# Gold Medal Game Espana vs Hellas 6:30 AM ESPN2 Sun 9/2



## Diable

As I understand it there is a chance that Pau Gasol will play in this game.I really wouldn't think that will happen,but anyone with definitive news may feel free to contribute.From what little I know this looks like a contest of contrasting styles with the Spaniards looking to play a much more wide open style.Both of these teams have superb backcourt players,although I find the Spaniards far more exciting to watch personally.Even without Gasol both sides will be strong inside,but the Spaniards seem to have much greater athleticism in their bigs from what I have observed.I think it comes down to which coach does the better job of preparing his team and getting his team to execute.


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## Helter Skelter

We need a miracle to win a Greece without Pau . Maybe Navarro can take control .

In Spain , the team is named the ÑBA .


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## Darman

Sunday 9/3... I almost had an heart attack :clown:

Oh btw... GO GREECE!!! :banana:


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## Panathinaikos13

GO GREEECE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!we are the best team in the universe and we will prove it once more!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Dissonance

At the end of Sportscenter, they said Gasol is out with a fractured foot.


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## Darman

Panathinaikos13 said:


> GO GREEECE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!we are the best team in the universe and we will prove it once more!!!!!!!!!!!!


Oh... wait man!

Maybe in another planet there are some 8" tall aliens who play basketball... who knows :biggrin:


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## Perseas

LOL!!! hehehe... good one Darman .... Seriously now, Gasol, or no Gasol, I truly believe that this game is harder than the US game... They know us better and they have as much heart and national pride as us.. It's gonna be a cracking game though... that's for sure... I'd say it's clearly a 50-50 game, but I'll give the Spaniards a 55-45 chance...


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## european

Perseas said:


> I'd say it's clearly a 50-50 game, but I'll give the Spaniards a 55-45 chance...


No way, you are being a bit too pesimistic.
With Gasol I think that would be a 50-50 game.
Without Gasol for me it is 65-35 for Greece.


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## Panathinaikos13

Darman said:


> Oh... wait man!
> 
> Maybe in another planet there are some 8" tall aliens who play basketball... who knows :biggrin:




lol


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## IbizaXL

Spain is the better team imo, but since Gasol is not playing then its anybodies game.

Anyways im still rooting for ESPANA!!


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## CocaineisaHelluvaDrug

I personally believe this game will be won by whoevers guards play the best on the day,i feel there is very little taent difference between the teams and the pg/sg matchups will be crucial in determining theoutcome


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## IbizaXL

Helter Skelter said:


> We need a miracle to win a Greece without Pau . Maybe Navarro can take control .
> 
> In Spain , the team is named the *Ñ*BA .


hey, how did you do that thing with the "N"? i try doing it but it doesnt work for me


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## BG7

I got my alarm clock set to 5:30....hopefully this isn't like the USA vs. Greece game where i had my alarm clock set for 2:30, wake up, see the starting lineup image....fall asleep at 2:32...lol.


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## Diable

Greece hasn't looked very crisp to me.It looks as though Spain's zone is giving them a lot of trouble right now


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## Yao Mania

with Gasol out, I don't think Greece was prepared for this coming into the game. Gabbadosa's killing them with the 3 ball.


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## jordan0386

*lMAO*


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## Diable

Greece doesn't seem to care as much about playing Spain as they did us.Spain is killing them with greater intensity and hustle so far.It looks to me as though they'd be a lot less difficult to deal with if we'd been more familiar with what they do.


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## Yao Mania

I love how the greek coach smacks Sofo's *** everytime he heads back to the bench :laugh:


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## Diable

Greece can't make this more of a game real quick I'm going back to bed


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## Perseas

This Spanish team is amazing. They are running like hell in defense and are sinking everything in offense. This must be one of the best defenses I've ever seen. I honestly cannot see how this game is going to turn around. 20 points difference is too much for 13 minutes against a team like that. Spain are over us in every statistical category. Hats off to Spain, they are an amazing team. But I have to say, there is no passion in our team right now.They are frustrated, nothing seems to sink and the Spaniards are taking full advantage of it... Bad day to have a bad game....


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## Perseas

Well this is getting embarassing... This is one of the worst performances from a Greek team I've seen for years. But hats off to Spain again... they brought this on us...


