they are ready. Of course the Sixers still handily win this one with either decent free throw shooting or A.I. giving them even a 50% game (or maybe even haivng Iggy), but hey, that's part of the sport too.
 
Bricklayer said:
er...how about first week of training camp for the Sixers, and in the gym of a team and fandom really inspired for FC during their regular season. Same ole story. Its like Tel Aviv last year -- the top international teams are good enough now that if they take it serious and are better prepared they can actually play with lower tier NBA teams before they are ready. Of course the Sixers still handily win this one with either decent free throw shooting or A.I. giving them even a 50% game (or maybe even haivng Iggy), but hey, that's part of the sport too.
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how about accepting that other can play at least as well as the NBA players
 
piksi said:
how about accepting that other can play at least as well as the NBA players
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How about when they prove it I will?

Problem with international fans is that they want it to be true so bad they will distort and/or ignore anything that gets in the way. So hey, you know we are midseason over here and we mugged a disorganized preseason team 3 days off of summer vacation in our home gym in front of enthusiastic fans and eked out a 5pt win when they missed 22FTs and got a half-assed 13pts out of a guy who averages 30, but hey, obviously its all good. :rolleyes:
 
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Bricklayer said:
How about when they prove it I will?

Problem with international fans is that they want it to be true so bad they will distort and/or ignore anything that gets in the way. So hey, you know we are midseason over here and we mugged a disorganized preseason team 3 days off of summer vacation in our home gym in front of enthusiastic fans and eked out a 5pt win when they missed 22FTs and got a half-assed 13pts out of a guy who averages 30, but hey, obviously its all good. :rolleyes:
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Problem with some american fans is that they are dellusional and live in the past. It isn't a midseason in Europe. The season just started. And sure You can always find excuses if You look hard enough. I am pretty sure that the new ball was responsible for it. Didn't bother Barcelona players to hit their shots even though they never played with it. Only skill left that is dominated by US players is athleticism.
 
sloter said:
I don't really understand the matchups. Why did Asvel (a total crap team) get to play against San Antonio ?
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are u serious, i dont think they put into consideration the talent level on the european teams when they put together these camps.

u think ppl sit around and say o miami was the best last year so they play the best euro team, and san antonia was ? so they play this euro team...i dont think they give a **** how the teams matchup
 
piksi said:
Problem with some american fans is that they are dellusional and live in the past. It isn't a midseason in Europe. The season just started. And sure You can always find excuses if You look hard enough. I am pretty sure that the new ball was responsible for it. Didn't bother Barcelona players to hit their shots even though they never played with it. Only skill left that is dominated by US players is athleticism.
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Yeah, I had to look pretty hard for those excuses. :rolleyes:

Suffice it to say that I, at least, am not delusional and self-righteous enough that were the situations reversed (and the schedule does not allow that, but whatever) and FC wanted to come over and play 3 days into its training camp and got exterminated by an NBA team in midseason form treating the game like it mattered (which is exactly what would happen under those circumstances) that I would then claim that obviously FC was 50pts worse than the Warriors (or whoever). Let alone if the Spurs squashed a lower tier Euro team under those circumstances.

Some day there may actually be a strength on strength clash of NBA vs. Euro teams. It won't be pretty for the Euro teams. But that's to be expected given that the NBA isn't an American league anymore and has most of Europe's best players anyway. But that clash hasn't happened yet. What we get are a series of preseason scrimmages from the NBA's view, treated as huge proving grounds by the Euros. And then of course the incessant high pitched yabbering of a particular group of fans desperately clamoring for approval for the showing. Here's the approval: 10 years ago even a terrible NBA team in the first week of preseason wins that scrimmage. Now they often still do, but Europe's best can at least compete and even pull off the occasional victory under those circumstances now -- progress. And a team like FCB or Tel Aviv might even be able to join the NBA and win 10-15 games. Maybe. Hard to tell. Don't have the talent, and the problem would be that the organization and esprit d' corps they have as winners in their own leagues would get chipped away by the incessant losing and much longer/more rigorous season. Could get ugly.
 
piksi said:
Problem with some american fans is that they are dellusional and live in the past. It isn't a midseason in Europe. The season just started. And sure You can always find excuses if You look hard enough. I am pretty sure that the new ball was responsible for it. Didn't bother Barcelona players to hit their shots even though they never played with it. Only skill left that is dominated by US players is athleticism.
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sounds like this wasntbeing posted by an american...what about power or strenght, do those count, i think anyday of the week nba players will brutalize baby shaq and other euro goobers.
 
