By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
In its last warm up game for the upcoming Eurobasket, Spain gain one more win for the second straight night against Great Britain. It was a demonstration of power, as the reigning Eurobasket champions destroyed their opponents (100-46) and finished their preparation for Slovenia’s tournament with a perfect 8-0 score.
In Athens, Greece beat Italy 79-65 and conquered the “Acropolis tournament” despite Gigi Datome‘s valiant effort (19 p., 7 r.). Coach Trinkieri used his final selection of players in this game, confirming in the press conference that his center in Unics Kazan, Ian Vougioukas was the last man cut from the Greek roster. In the first game of the day, Lithuania put on an offensive show against Bosnia (94-73) as six players of the winners scored in double digits.
However the big news for Lithuania came from the last two – expected – cuts from the roster. Juskevicius and Cizauskas are out and the team of coach Kazlauskas consists of Kleiza, Valanciunas, Motiejunas, Kalnietis, Javtokas, Pocius, Seiboutis, Delininkaitis, Lavrinovic bros, Kuzminskas and Maciulis.
Also in Belgium, Czech Republic bounced back and beat the hosts (83-68) with Lubos Barton leading the way (17 p., 7 r.) and Latvia prevailed with an impressive 36 points difference over Finland (106-70). In Croatia, center Darko Planinic was cut from the roster.