By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The first “Window” of the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers is over and there’s no small amount of European teams that already checked a place in the World Championship. After Greece, some more national teams won, and one even advanced, in a dramatic fashion…
Lithuania needed two overtimes and a near-crazy 3-point bucket by Mantas Kalnietis to bring down a feisty Dutch national team, thus expanding their record to 8-0. The game finale of Hungary – Italy was also open to all results, but the “Azzurri” didn’t require more than 40 minutes to win on the road and get closer to the World Cup.
Spain also took a rather intense win over Latvia thanks to a spectacular game-winning bucket, courtesy of Quino Colom. Things were easier for Turkey thanks to Furkan Korkmaz and Scottie Wilbekin that overpowered reigning EuroBasket champion Slovenia. The latter has fallen way behind in its Group and, as of now, it will be a major surprise if they manage to qualify.
Things for Croatia aren’t that bad but still quite alarming. Bojan Bogdanovic, Dario Saric, Ante Zizic and Ivica Zubac came all the way from USA but their team’s “Window” run was winless, after the loss to Poland. The latter have now absolutely rekindled their hopes for a World Cup spot.
Group I
| GAMES | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | Spain | 8 | 7 | 1 | 87.5 | 647 | 589 | 58 | 80.9 | 73.6 | 15 |
| 2 | Turkey | 8 | 6 | 2 | 75.0 | 602 | 535 | 67 | 75.2 | 66.9 | 14 |
| 3 | Latvia | 8 | 5 | 3 | 62.5 | 644 | 612 | 32 | 80.5 | 76.5 | 13 |
| 4 | Montenegro | 8 | 4 | 4 | 50.0 | 613 | 606 | 7 | 76.6 | 75.8 | 12 |
| 5 | Ukraine | 8 | 4 | 4 | 50.0 | 600 | 605 | -5 | 75 | 75.6 | 12 |
| 6 | Slovenia | 8 | 2 | 6 | 25.0 | 635 | 663 | -28 | 79.4 | 82.9 | 10 |
Group J
| GAMES | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | Lithuania* | 8 | 8 | 0 | 100 | 691 | 528 | 163 | 86.4 | 66 | 16 |
| 2 | Italy | 8 | 6 | 2 | 75.0 | 644 | 550 | 94 | 80.5 | 68.8 | 14 |
| 3 | Poland | 8 | 4 | 4 | 50.0 | 597 | 585 | 12 | 74.6 | 73.1 | 12 |
| 4 | Hungary | 8 | 4 | 4 | 50.0 | 551 | 549 | 2 | 68.9 | 68.6 | 12 |
| 5 | Netherlands | 8 | 3 | 5 | 37.5 | 586 | 585 | 1 | 73.2 | 73.1 | 11 |
| 6 | Croatia | 8 | 3 | 5 | 37.5 | 588 | 582 | 6 | 73.5 | 72.8 | 11 |