Many people don't give enough credit to european teams. When an NBA team loses, the first thing they look for are execuses. The sixers suck and they lost because they couldn't shoot for ****. So what if it was a new ball, Euros never got a chance to play with it before and they did just fine. When you lose, you have to admit defeat. There are some things that NBA players are better than Euros, but shooting is not one of them IMO. They have strength, athleticism and size over the Euros. Quickness i give the nod to the U.S. Shooting is not a forte in the U.S. and is a lost art.
 
Sac.Kings said:
Many people don't give enough credit to european teams. When an NBA team loses, the first thing they look for are execuses. The sixers suck and they lost because they couldn't shoot for ****. So what if it was a new ball, Euros never got a chance to play with it before and they did just fine. When you lose, you have to admit defeat. There are some things that NBA players are better than Euros, but shooting is not one of them IMO. They have strength, athleticism and size over the Euros. Quickness i give the nod to the U.S. Shooting is not a forte in the U.S. and is a lost art.
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The new ball was raised as an "excuse" by nobody but the Euro fan.

The 3 days into training camp is raised as an "excuse" by every person with a basic understanding of the sport and no particular agenda.
 
I just don't see a preseason victory as anything more than the indication of the progress European countries have made. If you actually put that team into the NBA, I would be astounded if they even won 10-15 games at all.
 
moradi420 said:
are u serious, i dont think they put into consideration the talent level on the european teams when they put together these camps.

u think ppl sit around and say o miami was the best last year so they play the best euro team, and san antonia was ? so they play this euro team...i dont think they give a **** how the teams matchup
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then they may as well play my intramurals team, it would save them a trip. of course that they should be playing against the top European teams. I have no idea why they chose Asvel who has NEVER done ANYTHING remotely significant in Europe. It would be like coming to the USA to play one game against the Spurs and one game against D2 college team.
 
for piksi and Brick: the truth is somewhere in between. The gap between NBA and let's say Euroleague is definitely smaller and an argument could be made that the best European teams are better than worst NBA teams. My personal opinion is that a team like Sixers would not have a chance of winning Euroleague, regardless of the rules or ball or whatever. The argument of preseason vs. regular season doesn't really hold since they only played 1 game in Spain so far (Barcelona lost).

Anyway, just to see how much the gap is smaller one of the best European NATIONAL teams ever, Yugoslav team from 1988 lost to Boston Celtics 113-85. The countries that are from former Yugoslavia now have close to 20 players in the NBA.
 
Bricklayer said:
er...how about first week of training camp for the Sixers, and in the gym of a team and fandom really inspired for FC during their regular season. Same ole story. Its like Tel Aviv last year -- the top international teams are good enough now that if they take it serious and are better prepared they can actually play with lower tier NBA teams before they are ready. Of course the Sixers still handily win this one with either decent free throw shooting or A.I. giving them even a 50% game (or maybe even haivng Iggy), but hey, that's part of the sport too.
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So, you're using the sixers crap FT shooting as an excuse as to why they didn't win? That's a new one for me!
I mean, what more do European teams have to do to prove that they are closing the gap (Yes I know that Europe isn't as good as America overall but the gap is significantly small)? We've beaten Team USA. Barcelona bet sixers (offseason isn't excuse as Europe league has just started). You could actually make an arguement that it was harder for Barcelona to win because it was NBA rules (not sure if they were NBA rules or not, I thought I saw someone say it was NBA rules - forgive me if I'm wrong)?

I would have loved to have seen Spain play team USA as it would have been a blowout. Even without Gasol, Spain still would have won handily.
Say what you like, but the gap is small.
 
dime dropper said:
You could actually make an arguement that it was harder for Barcelona to win because it was NBA rules (not sure if they were NBA rules or not, I thought I saw someone say it was NBA rules - forgive me if I'm wrong)?
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You are not wrong
 
No excuses, the gap between the Euros and USA is starting to disappear. Ill be frank, I always liked the Kings because they had that flair that every other team in the NBA was missing --passing, shooting, among other things that left me wanting more. Thats why i am a Kings fan. Players in the US are forgetting teamwork along with everything being centered on scoring and thats where the Euros greatest advantage lies--their ability to share the ball and be unselfish. That was the problem with the U.S. in the WC, having Lebron, Wade, Melo and all the other stars will not make a great team by just simply putting all of them on the court. They have TOO many stars and passing is not a major priority. Everybody wants their shot and their highlight, it just doesn't work like that. I don't care what the coaches said about that they are going in the right direction, IMO, they missed the most important things of a TRUE team. In the end, you can have all the talent you want, but the days are over when that alone would win you a ballgame.
 
