Eurobasket Day 5

Beg your pardon for not posting about Eurobasket as promised, readers! I’ve been busy in Lithuania, travelling all day to see the games, making posts for my website (aka 24hbasketballnews.blogspot.com) so it’s been pretty hectic. Nevermind! Here I am to give you a report about Eurobasket so far and Day 5!  Game of the day is Russia vs Slovenia, do not miss it! Russia and Slovenia will take the floor for a winner-takes-all battle. Both teams go into their last Group D game with matching 4-0 records, but both had to work hard to get there.

Let’s see the teams one to one:

GROUP A:

Spain: Spain has 5 wins so far and is the leader of Group A. So far they have beaten Poland, Portugal, Great Britain and Lithuania, without facing difficulties. Today they will give their battle against Turkey, wanting to keep being in charge of Group A.

Turkey: Turkoglu and his friends keep Turkey high with 2 wins so far against Great Britain and Portugal. However, two losses by Lithuania and Poland make them risk passing to the next round. If Poland wins Great Britain today, Poland advances to the next round and Turkey is out. Having all odds against them, they face Spain in the afternoon.

Lithuania: The hosts have 3 wins against Great Britain, Poland and Turkey. After a tough lost last night against Spain and after the injury of their center, Petravicius, the team wants just the win against Portugal today, to make sure they pass to the next round without confusion.

Poland: Maybe it’s the team that surprises us the most in this Eurobasket. Having 2 wins so far, against Portugal and Turkey, they have many hopes to go to Vilnius for the next round if they win Great Britain today.

Great Britain: Having 3 losses and just a single win so far, no one expects something more from Great Britain this year. Having Deng as their big gun though, they managed to be very competitive to most teams. Today they’ll get in Poland’s way to the 2nd round.

Portugal: Portugal has 0 wins so far and no hope for the next round. They made it to Eurobasket after the additional qualification round along with Finland and that’s a huge matter for a team that’s never been involved in such a tournament in modern era. They face Lithuania, with the hope to be a good game.

GROUP B:

Serbia: Milos Teodosic, Nenad Krstic and Dusko Savanovic can not help but be proud of their team, having already 4 wins and without actually being threatened by any other team. The team’s spirit is high, especially after beating Dirk Nowitzki and his friends last night. Tonight they’ll face France and they both have the same goal. Win to get to the next round with 10 points.

France: This team can look just high. They have one goal and it’s obvious, the gold metal. Having already 4 wins and Tony Parker in full form they want one more win against Serbia to get to the top of Group B.

Germany: 2 wins and 2 losses for a team that has the NBA finals MVP in it, Dirk Nowitzki. Today’s game against Latvia will make it clear if the Germans have hope to get to the next round, as their group is a competitive one, with many surprises.

Italy: The team of 3 NBAers hasn’t managed to offer Italians the joy they deserve as they have 3 losses and only 1 win. Bargnani is incredible so far, looking at the stats (22.0 points/game). Last chance to chase a ticket for Vilnius is tonight against Israel.

Latvia: Latvia will battle for pride today against Germany. No wonders can happen so Latvia says bye to Eurobasket today.  Keep an eye on Blums though, he keeps the team alive throughout the 1st round.

GROUP C:

F.Y.R. of Macedonia: As Group C enters its last day, only two things are sure: F.Y.R. of Macedonia are assured of going to Vlinius while Montenegro is not. F.Y.R. of Macedonia has 3 wins and one loss from Montenegro and today they will face Bosnia and Herzegovina in the last game of Group C for the day.

Finland: The second team that passed to the Eurobasket 2011 groups is a nice surprise. Fighting til the end, they only made good impressions to basketball fans! They almost won F.Y.R. of Macedonia yesterday, losing in the last seconds of the game by a hoop. They play against Montenegro today, hoping to close their round with one more win.

Greece: Greece’s absences this year didn’t make the team bow down. Having 1 loss by F.Y.R. of Macedonia (and too much buzz behind it) and 3 wins, they face Croatia with the hope to get the ticket. If Greece wins, the ticket belongs to them.

Bosnia and Herzegovina: They say patience is a virtue and all good things are worth waiting for. For Finland and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the lengthy wait for a victory has tested those two theories to the absolute limit. 2 wins – 2 losses and the hope that dies last. They’ll have to win F.Y.R. of Macedonia to have chance for the second round.

Montenegro: As mentioned above, Montenegro has already lost the ticket for the second round in Vilnius of Lithuania. Their win over F.Y.R. of Macedonia didn’t manage to bring them happiness. Facing Finland this evening, they want to say bye with their heads up.

Croatia: Marko Popovic and his team are not doing so good! They have 2 losses against F.Y.R. of Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and 2 wins over Finland and Montenegro. They face Greece today and if they win, Greece gets out of Eurobasket while Croatia advances.

GROUP D:

Georgia: This team has fighters and it’s a strong one to beat. So far, so good! 2 wins and 2 losses for a team that’s not experienced it’s a big achievement. Today they face Bulgaria, it’s going to be a thrilling game, don’t miss it!

Belgium: The Belgian Lions have 4 losses and as expected, not the best mood. They won’t go any further this year, nonetheless, they want a win today against Ukraine in order to please the Belgian fans.

Bulgaria: The Balkan team counts just a single win over Belgium in Eurobasket so far and 3 losses by Slovenia, Ukraine and Russia. Rowland and Ivanov try to make Bulgaria’s game decent but the turnovers deprive them from winning. In an hour, they face Georgia.

Russia: Russia’s Andrei Kirilenko works his magic this time and the team has already the ticket for the next round with 4/4 wins and impressive stats. It seems like only today’s opponent is strong enough to battle for the first place of Group D and that’s Slovenia.

Ukraine: Having the same luck as Bulgaria, Ukraine has 1 win and 3 losses and S. Bertt in full form. They play against Belgium tonight for the last game of Group D.

Slovenia: They are Russia’s biggest opponent with 4/4 wins and tonight will face them. Who will get away with 5/5 wins? It’s all seen! (GAME OF THE DAY!)