2013 FIBA Asia Championship (1st-11th of August)

[Raptor]

2013 FIBA Asia Championship

Host Nation: Philippines
Dates: August 1-11

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_FI...a_Championship

In August this tournament will take off. Iran's aim should be to win the whole thing, but at worst a 3rd place is a must. That way they will automatically qualify to the WC2014 in Spain (although the 4th best placed team might get a wild card as well).

The team is currently in Turkey preparing for these games and Hamed Haddadi seems to be with the team as well. It's very likely that Iran will bring its best team to the tournament - minus Arsalan Kazemi, who will be in US playing in NBA Summer league/trying to impress on NBA scouts. But even without Kazemi, Iran should be, if not the best, one of the better teams.

As for the group; Iran has been drawn into the same group as China, Korea and a Southeast Asian team (yet to be decided). FIBA decided to take away seedings prior to the drawing (really weird thing to do if you ask me), which caused this group to happen. China, along with Iran is probably the favorites to win it all again, and Korea is one of the better teams on the Asian continent (they finished 3rd in 2011). The Southeast Asian team will not stand a chance in this group and will the punchball. And since there will be three teams from each group that will go through, you could already now say that Iran has qualified to the next round.

Go IRAN!

[Raptor]

So what teams should we look out for?

Major threats:
China - has been the best team in Asia for some decades and has dominated the continent heavily - until recently where they lost 2 championships in a row, one of them being on home soil.
Phillipines - Host nation (crazy basketball loving fans) and they are getting better. Also trying to neutralise JaVale McGee of the Denver Nuggets
Jordan - not as great as the other top teams, but they always do play our team tough
Lebanon - another team (like Jordan) that could cause Iran some trouble, but they have dropped in quality compared to 6-8 years ago

Minor threats:
Korea - average team
Japan - average team
Qatar - you'll never know what "new" players they'll bring
Chinese Taipei - major threat if they get Jeremy Lin, but I think in this moment he'll rather try to compete for a place in the US national team


In my opinion, China is and has been on decline ever since Yao Ming was injured/forced to retire from NT (meaning after the Olympics 2008). Even in the latest Asian Championship (2011) they were very lucky to win it all:

• Firstly, the tournament was initially going to be held in Lebanon but FIBA would later decide to move it to China because the Lebanese wasn't able to meet the criteria. Not many nations in Asia have been able to do so and those who could (like Japan or S.Korea) have shown none or little interest to host this tournament. Thus, it left China as the only candidate to host and as a matter of fact they have been hosting four of the last five Asian championships, meaning they have been given a huge advantage for winning the tournament in this span (and thus qualifying for the Olympics and the WC).
• Secondly, Iran looked very impressive in these games until they choked against Jordan in the quarterfinals by underestimating them and eventually losing the game by 2 points. The Jordanians played their hearts out and were able to make most of their shots (they had a very good 3-point game) while Iran played a little bit too relaxed and would make some very costly mistakes down the stretch which made the lead to big to catch. Credits should be given to the Jordanians for beating us, although there were some reports about 2-3 of their players being doped, but nothing is certain and we will probably never find out the truth. They would later go all the way to final and face the hosts China. The Chinese were very lucky to come out of this game with a win, as Jordan missed a couple of big shots at the end and would lose the game only by a single point. The Chinese looked extremely nervous during the second half and was lucky that Jordan did not have a good shooting day (like they did against Iran).

China would thus qualify for the Olympics - but they made an embarrassment out of themselves and Asia by losing all games by huge margins (even against a team like Great Britain that isn't among the best teams in the world). Iran would have done a better job, trust me.

Anyway, enough with the excuses. China will be the main opponent for Iran to beat, but they aren't that good as they were pre-2008.

The other teams listed could all cause trouble on a bad day for Iran, but it would mean a really bad day if we were to lose. The teams that Iran always seem to have problem with is Lebanon and Jordan for some reason, especially the later one. But their team is going through a phase of change and they might not be so strong in near future. Lebanon is kind of same and they have been struggling lately.

[EKBATAN]

we have to get at least 3rd place...its stupid if we dont

i cant believe we missed out on the olympics too cuz of the cheating Jordanians (or was it the lebanese?)

[persian-eagle-13]

^^we missed it cause dumb a$$ haddadi did not show up to play and was playing like a little sissy girl instead of dominating the game!! and after every miss or stupid foul he would just laugh it off like it was big joke to him!!

[Raptor]

Tournament kicks off tomorrow 11.00 local time (UTC+8), with Iran taking on Malaysia in the opening game. Use Time Converter for your local time (choose Philippines - Manila in the first box).

This will be a slaughter and bookmakers have put the line at around -50 for Iran. I wouldn't be surprised if the margin would be much bigger when the game is over.


Some other things to have in mind:

-Apperently FIBA Asia and the Lebanese basketball federation had some disputes, and FIBA decided to ban Lebanon from participating in this tourney. No other team will replace them, meaning group B will only consist of 3 teams (all have automatically qualified to the next round). Read more about it here.

-Also, referring to my earlier post, Korea should be taken a bit more seriously. They have improved vastly in recent years and even beat China in the qualifying games. They are not on a par with Iran yet, but they will not be a pushover either.

Best of luck, Iran!

[Ab-Gosht]

i read jordan might be missing their best american player

[Raptor]

i read jordan might be missing their best american player

You're right. Apparently Jordan is coming without Osama "Sam" Daghlas, Zaid Abbas and the naturalized american Rasheim Wright. They were Jordans best players in 2011 and the main reason (especially Daghlas) why Jordan won against Iran and went all the way to the final.

Abbas is still injured and Daghlas had just recovered from an injury but wasn't included in the match squad by the coach. I don't know what the reason behind Wright's exclusion is.

The absence of these players weakens the Jordanians a lot, but Iran better not underestimate this team ever again.

[Pakzad98]

does anybody know if irib will broadcast?

[Ab-Gosht]

does anybody know if irib will broadcast?

they will most likely i saw them doing ads for it on shabake3

[Irannn]

You're right. Apparently Jordan is coming without Osama "Sam" Daghlas, Zaid Abbas and the naturalized american Rasheim Wright. They were Jordans best players in 2011 and the main reason (especially Daghlas) why Jordan won against Iran and went all the way to the final.

Abbas is still injured and Daghlas had just recovered from an injury but wasn't included in the match squad by the coach. I don't know what the reason behind Wright's exclusion is.

The absence of these players weakens the Jordanians a lot, but Iran better not underestimate this team ever again.

They bought another American player, they can have only one naturalized player so they dumped Wright

[scotian]

Iran 115-Malaysia 25

90 point difference

This was Iran's easiest game of the tournament.

We're grouped with China, Korea and of course Malaysia. China and Iran are both favourites to win the whole thing and Korea isn't a pushover. Next game is in 2 days.

[Raptor]

Iran won against Malaysia 115-25.

With Iran's starting five on the floor, Malaysia only scored 5 points...

Korea is up next tomorrow!

[Hosseini]

LOL, 115-25.... Anyone have the actual stats?

[Hosseini]

Nvm, found it. Haddadi dropped 21 pts while just playing 13 mins. He made 5/5 from the line and shot 88% from the field. Great stats

[Super Shojaei]

any highlights?