10 Things You Need to Know About EuroBasket 2007

It's been five days since EuroBasket 2007 ended in Spain, but the tournament is worth revisiting. Sixteen teams squared off in the two-week long competition creating thousands of basketball memories in the process. Since your brain is too crammed with ATM pin numbers, email passwords and phone numbers as it is, I've taken the liberty to shrink everything that went down into a succinct top 10 list to cram into your hippocampus.

1. Approximately five percent of the NBA played in it.

With the NBA season still nearly six weeks away, 24 of the 450 or so players in the league congregated for EuroBasket. Basically, that's the equivalent of a really good summer barbeque party. Only it lasted for two weeks, which is even better. Here's a nice picture guide as to who was there. The 24 players were spread out over 10 countries: France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey.

2. Russia won it.

As basketball history will show you, a lot of times what decides who wins and who loses is pretty simple. Whichever team has the best player out of the 10 men out on the court has a decided advantage for the most part. Well, the best player at EuroBasket was Utah's Andrei Kirilenko. In the semifinals, Russia was tied with Lithuania in the third quarter after surrending a 19-point lead, but AK-7, (No. 47 isn't eligible in Europe), scored six straight and then had a block on defense to give teammate J.R. Holden an open look, pushing Russia's lead to eight. His line against Lithuania read 29 points, eight rebounds, three steals and three blocks and his team won 86-74.

The championship was an even better game as Holden hit a jumper with 2.1 seconds left to secure the 60-59 win for Russia over Spain. Kirilenko scored a game-high 17 points to go with five rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block. Fellow Russian Victor Khryapa, of the Chicago Bulls, chipped in seven points, 12 rebounds and three steals in the title game.
"It is the best achievement in my professional career," Kirilenko told NBA.com's John Hareas. "We played as a team. We really deserved that win."

3. Spain didn’t.

When you add up the facts that Spain was coming off the 2006 FIBA World Championship, playing in its home country and boasting five NBA players on its roster, its no surprise that they were the prohibitive favorites to win EuroBasket. Only, they didn't. The tournament didn't start well for them when they were shocked by Croatia, 85-84 in the preliminary round. Pau Gasol, Jose Calderon, Jorge Garbajosa, Sergio Rodriguez, Juan Carlos Navarro and Co. righted the Santa Maria, if you will, and tore through the qualifying round -- including a dismantling of Russia, who were undefeated at the time. In the quarterfinals Spain really took it to Dirk Nowitzki and Germany, holding Dirk to just 11 points and won easily, 83-55. Next Spain knocked off the defending EuroBasket Champions, Greece, in the semifinals, but in the championship, Holden's shot dashed their title dreams.

4. The “International Triple Crown” competed in it.

Last season an unprecedented string of events occurred in the NBA. It started in June of 2006 when the Raptors selected Italy-native Andrea Bargnani with the No. 1 pick. The next step was Germany-born Dirk Nowitzki winning the Maurice Podoloff Trophy as the league's MVP. The finale was Frenchman Tony Parker being named MVP of The Finals. Here at the league we refer to the troika of events as the "International Triple Crown." All three jewels in the crown competed in EuroBasket. Bargnani paired with Golden State rookie Marco Belinelli to take Italy to the qualifying round before bowing out to Nowitzki and Germany. Nowitzki and Germany finished fourth, losing in the Bronze medal game. Parker joined the Suns' Boris Diaw, the Lakers' Ronny Turiaf and the Nuggets' Yakhouba Diawara on France and made it to the qualifying round.

5. Greece had a comeback for the ages.

You know how you never forget a great game? Remember last season's D-II NCAA National Championship Game in basketball or Boise St. pulling off that bowl game miracle? That was Greece against Slovenia in the quarterfinals. The same team that upset the U.S. in the 2006 FIBA Worlds came back from 12 points down with less than three minutes remaning against Rasho Nesterovic's squad. "Slovenia played more intelligent than we did and better than us for 39 minutes," said Greece's Theo Papaloukas whose layup with 6.7 seconds remaining capped his team's rally and secured the 63-62 victory. "But we played better in the last minute. We had no chioce."

