May 25, 2012
World Championships quarterfinals: September 8
September 8: Turkey 95-68 Slovenia , Serbia 92-89 Spain

Sinan Guler – Turkey (Photo: FIBA/Castoria/N.Parausic)Turkey dominated Slovenia 95-68 to reach the semifinals at the FIBA World Championships. Ersan Ilyasova led five Turkey scorers in double figures with 19 points as the hosts pulled away at the end of the first quarter and never looked back. Turkey will meet Serbia in Saturday’s semifinals. Turkey enjoyed hot shooting all night, making 8 of 10 triples in the first half on the way to a blowout. Efes Pilsen’s Sinan Guler added 12 points and Hedo Turkoglu, Efes’s Kerem Tunceri and Omer Onan of Fenerbahce Ulker added 10 points apiece for the winners. Sani Becirovic and Efes Pilsen’s Bostjan Nachbar paced Slovenia with 16 points each and Primoz Brezec and Uros Slokar added 10 each in defeat. The game delivered plenty of excitement from the onset with an uptempo start as the lead changing hands early and often with Turkoglu and Nachbar shining for their respective teams. Ilyasova helped Turkey to a 22-14 lead with a triple and a long jumper. Despite a Slovenia timeout, the visitors were unable to find their way to the basket, while an Ilyasova slam put the hosts ahead by double figures. A Turkoglu fastbreak slam helped Turkey finish the opening quarter with 10 unanswered points for a 27-14 lead. Becirovic fed Slokar for a slam to end the Slovenia drought, however Turkey continued to run away. Guler drilled a pair of triples and his Efes Pilsen teammate Ender Arslan hit another to give Turkey double Slovenia’s points, 38-19. Ilyasova sank Turkey’s eighth three to make it a 20-point game. Brezec tried to answer the call for Slovenia with a trio of baskets, but Turkey answered at every turn. Arslan set up Semih Erden for an alley-oop to give the home team a 50-31 lead at the halftime break. The lead continued to grow in the third quarter after Tunceri hit a triple and Omer Asik made a free throw to put Turkey up 56-32. Goran Dragic and Slokar helped Slovenia narrow the gap to 18. Turkey responded with the next 10 points – including 8 from the line – from six different players en route to a 71-43 lead heading into the last quarter. Regal FC Barcelona guard Jaka Lakovic tried to make the final score more respectable, but it was not enough to threaten Turkey. Guler fed Asik for an alley-oop slam to treat the fans as time ran out with the sold-out arena celebrating another Turkey win.



Novica Velickovic - Serbia (Photo FIBA.com)Serbia knocked out defending champion Spain 92-89 on a late Milos Teodosic triple in the quarterfinals at the 2010 FIBA World Championships in Istanbul on Wednesday. After Spain came from behind to tie the game, Teodosic drilled a three with 3.2 seconds remaining to lift Serbia to victory in a rematch of the EuroBasket 2009 title game. Teodosic, the reigning Euroleague MVP, finished with 12 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds to lead a balanced Serbian attack. Marko Keselj of Olympiacos and Novica Velickovic of Real Madrid were the high scorers with 17 points each, Dusko Savanovic of Power Electronics Valencia netted 15, Caja Laboral's Nemanja Bjelica had 14 and Nenad Krstic added 13 points and 9 rebounds. Regal FC Barcelona’s Juan Carlos Navarro paced Spain with 27 points, Jorge Garbajosa of Real Madrid scored 18, Rudy Fernandez 15 and Marc Gasol 13. The key to the game for Serbia was its three-point shooting, as it made 15 of 30 (50%) from downtown, led by Keselj’s 5 of 6. The game was even early featuring ties at 3-3, 5-5, 10-10 and 13-13 as Velickovic and Navarro shined. Velickovic gave Serbia the game’s first two-possession lead with a long jumper with just over four minutes to go in the quarter and Bjelica helped pump the advantage to double figures. Navarro struck from downtown to revive the Spanish attack and added a floater to close the gap to 27-23 at the end of the opening quarter. Spain closed the gap to a single point a few minutes into the second quarter only to see Serbia wake up when Keselj drilled a three-pointer and Teodosic canned a jumper. Milos Teodosic - Serbia (photo FIBA.com)Navarro remained the focal point of the Spanish attack, but Krstic gave Serbia a 49-41 lead at halftime. Spain roared back at the start of the second half as Garbajosa and Fernandez combined on 5 free throws and Garbajosa drained a triple to knot the game at 49-49. Navarro's first basket of the half capped a 0-10 run and gave Spain its first lead of the game. Keselj finally responded with a strike from downtown and the game heated up when Garbajosa was whistled for an unsportsmanlike foul on Krstic. The lead started to change hands on nearly every possession and aggressive play at both ends resulted in numerous fouls being called. Fernandez and Velickovic turned in highlight reel plays as the excitement increased. Krstic helped Serbia take a 67-64 lead after three quarters. A basket from Savanovic and a triple from Keselj pushed Serbia to an 8-point advantage. However foul trouble started to catch up with Serbia as Stefan Markovic fouled out and Teodosic picked up his fourth. Regal FC Barcelona's Ricky Rubio took advantage and pulled up for a triple. Savanovic kept the hot hand to restore a 77-69 Serbian cushion. Fernandez cut the gap to 3 points with a basket-plus-foul, but threes from Bjelica and Savanovic kept Serbia in control. Garbajosa attacked the glass for a basket and Bjelica’s fifth foul and Gasol sank a jumper to make it 86-82 with three minutes remaining. Fernandez shined by soaring high for a defensive rebound and slicing through the Serbia defense to cut the gap to 2. Keselj answered with a triple over Fernandez, but Navarro countered from downtown seconds later. It was destined to come down to the end after Gasol tied it at 89-89 with a slam off a Navarro assist with 25.8 seconds remaining. Teodosic held the ball for a final shot and drilled a deep three over Garbajosa with 3.2 seconds to go and Spain was not able to get off a shot on its final possession.
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Euroleague.net
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