February 08, 2012
FIBA 2008 Olympic Qualifying Tournament, semifinals: July 19, 2008
Vassilis Spanoulis - Greece (Photo: FIBA) Another pair of European teams, Croatia and Greece, are headed to the 2008 Beijing Olympics after they registered convincing semifinals victories at the 2008 Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men in Athens on Saturday. Croatia last played the Olympics in 1996, finishing seventh, the same year that Greece returned after more than 40 years to finish fifth. Croatia had celebrated its independence four years earlier, at Barcelona in 1992, by finishing behind the famed U.S. dream team for silver medals. Greece was back in the Olympics in 2004 on its home court in Athens, finishing fifth again, but followed that up with silver in the 2006 World Championships. Croatia and Greece join Spain, Russia and Lithuania to give Europe five teams in the Olympic tournament, which could yet rise to six as Germany and Puerto Rico will settle the last open ticket to Beijing in their third-place game in Athens on Sunday.

Semifinals                                Croatia 76-70 Germany
Marko Tomas and Marko Popovic (photo: FIBA.com)Croatia is going back to the Olympic games for the first time in 16 years thanks to a thrilling, defensive-minded 76-70 semifinals victory over Germany on Saturday at the 2008 Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men in Athens. Croatia's return to the Olympic stage in Beijing will recall its last such trip, when it won the silver medal in 1992 at Barcelona, shortly after the country's independence. To get back to the Olympics, Croatia had to end a five-game losing streak against its nemesis in the intervening years, Germany. The Croats did so by controlling the scoreboard most of the night and quickly taking back Germany's few, short leads in the bridge between the third and fourth quarters. Marko Tomas of Real Madrid led the winners with 21 points, including 5 in the game's final 25 seconds that denied Germany any miracle chances. Tomas had also put Croatia in charge with a triple to start the game and a driving basket to make it 5-1. His next triple made it 12-5 and the one after that, on the first-quarter buzzer, supplied the game's first double-digit lead, 24-14. The Croats nursed that advantage despite the best efforts of Dirk Nowitzki and Germany to maintain a 36-31 halftime lead. Nowitzski and Chris Kaman whittled the difference in the middle of the third quarter until Pascal Roller finally tied it up, 42-42, from downtown, and drove for the next basket, which gave Germany its first lead of the game. Marko Banic and Zoran Planinic regained the edge for Croatia, but Steffen Hamann of Alba Berlin had the last word of the third quarter, a driving layup that left Germany in front by 47-48. Nowitzki's free throw to open the final quarter proved the last hurrah for the Germans, however. They went almost 5 minutes without scoring after that while Davor Kus of Unicaja buried a triple and Nikola Prkacin followed with 5 points himself as Croatia leapt ahead 55-49. Tomas returned with a three-point play and Kus another strike from downtown to reestablish a double-digit advantage, 63-53, with 3:32 to play. Nowitzski willed Germany back to within 69-67, but free throws by Kus, Tomas and Marko Popovic soon re-opened the Croatian advantage to 74-67, guaranteeing the ticket to Beijing for head coach Jasmin Repesa of Lottomatica Roma and his squad.
Semifinals                                Puerto Rico 63-88 Greece
Dimitris Diamantidis - Greece (photo: FIBA.com) The silver medalists from the last World Championships are going to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, too, after Greece trounced Puerto Rico 63-88 on Saturday in the semifinals of the 2008 Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men in Athens. The victory gives Greece its fourth trip to the Olympics, after it finished fifth the last two times, in 1996 and 2004. Backed by its home fans at OAKA arena in Athens, scene of the last Olympics, Greece led from the tipoff through the final buzzer as six players scored in double figures and another dished double-digit assists. Dmitris Diamantidis of Panathinaikos led the winners with 15 points, while Theodoros Papaloukas of Olympiacos had 10 assists, more than the whole Puerto Rican team. Greece, stormed to an early 2-10 lead as Diamantidis and his Panathinaikos teammate Kostas Tsartsaris scored 4 points each. Another duo of Greens, Antonis Fotsis and Vassilis Spanoulis, shared 5 points in a row for Greece's first double-digit lead, 4-15. Sofoklis Schortsianitis joined in the fun to make it 9-19 although Puerto Rico big man Peter Ramos cut the difference with his third basket to end the first quarter. In the second, Greece didn't let its lead fall below 6 points, the last time at 27-33, when Daniel Santiago made his third second consecutive basket for Puerto Rico. Spanoulis answered with a triple, followed soon by Olympiacos teammates Ionnis Bouroussis, Schortsianitis and Theodoros Papaloukas rocketing the difference to 15 points, which held at 35-48 for halftime. Puerto Rico rallied to within 45-53 shortly after the break, but 5 points in a row and a big block by Schortsianitis steadied Greece at 47-58. By the time Bouroussis scored twice, assisted by Papaloukas, who also fed Diamantidis for a triple, Greece was back in complete control at 50-68 after three quarters. Puerto Rico played good defense to start the final quarter, but only scored enough to get within 55-70 before Papaloukas and Diamantidis drilled triples to make it 57-76 with 5 minutes left. An alley-oop dunk by Fotsis and triple by Panagiotis Vassilopoulos soon ended all doubt as the lead ballooned to 58-83 and Greece started booking tickets for Beijing. Spanoulis had 14 points and Schorstianitis 13 for the winners, while Tsartsaris added 11, Bouroussis and Vassilopoulos 10 each. Juan Jose Barrea led Puerto Rico with 16 points, but he was his team's only double-figure scorer as Greece's defense dominated that side of the ball, too.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Euroleague.net
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