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source: NBA.com

EURO BASKETBALL 2007 (Finals) - Update 17 Sept 2007

FINALS


Spain - 59 - 60 - Russia (22-11, 12-20, 15-15, 10-14)



Placings 3rd and 4th


Greece - 69 - 78 - Lithuania (19-20, 15-21, 20-21, 15-16)

CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE !!

J.R. Holden's jumper with 2.1 seconds left secured Russia their first-ever EuroBasket title with a thrilling 60-59 victory over reigning world champions and hosts Spain.

Pau Gasol had a chance to win the game at the buzzer but his mid-range jumpshot went in and out, leaving Spain to collect their sixth European silver medal.

Andrei Kirilenko collected Most Valuable Player honours for the tournament after collecting 17 points, five rebounds, two assists, one blocked shot and a steal with 59 seconds remaining.

That swipe led to a basket by Nikita Morgunov to pull Russia to within 59-58 with 43 seconds to play. Holden grabbed his own steal with 28 seconds left against Gasol in the post. The American-born guard shook himself open and launched a long jumper which hit the rim and came back down in.

The crown was Russia's first ever after the Soviet Union won 14 European gold medals. It was also their third medal overall following silver in 1993 and bronze in 1997.

Spain's silver medal goes with those from 1935, 1973, 1983, 1999 and 2003.Holden finished with eight points while Aleksey Savrasenko scored 10 points and Victor Khryapa collected seven points, 12 rebounds, four assists, three steals and a blocked shot before fouling out with four minutes to go.

"Hopefully this will be the first of many titles. Spain are a great team, but we just played really well tonight," said Kirilenko. "We made Spain nervous and we played as a team. I might be the MVP but it's been a team effort all the way."

Gasol finished with 14 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots but the NBA superstar also missed five of eight foul shots in the fourth quarter (5-of-12 overall) and committed five turnovers.

"You must understand that today is a very sad day for us. I admit I wasn't at my best. But I take responsibilty for that," Gasol said. "On the last shot, I thought I saw the ball going in, maybe I should have taken another step forward."

Jose Calderon scored a team-high 15 points while Jorge Garbajosa added eight points and six rebounds.

While Russia started cold, the Spaniards got the crowd into the game with the three-ball. Rudy Fernandez opened the scoring with a trey and Calderon followed suit with two triples in opening a 15-4 lead midway through the first period.

The Russians missed 11 of their first 13 shots - including five three-pointers - as they failed in their attempt to match the hosts from outside. Sergey Monya did knock down a trey but Marc Gasol's five foul shots and Carlos Cabezas's buzzer-beating jumper re-established the 11-point advantage - 22-11 - after one period.

After falling behind 25-13, Russia buckled down on defense in holding Spain scoreless for more than three minutes and cutting the deficit to 25-19. The Spanish bombers struck again though as threes by Calderon, Carlos Jimenez and Pau Gasol kept Pepu Hernandez's team ahead 34-25.

The Russians again held Spain scoreless for three minutes and fought to within 34-31 at half-time on Anton Ponkrashov's foul shots with six seconds in the half.

Spain drew a number of fouls early in the third period and found themselves in the bonus with 6:51 to play in the quarter. They failed to take advantage of it until Kirilenko was charged with this fourth foul and had to be taken out at the 2:32 mark of the third. Jimenez's two foul shots made it 49-41.

Russia refused to give up and continued to work hard defensively and Khryapa's trey had Russia down just 49-46 going into the fourth.

Zakhar Pashutin tied the game at 49-49 with a long bomb and Holden gave Russia their first lead 51-49 on a driving lay-up with 9:02 left. Spain eventually pulled away on Pau Gasol's inside basket for a 59-54 lead but Gasol missed the chance for a three-point play and Kirilenko came back down to hit two foul shots with 1:17 left to set up the last minute heroics.

source : eurobasket2007.org

Bronze For Lithuania

The two last champions of Europe from 2003 and 2005 met on Sunday evening in Palacio de Deportes in Madrid and when the smoke cleared Lithuania beat Greece 78-69.

Lithuania hit two birds with one stone. By winning the game they'll get to wear the bronze medal on the EuroBasket 2007 podium later on tonight, and also earned the third European ticket to the Olympic games in 2008.

