Continue today with teams in Group B that may miss the glow of the US but again will be a battle for how the first double will be formed and which will qualify as 4 to face the Americans in the next phase. Let's look at them in detail ...
Spain
The big favorite to win the 1st place. Even though Rubio is missing with the amazing start he made this year in the NBA, the Spanish team seems to be full in every position and especially close to the basket with the Gasol brothers and the NBA finalist and arguably the best defender of the year (no one does not know on what basis Chandler received the award) Ibaka while Calderon and Rudy Fernandez dominate the periphery while no one can underestimate Juan Carlos Navarro who if he proves to be perfectly healthy will be a constant threat to the opponent's basket. There was a lot of talk about the latter because he finally deserved to take part in, as everything shows, his last big event since he suffers from various injuries. Some were surprised that Mirotic was not called in instead of "la bomba", but the Spanish Federation has an informal regulation that allows only one "naturalized" to take part and the position has been taken by the Congolese center. In general, the "Fourias Rochas" are considered the 2nd big favorite of the event and many expected that they would be able to oppose the US team. In the team there are 9 players who have performances from the top league in the world or even have been drafted and can take this step in the future. But after the last friendly they gave (even without the presence of Mark Gasol who could cause problems in the Achilles heel of the Americans, the position of the center) and their defeat by 22 points difference somewhat spoiled the positive impressions that had been created after the comfortable victory over Argentina just 2 days ago. In fact, it seems that the Spaniards will win relatively easily all the matches of the group until they face the Russians. In fact, if they do not succeed, the also difficult match against Brazil for the last match will follow, which will complicate things even more. For those who think that the Spaniards will manage to make the surprise and reach the top of the world, this option pays 5.50 at bet365.
Russia
Here is the presence of the new member of Minnesota Timberwolves Andrei Kirilenko. The former CSKA forward is the A and Z of the Russian team in both defense and offensive. Having the fox of the stalls to guide him, David Blatt, unfolds all his virtues within the parquet, and because of his height and the ability to play in various positions it is very difficult to limit his action. The team that will do this will have great luck to beat them. For those who were accustomed to seeing Russia exhausting its attacks after 20 seconds with a constantly slow tempo in her game they will be surprised to see she play a lot of surprise, run whenever she finds the opportunity and "opens" enough the score like showed in both the pre-Olympic tournament (in which he was not scored in any game to get the coveted London ticket) and in the friendly matches he gave after violating Lithuania. A teammate of Kirilenko in the new squad for both is Svedh who will set the pace, while Monia and Kriapa also stand out in the roster, who can also compete in different places confusing their opponents. He also has Kauwn to dominate under the basket and despite his height and volume is quite kinetic and as a result he is the recipient of many "alley hoops" by his teammates. As we have said before for Spain, the critical game will be that amongst each other, which determines which of the two will not meet the US until the final. All of this, of course, if the next team of the group is not surprised. The Russians, however, show a good case for those who want to bet on them for a possible win of a medal. The performance for this event is 3.70
Brazil
Another multiplayer team with a NBA mandate, especially at the bottom of the basket where there are 3 active NBA players with a crucial role in their teams. The reason, of course, for Tiago Spliter (who is slowly seeing his spell-up time with Spurs), Nene and Anderson Varechau (proving the last two years that he can become famous beyond the heel he threw at Zissi). The matter of course is that he will share the time between the three highs and that he is not at the same time all together on the floor with Maniano having concluded that Nene will play more as a center with the other two to share the time of participation to "4". Guardian positions dominate the free until this time Leonardo Barboss who after Pears is looking to find a NBA team to continue his career and Marcelino Houtier of Barcelona who will direct the game from the position of the play maker. Where the "selenao" is somewhat lagging behind is "3" where there is no other player besides Giovanni. Although they are considered the third strongest group in the group, they have shown very good evidence in friendly and offensive attacks but also in defense, keeping the popular Americans low on the score so they are able to cope with both Spaniards and Russians. It remains to be seen whether it will come in favor of a five that will have "three short" and "two tall" in the longest duration of the race. It will be central to the match against Australia as most of them think the loser of this game based on the teams' capacity will end up in 4's position against the Americans in the quarter-finals. However, she seems to be the favorite of the show, as her victory "gives" just 1.30
Australia
The "kangaroo" as we are used to saying without having someone to impress their roster (since Bugout is injured) is predicted to be comfortable in conquering 4's position and will chase the miracle in the face of the "beast" to "8". The team's star is considered to be Pat Mills in the guards, who although he has gone through the NBA yet has not managed to justify his presence there with only a few short stacks. There are plenty of well-known names, players who have either gone from Greece (Nielsen, Newleigh, Maric, Baines) or have made a career in Europe for years now (Andersen who also had one NBA pass for a year, Ingles, Barlow). Of the aforementioned no one seems to be able to "carry the team on his back" but as a whole, they will be particularly fighting. Before going to London, they twice faced the Spaniards, losing the matches in detail (wondering why and why they played with a team that would be their opponent in the same group) and then fought against the French by surprise and taking the victory ahead of the score in longer match duration. Its advantage is the homogeneity that most of them have been playing together over the past five years, while the lack of a big star does not create "disagreements" about who needs to make the most effort, a phenomenon seen in the rest of the teams (in Brazil and Argentina, Latin Americans have another type of temperament). But they show that they will be able to finish over the next two teams in the group and we will see right away.
