# Singapore tournament (Argentina, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain)



## Matej (Aug 14, 2005)

Serbia & Montenegro - Argentina 83-64 (Report) 

Spain - Slovenia 96-85 (Report)

Next games:

Saturday 12 August
6:15pm - Game 5 - Argentina v Slovenia
8:30pm - Game 6 - Spain v Serbia & Montenegro

Sunday 13 August
4:15pm - Game 9 - Serbia & Montenegro v Slovenia
6:30pm - Game 10 - Spain v Argentina 

Has anyone seen first two games?Any thoughts?


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## crazyfan (Dec 9, 2005)

I was lucky enough to be in Singapore this week for the round of games. I was busy on the 1st night and couldnt make it in time for theArgentina and Slovenia game due to a huge traffic jam from my hotel to the Indoor Stadium. (There was some huge party going on in Singapore.) Argentina won the game by the way.

Luckily I was able to catch the game between SCG and Spain. Here are some of my comments.

1st Half.

The 1st half was pretty much controlled by Spain. An all-around effort by the Spanish starting 5, looking pretty fluid in their attack and offense.

Serbia and Montenegro on the other hand, looked rather lacklustre entering the game and never really got going. 

The 2 stars against Argentina, Milicic and Perovic werent as effective in the 1st half, with 6 and 5 points respectively and not really contributing much besides a couple of easy defensive rebounds. 

They were getting the ball but were'nt doing much. Their guards were keeping them in the game but all those 3 pointers they made to crush Argentina simply were not falling today.

Half time. Spain up by 11 points.

2nd Half.
Spain begin the half the exact opposite of the 1st. They turned the ball over a couple of times on a the 1st few possesions and let SCG get back into the game to within 3 points. Darko had a 3 pointer and a nice layup over P.Gasol. 

Key Spanish cogs Navarro and Jimenez were in foul trouble, 4 just 3 minutes into the 3rd quater, Calderon the point guard was not creating much either. P.Gasol was struggling as well.
At this point, it looked as though, we would actually have a game on, especially with Milicic 'seemingly gonna start dominating'.

However, Spanish reserves, Sergio Rodriguez, Rudy Fernandez, Marc Gasol(Pau's bro), Reyes and a couple others really stepped up big, especially Rudy Fernandez who looked impressive. 

With Navarro and Jimenez out, they stepped up and really dominated SCG, who looked extremely lost both on offense and defense.

The lead soon grew from 5 to 10 to 20 and eventually ended up at around 15 due to Serbia scoring some needless buckets in garbage time.



Here are some more specific comments on some of the players of their performances tonight:

Rudy Fernandez
He was relatively quiet in the 1st half. But in the 2nd half, when it seemed as though SCG were going to make a run back with their Jerovic making buckets, Rudy stepped in for Navarro and showed fantastic defense on Jerovic keeping him out of the game entirely. 
He got a couple of steals and forced numerous turnovers and overall played pretty good defense. On offense, he showed the ability to catch and shoot from the three and just inside it. A good shooter, he didnt penetrate that much, especially with Milicic and Perovic in the middle.

On the downside, despite his height, 6-6, he looks awfully thin. From where i was sitting which was pretty near the court, he looked thinner than a 6 foot Jose Calderon. Not a good sign for a player who wants to play on the wing in the NBA. 
He really needs to put on some weight. He has good athletism too and I wouldnt be suprised if he ends being a 1st round pick next year.(Not sure of his contract situation in Europe)


Sergio Rodriguez
Just looking at him play for the 1st time, it really is no wonder to me why he was so highly rated in this year's draft. He came on at similar time to Rudy in the 2nd half for an inefficient Calderon and really sparked the offense. 
He looked extremely comfortable on the fast break transition. He looked equally as impressive in the half court offense and got things started for Spain with a couple of assists including one very impressive alley-oop out of nothing for a reverse dunk by Rudy for the dunk of the game and probably the dunk of the competition so far.
He has pretty good court vision and grade A passer although both could still be worked on. He seems to have decent 'upside'. 

Sergio is probably the most entertaining player in the competition(Yes, more that Manu). When he is on the court, you could sense the crowd's spirits lifted and cheers getting louder. He pleased them with a wide array of crossovers and flashy moves. 
Here is where his main problem lies.
His flashiness is truly entertaining and a joy to watch but at the same time he tries to many moves or crossovers that he turns the ball over or gets himself into a total mess, leading a travel or a misplaced desperate pass. 
If he can curb this problem but still have that tinch of flashiness, we could see the next Jason Kidd maybe with better shooting. Sergio nailed a three with considerable ease and looks to have a good form on his shot. 

He looks to be spark plug of the bench for the Spanish in the World Championships that could really scare teams with his blinding speed and crossovers.

Portland seemed to have drafted a really talented lead guard and may start now that Telfair and Blake are gone, with only Jarrett Jack and Juan Dixon who is more a 2 guard left in the PG rotation.
A darkhose for ROY if he gets minutes.


By the way, there have been comparisons with him to Jason Williams and to be fair they actually look alike from where i saw him!



Rudy and Sergio:
Both are young and seem to have a good chemisty playing alongside one another. The future seems bright for Spain with these 2 anchoring the backcourt.


Milicic:
One word- Disappointing. After reading about his performance against Argentina, I was really hyped to see him tonight against Spain and their bigmen. 
He was quiet throughout the game apart for a 2 minutes stretch where he nailed a three and a layup over Pau Gasol on consecutive possesions.
He seemed to be gaining control of the game! After that though, he played horribly and was taken out and not put back in.

He was the 1st option on almost all of SCG's possesions and when given the ball, he would either make a very poor and weak pass or pull up for a contested and weak shot that would never go in. Even when he made it to the free throw line, he seemed to lack confidence.

After badly missing on the 1st one, instead of calming himself down, he hurriedly took the 2nd one and missed even more badly, a far cry from the 1st half where he sank all of his 4 free throws with ease. Soon, he just coasted around the court, looked very out of confidence.

Its extremely puzzling to me why a 7 footer of his talent cant even put up a more satisfying and decent performance. He lacks consistency from game to game.

To be fair to Milicic, He is just 21 and asking him to carry a team on his shoulders like we expect him to might be a little to much at his age, especially since he was already suffering from a lack of playing time in the NBA. 

Hopefully, the Magic can get him some PT this season and let him really grow. Maybe in a couple years, we can really expect him to lead SCG how we expect him to.


Just to wrap up, dont expect much from Serbia at this World Championships. They're a young team without their superstars in the NBA.
Spain on the other hand, look pretty impressive. They are still smarting from that Olympics disappointment in 2004 and a victory tomorrow against Argentina could really boost their chances in Japan.


Im really tired, and i cant wait to sleep. Hopefully I will be able to check back tomorrow for the games on show but until then, good night!


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## Matej (Aug 14, 2005)

Here are the final results of all three days:

Singapur Cup 2006

Friday
Argentina : *Serbia* 64:83

Slovenia : *Spain* 85:96
(70:77, 57:56, 30:25)


Saturday
*Argentina* : Slovenia 94:72 (77:49, 48:42, 20:22)

*Spain* : Serbia 85:60


Sunday
*Slovenia* : Serbia 78:74 (53:64, 34:37, 16:16).

*Spain* : Argentina 87:66


Spain won the Cup without losing a game, other three teams had 1 win and 2 losses each.


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