Olympics quarter finals preview Part 1
Wednesday 25 August 2004
USA vs Greece
What a nice reward for the Greeks, scrape past Japan to get a berth in the quarter finals in youe home Olympics and you encounter... the United States.
Kostaki and Maltsi (20.4 ppg so far, she's been a find in this tourney - I'd expect Euro clubs to be knocking on her door) can score but Greece seem to be allergic to defence and Samoroukova has been very disappointing on the inside. The US guards haven't exactly been firing but that's not going to matter against the Greeks who don't seem to understand interior defence (single coverage of LJ in the Greece/Australia match - uhhhhh ok). Lisa, Yo and the rest of the US frontcourt should rack up points in the paint and in front of an enthusiastic Greek crowd, the US should canter to victory.
United States by 25 (and that's being generous to the Greeks)
Russia vs Czech Republic
A grudge match since the Czechs lost a game (in somewhat controversial circumstances) to the Russians in the final of the 2003 European Championships. These teams are rather similar - balanced offences with serviceable guard play but a reliance on versatile forwards to do most of the work.
The Russians have looked a lot better in the round robin stage, while the Czechs seemingly haven't stepped up. The Russians also have an edge in experience - the Czechs could really use Vodichkova and Blahushkova right now. Their frontcourt mainly consists of recent US college graduates and members of the 2001 Junior World Championship team. The Russian backcourt is also better than the Czech backcourt - Korstine has probably been the most consistent player for the Russians all tournament.
I expect this game to be competitive and there are entertaining matchups throughout the whole lineup (Arkhipova/Hamzova, Korstine/Machova, Baranova/Vesela, Stepanova/Vecerova) but I think the Russians will eventually pull away for a solid win.
Russia by 12