Minnesota Sports Forum

Just watched some of the Spain/Serbia game when it was replayed. The amount of layups Ricky passed up to try to make a pass for an easier shot was ridiculous. Serbia played the pass every time and that led to a lot of Ricky's turnovers. If he never shoots when he goes to the hoop, he's gonna struggle to score this year which is not what I wanted to see. I get that he's not a great athlete and doesn't dunk, but he's gotta be willing to absorb some contact and put up a shot if he ever wants that final passing lane around the bucket to open up.

From the New Zealand camp we've had a fairly disappointing campaign, but have qualified for the top 16 and face Lithuania. Losing to the USA by only 27 points aint a bad effort for a team from a country of 4 million people and with only one NBA player who isn't even in the squad (Steve Adams)

Isaac Fotu has been a bit of a revelation. The 20 year old 6' 8" forward who plays for the University of Hawaii might be one to watch in the 2015 draft. Kid has great footwork and is a monster on the boards. Averages 18 / 7 last season with UH with a PER of 21.2. In FIBA he logged a double double with 10 points / 10 rebounds against Ukraine followed up by a 18 points / 8 rebound performance against Finland.

From the Wolves point of view: JJ Barea is leading the tournament in PPG with 22 (shooting 53% from deep). Hopefully that creates atleast a little bit of interest in the trade market. Dieng has cooled off but is still 8th in scoring, 2nd in rebounding and tied for 5th in in blocks. His team faces Spain in what should be a good matchup against Rubio. Speaking of Rubio I wouldn't buy too much into his lack of scoring this tournament. That Spanish team is full of scorers, his job is to feed them which he's been doing well.

Kiwi,

I enjoyed the HAKA dance. I really enjoyed the WTF???? look on the US players faces. A little background on this tadition?


http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/team-usa-baffled-by-new-zealand-basketball-teams-pre-game-haka-dance-201439

Kiwi has posted some of the HAKA routines from rugby matches. They're pretty awesome! I didn't know it has been adopted by their basketball team...

Papal it originates from the Maori people native to New Zealand. They originally performed it to intimidate invading tribes before entering battle during the early 1800's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haka

Other Polynesians countries such as Fiji, Tonga, Tahiti and Samoa have their own versions and Americans can probably best relate to it with Hawaiian culture. Actually the Maori and Hawaiian people are very similar. I have spend a lot of time in Hawaii and the similarities are amazing. They are descendants of the same race of people who migrated across the Pacific

Nowadays the Haka is saved for special occasions and mainly performed by our legendary national rugby team the All Blacks whp pretty much do it to intimidate their opponents. But it is done in respect of their opponents.

They perform two different Haka's. The first being Ka Mate, which is the original haka

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7a-q6-hHV0

and: Kapa o Pango which is a new one and saved for big games:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMxFNMtakyg

The basketball team hasn't performed it in years and it's actually created widespread criticism back home as people think it is 'over done'. If you want to see it at it's intimidating best watch the All Blacks perform it.

This is the English translation for the Ka Mate Haka (pronounced Kar Mar Ti)


Ka mate, ka mate! ka ora! ka ora!
Ka mate! ka mate! ka ora! ka ora!

T?nei te tangata p?huruhuru

N?na nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te r?

?, upane! ka upane!

?, upane, ka upane, whiti te ra!

'Tis death! 'tis death! (or: I may die) 'Tis life! 'tis life! (or: I may live)
'Tis death! 'tis death! 'Tis life! 'tis life!

This is the hairy man

Who brought the sun and caused it to shine

A step upward, another step upward!

A step upward, another... the Sun shines!


There was actually a good documentary aired in the US on 60 minutes that I watched explaining the New Zealand culture and obsession towards rugby. Worthwhile watching, here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j55G2yKzLE