February 10, 2012
2010 World Championships: Day 1, August 28
Group A: Angola 44-94 Serbia, Australia 76-75 Jordan, Germany 74-78 Argentina

Aleksandar Rasic - Serbia (photo FIBA.com)Serbia shook off sanctions to a pair of key players and routed Angola 44-94 in their opener thanks to great shooting and dominant rebounding. Aleksandar Rasic of Partizan buried 6 of 7 three-pointer and 2 of 2 tries inside the arc to pace the winners with 22 points in just 18 minutes. Dusko Savanovic of PLC Valencia added 13 points and 7 rebounds, while Milan Macvan of Hemofarm put up 11 points. Together, the Serbians collected 49 rebounds to just 25 for Angola, which was forced into 17 turnovers. Serbia set the tone with a 9-25 first quarter, later enjoying advantages of 18-43 at halftime and 32-79 after 3 quarters. Serbia was without Euroleague MVP Milos Teodosic of Olympiacos and big man Nenad Krstic, both suspended for their roles in a fight during a recent friendly game with Greece.

Australia dodged a bullet in its opening game by rallying to a 76-75 victory over Jordan, which led by 7 points with under 2:30 to play. A basket by Matt Nielsen of Olympiacos with 34 seconds left cut the difference to 74-75 before free throws from former All-Euroleague center David Andersen with 13 seconds left held up for the victory. All-Euroleague big man Aleks Maric of Panathinaikos led the winners with 23 points and 9 rebounds, while Andersen followed with 22 and 9, respectively. Patrick Mills put up 10 more points and Nielsen 9 for the Aussies. Jordan got 20 points from Zaid Abbaas. Jordan led almost all the way until baskets by Nielsen and Maric made it 56-55 after 3 quarters. Jordan fought back to tie on a steal and layup by Mousa Alawadi midway through the final quater and went ahead again, 64-66 on a shot by Osama Daghles. When Zaid Al-Khas buried a triple, the Jordanians had a 64-69 lead with just 4 minutes left. Mills layup and free throws cut the difference to 72-75 heading into the final minute and Nielsen cut it further with a layup at 74-75 with 32 seconds left. Fouled with 13 seconds left, Andersen hit the go-ahead free throws, which held up after Jordan missed three shot tries on the final possession.

STANDINGS
Group A W-L
Serbia 1-0, +50
Argentina 1-0, +4
Australia 1-0, +1
Jordan 0-1, -1
Germany 0-1, -4
Angola 0-1, -50
Another recent medallist dodged defeat when Argentina held on to beat Germany 78-74. Carlos Delfino had 10 free throws among his 27 points to lead Argentina, while Luis Scola followed with 20 points that included 12 foul shots. Demond Greene paced Germany with 20 points, while Tibor Pleiss of Brose Baskets added 12 and Jan Jagla of Asseco Prokom corralled 10 rebounds. The scoreboard had flip-flopped all game, with Argentina ahead 18-23 after one quarter, only to see Germany rally in front 42-39 at half time on back-to-back triples from Heiko Schaffartzik and Greene. Argentina turned the tables after the half to lead 54-65 after three quarters, but Germany was not wilting. After Germany forced a 71-71 tie with 3 minutes left, Fabricio Oberto’s three-point play seemed to put Argentina back in control. But after Tim Olbrecht tied again for Germany, 74-74, defense and Delfino’s free throws made the final difference for Argentina.



Group B: Tunisia 56-80 Slovenia, USA 106-78 Croatia, Iran 65-81 Brazil

Gasper Vidmar - Slovenia (photo FIBA.com)Great ball movement spurred Slovenia to an easy 56-80 opening-game win over Tunisia. The assists column said it all in this game, as the Slovenians dished 17 passes to teammates who scored as opposed to just 5 for Tunisia. Goran Dragic led the winners with 16 points and 8 assists. He was followed closely by Gasper Vidmar of Fenerbahce Ulker, who combined 15 points and 7 rebounds, and by Bostjan Nachbar of Efes Pilsen, with 14 points. Slovenia made 22 of its 32 two-point shots. Slovenia enjoyed a 0-7 start and got its first double-digit lead, 11-22 on a jump shot by Euroleague champ Jaka Lakovic of Regal FCB before the first quarter ended. Tunisa was as close as 28-34 before a Nachbar triple near the end of the first half. Quarter by quarter in the second, the Slovenians added to the difference.