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## Panathinaikos13

this is a joke

bye bye


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## Perseas

Nope, this is a nightmare... 7:30 to go and all I hope now is that the scoreline does not get too embarassing. The bad thing that you can see it in the players eyes... they do not believe it anymore... Gongrats to Spain. A worthy World Champion... This is not the difference of the two teams but on the day, it's a thousand miles between them... I am not seeing the Greek team though right now... I am more than happy with the silver medal... but not with this day's performance...


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## Perseas

This is over... 3:40 to go, 25 points. See you in next year's Eurobasket guys... Gongrats to Spain.


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## MemphisX

What happened to all the Greek fans who couldn't wait the spew after beating Team USA?


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## neural_dream

lol. here we are. Just not as loud .

Congrats Spain and Pau. :clap: :clap: :clap:


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## MemphisX

neural_dream said:


> lol. here we are. Just not as loud .
> 
> Congrats Spain and Pau. :clap: :clap: :clap:



Good. It was a wonderful WC from start to finish.

Refs were even. Competition was tough.

1 Month to go until camp opens up. :clap:


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## Perseas

Yeap.. here we are... And we're not gonna make stupid arguments about "what went wrong" etc etc... yes it was an off day, but Spain completely walked all over us. This is an amazing team. It's their first title in International Competition (a little too late if you ask me - I still remember that squad with Solozabal, Epi and the Martin brothers) and a very worthy one. I'll make one argument though. It's a great success and honour for a coutrny like Greece, with its tiny population of 10 million people to be in the top teams of the world. And we 're here to stay guys, mark my words...


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## Perseas

This was a great moment, Pau being helped by his teammates up to the podium to recieve the trophy... A very very big thank you to the Greek players for the fantastic moents they gave us fans during this tournament. Even this bitter defeat cannot demise this great success for Greek basketball. Thank you guys for allowing me to live this. We 're waiting for you with open arms back here...


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## Perseas

I just turned the channels, only to see that hte streets in all Greek cities are packed by people celebrating, even after this big defeat.... this is great... I love this.. The guys will have the reception they deserve when they get back...!!!


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## Merf

bbasok said:


> let's hope he can play the final...I don't want a 20-30 point Greece win in the final





Panathinaikos13 said:


> too bad cause we would love to win you with all your players,hehe
> 
> Greece is already the Champion of the world





Kento said:


> Oooooh, 3 NBA players?????!! Now that's intimidating! ...Greece will win by a minimum of 15 points with or without Gasol. Take it to the bank.
> 
> I really hope he plays, though. I don't wanna be hearing lame excuses on Sunday. Wake up and smell the coffee this Greek team ain't losing!





albus said:


> , Spain without Gasol its on º12 on world ranking , Spain=gasol ; Germany = nowitzki
> 
> Without Gasol Greece will win at least 20 o 30 points agains spain , and with Gasol greece its favourite
> Spain always fail in big events (they only have 5 silvers and 2 bronzes in eurobaskets and 1 silver on olympic games , sunday the will have another silver)
> 
> Bet on Greece , free money





kisstherim said:


> seems the Greece is gonna get the Gold medal





arkas13 said:


> And Now Spain. All The Good Customers! We Will Take Care And Them. Attenton To My Spanish Friends: Bring Vaseline Because It Will Hurt.


O-W-N-E-D

Sorry, had to say it


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## Perseas

And you have every right to... fire away guys, I, at least, am not going anywhere...


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## Auggie

congrats to spain on getting gold medal, even without gasol! greece clearly had an off-day but overall had a great tournament


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## drdeath

tbh say whatever you want

you won't see any greek making threads "why team greece didnt win" etc

we know who we are ..we know that spain deserved to win in this game and as papaloukas just said on the radio " trying to find excuses for our defeat isnt right, we ve lost the game because spain played rly good and we couldnt score...this was one of the nights where you just cant score as friday was one of the nights where every shoot is in the basket."

team spain played an extraordinary defense when team greece couldnt score at all.

Learn to lose imo.

Grats to team spain they rly deserved it.Extraordinary zone defense.


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## Merf

Perseas said:


> And you have every right to... fire away guys, I, at least, am not going anywhere...


Nah, I wouldn't quote you or other more... moderate fans. But I've been waiting patiently to quote those above (and some others that I can't find now).

They deserve a BIG owned.


