We have our EuroBasket Final Four. And while it wasn’t easy for either side in the Thursday games, the favorites prevailed to set up a fascinating showdown for a 2012 London Olympics berth Friday.
Here are Thursday’s results (including Lithuania earning its way to next summer’s pre-Olympics qualifying tournament).
Friday we will have the both semifinals and both Olympic berths decided (win and you’re in), with the other semifinal between Spain and Macedonia.
France 64, Greece 56: Greece is one of those teams that just makes you grind, that makes the game ugly. France is prone to stretches where their offense goes on hiatus (traditionally that happens in the knockout rounds of international competitions). Those two things came together for three quarters on Thursday and the result was a 43-40 Greek lead heading into the fourth quarter.
But in the fourth France’s superior talent won out, with Tony Parker and the Trail Blazers’ Nicolas Batum combining for 18 points. Throw in guard Nando De Colo and you basically have all of France’s offense for the game (Joakim Noah was 1-of-8 shooting).
Russia 77, Serbia 67: Russia remains the only undefeated team in EuroBasket, and they do it with a true team game. Guys like Andrei Kirilenko — who can do a little bit of everything, inside and out — typify this team and what makes them hard to beat. Kirilenko had 14 points and 11 rebounds in this win.
Russia is coached by American Dave Blatt, a smart tactician, and he is going to make the semifinal against France interesting. He is going to find a way to cut off Tony Parker’s penetration (go under the picks), he will find a way to make it difficult for France to score. How France responds will be part of that. France plays fantastic interior defense, too, it will be interesting to see how Blatt adapts his team’s game plan. But he has a lot of weapons at his disposal.
Lithuania 80, Slovina 77: With that win, Lithuania (probably the third or fourth best team over the course of this tournament) is on to the Olympics qualifying tournament next summer (where the teams that just missed out this summer will battle it out for the three last spots in the London games). Lithuania pulled ahead in the second quarter then held on for the win in the second half.