HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Day 3 of EuroBasket 2011 promised a few fireworks and did not disappoint when a few of the competition’s titans clashed in Lithuania.

Spain 86, Great Britain 69 (Box Score)

Pau Gasol‘s 21 points helped secure a third straight win for unbeaten and defending champion Spain, which had no problems disposing of Luol Deng and Great Britain. It’s a good thing great Britain has an automatic invite to the London Olympics (as the host nation representative), because that appears to be the only way they could make that field.

• As good as Pau was, younger brother Marc Gasol was the driving force for Spain after halftime. He scored  eight points during a 10-0 run that blew the game open and scored 12 of his 18 points in the pivotal third quarter. His team-high 11 rebounds, five assists, two steals and lone blocked shot showed off the tremendous skill-set that we Hang Time Grizzlies fans have been raving about the past two seasons.
• Deng and Dan Clark managed to keep Britain in this one through three quarters. But 21 turnovers against a savvy team like Spain is an invitation for disaster. Spain scored a point for every turnover and eventually pulled away in the fourth quarter behind all of those miscues.
• The Ricky Rubio cynics out there continue to build a case against the young wizard. After yet another ho-hum outing, it’s getting tougher and tougher to envision him as a difference maker in his first NBA season. But we will keep watching (and waiting) for that breakout performance.

France 76, Germany 65 (Box Score)

French point guard Tony Parker won this battle of NBA Finals MVPs with Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki, outscoring the Dirk 32-20 in what lived up to its advanced billing as the game of the day.

• Parker had a magnificent shooting day, knocking down 11 of his 20 shots from the floor, including a perfect (2-for-2) showing from beyond the 3-point line. Nowitzki never did get into a good rhythm, finishing 5-for-13 from the floor.
• French center Joakim Noah battled Chris Kaman to a stalemate in the middle, which is exactly what his team needed and most certainly the one thing Germany could not afford. Noah’s energy, length and really his presence alone changes things for France.
• After two relatively quiet outings, Nicolas Batum scored 14 points to join Parker and Mickael Gelabale (10) as the only players on the French team to score in double figures.

Italy 71, Latvia 62 (Box Score)

Maybe someone in Italy’s locker room is reading HT these days. We called for more from Andrea Bargnani, if this team was going to get off the snide and put a mark in the win column. And that’s exactly what happened against Latvia. Bargnani got loose for 36 points, 18 in each half, to keep their hopes of advancing alive.

• The 33-31 halftime lead didn’t sit well in the Italian locker room, or so says Daniel Hackett, the former USC point guard. ”Coach came to the locker room and told us to let it all hang out if we wanted to win the game,” Hackett said of coach Simone Pianigiani‘s speech. ”I think in the last quarter, our defense improved and we were able to stop them and also, our offense went through the post to Bargnani while (Stefano) Mancinelli gave me a chance to be a playmaker in the middle of the zone.”
• The turning point of the game, however, didn’t come until the start of the fourth quarter. That’s when Bargnani and Marco Mordente nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to break the game open just enough to make this young (but talented) Latvia team nervous.
• Italy made more free throws (25-of-28) than Latvia attempted (21 and made just 12). In this day and age of hoops analytics, that’s one good ol’ fashioned indicator of the winner and loser in almost any game (we’ve nicknamed it the “Duke Rule” around here).

Serbia 89, Israel 80 (Box Score)

Yet another one of the impressive unblemished teams in this competition, so far, Serbia was dominant when it mattered most (late) in this defeat of Israel. They had to battle to gain control of this game but did so behind a dominant rebounding effort. And their looming matchup with France will be yet another must-see game for fans from all sides.

• As mentioned, Serbia’s domination on the boards (44-27) is what helped them grind their way back into this game. It was only a matter of time, what with Israel lacking the needed size to match up with Nenad Krstic and his buddies on that frontline rotation.
• Yoatam Halperin looks like a guy that has extensive EuroBasket experience, of our math is correct this is his fourth straight appearance. He bothered Serbia on both ends and finished with a team-high 18 points and five steals.
• Dusko Savanovic did his thing again, leading Serbia with 24 points. It was his 3-pointer with 1:03 to play that pushed the lead to 84-76 and basically put the game away for the winners.

Lithuania 75, Turkey 68 (Box Score)

We’re not used to spending this much time gushing about Darius Songaila, but so far that’s all we’ve been able to do with this NBA journeyman. He came up huge again as the host nation crew knocked Turkey from the ranks of the unbeaten. Songaila’s 12 points off the bench included two clutch free throws to give Lithuania a 71-68 lead with 40 seconds remaining.

• Songaila’s effort off the bench was part of a 33-16 bench whitewash by Lithuania. That lift from one of the deepest and most versatile benches in the competition made all the difference, with a little help from that wicked crowd.
• Songaila was almost the goat in this game. When he was called for an unsportsmanlike foul on Emir Preldzic just 15 seconds before he sank those free throws, and the home team clinging to a 69-67 lead. But Preldzic split the free throws and then missed a layup.
• When you live by the 3-pointer, sometimes you … Turkey shot a miserable 17 percent (3-for-18) from distance and watched their unbeaten streak vanish due in large part to their inability to be effective in that facet of their game.

Poland 81, Portugal 73 (Box Score)

An 8-2 run in the final 69 seconds proved to be the difference in this game for Poland, which got a huge effort from Lukasz Koszarek during crunch time. Koszarek scored seven of his game-high 18 points in the fourth quarter.

• “This is a very important win for us,” said Koszarek. “We knew how important this game was for us and for them and it was a battle from start to finish. ”Thankfully, we held on for victory.”
• Portugal led 36-29 at halftime but went scoreless for the first six minutes of the third quarter. Poland used a 12-0  run during that stretch to not only get back in the game but wrestle away control of the action until Portugal tied the game up at 49-49 to start the fourth quarter.
• Antonio Tavares and Jose Costa finished with 13 points each to lead Portugal. Both had huge 3-pointers down the stretch, making it a two-point game before Poland’s game-deciding run.

Category: FIBA 2011 / Tags: , Chris Kaman, Dirk Nowitzki, Joakim Noah, Juan Carlos Navarro, Marc Gasol, Pau Gasol, Ricky Rubio, Tony Parker / Comments (1) /

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