By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
Day by day Eurobasket 2013 is getting more and more exciting! On Friday Group C and D got the day off, but the games in Group A and B were full of thrills and surprises.
FYROM (1-2) finally got its first win and did in style, by destroying Serbia (2-1) in Group B and sending the “Eagles” back to the ground after their two wins in the first two days of the tournament against Lithuania and Bosnia. The final score (89-75) is almost flattering for the losing side. After three quarters FYROM was up 70-45 and Serbians just managed to close the gap in the final points difference by scoring 30 points in the last ten minutes of the game.
In Group A, coach Mike Fratello’s Ukraine proved that no one can underestimate the future hosts of Eurobasket 2015. So far they have a 3-0 record and their latest victim was Germany (1-2) as they kept their calm in the last minutes and got the 83-88 win.
In Group B, Lithuania (2-1) prevailed in the Baltic derby over previusly unbeaten Latvia (2-1) having the duo of Valanciunas and Motiejunas in a great day, getting the 59-67 win and also the advantage in case of a tie. Also Bosnia (1-2) got its first win against Montenegro (1-2) with a narrow 70-76 win.
Back in Group A, Belgium (2-1) beat Great Britain (1-2) by five points (76-71) and made an important step towards the ticket to the second round thanks to the experience of players like Axel Hervelle and Sam Van Rossom. Finally France (2-1) toyed with Israel (0-3) which seems to be on the exit door of the tournament. The final score for “Les Bleus” was 82-63.
MVP
Bo McCalebb: He set the tone early in the game, he was explosive and he made his teammates follow his example because of the energy he brought on the court. He did not create, but he gave rythm to the game and did a lot of damage as a scorer. He finished the game with 27 points, 7/15 shots and one assist.
Best Five
1.Νemania Gordic: Timing is everything in national team tournaments and the Bosnian guard exploded in the second half, as he scored 17 points on 7/9 shots and he also had 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
2. Bo McCalebb: We would use him as a shooting guard and we explained why.
3. Sergii Gladyr: Yes, we like small ball and that’s why we will give him the small forward spot, despite the fact that he is more a guard than a forward. He had 25 points on 8/16 shots, some of them decisive for the win of Ukraine over Germany.
4. Pero Antic: He missed a tone of three pointers. So what? His energy and passion exposed the Serbian front line. Despite having 5/14 shots the former Olympiacos player and Atlanta Hawks forward had 16 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assist and a dominant defensive presence in the paint.
5. Jonas Valanciunas: His duo with Motiejonas is more than interesting and he had a good game in the win over Latvia with a double double (11 p., 10 r., 3 bl.).
“J.R.Holden” award
Once more, naturalized guard had a very important role to play. After all McCalebb is our MVP, but we are giving this award to Pooh Jeter! His stability so far is one of the main reasons for Ukraine staying perfect and against Germany he had 19 points, 6 asissts and 5 rebounds.
Mr.Assist!
You have to give credit where it’s due, even if an individual performance can’t get a win. Specially of those players are doing the best they can in order to make better their teammates. That’s what Heiko Scaffartzik is doing in this year’s Eurobasket! The German guard not only scored 22 points but he also had 11 assists against Ukraine. The most impressive fact about his performance is that so far after three days in the tournament he has the unreal average of 9.7 assists per game.