Sunday, September 5, 2010

FIBA 2010 - 1st day 2nd Round Recap & Highlights

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- It took about 10 minutes to play the final 60 seconds of this opening game of the round of 16, and the hero was Partizan Belgrade guard Aleksander Rasic.


After Rasic made two free throws with 21.5 seconds left to make it 70-67, Croatia called its final timeout and set up a play for Marko Popovic (21 points), their go-to guy
who had the ball in his hands on practically every Croatian possession over the final 5 minutes. Popovic was fouled and made both free throws with 15.2 seconds left as the Serbian fans taunted him from directly behind the basket he was shooting at.

Croatia's Marko Tomas then stole the ensuing inbounds pass, and Popovic was fouled with 11.6 seconds left but made only one of two from the line, leaving the score tied 70-70. Serbia inbounded from midcourt after a timeout, and all of Croatia's defenders were concentrated near the ball. A screen freed Rasic, and he broke free for an uncontested layup with 9 seconds left.

"It was a mistake by our defense, and it happened at the most unfortunate part of the game," Croatia's Kresimir Loncar said.

Popovic was fouled with 5.9 seconds left and made 'em both to tie it at 72, but Rasic (8 of his 15 points came in the fourth quarter) took the ensuing inbounds pass and drove hard all the way downcourt, getting shoved in the back as he went up for an off-balance shot from the lane with 1 second left. He made the first free throw, missed the second intentionally, and that was it.

"I never like to say my players are tired, but we had three tough games [Australia, Argentina, Croatia] in the past four days, and it's important now to get three days of rest," said Serbian coach Dusan Ivkovic, whose team will face the winner of Saturday night's Greece-Spain game in the quarterfinals.
 
Serbia 73 def Croatia 72

 
 
 
 
 
 
There is a truism that the Americans have come to know well over the past few years of playing in FIBA tournaments: if opponents think you can't shoot from outside, they are going to force you to beat them from outside.


Spain took that approach Saturday night against Greece, switching from a man-to-man defense to a zone for the entire fourth quarter and pulling away for an 80-72 victory in the knockout round of 16. The Greeks couldn't knock down 3s, going 3-for-12 from behind the arc in the final period.

"They made 3s against our man-to-man defense, but not the zone," Spain coach Sergio Scariolo said when it was pointed out that the Greeks had gone 4-for-8 from 3-point range in the third quarter to trail just 52-51 entering the final 10 minutes. "So the reason we changed was to try to make them play less pick-and-roll, and the idea, I think, worked pretty well."

Greece shot just 33 percent from 3-point range in the tournament. (Turkey is the best outside shooting team remaining, hitting at a 41.3 percent clip, and Team USA is second among the remaining teams at 38.5 percent).

But it wasn't just the zone that got the defensive job done for Spain, which was ahead just 58-57 before Rudy Fernandez made a 3-pointer and then two free throws for a six-point lead. Ricky Rubio swiped the ball from Nicholas Zisis on Greece's next possession, leading to a fast-break bucket by Juan Carlos Navarro, and Navarro came up with a steal against Dimitrios Diamantidis the next time Greece had the ball.

Finally, Rubio (six assists) fed Navarro (22 points on 7-for-10 shooting) for a 3-pointer that made it 70-60 with 1:41 left, and it was all but over.

After the game, Diamantidis announced his retirement from the national team, which has not defeated Spain in a major international tournament since 2002.

"It's a pity that one of us has to go home tonight," Scariolo said.
 
Spain 80 def. Greece 72

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