What's FIBA Asia including Oceania? 2-10?

Don't see NZ getting over Montenegro tonight either.

Don't see NZ getting over Montenegro tonight either.

And can't wait for the USA- Turkey game. Think the Turks will put up a fight.

Haha just a poor choice of words.

I noticed that Scottie Wilbekin plays for Turkey!

Corey Webster automatic from outside.
Tall Blacks up 31-25 end of the first quarter.

NZ finish the half up 53-44.
Montenegro's Coach received 2 techs and was ejected.

Asian money will make sure that Asia don't lose a place, even though they deserve to based on their results.

How about Africa - they're as bad as Asia. 1-9 record so far. Their only win was against Asia.

Wow. Dominican coach looks like he lives on Rum.

NZ-Montenegro game close.

If NZ and Australia both advance to the 2nd next round rather than classification round, FIBA should at least have arranged New Zealand and Australia to matchup in the same 2nd round group to more fairly help decide the Olympic qualification spot. Same if they both failed in the 1st round and both went to the classification round. This current NZ vs Australia World Cup battle for Olympic qualification is bizarre.

Germany struggling against Dominican Republic. I guess they would have expected an easy W here.

NZ get the win 93-83

Well done, Kiwis. Even if they don't qualify for the 2nd round, this win will help in the classification round.

If I'm not mistaken, this was the battle between the countries with the lowest population to qualify for the World Cup. Montenegro has under 1 million people. Both teams punch above their population weight.

Just noticed Puerto Rico in there. They have a smaller population than New Zealand.

DOM coach is definitely an alcoholic.

He gave up alcohol last year. He is a Meth addict now!

Germans goooone.

Wow! Germany out!

This makes Australia getting first place in our group even more valuable. Lithuania game is HUGE now.

Sack....whoever their coach is.

I like this idea of two rounds of pool games because it allows teams one bad game but lets them carry on if they show consistent quality, and it seems to get rid of the tanking that was so annoying in previous tournaments

What's best case scenario for Australia in Lithuania vs Canada game? Canada to win by 1?

Lithuania have always been the kings of punching above their weight on the global basketball stage they have a population of just 2.848 million people even less than Puerto Rico and almost half that of New Zealand.

Thanks, Zodiac, I didn't realize that. I thought they were bigger than NZ.

Basketball is their national sport too.

Giannis looks lost in the greek offense. The benefits of chemistry

At least he actually plays for his country.

USA v Turkey one hell of a game so far.

Yep, nice tight game. No Asian or African teams here.

During the national anthem every US player apart from Plumlee and Harris had their heads down and not signing at all. Protest?

Watching the Lithuanians, they are very good defensively and attack the basket every chance they get. Their 3pt shooting has been poor though, so if we can make it tough for them at the rim, we should slow their scoring a fair bit.

They also hit the offensive boards pretty hard, so we're going to have to work to limit that too. Keeping Bogut and Baynes on the floor is going to be crucial to winning the game.

The Lithuanians are also pretty strong and have good size across the board, but they’re not super agile, so I hope we’re ready to draw some charges to blunt their attack on the rim.

Who knew Brenton Speed was such an expert on travelling?

How good was Greece/Brazil.

Incredible 4th quarter capped off with an equally brilliant finish.

Brazil deserved that after the poor unsportsmanlike foul call

Good game.

USA-TUR also tight into the fourth.

Door is now afar for NZ to proceed to the 2nd round. Need to beat Greece.

*ajar

Do we want TUR to win or not from an AUS perspective?

I can't believe that Lithuania won against Canada, wasn't expecting that

Huh? Lithuania were favourites.

Turkey leading!

Turkey about to win, wow.

Another tight game, this time USA vs Turkey. This WC has already had a few good finishes.

Wow.

Massive fail by Turkey.

Tatum gets a three point shot off with 0.1s left and is stupidly fouled. Drama.

What's more pressure? 3 free-throws when down 3 or when down 2?

Tatum 2/3. OT!

In shock still at that Osman foul. Smart kick-out by Tatum though.

Tatum did well to milk that foul call. Kicked his leg out ala Harden, shouldn't have been called. Turkish dude shouldn’t have bitten so hard though, that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

Bloody hell that close out was dumb

If Turkey lose from the position they were in then they all gonna go cry out in the car.

Two great Americas-Europe matchups tonight. Two quality zones.

This USA vs Turkey game is awesome. Very entertaining.

US shooting at just 35% from the field in both 2s and 3s?

USF on USA. TUR look home.

Correct fiba rule, this game is amazing

Wow both FT missed.

WTF even more drama! Ridiculous.

What were those freethrows! Choke job or what

What a choke job - four missed FTs!

This has to be one of the most swingy game ever.

This has to be one of the most swingiest games ever.

Make a free throw Turkey. Fuck.

Osman with the choke from the foul line.

Yep, Turkey all gonna go cry in the car now.

Pop relieved after that. USA lucky to win that. 35% from the field.

Well that will go down as the biggest choke.

Looks like usa have lost tatum, do they really have what it takes to win this tournament with just iso.

That's one of the all time chokes. I really cannot believe Turkey blew that.

Not quite. 0.1 sec left