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The Americans sent a message

It was clear who the favorite is even before the tournament, but after 59 in the opening match against solid Finland not even the greatest fans of Spain see their team with much of a chance. Turkey are next in line to beat

Turkey survived a very difficult start to the championship yesterday. New Zealand were rightfully treated with a lot of respect as apart from the fact that the first matches are always difficult, here we have a very unusual team playing completely atypical basketball for European circumstances. This is why Turkish selector Ataman had to make numerous adjustments in order to find the team that will reverse the -11 lag they faced at one point in the match.

- We knew we were up against a tough opponent, which makes this victory even sweeter, as we showed great confidence and character. We've had to adjust to their game, which took some time.

This for example meant Ataman kept his best player Asik on court for just 10 minutes, and later explained:

- They play completely atypical basketball, with very quick tall players who shoot a lot of three pointers, which forced me to pull Asik out of the match. You'll see that other teams, even USA, will struggle with them.

It's a bit surprising that Turkey decisively lost the rebounding battle in a match against a lower, weaker team, but we can chalk that down to the unusual New Zealand's style they have not gotten used to yet. Now they'll face another team they're unfamiliar with, as the USA are a category by themselves. Asik will play much more today, but that will hardly help the Turkish team.

-USA are undoubtedly the top favorite of the tournament, and we know we'll hardly win there. However it's important to continue building our game, as everyone wrote us off as a failure during preparations, and now they expect miracles after one victory. It's up to us to prepare well for the coming matches- said experienced Ataman.

It's clear to him, as well as anyone following this tournament, that it's impossible to beat USA. Not even Spain can do it in the expected final match, as the performance we saw yesterday was simply brilliant. Basketball at its simplest yet greatest form, and no wonder when you have that many quality, motivated players in one team. Finland ended up at -59, even with the USA team having 19 turnovers in the numerous show-time plays, but on the other hand they forced their opponents to 31 turnover with their brilliant defense. Even coach Krzyzewski was impressed:

- This was phenomenal defense. We played tremendous full court defense, pressuring them for 40 minutes. It's very hard to beat us when we play with this much energy.

We'd add its impossible actually. Such physical abilities and talent in one team, while at the same time immensely motivated, is something nobody has. One gets the impression they can do whatever they want to, even playing a quarter where they beat their opponents with an incredible 29-2 score. Coach Krzyzewski played a big part in that:

-Coach motivated us at each time out, yelling they have just 2 points and that they must stay there. Defense is key for us, and we have to do our best there, since that's how you win matches and tournaments- said Curry, who did not have a great shooting night, but that only shows how much potential the USA team has.

They are of course absolute favorites against Turkey, but they will always speak of their next opponent with utmost respect, regardless of how much everyone knew it was just lip service:

-  I was very impressed by Turkey, yesterday they showed heart in coming back from a -11 lag. I hope we'll be ready as they are a great team, and we especially respect Asik, one of the best centers in this tournament- said Coach K.

Everyone can see that Turkey couldn't parry USA in this match even with 12 Asik's, and that the only issue is the end result. The way USA have been playing here, I wouldn't be surprised if yesterday's Finland scenario happened again, since Finland were not playing poorly, they just had no say in the match at all, and neither will Turkey.

This a pretty much clear cut case of USA winning with the only issue being the end score, and I see this as a high value pick for several reasons. First is that both teams base everything on defense. Both Ataman and Krzyzewski like organized plays and strong defenses. Furthermore, if USA played against a run-and-gun Finnish team at under 170 points, I don't see how a slow Turkey will get higher than that. Turkey have no offensive solutions. They'll pass to the centers, and go with slow offense plays. The Americans are strong on transition on the other hand, but if Turkey take that away from them through offensive rebounding and smart set up defense, I don't see why they could not parry USA on defense. Turkey played at under 150 against the lightning quick New Zealand team yesterday, and I cannot imagine this will go above 160. I'm a little bothered with USA relaxing once they reach a larger lead, but this is worth a big bet even with that risk involved.