BuzzerBeater Forums

Its looking difficult right now, but far from impossible, so I hope no one has lost faith yet. Its not over.

Looks still doable. We still have that credit of a +1 victory to cash at some point!

Good job on tactics, looks like you got it spot on!

On now to Estonia. They lost to Armenia today, so they have the same record as us. This makes it a very important game for both of us. Armenia are now in a good position too. They've played the top four teams and won twice, and should really win the remaining three. That leaves a possibility of a group of teams on 5-2 relying on PD to qualify.

Apparently we're playing Lithuania next. They're 4-0, but anyway, all the remaining games are against teams at the top of the group and so we'll need to be at our best for them.

There are times, when after a game you just think "Yeeah, we have killed those fuckers", but it hasn't been the case today :) I really enjoyed seeing the game, which was as intriguing as NBA finals, and also I had fun chatting with you. Such a great community here, in England :) Good luck with your season, guys!

Cheers, enjoyed it too. Thanks for stopping by ;).

Thanks man, really appreciate that. Was nice to see so many people from both nations. Close games are always good but obviously I didn't enjoy it as much as you. You have a very good team, you'll also be doing us a huge favour if you go and beat Finland in a couple of weeks.

You have a very good team, you'll also be doing us a huge favour if you go and beat Finland in a couple of weeks. :D

It depends on our gameshapes, but I'll try my best :)

ENGLAND HOPES HANGING BY A THREAD AFTER SECOND CLOSE LOSS
We got off to a great start for once, leading by 10 at one point in the first quarter, but I never felt that Lithuania were beaten. I was fairly confident we were going to win, but didn't think we'd keep up that kind of pace. Sadly that turned out to be all too true. Another poor second quarter saw Lithuania go in ahead at the half. I prediced then that we'd be level after three quarters, in fact we were one ahead at that point. But sadly my prediction that we'd be too strong in the fourth was not correct. Most of the fourth quarter saw us either ahead by 1 or behind by 1, until with less than four minutes to go they scored, we missed, and they scored again to create a four point lead. I didn't think that was the end of the game, but it did prove insurmountable for us.

Lithuania are a strong team, but I don't feel they were unbeatable. We came up short and I think we can all see that the game shape this week was unquestionably the best of the season. I think I've come up short again in getting the best out of the players, especially by creating a situation where Innes played far too long.

Marshall top scored with 25. He and Sharpling led assits with 5, and MacAusland led rebounding with 15, despite only playing 21 minutes.

This leaves us in a very precarious position within the group. We no longer control our own destiny, but since its not impossible to qualify we need to keep going. Obviously we can't afford another loss so that makes things rather simple for us. Perhaps not simple, less complicated is probably better. We do need other results to go our way, I won't say which, but its fairly clear.

Credit to all the managers for the game shape this week.

Credit to you for choosing a team to compete with a very strong nation as well as a kudos to the managers of the players for maintaining great game shape. I think we can all agree England is moving in the right direction and hopefully we'll be beating the likes of Lithuania in seasons to come.

The game was within one point (up or down) until the last minute, despite a couple of 3 pointers in a row that could have killed us. It's disappointing that 2 games didn't go our way, I'm sure Gully is more disappointed than we are. You need a bit of luck sometimes. Now it's extremely difficult to qualify, but never say never, Estonia nearly beat Finland today, so it's reasonable to expect they will be a very tough opponent both for us and Lithuania.

I'll keep training Innes for his poor shooting... it's his major weakness for sure ;)

Honestly to have the only 2 games we have lost for a total of 5 points difference, it is harsh that we have come so close. I'll get back to the grindstone and see what I can do to pull my boys up by the bootstraps and hone them even further. If Tata capitalises on my PF's weak shooting this week then I'll be able to round them off without the tournament competitive games to worry about.