In the first match, Serbia went on a 17-0 tear when trailing 24-21 early in the second quarter to bolt to a 38-24 advantage and held on in the second half to beat Russia 79-68, thus ending any back to back title aspirations from the Russian side.
Here is a further report from: http://www.eurobasket2009.org
Game Summary
Turning point: Serbia came out like gangbusters in the second quarter, reeling off a 17-0 run to turn a 24-21 deficit into a 38-24 lead. The advantage swelled to 20 points in the third quarter and Russia never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
Hero: Kosta Perovic. The Serbian center scored 11 of his 13 points in the second quarter and nine of them in the decisive 17-0 surge.
Stats: 8 of 18. Serbia shot 44 percent from three-point range as they continually drained long balls in the second half to keep Russia from getting back into the game.
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Two years after bowing out in the first round in Spain, the youngest team at EuroBasket 2009 Serbia booked the first berth in the semi-finals by dethroning the defending champions Russia 79-68 in the first quarter-final.
Serbia used a 17-0 second quarter run to take control of the game and never looked back with Uros Tripkovic leading five Serbs in double figures with 18 points.
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Uros Tripkovic led five Serbians in double-figure scoring with 18 points. |
"This is a great result for us. We came into the tournament with a goal of booking a place into next year's world championships and now we are in the semi-finals. It's a fantastic effort," said Kristic, who is the oldest player on Serbia at 26 years of age.
Krstic also praised his center back-up Perovic, who scored nine points in the big 17-0 run in the second quarter.
"He played great. He was unstoppable for a while and it goes to show that this team really does go 12 deep. Every one of our players can be a key contributor," said the NBA big man.
"I think we deserved this victory tonight. We have reached our first target, which was qualifying for Turkey. The key of the game was our bench players. We really played as a team. Also keep was the defense in the second quarter," said Serbia coach Dusan Ivkovic
Serbia - who in this tournament have now knocked off reigning world and European champions - will next play the winner of Friday's quarter-final between Slovenia and Croatia for a spot in Sunday's final in Katowice.
Russia lost despite 15 points from Vitalii Fridzon but David Blatt's men could not overcome the 17-0 surge. Sergey Monya scored 12 points and Timofey Mozgov had 10 points.
"There are some games when you can come and make statements and excuses. But this was one not of them. They dominated in every category. It was pretty clear who was the better team today," said Blatt.
"Serbia pretty much did what they wanted against anything we did. And we couldn't handle the things they threw at us in the second quarter."
The first quarter was a back and forth affair with neither team leading by more than four points with six lead changes. The game was also tied eight times.
Krstic scored nine points in the quarter as Mozgov could not afford to get in foul trouble. Russia, however, shot 67 percent from the field and led 24-21.
But Blatt's men could not do anything offensively in the second quarter. They turned the ball over on three straight possessions and went scoreless for the first 7:29 of the period as Serbia reeled off a 17-0 run for a 38-24 lead. Perovic scored nine points in the big run - matching his highest game total of the tournament.
In the end, Serbia led 41-28 at intermission.
Russia looked dead in the water, trailing 52-32 with 5:32 left in the third quarter. But Blatt's men allowed just one basket the rest of the period, finishing on a 9-0 run with Sergey Bykov hitting a layup just before the buzzer to make it 54-43.
Russia continued to come back in the fourth quarter but Tripkovic nailed a triple and Teodosic knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to keep the Serbs ahead 66-51.
The champs refused to give up but could not get closer than 10 points the rest of the way - 66-56 on Fridzon's trey with four minutes to play.
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Pau Gasol ( 28 pts/9 rebounds ) of Spain proved too much for fellow NBA players Ronny Turiaf, Boris Diaw and Tony Parker of France as Spain waltzed into the Semi Finals with a comprehensive 86-66 thrashing of France. The following press report from the game was filed.
