LILLE (France) – The friendly games are over, the preparation camps are now closed, and the 12 teams battling for Olympic glory have made their way to France.
It was a hectic schedule for the past 12 days since we published the Volume 1 of the Power Rankings, with teams playing back-to-back games and traveling all over Europe to take on new challenges.
We followed their progress and updated it in Volume 2 now.
The highs of winning the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament at home were met by the lows of the Preparation games in Europe.
Even with some good offensive spurts of basketball, they struggled defensively, allowing 90 points against Australia, 103 against Canada, and 107 against Spain.
At the same time, their group rivals South Sudan played a lot better in their London games, meaning the switch had to be done for the 12th place in the Power Rankings.
The good thing is that Japan arrived in Lille feeling good, with plenty of trick shots, jokes and laughs during the Content Day at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium.
The better thing is that they are going to get the biggest of all stages to show their free flowing, fire-at-will basketball, probably earning a lot of fans along the way during the competition.
However, the other end of the scale is there, too. The problem with playing fast ball is that most of the other teams are also speeding, resulting in Japan not being able to keep Germany nor Serbia below 100 points.
Maybe it was all a trick. Because they have to face Germany again in Group B in a few days.
You know how you always wanna leave a basketball court with a made shot? And you think it’s like a good luck charm, that you’ll have the muscle memory to make your first shot the next time you enter a court, too?
Brazil are doing that. After winning the FIBA OQT in Latvia, they did not play a single preparation game, trying not to cool off in the meantime, just to enter the Olympics still feeling the heat of their shooting in Latvia.
Also, they found some Olympic inspiration in Zagreb, Croatia. They practiced in the legendary Drazen Petrovic Basketball Center, learning a thing or two about one of the greatest players of all time.
Oh, and his brother wasn’t a bad player either. He’s Brazil’s head coach now, Aco Petrovic.
They were just one stop away from handing the United States their first loss in 22 games with Steph Curry on board, their first defeat with this lineup, all while earning a gigantic, statement win as the new powerhouse of African basketball.
South Sudan are just that good, and it’s bigger than basketball, really. Just listen to Wenyen Gabriel:
“We don’t have any indoor basketball courts in our country. We are a bunch of refugees that come together for a few weeks out of the year, trying our best, playing against some of the best players ever. This is much bigger than basketball for us, to show people that we can compete and understand that hoops in Africa is something for the future. We’ve been a war torn country, been through a lot, every single year of bloodshed. It’s a small country, 11 million people, but today we were able to be united as one.”
That’s basketball for you. South Sudan are legit.
Should we be worried about Greece? They looked far from perfect against Puerto Rico, although they played without Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nick Calathes.
They were blown out by Serbia in Belgrade, too, losing by 22 points and scoring a total of 139 points in those two games.
We’re probably overreacting and there’s no reason to be worried, at all. Because Greece already played high pressure, must win games this summer, and they did win those games, meaning they know how to behave when going gets tough in an official game.
But they still loose a couple of spots because both Spain and Australia looked really good over the past two weeks.
A pair of wins against Argentina and Puerto Rico put the Spaniards up a place in the Power Rankings. They would’ve been higher if they switched groups, but even though they looked good during these games, their Group A rivals looked even better.
Now, the game against Puerto Rico was an emotional one. It was the last time Rudy Fernandez played a basketball game on Spanish soil, and it marked the 20th anniversary of his first ever appearance for the national team.
Incredible career. Just a few more games to go and he’s officially retired. You know he’d love to leave with another piece of silverware from France.
Ehm… What’s going on?
We know, we know, the results don’t matter in preparation games. But still, just 2-4 in five games in France and another one in Germany!?
In fact, they started the summer with two wins over Türkiye and Germany, but since then, they lost four straight. Optimists will tell you that something similar happened before the last Olympics, and they ended up in the Final later on.
But pessimists would surely disagree, not because of the defeats, but because a lot of people expected France to dominate day in, day out in 2024.
Okay, this is what you call a strong preparation camp. Australia lost a close game to USA, then came back 24 hours later and defeated Serbia – albeit without Bogdan Bogdanovic – by double digits.
They had no issues with Puerto Rico, and a couple of days later they defeated France on a last second layup by Dyson Daniels.
Aside from wins, they had two major pluses from these four games. Firstly, Josh Giddey is a true 20-point triple-double threat and a brilliant player under these rules and in this environment.
Secondly, Patty Mills found his shooting stroke. He scored a total of seven points in his first two games against China and the USA, shooting 1-of-12 from deep, only to bounce back and get 22.3 points per game over the next three matchups, hitting 12-of-23 three-pointers.
You may want to follow him on social media during the Olympics.
Another week, another spot up for Canada. Two comfy wins for them since we last talked here, the one against France especially impressive, with RJ Barrett hitting Ctrl+C on his performances from Manila last summer, and Ctrl+V in Lille this summer.
With RJ doing his now traditional FIBA ritual of coming up big for Canada, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dillon Brooks getting to 20+ territory easily, and still a lot of potential to get better as a team, it’s easy to understand why so many people see Canada on the podium come August 10.
Now, the only problem is their lack of Olympic experience, especially in a close call group that they’ve got over there. One slip up, they could end up not being a seed in the Quarter-Finals draw. And not being a seed against the other two groups is not fun, trust us.
It feels like we only saw full strength Serbia twice this summer. The first time was when they cruised to a win over France in France, spoiling Tony Parker’s jersey retirement ceremony, and the second one was to finish the preparation camp with a comfy win over Greece in Belgrade.
When they are at their best, like in those two games, they hit you with so much versatility. Ball pressure through Aleksa Avramovic or Ognjen Dobric, paint protection with Nikola Milutinov or Uros Plavsic, coast-to-coast stuff through Nikola Jovic or Filip Petrusev, outside shooting by Marko Guduric, Dejan Davidovac or Vanja Marinkovic.
Oh, and those guys named Nikola Jokic, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Vasilije Micic are also on the team. Just a reminder.
Because of those two matchups with France and Greece, one has every right to say that last year’s World Cup finalists are even better this year. And one would be right, too.
Not only are they the reigning World Champions, their basketball is getting more and more fluid and eye pleasing with each summer spent together.
Those aren’t sets, plays or motions anymore, it’s German engineering on a basketball court, as commentators Adam Amin and Bill Raftery exclaimed during Germany’s big and fast runs against the United States on Monday.
To put it in perspective, if they made a couple of shots more in that game, or had a few stops, they would’ve switched placed with USA Basketball and entered the Olympics as the hottest team in the world right now.
But even at number two, they can be happy with everything they’ve done so far. The nation is enjoying it, for sure. You need evidence? Well, check who Germany’s flag-bearer is at the Olympics.
Germany loves Dennis. Dennis loves Germany. Everybody loves German basketball.*
(*Except France, Brazil and Japan, probably.)
To channel our inner Anthony Edwards, here’s a two-word explanation as to why the United States hold the top of the Power Rankings, how they went 5-0 in the preparation games, why most of people consider them the favorites to win another gold:
LeBron. James.
That’s all.
If you know, you know. If you don’t know, tune in to the Olympics. You’re about to find out.
*The power rankings are entirely subjective and are in no way a true and accurate ranking system. All comments are purely those of the author.
