EuroBasket 2017 - Days 1 & 2 Report
EuroBasket 2017 is here, and the first two days of group play have already seen some tremendous performances, which will hopefully just be the start of a great tournament.
After a close first quarter, Slovenia opened the following period with a ten-point scoring run, and began to pull away from Poland. Behind Mateusz Ponitka, top scorer for Poland with 22, they made numerous attempts to get back into the game, but it was not enough to out-match Goran Dragic's 30, which helped Slovenia take the win, 90-81.
This game was followed by Greece and Iceland scoring high in the paint, though one team more than the other. Haukur Palsson led Iceland’s offence with 21 points, but plenty of creative inside play and with greater strength, Greece ensured their dominance in the game. The final score was 90-61 to Greece.
Day one in Group A ended with a back-and-forth game between France and hosts Finland. France had to fight back from an early surge from Finland, and in the second quarter it seemed they had captured the game. In the second half, however, great inside play from Jamar Wilson and 22 points from Lauri Markkanen got Finland back into it, taking the game into overtime. In the extra period, Finland took control. Evan Fournier was the game's top scorer with 25, but it was not enough to save France. Finland celebrated a famous victory over their toughest adversaries in the group.
In the opening game of Group B, it was all Ukraine, their team cohesion and inside players overwhelming Germany. It picked up for the Germans in the second quarter, when they took the lead and did not relinquish it. Dennis Schroeder was incredible for Germany, scoring 32 points, and a good shooting performance from Robin Benzing, Germany went on to win this crucial game in the group of death, 75-63.
Behind some terrific early play from Jonas Valanciunis, Lithuania won the first half, but when the game resumed Georgia came out fighting. Zaza Pachulia gave Georgia the lead in the third quarter, and it continued to change hands throughout the remainder of the game.
First-rate shooting from Tornike Shengalia – who had 29 points in the contest – as well as good scoring plays from Michael Dixon fought off any Lithuanian chance at reasserting themselves. Dixon gave Georgia a late three-point lead, which Jonas Maciulis cut to one with eight seconds left. Dixon increased the lead to two, and on the other end Mantas Kalneitis – top scorer for Lithuania – missed the final shot. Georgia celebrated an incredible victory, 79-77 over Lithuania.
Finally, Group B hosts Israel took on Italy. Omri Casspi came close to a double double with 18 points and 9 rebounds, giving Israel hope early on. The Italians had over plans, and stepped up both their offence and defence. Led by Nicolo Melli, Italy's high offensive pressure made it a low scoring game, but the door was left open for some heroics on offence. Between them, Marco Bellinelli and Luigi Datome made 10 three-pointers for Italy, which helped see them defeat Israel by 21 points.
Group C saw the closest-fought game of the tournament so far: there was never any more than 11 points separating Hungary and Croatia. Great inside play from Dario Saric and 23 points and 7 rebounds from Bojan Bogdanovic buoyed Croatia, while for Hungary some great three-point shooting and inside play from Akos Keller kept them within contention. In the decisive final quarter, however, Croatia outscored Hungary by 10 points, which helped them clinch the win, 67-58.
Tyrese Rice tried to give Montenegro a early advantage in their encounter with Spain, but it didn’t take long for the defending champions to find their rhythm. Led by Willy Hernangomez, who had 18, every player for Spain made the score sheet and the baskets kept coming from all over the floor from Spain, who won 99-60.
Vlad Moldoveanu was doing it all for Romania against Czech Republic - he finished with 24 points, 9 of which coming from three-point territory, and was a big reason for his team's dominance in the first quarter. As the game went on, though, the Czechs took over behind Vojtech Hruban and Tomas Satoransky - who had 25 points and 20 points and 13 rebounds respectively. Czech Republic's second half performance convincingly won them the game, 83-68.
In Group D, a close game for the first three quarters between Belgium and Great Britain was decided in the final period, when Belgium's veteran scorers Sam Van Rossom and Maxime de Zeeuw took advantage of the Brits' failing stamina to clinch victory for Belgium, 101-90. Gabe Olaseni had a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds for Great Britain in the loss.
Kristaps Porzingis made his EuroBasket debut with a trademark performance, though he was out shadowed by team mate Dairis Bertans who had 23 points. After leading in the first quarter, Latvia succumbed to Serbia's power and play that was executed to perfection. Davis Bertans made the block of the game - swatting the ball out of the hand of 7’3” Boban Marjanovic on a dunk attempt - but it would be small compensation for Latvia, who lost by ten points.
The day ended with the latest instalment of a long rivalry between Turkey and Russia. Cool and composed inside play from Russia met Turkey's explosive inside play - led by Cedi Osman who finished with 28 points. With little to separate the teams throughout, a three-pointer from Alexei Shved in the final minute would be the deciding play. Turkey were unable to come back in the little time they had left, and Russia took their first win of EuroBasket 2017, 76-73.
Keep up to date with EuroBasket 2017 by visiting the tournament's official website.