Game Summary
Turning point: Spain pretty much dominated from start to finish so there was no turning point as such. The Spaniards though did send a strong message of intent when, late in the third quarter, France guard Nando de Colo thought he had an easy fast break lay-up only for Marc Gasol to appear out of nowhere and swat the ball into the crowd.
Hero: Rudy Fernandez. His three three-pointers in the first quarter got Spain rolling and they rode that momentum until the end.
Stats: Tony Parker, who came into the game averaging 18 points a game, was held to just six points on one of eight from the field.
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Spain got off to a quick start and never looked back as they crushed France 86-66 to book their place in the semi-finals of EuroBasket 2009 in Katowice.
Pau Gasol had a stellar performance, going for 28 points, nine rebounds and three blocks - all game highs - as the
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It was a frustrating night for Tony Parker, who managed just one field goal. |
Afterwards, Spain head coach Sergio Scariolo praised his team's much-improved fitness as the reason why his team ran France ragged.
"Our physical condition is so much different that we can now work however we want to," he said. "We beat an excellent team. They have heart and pride and never gave up."
Alex Mumbru pointed to the Spaniards' mindset from the tip-off as the reason for such a big win.
"We were very focused from the start. We played at a high tempo and now we are in the semi-finals which is where we want to be," he said.
Spain hit five of nine three-pointers to take a 25-15 lead by the end of the first quarter and the closest France never got closer than nine the rest of the way.
Rudy Fernandez buried three of his four attempts from beyond the arc and Ricky Rubio and Juan Carlos Navarro hit one each for a 21-12 advantage.
The Spaniards were also doing an excellent job defensively forcing France into turning the ball over six times and putting the shackles on Tony Parker, who was held to a tournament-low of six points, 12 below his average.
Pau Gasol made a lay-up with 47.6 seconds left in the first quarter for a 23-12 score and their first double-digit lead of the night.
Vincent Collet's charges got within 27-19 on four quick points by Ali Traore, but Spain then made the most of their opponents' 11 first-half turnovers, getting seven steals which led to seven fast break points.
Antoine Diot's pass was stolen by Mumbru who went the other way for an easy lay-up and a 31-19 advantage.
Ball handling wasn't France's only downfall as they failed to box out and were being manhandled in the paint. Mumbru got better position inside of a blue crowd for an offensive rebound to make it 37-21.
Pau Gasol then got the better of his match-up with Florent Pietrus. The Spanish center used some of his fancy footwork to get around his defender. He also had an emphatic reverse dunk over the entire French defense that brought cheers from the crowd. Navarro then hit a runner in the last minute of the half for a 47-32 lead at the break.
Spain picked up where they left off in the third quarter, with Rubio scoring five quick points early in the third quarter to put Spain up 55-38.
France made somewhat of a charge, cutting the deficit to 62-49 on Traore's jumper, but that just motivated Spain to tighten their defense furthermore as they held them to just three points the rest of that period.
Nando de Colo tried a finger roll in transition but saw his shot swatted into the stands by Marc Gasol who then made a pair of free-throws at the other end, giving Spain their first lead of 20, 69-49, with 1:13 to go in the period.
Up 73-52 to start the final frame, Spain let their guard down temporarily, allowing their opponents to get within 77-66 on Antoine Diot's three-pointer with 4:55 left to play.
Fernandez then made a lay-up and Pau Gasol scored four quick points to put the game to bed.
Afterwards, France's Boris Diaw admitted that chasing the game was always going to be hard against a talented team like Spain.
"We just got behind them and they are a great team. So once you get behind them, they're not going to let you back in," he said.
"We can't get a medal but we can qualify for the world championship next year."
Collet knew Spain would be tough to beat after seeing them raise their level of play over the last few games.
"I think they dominated the game from the beginning and never let us come back," he said. "After showing improvement in the last two or three games, they made us fall back. We had problems moving and swinging the ball against their defense. We had problems finding solutions. In the second half we got down to 11 but they were too good for us."
Ronny Turiaf was France's only player to score in double-digits with 12 points.