Greece wanted to win a third medal in a row, but saw a tough Lithuanian group who recovered in time from the surprising loss to Russia in the semi-finals last night.

Ramunas Siskauskas continued his great form from the last games and downed a couple of three-pointers in crunch time to secure the win.

This time he was joined by Ksistof Lavrinovic and Linas Kleiza who shot very well both inside and outside the arc, to make sure Greece will stay behind for the vast majority of the game.
"It's not a gold medal but I'll take this," said Darius Songaila after the game. "For sure it's a great feeling. Now we're going to focus on the Olympics."

Sarunas Jasikevicius, who hammered the last nail in Greece's coffin, finished with 11 points and five assists despite a slow start.

Greece, once again, had only one player with a good shooting night, and this time it was Nikos Zisis. He dropped in 23 points on 58% shooting from the field, but the total of the team was poor.
The team of coach Yannakis shot only 35%, and couldn't find the way to break the Lithuanian offense, despite forcing 13 turnovers.

Lavrinovic was in a zone in the first minutes, scoring seven points in a row for Lithuania, to make it 7-2 early in the game.

Greece didn't fall behind for long, played tougher on defense and with a 6-0 run got back into the game.

Sarunas Jasikevicius struggled in the first quarter, and for the last basket of the quarter Dimitrios Diamantidis stole it from him going coast-to-coast for the lay up and making it 20-19 Lithuania after the first quarter.

Both teams had already six players involved with points after ten minutes, and they continued to rely on them.

Greece collected some offensive boards to take the lead back, but that didn't scare Ksistof Lavrnovic who stepped up with four more points, and gave Lithuania the lead back.

The game went a little out of control as the referees called a double unsportsmanlike foul on Diamantidis and Darius Songaila, and then came a technical on Lazaros Papadopoulos, which was his third.

Lithuania used the mess to take a 39-30 lead with 2:32 left in the half, and cap a 13-1 run, on the way to a seven point lead at the end of the half, 41-34.

Greece kept fighting their way back to the game, and never allowed Lithuania to get too far ahead, but eight points in a row by Kleiza, including two hits from long range, made sure the former champs would not come back.

Ksistof Lavrinovic recorded his 15th, 16th and 17th point with a three point play, to offset a 6-0 Greek run and allow Lithuania enter the last quarter up 62-54.

Greece tried to go with Spanoulis time after time but earned only two points on that, while Siskauskas was hot on the other end to make it 70-58.

Darius Lavrinovic and then Siskauskas blocked Greek shots to keep the margin on double-digits.

When the later nailed two big ones in a row from long range Greece needed a miracle to take the game, down by 11 with 2:02 to play.

Lithuania earned their first ever bronze medal and fifth medal in total in a EuroBasket.

Greece finished fourth and lost the bronze medal game for the fourth time in their history.


source : eurobasket2007.org

EURO BASKETBALL 2007 (Final Round) - Update 16 Sept 2007

Classification Round 5th to 8th place

Germany - 69 - 65 - Slovenia (18-16, 14-15, 14-23, 23-11)

Placings 5th and 6th

Croatia - 71 - 80 - Germany (25-16, 19-20, 13-22, 14-22)

Placings 7th and 8th

France - 74 - 88 - Slovenia (17-18, 23-18, 17-15, 17-37)

SEMI-FINALS

Spain - 82 - 77 - Greece (24-18, 17-21, 18-21, 23-17)

Russia - 86 - 74 - Lithuania (25-12, 15-21, 25-25, 21-16)

FINALS

Spain - Russia - Date : 16.09.2007 Time : 21:30


source : eurobasket2007.org

Parker Not Ready To Quit France

Tony Parker intends to keep playing for France’s national team despite their EuroBasket failure in Madrid.

The NBA Finals MVP had 31 points on Sunday but it wasn’t enough to lead the French past Slovenia, who won 88-74 to finish in seventh place and claim the final berth on offer to European sides for next year’s pre-Olympic qualifying tournament.

“It’s tough, it’s tough,” said Parker.