Μεγάλη Βρετανία
The host of the tournament will fight hard to finish in the group four but the chances seem to be against her. Although at first glance her roster is quite remarkable since in the team there are beyond Deng and Freeland and Archibald of Malaga (with the first to move to the NBA this year) and Mesa Bonso who had a good year with Besiktas. Characteristic of all (including in part Deng) that they are fighting in position "4". In fact, there is no purebred center in the team with Bonsu struggling to play in this position, since behind him there is the completely unknown Eric Boateng who, looking to find some evidence, I saw that he has also played in Greece (no, it is not D- Eric Boateng with a tenure at Panathinaikos and Kalamata) and specifically in Peristeri where he passed but did not touch since he was left very little due to an injury. It is surprising that the official site of fiba mentions him as a member of the Denver Nuggets! However, the position of the center is not the only black spot for the British, there is a problem in the guards where there are only two college kids, Johnson and Lawrence (other unknowns) and the somewhat well-known to the general public, Rinkin and Lenzley. Their ally is not even the program of the games since the first three days they will face the three seemingly strongest teams of the group before they then give the battle against Australia for who will come out 4th. As if all this were not enough, various players are facing health problems and injuries, with the consequence that not everyone can play in the friendly games they played last week and experience the crash from Belgium (which played without its top players) while they also lost Tunisia. The most pessimistic even predict that the team is not going to make a single victory in the group, losing even to China.
China
The Chinese actually went to the Olympics having to face only South Korea as a serious opponent in the Asian Championship last year which was in the middle of Ramadan which caused various tricks mainly from the Qatar team (one of the theoretical favorites of the tournament) who faked the event. continuing to foul until everyone is sent off and the matches are over. Judging by the appearances of Lebanon and Korea in the pre-Olympic tournament, Asian basketball is still far behind that of the other continents. The Chinese championship in general may have attracted a lot of attention in the middle of a lock out, since several NBAers competed in it, but this did not raise the level of the "local" athletes much. The biggest star of the team remains Yi Yianlian who, although a great talent, did not have the expected development, playing little during the period he spent with the Dallas team. Zizi Wang is still a member of the team, the center with the ease of shooting 3 points (with a tenure in the NBA before) who finished the year in the Rockets but of China and not of Houston. However, the one who is expected to attract the most interest, especially from Greek fans, is 2.06 Sun, a player who can easily play from playmaker to forward and seems to be close to an agreement with Panathinaikos, according to some reports. Sun has played (albeit slightly) for the Lakers and Knicks, and was a member of the D-Fenders in the Development League, hoping to be called up by an NBA team but without success. In the friendly games, no special conclusions can be drawn for the Chinese, in the established before every big event, the Stankovic Cup faced and defeated teams of selected players from Russia and Australia, which consisted of names unknown to the public, while they triumphed against Tunisia. They are considered the outsider of the group and will be exceeded if they manage to pass to the "8". However, I personally believe that they will finish in 5th place in front of the British who look like a team without a beginning, middle and end.