The United States used one awesome quarter to easily outpace Croatia, 106-78, to join the group leaders. Croatia looked to be in the game, trailing only 22-20 after a quarter, but USA turned on the jets with a 26-6 run until halftime that put the outcome out of reach. Eric Gordon's 16 points led seven USA players who scored 9 or more. Bojan Bogdanovic from Cibona had 17 points for Croatia, Marko Popovic of Unics 16 and Ante Tomic of Real Madrid 12 to go with 8 rebounds.

STANDINGS
Group B W-L
USA 1-0, +28
Brazil 1-0, +16
Slovenia 1-0, +14
Tunisia 0-1, -14
Iran 0-1, -16
Croatia 0-1, -28
Brazil got off to a strong start by outdueling Iran with relative ease, 65-81. Brazil posted a double-digit lead, 12-22, after one quarter and did not let Iran challenge the rest of the way. Guilherme Giovannoni stepped up for the winners with 17 points, 7 rebounds. All-Euroleague regular Tiago Splitter scored 13 points, as did Leandro Barbosa, while Marcelinho Huertas of Caja Laboral had 10 points and 9 assists. Hamed Haddadi scored 16 for Iran, which got within 27-33 late in the second quarter, but never came closer.



Group C: Cote d'Ivoire 47-86 Turkey, Russia 75-66 Puerto Rico, Greece 89-81 China

Vassilis Spanoulis - Greece (photo FIBA.com) Sergey Monya - Russia (photo FIBA.com) In Ankara, host Turkey started and finished strong to post a resounding 47-86 win over Ivory Coast. The Turks outscored their guests 22-56 in the first and last quarters to make double sure of the victory. Omer Onan of Fenerbahce Ulker scored 18 points in 16 minutes, including 4-for-5 three-point accuracy, to lead the winners. Ersan Ilyasova followed him with 17 points, while Omer Asic pulled 12 rebounds and Hidyat Turkoglu dished 7 assists. Turkey shot 12 for 23 from three-point distance.

Russia, despite playing without its injured team leader, Viktor Khryapa of CSKA Moscow, used fourth-quarter defense to down Puerto Rico 75-66 in what had been a close game until then. An 11-0 run starting with 5:16 left to play included 6 points from Sasha Kaun of CSKA and decided the game in Russia's favor. Puerto Rico had led by as much as 6 points, 39-45, midway through the third quarter. In the fourth, Kaun's foul shots and dunk put Russia back in front, 63-61. Soon, Vitaly Fridzon of Khimki Moscow Region downed a jumper good for a double-digit advantage that assured the outcome. Sergey Monya of Khimki led Russia with 16 points while Kaun and Mozgov had 13 each. Anton Ponkrashov of Spartak St. Petersburg scored 10 and dished 11 assists. Jose Barea led Puerto Rico with 25 points.