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## drdeath

Merf said:


> Nah, I wouldn't quote you or other more... moderate fans. But I've been waiting patiently to quote those above (and some others that I can't find now).
> 
> They deserve a BIG owned.



hmmm that makes you one of them maybe?


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## Lukaslo

Congratulations to Spain  Great win really good 1st and 2nd quater


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## Merf

drdeath said:


> hmmm that makes you one of them maybe?


Maybe . But I'd never talk about the other team like that before a match.


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## jayco

SPAIN THE BEST, OF THE BEST. WHO SAID SPAIN=GASOL, Who said it? THIS IS A REAL TEAM.


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## Darman

Congratulations Spain! :clap: 

Great combination of athletic, tecnical skills and great basket IQ. ( :angel: )

I only think Greece didn't deserve so much gab: probably using 2 non european ref (one from USA and the other from Argentina) had given an advantage to the more physical players (very aggressive defence but with few fouls).

Greek player couldn't shoot neither open shots, bad day for them.

But today Spain was too strong for anybody.


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## kironte

arkas13 said:


> And Now Spain. All The Good Customers! We Will Take Care And Them. Attenton To My Spanish Friends: Bring Vaseline Because It Will Hurt.


I´ve brought the vaseline,you can grab your ankles while I go tell Schortsianitis that you are prepared and ready
:rbanana: :rbanana: :rbanana: :rbanana: :rbanana: :rbanana: :rbanana: 
:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: 
:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:
:rbanana: :rbanana: :rbanana: :rbanana: :rbanana: :rbanana: :rbanana:


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## Banjoriddim

MemphisX said:


> Good. It was a wonderful WC from start to finish.
> 
> Refs were even. Competition was tough.
> 
> 1 Month to go until camp opens up. :clap:


btw gongrats to you as loyal Memphis fan since your hero got deserved credit by reciving WC MVP trophy. Also it's nice to hear that Greece people arent that hard on theire players and are having fun. Damn, Spain defense was something I havent seen for long long time...


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## jayco

Banjoriddim said:


> btw gongrats to you as loyal Memphis fan since your hero got deserved credit by reciving WC MVP trophy. Also it's nice to hear that Greece people arent that hard on theire players and are having fun. Damn, Spain defense was something I havent seen for long long time...


Yeah that defense was the key. Greece had an average of 11 points each quarter.


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## Panathinaikos13

Merf said:


> O-W-N-E-D
> 
> Sorry, had to say it



eiste kwlofardoi kai tpt allo

malakes

partarxidia mou twra ,oute pou prokeite na sou kanw reply,papara


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## scooter

Greece obviously shot their wad against the US. 

Remember, its a single elimination with short games. Just about any team can have a great 10 minutes or a terrible 10 minutes and that's all it takes to end the tournament for somebody.


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## kironte

Panathinaikos13 said:


> eiste kwlofardoi kai tpt allo
> 
> malakes
> 
> partarxidia mou twra ,oute pou prokeite na sou kanw reply,papara


Please if you are gonna say somethingh make understandable for all of us

It´s been prooved that some of you greek fans dont no how to win nor to lose, you should learn from your NT players.Respect for them


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## ChiBron

Greece simply lucked out against the US. They're not a good shooting team but shot the **** out of the ball against us. Perfect example of why you shouldn't take much out of knockout tournaments. The best team rarely ever wins.


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## jayco

SPMJ said:


> Greece simply lucked out against the US. They're not a good shooting team but shot the **** out of the ball against us. Perfect example of why you shouldn't take much out of knockout tournaments. *The best team rarely ever wins*.


 * FINAL*
03/09/2006 SPAIN - Greece 70-47 

*Semifinal * 
01/09/2006 Argentina - SPAIN 74-75

*Quarters of final * 
29/08/2006 SPAIN - Lithuania 89-67 

*Eights of final * 
26/08/2006 SPAIN - Serbia 87-75 
* Group B*
Group B - Day 5 
24/08/2006 Japan - SPAIN 55-104 
Group B - Day 4 
23/08/2006 SPAIN - Angola 93-83 
Group B - Day 3 
21/08/2006 Germany - SPAIN 71-92 
Group B - Day 2 
20/08/2006 Panama - SPAIN 57-101 
Group B - Day 1 
19/08/2006 SPAIN - New Zeland 86-70 

*Friendly Matches before the WC*
13/08/2006 SPAIN - Argentina 87-66 
12/08/2006 SPAIN - Serbia 80-65 
11/08/2006 SPAIN - Eslovenia 96-85 
06/08/2006 SPAIN - Argentina 79-67 
05/08/2006 SPAIN - Poland 89-57 

I think the best team won.

