Yesterday the first two games of the Turkey FIBA World Cup 1/8 finals were play. The outcome of those games is that defending world champions Spain along with Serbian side will continue to battle to battle for the title in the 1/4 final of the tournament. Spain beat Greece, while Serbia past by Croatia.
The opening fixture of the day was held between Serbia and Croatia. The game was going point-to-point from start to finish. Upon the third quarter, Serbia led by 7 point but thanks to Marco Popovic and Marco Banic Croatia managed to tie the game with 5.9 second to go until the final buzzer. The game was tied thanks to Popovic who converted both free throws. Interesting fact is that Popovich scored 8 out of 10 free throws in the last quarter of the match.
The next step should have been made by Serbians and they have made it. Alexander Rasic dribbled past Croatians defensive line and provoked Darko Kush to foul on him with just one second to go. Serbian converted the first free throw and missed the second one intentionally in order for Croatia no to be able to take a timeout and organize their final shot.
Nenad Krstic scored the most - 16 points in Serbian squad, while Rasic scored 15 and Kosta Perovic ended up with 10 points. On the other hand, Popovic scored a game-high 21 points in Croatia’s squad, grabbing 5 rebounds also. Roko Ukic scored 11 points while his teammate Banic harvested 10 points and grabbed 7 rebounds.
“Before the start of the tournament we were hoping of qualifying from the group stage and we managed to do it. We planned to play high-class basketball here and we managed to do that also except the match against Brazil. We had a very difficult game against Serbia and, certainly, we are not happy with the result. In despite of this, I am happy with the boys’ performance. The played outstandingly. We have added five new players to the team. If we had more experience we would have achieved better result” – stated Josip Marcovic after the game.
“It was a very tough game. Throughout the 40 minutes the team played with spirit which resulted in the fact that we beat a strong opponent like Croatia. I congratulate my players. We have already achieved our aim. That does not mean that we are going to stop but with this young team such a result means a lot. I would like to congratulate Croatia also, the played great.”- announced Serbia head coach Dushan Ivkovic .
Despite the eight point win, defending world champions Spain had a hard time in the match against the Greek side. Spaniards found a breakthrough in just the fourth quarter of the game. Juan Carlos Navarro was one of the best players in the Spanish squad scoring 22 points from the game. Bench players Fran Vasquez and Felipe Reyes together scored 12 points, adding 17 rebounds. With only 6 minutes to go Spain was leading by a single point – 58:57. Further, Spaniards made a crucial 9 point run out of which Rudy Fernandes scored 5. With two minutes to go until the final buzzer Vasilis Spanulis dropped in a three-pointer which cut the lead down to seven points however Navarro answered with a three pointer at the opposite end straight away. Neither this time Greece gave up and managed to reduce the deficit to 4 points. That was all it for the Balkan team. Spanish scored another three-pointer and put a period in the match.
After the match Dimitris Diamantidis – the most experienced player in the Greece squad announced about his retirement from the national team. Dimantidis, who is considered to be one of the best defenders in Europe, is now going to concentrate on his club “Panathinaikos” only.
Serbia will now face Spain in the last eight round of the tournament. Note, that Spain beat Serbia in the final of 2009 European Basketball Championship.
1/8 Finals
Serbia – Croatia 73-72
Spain – Greece 80-72
