By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
Two young guns will not be present in the upcoming Eurobasket. In Greece, coach Andrea Trinchieri announced that new Panathinaikos player Nikos Pappas is out of the team and as he explained: “He thinks that he is not a part of our plans, so he doesn’t have any motive. We don’t want to keep in the team an unhappy face”. In Serbia, coach Dusan Ivkovic decided that Dejan Musli of Partizan doesn’t fit the rotation of his team since “the competition at the center position is very strong”.
On Wednesday preparation games, Italy beat Georgia 85-69. San Antonio Spurs‘ Marco Belinelli with 21 points on 9/12 shots was the star of the night. In the first game of the same tournament in the Italian city of Trentino, Israel beat Poland 81-65 as free agent Lior Eliyahu scored 19 points.
In Zagreb, Croatia beat FYROM 72-67. The losing side played once again without Atlanta Hawks‘ Pero Antic, however his insurance issues are solved and he will be ready to compete in the next preparation games.