Day 2- Scoreboard
Group A
Croatia 85 Russia 78
Lithuania 99 Iran 67
Argentina 85 Australia 68
Group A Standings
Lithuana 2-0
Croatia 2-0
Argentina 1-1
Russia 1-1
Australia 0-2
Iran 0-2
Group B
Greece 87 Germany 64
Spain 85 China 75 OT
U.S.A 97 vs Angola 76
Group B Standings
U.S.A 2-0
Spain 2-0
Greece 1-1
Germany 1-1
China 0-2
Angola 0-2
Raptors Report From China
Chris Bosh (USA) 8 Pts, 2 Reb
Jose Calderon (Spain) 2 Pts, 6 Reb, 1 Ast
Roko Ukic (Croatia) 7 Pts, 5 Reb, 2 Ast
Georgios Printezis (Greece) 6Pts, 1 Reb
Bosh played just 14 minutes for the United States in a win over Angola. Jose Calderon was not in the starting line-up and did not have a good day as Spain was taken to overtime to eventually defeat China. Croatia had a big win over Russia and Roko Ukic played 26 minutes at point guard for his nation in the win. Georgios Printezis saw his first action of the Olympics he scored 6 points in just 9 minutes as Greece blew out Germany for their first win of the tournament.
Spain Photo Shoot Gone Bad
Spain had it troubles on the floor with China today. But they are having trouble with off the floor as well. A photo of the Spainish Team making their eyes look Chinese. It was done for some type of advertising campain back in Spain. Many have taken the photo to be racist and at the least showing a lack of respect to China and it’s people. Raptor fans have also been upset to disappointed that Jose Calderon was part of this photo. It should be noted the entire Spanish team was. Could Jose have said something or objected? He likely could have but this is one questionable choice in a long history that has always shown Jose to be a classy person and of high quality. He also did what Jose is always praised for doing, the exact same thing as his team. In this case being a team player cost Jose. If anything blame the people at Spain Basketball for putting it’s players in this bad spot. If you have yet to see the photo that is causing all the uproar I will provide a link below:
Hopefully this is something that can be put behind Jose Calderon who is already carrying the hopes of a country in China and will carry the hopes of the Raptors in the 08/09 season.
Dino Bloggers Take On Tournment So Far:
Croatia has had a good run so far a win over Russia today for them will be very big or at least could be. Chris Bosh has really looked good in limited minutes for the United States which for Raptor Fans I think is the best case you could hope for as a Raptor Fan. Despite two loses I have been impressed by the play of China as I honestly did not give them much of a chance in this tournament despite the home court advantage. But they showed today that if you sleep on China you may end up very sorry. The biggest disappointment has been Argentina. Yes it took a last second shot to beat them by Lithuana. But look at what Spain did today. Despite a bad performance they found a way to win and Argentina did not. Argentina has the easy draw and pool and if they wanted to impress me and the world they needed to win all their round robin games. Germany has not done much to impress me as well. Ultimately what I thought coming in to this tournament has not changed. It is a 2 horse race between the United States and Spain. Some of you may have read about Pat Mills the friend of Nathan Jawai. Jawai is not at Olympics but Mills is and had 22 in the lose to Argentina. Mills should be going back for his second year @St.Mary’s in the NCAA. He hopes to follow his friend into the NBA at some point in his basketball career.
UPDATE 2pm: Calderon Reaction To Picture Issue:
Here is a quote from Jose Calderon’s Website from Jose on this issue:
Jose Calderon-”I would like to share a story with you about something that happened with the Spanish National Team that someone interpreted incorrectly. It happened in the photo session where the Spanish National Team was introduced; one of our sponsors asked us to pose with a “wink” to our participation in Beijing, we made an oriental expression with our eyes. We thought it was something appropriate and that it would always be interpreted as somewhat loving. Never the less some of the European media did not see it this way.
From here I would like to declare that we have a huge respect for the East and their people, some of my best friends in Toronto are from China and one of our Spanish National Team sponsors is the Chinese brand Li Ning. Anyone who would like to interpret this differently is absolutely confused.”
To read his complete blog including his thoughts on today’s game which was ironically against China:
Tags: Chris Bosh, Gerogios Printezis, Jose Calderon, Olympics 2008, Olympics Basketball Results, Patrick Mills, Raptors At The Olympics, Roko Ukic, Spain Basketball, U.S.A Basketball, Yao Ming
August 12, 2008 at 3:18 pm |
Hey DinoBlogger thanks for the chatroom invite it was fun. Now onto the Spanish Basketball Team photo, I believe that the spaniards had no intention of mocking the asian community. I think since we live in a diverse society we are told to be tolerant to other who have different origins and such. I don’t think that Spain is as culturaly diverse as in North America, which could give a reason as to why they though the gesture was appropriate in their minds eye. At least Calderon explained himself and the national and are sorry for what they did. We can only hope that they can learn from this.