“Basketball is weird sometimes. We had the game, we were up by six or seven points in the fourth quarter and then we were hit by eight 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and they killed us.”

France could have beaten Russia in their semi-final but Parker and Boris Diaw missed late free throws as they slipped to a 75-71 defeat.

The French then lost back-to-back classification games, including on Sunday to Slovenia.

“We were doing great,” Parker said. “We were third in 2005 and finished fifth at the world championship.

“We were looking for some stability and to try to go to the Olympics and now we are back to zero. It’s kind of tough, we just have to use this as experience.”

France finished fourth at EuroBasket 2003, losing a close game to Italy, and that result prevented them from playing at the Athens Games.

In 2000, they won the silver medal in Sydney.

France will have plenty of time to recover from this disappointment as their next task will be to qualify for the EuroBasket 2009, which will be hosted in Poland.

“We are young, I’m 25, everybody can come back,” said Parker. “But it’s very disappointing, you don’t have a lot of chances to go to the Olympics and that was my second and we didn’t make it so I’ll try again.”

Parker leaves the tournament having averaged 20.1 points per game.

“It’s very different from NBA basketball, I just love the challenge and the opportunity to go to the Olympics,” he said.

Fabricio Oberto and Manu Ginobili both elected not to play for Argentina this summer and rested instead.

But the two Spurs were not missed as their national team won silver at the FIBA Americas Championship.

“I need some rest definitely. Pop (Gregg Popovich) watched some of my games so he knows I need some rest.”

source : eurobasket2007.org

Germany End On High Note

Germany finished their EuroBasket 2007 performance with an 80-71 win over Croatia in the 5-6 classification game.

Croatia tried to ride the wave of their good performance last night, and led for almost 30 minutes, but once Germany took over the game went in one direction.

Dirk Nowitzki made sure to leave EuroBasket 2007 with a sweet taste. After several human performances he once again stepped up finishing the game with 31 points on 59% from the field and 12 rebounds, in addition to four assists.

Marko Banic showed his best game today for Croatia with 16 points and only two missed shots, but that wasn't enough to surrender the Germans who forced 18 turnovers on the Croatian side.

"You always want to go out with a win, with a good feeling, with a dream for everybody," shared Germany's center, Patrick Femerling in what might be his last EuroBasket game.

"We tried to do that and played hard and gave everything we had."

Croatia counted on the Marko's – Banic and Tomas to grant them a 9-2 run in the opening minutes, but Dirk Nowitzki led Germany back to tie the game with a 7-0 run.

The teams were neck-and-neck before Nikola Prkacin carried Croatia on another run, this time 0-9, the shut down the first quarter with his team up 25-16.

Marko Popovic gave Croatia their first double-digit lead of the day early in the second quarter, and an unsportsmanlike foul by Herber halfway through the quarter didn't help Germany.
Going down to the locker rooms Croatia was up 44-36, but that margin sustained for at least seven more minutes until Germany came to life.

Jan-Hendrik Jagla and Nowitzki carried yet another 9-2 run to give Germany their first lead of the night, 58-57, with 1:25 to play in the third quarter.

No points were added until the buzzer, but Germany woke up first scoring the first four points in the last period.

Prkacin made it a one point game, before Germany's back court fired from long range to open a 70-61 lead.

Croatia never managed to test the German lead from that point.

"We reached our goal which was to finish among the top seven teams and make the pre-Olympic tournament," concluded Croatian guard, Roko-Leni Ukic, ""but we have a lot to learn from this tournament."

"We had a lot of highs and lows and did a lot of good things and bad things. We have to improve on that before next year."

Germany goes home with the fifth spot while Croatia is taking the sixth. Both teams will play in next summer's in the pre-Olympic tournament.

source : eurobasket2007.org

Slovenia Grab Last Olympic Qualifying Spot

Slovenia drained seven three-pointers during a 24-6 run to start the fourth quarter in knocking off France 88-74 to clinch seventh place at the 2007 EuroBasket as well as a berth in next summer's pre-Olympic tournament.

Jaka Lakovic hit three long bombs in the big stretch on his way to 26 points, six rebounds and seven assists.