STANDINGS
Group C W-L
Turkey 1-0, +39
Russia 1-0, +9
Greece 1-0, +8
China 0-1, -8
Puerto Rico 0-1, -9
Cote d'Ivoire 0-1, -39
Missing two sanctioned players, Greece shook off a strong challenge from China to win their group opener 89-81. Nikos Zisis of Montepaschi and Ioannis Bourousis of Olympiacos scored 21 points each for the winners, while Vassilis Spanoulis, also of the Reds, had 19, including several that turned back China down the stretch. Jianlan Yi led China with 26 points. China went ahead 65-66 early in the fourth quarter on 4 consecutive free throws by Yi, but after a timeout, Greece reeled off successive baskets by Zisis and Panathinaikos teammates Nick Calathes and Stratos Perperoglou. When Zisis then buried a back-to-back triples, it was 77-68 with just over 6 minutes left. Sun Yu and Wang Zhizhi's three-pointers cut the difference anew to 81-79 before Spanoulis stopped the bleeding with a reverse layup for Greece and hit free throws with under 20 seconds left that settled the matter. Greece was without Sofoklis Schortsanitis of Maccabi Electra and Antonis Fotsis of Panathinaikos, both of whom will miss the next game, too, serving a two-game suspension for their part in a exhibition game brawl with Serbia last week.



Group D: France 72-66 Spain, New Zealand 79-92 Lithuania, Canada 71-81 Lebanon

Robertas Javtokas - Lithuania (photo FIBA.com) Mickael Gelabale - FranceIn Izmir, the tournament’s first shot heard round the basketball world was landed by France, a shock 72-66 winner over defending champion Spain. After the game was tied 53-53 with 3 minutes left, a 12-1 run by France was enough to guarantee a huge victory. The French played stellar defense that never let Spain find a good rhythm. Feeling confident with the game close in the final quarter, France found Mickael Gelabale of Asvel Basket, whose big shots went unmatched by Spain down the stretch. Gelabale finished with a team-high 16 points, while Nicolas Batum followed him with 14. Spain got 17 points from All-Euroleague guard Juan Carlos Navarro and 13 from Rudy Fernandez. Spain did what it had to early, leading 11-23 early in the second quarter, but France used an inspired dunk by Batum as incentive to work its way back into the game with opportunistic long-distance shooting. The scoreboard went back and forth until Gelabale’s triple put France ahead 51-50 and Ali Traore of Lottomatica Roma added a basket to it. Felipe Reyes of Real Madrid tied with a rare triple, but France had the momentum and showed it by reeling off 12 of the next 13 points to down the champs.

In Izmir, a single quarter which it dominated completely sent Lithuania to a group-opening 79-92 victory over New Zealand. Linas Kleiza, and All-Euroleague selection last season, scored 9 of his 27 points in a 10-25 second quarter that put Lithuania in control the rest of the way. Paulius Jankunas of Zalgiris added 16 points for the winners, while Jonas Maciulis of AJ Milano scored 14. The Lithuania victory was harder than it seemed because starting center Robertas Javtokas of Power Electronics Valencia left the game after 4 minutes and did not return. Nonetheless, a 0-10 run that started with a Tomas Delininkaitis jumper to finish the first quarter was enough to give Lithuania long-term double-digit leads. When New Zealand fought back within 75-82 with 2 minutes left, Jankunas answered with a layup to end the threat.

STANDINGS
Group D W-L
Lithuania 1-0, +13
Lebanon 1-0, +10
France 1-0, +6
Spain 0-1, -6
Canada 0-1, -10
New Zealand 0-1, -13
Lebanon made it's presence felt quite seriously by knocking off Canada 71-81 in their opener. Scoring ace Fadi El Khatib proved too much for the Canadiens to handle, pouring in 31 points to go with 8 rebounds. He had 8 of his points in a 13-24 fourth quarter to help decide what had been a close game until then. Rony Fahed added 17 points for Lebanon, which had upset France and Venezuela at the 2006 World Championships, while Joel Anthony scored 17 for Canada.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Euroleague.net
PrintPrint Send to a FriendSend to a Friend ShareShare

Special Features

Interviews
Vladimir Micov , Bennet Cantu
Vladimir Micov - Bennet Cantu
Bennet Cantu has been among the most pleasant surprises in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague this season. Despite... MORE
Blogs
Pietro Aradori, Montepaschi Siena 
Pietro Aradori - Montepaschi Siena
Hello again to all the Turkish Airlines Euroleague fans. I’d like to start off this time by talking about the last... MORE

Submenu