Sac.Kings said:
That was the problem with the U.S. in the WC, having Lebron, Wade, Melo and all the other stars will not make a great team by just simply putting all of them on the court. They have TOO many stars and passing is not a major priority. Everybody wants their shot and their highlight, it just doesn't work like that. I don't care what the coaches said about that they are going in the right direction, IMO, they missed the most important things of a TRUE team. In the end, you can have all the talent you want, but the days are over when that alone would win you a ballgame.
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This is true, and has absolutely nothing to do withe the preseason scrimmage in Barcelona.

The US NTs continue to be built incorrectly. But that is not really about the players -- its about the selection process. No other nation in the world even has the threat of piling up too many superstars, but the US selection process -- at least partly a political one --continues to put together teams composed of nearly 100% star players. That does not work ANYWHERE. Would not work if you threw that team into the NBA either. Its not a team, its a showpiece. In basketball everybody has roles, even superstars -- they play the superstar role, and it requires the ball. Can't have more than 2, or maybe at most 3, before you hit the point of diminishing returns.

And again, that has very little to do with this preseason game, or why it happened. Nor actually to a significant degree for the state of US basketball. If the Spanish had 12 superstars to send to the WCs and did so, they would be in danger of losing too (and I worded it that way because the US team finsihed a healthy 8-1 youth and poor structure or not). And their "culture" or whatnot wouldn't do a thing for them. 12 Paus don't win, nor do 12 Dirks.
 
SacTownKid said:
Fran Vasquez looked pretty good. He had that sick spin on CWebb and jammed it hard.
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I didn't see the play, but it isn't not hard to spin around a guy who moves like he's wearing cinderblocks instead of bball shoes. :p

Disclaimer: Webber did put up some nice offensive numbers last year, plus he actually stayed healthy enough to play.
 
NewMonkey said:
I didn't see the play, but it isn't not hard to spin around a guy who moves like he's wearing cinderblocks instead of bball shoes. :p

Disclaimer: Webber did put up some nice offensive numbers last year, plus he actually stayed healthy enough to play.
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major difference in age there too
 
All i am saying is that this was a preseason game for the sixers, lol. People make this out like it meant something. Like brick said if the sixers were really trying, i think that a 10 player in AI would have more then 15. And also I really doubt that another american team loses to a euorpean team in the preseason. Sorry but I think that the gap bettween Euroupean and US basketball is still huge.
 
DaMan said:
All i am saying is that this was a preseason game for the sixers, lol. People make this out like it meant something. Like brick said if the sixers were really trying, i think that a 10 player in AI would have more then 15. And also I really doubt that another american team loses to a euorpean team in the preseason. Sorry but I think that the gap bettween Euroupean and US basketball is still huge.
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I disagree respectfully. Individual talent is obviously not as good in Europe but that's only because of athleticism. Europeans generally have better fundamentals and are better shooters. Americans seem to think that this doesn't matter. You're forgetting that this game meant nothing to Barcelona, either. It's not like they were going all out to win this game just as there real season has just started. So that is not a valid excuse. What do Europe have to do to prove that the gap is alot smaller? Blowout an American team? I'm sure you could make excuses when/if that happens too. Just accept that the rest of the world is growing, this is something that everbody should be happy about. The bigger basketball gets the better for all of us. I'm sure Americans will find it alot more exciting when they have to put together a team in order to beat European teams, do you not agree? It can't be much fun going out having the best NBA stars out there every year, thinking/expecting them to win. Realise that basketball is a growing sport.
 
moradi420 said:
i think anyday of the week nba players will brutalize baby shaq and other euro goobers.
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So why don't they?!

Why do they continually come up short against international players in recent times?!

Believe it or not it might actually have something to do with the fact that those "euro goobers" as you so intelligently like to call them can actually play the game and have better fundamentals that these USA "ballers" :rolleyes:
 
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Things are changing...I don't understand how someone can say that NBA teams are much better that European?!First of all beside Barcelona all other European teams that play against US teams are average teams.Asvel,Roma...give me a break...Plus they are playing with those new NBA balls,with NBA rules.Why some people can't just say "Yea,we obviously aren't better than they are"?
On the other hand,USA couldn't win in last 3 big competitions,that means something too,right?
I just read report on serbian site about Roma-Phoenix game.They said how Bodiroga was making fun of Marion...that's all about that
 
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