Uros Slokar struck twice from long distance and converted a three-pointer in the spurt as part of his 13-point showing and Radoslav Nesterovic added 19 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots.

“This is just unbelievable,” said Lakovic. "We played so well in this tournament and were just one step away from the semi-finals. At least we have met our aim before the EuroBasket of reaching the pre-Olympic tournament.”

Slovenia were able to overcome two heart-breaking losses to Greece and Germany in the past two days in clinching seventh place, one spot worse than in 2005.

France star Tony Parker scored a game-high 31 points and did all he could to keep the French in the game late, scoring his team's first 10 points of the fourth period.

France, who also got 13 points from Ronny Turiaf and 10 points from Joseph Gomis, crashed to eighth place - their worst EuroBasket showing since taking 10th place in 1997.

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source : eurobasket2007.org

Anyone Got A Slingshot?

When Russia take on Spain in Sunday's EuroBasket final, European basketball will witness a true David (Blatt) and Goliath showdown.

Russia's aim before this year's EuroBasket was to qualify for the Olympics.

For tournament hosts Spain however, only a gold medal was acceptable after claiming silver on five previous trips in this event.

Spain, by virtue of their world title triumph over Greece last year in Japan, booked a place at next year's Beijing Games.

Because of past near-misses in EuroBaskets and with this year's tournament being staged in Madrid, the European Championship has remained hugely important for the team, the federation and fans.

Russia will have no pressure on them when they run to the court for the final time on Sunday at the Palacio de Deportes.

"We are in the Olympic Games and that was our goal," said Andrei Kirilenko.

"They are the hosts, we can play great and we need to pick it up ourselves and play the same kind of defense as tonight, if we do, we will be fine."

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source : eurobasket2007.org

Lithuania And Greece Battle For Bronze

Not only is the bronze medal up for grabs in the 2007 EuroBasket third place game between 2003 champions Lithuania and 2005 title-holders Greece but the winners also will clinch a spot in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

So, there is plenty of motivation for both teams to bounce back from tough losses in the semi-finals.

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source : eurobasket2007.org

Reaching For The Rings

In most international competitions, the game for seventh place means very little other than the two quarter-finalists wanting to end their tournament on a high note after two straight losses.

But the game for seventh at the 2007 EuroBasket promises to be an extremely contested affair as Slovenia take on France with a spot in the pre-Olympic tournament up for grabs.

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source : eurobasket2007.org

Fighting For Fifth

Having both secured a spot in the pre-Olympic qualifying tournament with wins on Saturday, Germany and Croatia will meet Sunday to decide between fifth and sixth place at EuroBasket 2007.

Both teams had struggled to win games prior to their wins on Saturday though Croatia had lost four straight by slim margins while for the Germans it was the second straight time they had bounced back from a hefty defeat, having fallen to hosts Spain by 28 the night before.

“It was a long hard summer and I’m just really happy they were rewarded,” said German coach Dirk Bauermann after the win.

“If you work so hard and go home with nothing, that’s so hard. So this keeps our dream (of going to the Olympics) alive.”

Germany trailed for a large portion of their game with Slovenia while Croatia led their game with France more or less from start to finish.

“It was very hard to forget last night’s game,” said forward Damir Markota, referring to their gut-wrenching loss to Lithuania in the quarter-finals.

“We came here to be in the Olympic qualifications so we wanted to play hard for that.”
With both teams secondary mission accomplished there is little on the line but the pride of finishing fifth instead of sixth.

source : eurobasket2007.org

Spain Topple Greeks Again

A new EuroBasket champion will be crowned in Madrid after reigning world title-holders and hosts Spain dethroned Greece 82-77 in the semi-finals of the 2007 EuroBasket thanks to sterling performances by the Spanish trio of Juan Carlos Navarro, Pau Gasol and Jose Manuel Calderon.

The trio combined for 64 points and Calderon's three-pointer and break-away lay-up started and finished a crucial 9-1 run which turned a 67-65 Greece lead into a 74-68 advantage for the Iberians, who advanced to their sixth European final while still waiting for their first continental crown.

"We expected this type of game, a really hard one against a really great rival like the defending European champions Greece," said Spain forward Jorge Garbajosa, who collected six points, five rebounds and four assists.