Friendly (5-0) WC (9-0)


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## Chris S

kironte said:


> Please if you are gonna say somethingh make understandable for all of us
> 
> It´s been prooved that some of you greek fans dont no how to win nor to lose, you should learn from your NT players.Respect for them



He said, roughly translating (trying to get the rough meaning since some words can't be exactly translated:

'You're No Masked Cursing -YM lucky and that's all.

No Masked Cursing -YM

Inappropriate comment - YM

of course he's too much of a coward to say it in English where you can understand him, as if speaking in Greek somehow makes him special or cool or whatever. Pathetic, and I see this whenever Greece has something important to do with any event, especially a sports one. Unfortunately a large number of Greeks are hot headed, loud mouthed, ignorant and extreme nationalists who think they're the pinackle of human civilization and culture and inherently better than everybody else, and these paint a bad picture for the more reasonable ones as well unfortunately.


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## bbasok

greece played their final on Friday


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## drdeath

learn to lose

life goes on ..it's just a game

trying to prove that the one who beat you was just lucky and that greece didnt win but you lost the game (because omg you re so gr8 you got the best physical players in the world you re the world champions..you can dunk you can shoot ..is it a bird ..is it a plane? etc etc) makes you so small in the eyes of your opponents.

To respect your opponent makes you a champion ...to accept your mistakes and learn from them.

You were too close to do this in this tournament and i respect team usa for this...they admitted greece played extraordinary .. on the other hand you dont.

As we lost the final we could go on and on saying ..."omg we couldnt score this was a tragic night for the greek team etc"

we celebrate our silver medal...we love our team we salute the champions spain and respect them because THEY won us ..we didnt lose..even if we had like 10 points in each period and our statistics were so very bad for a final.
Spain won congrats to them.
Just admit it and try harder ...
Imo just let a coach work with your players ..dont crucify him because he couldnt get the gold...
try to play like a team and go back to the fundamentals of the game and the rest will follow.
If greece gave you a lesson in the semifinal ..you must watch the FINAL again and again and realise that spain won because of their extraordinary teamplay in defense the IQ basketball.
They forced us to have such a bad night today.
They didnt put it down even without their superstar..they did even a better job without him.
One man cannot win a game.
Whatever his name is.


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## Merf

Panathinaikos13 said:


> eiste kwlofardoi kai tpt allo
> 
> malakes
> 
> partarxidia mou twra ,oute pou prokeite na sou kanw reply,papara


People like you make me enjoy the title much more, thanks


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## neural_dream

Congrats to the best team of this World Championship :clap: :clap: :clap: and of course to Pau Gasol :clap: :clap: :clap: .

As for the 4-5 annoying Greeks. Forgive them, they live with their moms and drink coffee all day :clown: , so that's the only way to express themselves, by registering to an international website just to swear in Greek with latin characters!!!

Also, congrats to my team for winning the silver medal, although tbh what's the point being happy for anything than the gold. As if in a few years anyone will remember who was second in 2006  .


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## franjesus

Panathinaikos13 said:


> eiste kwlofardoi kai tpt allo
> 
> malakes
> 
> partarxidia mou twra ,oute pou prokeite na sou kanw reply,papara


Which means:

you are people that have too much luck and nothing more

malakes (wankers, pajilleros, the national inslut of Greece :biggrin: )

take my "balls" now, i wont reply to you. papara=is something offensive that i cannot really translate it has to do with the balls again.

Nice fair-play answer!!! :clap:


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## Darman

neural_dream said:


> Congrats to the best team of this World Championship :clap: :clap: :clap: and of course to Pau Gasol :clap: :clap: :clap: .
> 
> As for the 4-5 annoying Greeks. Forgive them, they live with their moms and drink coffee all day :clown: , so that's the only way to express themselves, by registering to an international website just to swear in Greek with latin characters!!!
> 
> Also, congrats to my team for winning the silver medal, although tbh what's the point being happy for anything than the gold. As if in a few years anyone will remember who was second in 2006  .


