FIBA Quarterfinals: Day One recap

Eight teams are left to fight for four slots in the semi-final round of the 16^th FIBA World Championship held in Turkey. After the first day of the quarterfinal round, defending champions Spain was dethroned by the tournament’s giant-slayers, Serbia, 92-89. In the second game, Turkey continued crushing and hammering every team that blocked its way. The Turks came away with another blowout win by stifling Slovenia, 95-68.

Teodosic’s three-pointer helps Serbia beat Spain

With only 3.1 seconds remaining in the game, Serbia’s prolific combo guard Milos Teodosic buried a cold-blooded three-pointer to help his team win over Spain, 92-89.

Teodosic’s clutch three-ball was the ultimate exclamation to an exciting game that went down the wire. With the win, Serbia will advance to the semifinals of the FIBA World Championship for the first time in eight years.

With the win, they avenged their loss in last year’s Eurobasket Finals against the same Spanish squad.

Spain meanwhile has been officially dethroned as the defending champions. Aside from that, this is the first time in six years that they failed to reach the final four of all major international competitions that they have participated in.

Serbia’s attack was led by center Novica Velickovic and Marko Keselj who both scored 17 points apiece. Dusko Savanovic and Nemanja Bjelica had 15 and 14 points respectively. NBA player Nenad Krstic had a complete game by chipping in 13 points on top of nine rebounds.

However, the man of the hour for Serbia was obviously Teodosic, who scored 12 points while dishing out a game-high eight assists.

For Spain, point guard Juan Carlos Navarro led all scorers with 27 points. Aside from him, Jorge Garbajosa added 18 while the high-flying Rudy Fernandez had 15 points.

In the first quarter, the Serbians went off to a blazing start by taking a 27-23 lead. Bjelica and Velickovic tore apart the vaunted Spanish defense by scoring almost at will. With less than six minutes to go, the Serbs were already up by 10 points.

Navarro came to the rescue by helping Spain start a 10-4 blast to cut the lead down to four points.

In the second period, veteran point guard Sergio Llull hit two free throws to give Spain a slim 29-28 lead. However, Keselj, Teodosic, and Dusko Savanovic made timely threes to put Serbia up ahead after the first half.

Spain made another run with the help this time of Garbajosa who cut the lead down to four. Serbia wasn’t finished as Keselj went into another scoring binge to give his team a 49-41 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, Spain made a 10-0 run courtesy of Garbajosa and Fernandez to take command of the game.

Keselj once again made a three-pointer to give the lead again to Serbia. After that, his team went into an 8-0 blitz for a 67-64 lead going into the payoff period.

Early in the fourth quarter, Serbia pulled away to give them a rather comfortable eight-point cushion over the dangerous Spanish squad. Spain continued trading baskets with Serbia and midway through the quarter, Savanovic made a huge three to give Serbia an 86-78 lead.

Spain’s old veteran players went to work by firing six unanswered points to cut the lead down to two, 86-84.

Once again, Keselj bailed Serbia with a three-pointer, but Spain got back instantly through a Navarro three and a monster slam by Gasol.

Then, with ice water flowing through his veins, Teodosic ran the clock and threw a three-pointer to finally seal the deal for Serbia.

Turkey stomps Slovenia, enters semifinals

Turkey’s amazing run continues in the FIBA World Championship as they extended their winning streak to seven by beating Slovenia, 95-68. More importantly, they have already booked a ticket to the semifinals wherein they will compete for the first time.

In only its third appearance in the Worlds, the Turks have a chance to play for a medal. The amazing thing is that they have defeated their opponents by an average of 20 points. With the win, they will be facing a tough Serbian squad in the semifinals.

As usual, Turkey relied on NBA player Ersan Ilyasova who led Turkey with 19 points while grabbing five rebounds. Aside from him, former NBA Most Improved Player Hedo Turkoglu made timely passes en route to seven assists.

For Slovenia, Bostjan Nachbar and Sani Becirovic led everybody with 16 points apiece while Primo Brezec and Uros Slokar combined for 20 points. In spite of their contributions, Slovenia simply could not match the Turkish juggernaut.

In the first quarter, Slovenia led early after a basket made by Nachbar. After that, Turkey resorted to a man-to-man defense, which caused the momentum to shift to their side.

Turkey’s Omer Onan and Kerem Tunceri ignited a 10-0 run that gave Turkey a 27-14 lead after the first quarter.

Everything went downhill for Slovenia when Turkey got hot from the three-point arc in the second quarter. The Turks made 8 of 11 three-point attempts while capitalizing on Slovenia’s miscues on the other end.

At the end of the first half, Turkey was already comfortably ahead 50-31.

Turkey continued hammering Slovenia in the third quarter. With 10 players making the scoreboard, Turkey was able to build a 28-point cushion going into the final quarter.

The Slovenians were never able to make a comeback in spite of the repeated attempts of Nachbar and Jaka Lakovic. Turkey did not let its guard down, and steamrolled through the Slovenian squad with relative ease.

After the game, Nachbar gave credit to Turkey who took advantage of their miscues early on. Slovenia’s coach Mehmed Becirovic added that the accuracy of Turkey from the mid- and three-point range made it difficult for Slovenia to stop their rallies.

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