"Having won last night (against Slovenia), Greece had a lot of confidence coming into this game. But we showed a lot of character. Those who thought this game would be easy for Spain were mistaken."

In Sunday's final at the Palacio de Deportes, Spain will face either Lithuania - who knocked off Spain in the 2003 finale - or Russia, who face off in the second semi-final.

Greece will face the loser of that match with the victor on Sunday clinching the bronze medal as well as an automatic berth in the 2008 Olympics.

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source : eurobasket2007.org

The Kirilenko Show

For the first time since 1993 Russia is in the EuroBasket finals, and will get a shot to win the title for the first time since 1985, back when it was still known as the USSR.

Russia shocked favorites Lithuania on Saturday night in the Palacio de Deportes as David Blatt led a brilliant group who took control of the game from the tip and never trailed, but on top of it showed great character.

Lithuania, coming to this game unbeatable in EuroBasket 2007, chased after the Russian side from the first moment.

They made a heroic comeback from minus 19 to a tied game, but Russia didn't blink for a second.

Andrei Kirilenko, in an amazing individual performance of 29 points and eight rebounds, carried his team to a big win, and didn't allow anybody to take this win from his team.

"It was a very physical game, but we played great defense," he said after the buzzer.

"Our goal coming to this EuroBakset was to reach the Olympics. We've done that and now we're aiming at the finals. If we play as we did tonight, nobody can count us out."

Ramunas Siskauskas was the only one who stepped up for Lithuania. He scored 30 points, including five shots from long range, which cut into Russia's lead time after time, but couldn't secure the win alone.

Russia played 40 minutes of very aggressive defense and didn't allow any Lithuanian to get anywhere close to the rim without being hammered down.

The bad side was that with six minutes on the clock Russia had three big men in big foul trouble – Morgunov, Khryapa and Savrasenko had four fouls each, but eventually none fouled out.

The good side was Lithuania's front line was out of the game.

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source : eurobasket2007.org

Germany Find A Way

Less than 24 hours after their inexplicable loss to Greece last night, Slovenia had a sense of deja-vu. Facing Germany in the 5-8 classification games Slovenia lost 69-65 after a big comeback by their opponent in the last minutes.

It wasn't as bad as last night, but once again Slovenia managed to lose a big lead in the

last minutes. Oddly the fourth quarter score from last night, 23-11 against Slovenia, was the exact score of today's last quarter.

"We were really disappointed after not playing so great in the last couple of days," said Germany's Demond Greene who had 16 points. "We didn't reach our main goal here which was a medal, but at least we got the ticket to the pre-Olympic tournament."

Slovenia played the last game last night and was six seconds short of a historical performance in the semi-finals over favourites Greece, but seemed to have recovered just fine, until the last minutes.

Germany on the other hand had one more day to rest and lost by a big margin to Spain in the quarters, so their mental readiness seemed better, and they stepped up in the last minutes.

Germany deleted a 60-51 Slovenian lead in the last 5:16 behind an 18-5 run led by Dirk Nowitzki who made 10 of his team's last 12 points and finished the game with 28 points and 10 rebounds.

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source : eurobasket2007.org

EURO BASKETBALL 2007 (Final Round) - Update 15 Sept 2007

Quarter-Final Round

Russia - 75 - 71 - France (21-23, 18-19, 14-14, 22-15)

Spain - 83 - 55 - Germany (18-14, 22-13, 26-16, 17-12)

Lithuania - 74 - 72 - Croatia (17-19, 21-16, 15-20, 21-17)

Slovenia - 62 - 63 - Greece (17-14, 17-14, 17-12, 11-23)


Classification Round 5th to 8th Place

France - 69 - 86 - Croatia (13-21, 18-26, 19-14, 19-25)


Germany - Slovenia - In Progress (15.09.2007)


Schedule of Final Round

Semi-Finals

Spain - Greece - 15.09.2007 19:00

Russia - Lithuania - 15.09.2007 21:30

We Meet Again !!

It had to happen again, didn’t it?

Yes, Spain v Greece – a clash of European giants for the second time at EuroBasket 2007.

