EuroBasket 2017 - The Second Round
The knockout stage of EuroBasket 2017 began and, over the first two days, provided a lot of exciting, unpredictable basketball with some dominant performances and surprising results which set up even more exciting games to come.
Alert defence Slovenia against Ukraine saw them make a lot of points from turnover as well as on the fast break. They didn’t allow too many easy chances for Ukraine, whose previously imposing and effective front court were well boxed-out. Luca Doncic did well throughout the game, though the biggest scoring show came from teammate Anthony Randolph, who had 21 points in just twenty minutes off the bench. Slovenia brought Ukraine's run to an end, winning here 79 to 55.
Thomas Huertel and Evan Fournier were getting it done early for France against Germany. Fournier would finish with 27 points as France dominated the first half of this second-round matchup. In the second half Dennis Schroeder started creating more chances for both him and his team, resulting in a much tighter remainder of the game. The score went back and forth right to the final seconds, when Robin Benzing made two foul shots to make it a three-point game, and on the other end Nando de Colo missed a final three-point attempt. France suffered their earliest exit from EuroBasket since 1997, while Germany's momentum continued into the quarter finals.
Italy came charging out of the blocks against Finland, and the long-range shooting of Luigi Datome, Nicolo Melli and Marco Bellinelli saw them out-score the Fins 30-17 after the first quarter. Italy rested on this buffer a bit, which allowed Petteri Koponen to close the gap with some threes of his own. More inside play from Daniel Hackett and Italy, though, would stamp their authority on the game. Bellinelli led all scorers in this one with 22 points and was more than 60% from the three-point line as Italy took the win over Finland by thirteen points.
Greece’s big men gave them a big lift after a serious start to the game from Lithuania. Mindaugas Kuzminskas’s inside game helped to turn the favour back to Lithuania, Kuzminskas would finish the game with 20 points. Kostas Sloukas responded for Greece with some exciting basketball, he ended the game the top scorer with 21 points, including 5 threes and 50% from the field. Lithuania looked to take charge in the fourth quarter, but good defending from Greece denied the Baltic Giants any way back, and the win started to run away from Lithuania. A great show from Greece saw them take a huge scalp as they advance to the quarter finals.
Despite some good defence from Montenegro, Latvia did well to keep finding gaps through their defence. In the second half, Latvia turned the taps on and the points kept coming thick and fast. Janis Timma was perfect from beyond the arc and was more than 60% from the field, while Kristaps Porzingis made almost two thirds of all his shot attempts as Latvia bulldozered Montenegro, the final score 100-68.
Some slack Hungarian defending gave way to some easy close-range baskets from Serbia. As well as good play from the field, Serbia did well to collect loose balls and convert them into points. Hungary turned up the heat in the fourth quarter behind 22 points and 7 rebounds from Zoltan Perl, but swarming offence from Serbia kept them in front. Serbia advance to the quarter finals having defeated Hungary 86 to 78.
Turkey displayed great team cohesion and good shooting in their match-up against Spain. Despite every Spanish player making the score sheet, it was a low scoring affair from the defending champions. Fukran Korkmaz was the stand-out player, making some of the best moves in the game on his way to 20 total points. Continued terrific outside shooting from both Sergio Rodriguez and Ricky Rubio would be the clincher for Spain, though, as they turned the atmosphere in Istanbul sour, knocking out the hosts 73 to 56.
Behind an outstanding performance from Alexei Shved - 27 points and 12 rebounds - Russia put Croatia to the sword early in the final second round game. Bojan Bogdanovich did everything he could to give Croatia that extra push - he finished with a staggering 28 points and shot 70% from two-point territory. Led by Dmitri Kulagin, Russia front court was relentless and kept up their short-range shooting streak to finish 101-78 winners and take their place in the last eight.
These results make for the following quarter final games:
Germany vs Spain
Slovenia vs Latvia
Greece vs Russia
Italy vs Serbia
Plenty of great opportunities are abound for teams who have tasted little success at EuroBasket, while the more seasoned teams face a big task to make it to the final four.
Get ready for quarter final stage by finding out more on the tournament's official website.