Ehi neural_dream, are you the guy who posted in Ubizoo? :cheers:


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## mook

I think the real lesson here is that there's no lesson for the US except the world has caught up. A great group of players playing against a good group of players can easily lose in single elimination. Don't read too much into it. the US barely loses one day, then trounces a very similar quality team the next. 

congrats to Spain. without Gasol, I didn't think they'd stand a chance.


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## neural_dream

Darman said:


> Ehi neural_dream, are you the guy who posted in Ubizoo? :cheers:


Yup :cheers:


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## Harper_Reston

Congratulations to Spain!!! Evenif Greece was my fave team, Spanish players were better in the final and they are rightly the World Basketball Champions :clap:


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## kironte

I just read that the father of the spanish NTcoach Pepu Hernandez died a few hours before the final, he didnt tell the players and still did a fantastic job coaching throughout the match(and the whole championship)

That man deserves a statue
:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:


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## neural_dream

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:


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## Pulteney

Panathinaikos13 said:


> eiste kwlofardoi kai tpt allo
> 
> malakes
> 
> partarxidia mou twra ,oute pou prokeite na sou kanw reply,papara


Pathetic attitude... luckily you don´t represent anybody because you can scarcely represent yourself... Most of Greek fans are great but guys like you are just sad... Get a life, man...


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## cv3bandwagon

As a raptor fan I'm glad we scouped up Jorge. He played fantastic defense today.........that to go along with his 20-10 of course.


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## futuristxen

Congrats Spain!
I was suprised by them because I really had questions about their composure in these type of things. But they seem to have put it together this time around.

I think both Greece and Spain played their finals on Friday. Beating Argentina was much more meaningful for Spain I would gather, as was Greece beating the US.


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## IbizaXL

go Spain! :banana: 

congratz to them, and they did it without their star Gasol.


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## More

The first gold medal for spanish basketball. This is just ****ing amazing, for Spain this is so big,the greatest triumph for a team sport. Spain has had a great history on individuals but this is just superior. I hope this makes basketball overcome in importance the soccer NT since in this country.

Go España! :banana:


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## Panathinaikos13

franjesus said:


> Which means:
> 
> you are people that have too much luck and nothing more
> 
> malakes (wankers, pajilleros, the national inslut of Greece :biggrin: )
> 
> take my "balls" now, i wont reply to you. papara=is something offensive that i cannot really translate it has to do with the balls again.
> 
> Nice fair-play answer!!! :clap:



sorry for this reply,i was drunk 

congrats to spain,we were on a very bad day and you were at your best

no offence for the other replies, it was my fault

anyway 1st in euro 2004(soccer) 1st in bball 2005 euro and 2nd in world champ plus some great achivments in other sports is a great run dont you think?


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## neural_dream

Panathinaikos13 said:


> sorry for this reply,i was drunk
> 
> congrats to spain,we were on a very bad day and you were at your best
> 
> no offence for the other replies, it was my fault
> 
> anyway 1st in euro 2004(soccer) 1st in bball 2005 euro and 2nd in world champ plus some great achivments in other sports is a great run dont you think?


sure, except nobody outside Greece cares really. Add Eurovision too :biggrin:.


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## Panathinaikos13

i bet you care,for the 2004 mostly hehehe,judging from your location


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## neural_dream

I'm Greek


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## Panathinaikos13

lol


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## arkas13

Merf said:


> O-W-N-E-D
> 
> Sorry, had to say it


 CONGRATULATIONS MY FRIEND YOU WERE BETTER.


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## Perseas

More said:


> [...]The first gold medal for spanish basketball. This is just ****ing amazing, for Spain this is so big,the greatest triumph for a team sport.[...]


Yes this must be big. Spain have placed well and even won a number of medals in Europeans, Worlds or Olympics in the past, but have never made it to the top spot of the podium. There have been great Spanish teams in the past and great payers (the generation of Epi, Corbalan, Solozabal and the Martins) but they never managed to win a titlte. It will be great to see tems like Spain, Greece, Lithuania, Turkey, Germany, in next year's Eurobasket. The Spanish have the edge though... home field advantage...


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## Ladrero

Spanish people, We are the Champions, thanks Gasol, you are the best player in the world. Thanks Navarro, thanks Calderón, thanks Garbajosa, thanks Jiménez, thanks Felipe...
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS IN THE WORLD FOR 4 YEARS, SPAIN IS THE BEST TEAM!!!!!
I LOVE SPAIN.


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