It is a rematch of the world title game last year in Japan, when Spain overcame the loss of Pau Gasol to injury and, behind the incredible play of Jorge Garbajosa, destroyed the Greeks to capture gold.

Earlier in this tournament, in the qualifying round, Spain defeated Greece 76-58 at the Telefonica Arena.

On Saturday, the game will be at the Palacio Deportes, and the Greeks will hit the court just 20 hours after their stunning come-from-behind victory over Slovenia.

Theo Papaloukas scored 17 points, most of them late in the fourth quarter, as Greece fought back from a 16-point deficit to win 63-62.

Papaloukas put Greece into the lead and scored the final points of the game with a drive to the basket just six seconds from the end.

"If anybody has a heart problem, and this game was difficult for him, we would like to apologize,” Greece coach Panagiotis Yannakis said.

“Basketball is a game until the last second.”

Spain will have had almost two days rest after their comprehensive victory over Germany, and they will have the majority of spectators inside the 15,000-seat arena pulling for them.

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source : eurobasket2007.org

Russia, Lithuania Battle For Spot In Finals

Lithuania and Russia head into their semi-final showdown on the back of narrow wins, the former edging Croatia on Friday to remain unbeaten at the EuroBasket and the latter scraping their way past France to reach the last four for the first time in 10 years.

The Lithuanians, gold medalists in 2003 when the tournament was staged in Sweden, are undefeated but they will not be as rested as their opponents who played the French on Thursday.

“That’s okay,” said Lithuania power forward Darius Songaila. “They’ve had two days to worry about this game, while we have to just go out and play.”

Against Croatia, Songaila and Co. did not play at their best but still managed to win and that’s the sign of a championship-calibre team.

However, Russia can also play much better than they did against France as well, and now that the pressure is off of reaching the semi-finals for the first time in 10 years, David Blatt’s team will be loose and confident.

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source : eurobasket2007.org

Germany, Slovenia Look To Bounce Back

Slovenia and Germany both come into their showdown in the 5th-8th classification round wanting nothing more than to forget their last game. Slovenia saw defending champions Greece use a 14-1 run over the final 2:30 in an absolutly heart-wrenching quarter-final loss and Germany were blown out by Spain, trailing by 37 points in the fourth period.

Regardless of their last results, Saturday's game has loads of meaning - namely a berth in the pre-Olympic tournament for the winner. The losers have one more chance to reach the pre-Olympic event in the game for seventh place.

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source : eurobasket2007.org

Miracle Greece Edge Slovenia

Theo Papaloukas's driving lay-up with 6.7 seconds remaining completed a furious 14-1 flurry to the finish as Greece overcame a 12-point deficit in the final 2:30 to knock off Slovenia 63-62 and live on for another chance to defend their EuroBasket title.

Papaloukas added yet another chapter to his superstar and legendary status with 11 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, setting up another showdown with world champions and hosts Spain in Saturday's semi-finals.

"Slovenia played more intelligent than we did and better than us for 39 minutes. But we played better in the last minute. We had no chioce," said Papaloukas, who had two points and zero assists at half-time.

"We pressed, made lay-ups and we got the job done. We showed character to come back. We've been in these situations before."

"I'll never forget this game, this moment. This team is unbelievable. It's not the first time it's happened to us. But it shows that we never stop believing," said Nikolaos Zisis, who hit two foul shots and a three-pointer in the thrilling 14-1 spurt.

Lazaros Papadopoulos added 10 points for the reigning champs, who forced Slovenia into four turnovers and two missed three-pointers in the final 2:30. Jaka Lakovic had 14 points, five rebounds and three assists but his potential game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer fell well short of its target.

"It's heart-breaking. We played a great game until the final 2:30 and Greece are simply more experienced than we are," said Slovenia big man Erazem Lorbek.

Radoslav Nesterovic collected 16 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots, and Matjaz Smodis added 10 points but it was not enough for the Slovenians, who lost their second straight game and face Germany in the 5th-8th place classificiation on Saturday.

Both teams came out ready to play and gave the fans a real back-and-forth battle with four lead changes and six ties.

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source : eurobasket2007.org