|
France stun Serbia to reach last eight with Germany, Croatia, Greece at European Championship
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-09-21 08:26
In the second half, Serbia's offence came to a screeching halt as France
outpaced the home side and made it difficult for them to score from any
possession.
Germany's Dirk Nowitzki (3rd R), who also
plays for the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, fights for the ball with Turkey's
Kaya Peker (2nd R) and Mehmet Okur (R), from the NBA's Utah Jazz, as
Demond Greene (C) watches during their European basketball championship
match in Vrsac, September 20, 2005.
[Reuters] | Diaw and Parker ran the Serbs ragged
at the other end with pick-and-roll play, opening uncontested shots from
mid-range and behind the arc or easy lay-ups when the home side's pivots were
drawn forward to help out a static back-court defence.
France took a 58-57 lead early in the fourth quarter and never looked back,
holding their own to stay ahead 70-66 with two minutes left on the clock.
The Serbs pulled back to 72-71 with a three-pointer from Dejan Bodiroga but
could not make a shot from several attempts on their last possession to force
overtime after Rigaudeau and Diaw nailed a free throw each at the other end to
make it 74-71.
Jaric and Vladimir Radmanovic, strangely kept on the bench in the final
period after an excellent opening three, scored 14 points each for Serbia while
Igor Rakocevic and Nenad Krstic had 11 apiece.
GREEK VICTORY
Greece beat Israel 67-61 in the other evening game to reach the
quarter-finals thanks to aggressive first half defending which lifted them to
25-14 at the interval as the two teams combined for a lowest halftime total of
the tournament so far.
The Israelis shot only 4-of-19 from the field in the first half and committed
a series of turnovers, allowing the Greeks to keep nosing ahead throughout the
match.
Greece dominated the boards, outscoring Israel 38-22 in the paint and
out-rebounded them 38-28 to run out comfortable winners in the end.
|
 | | | Big names at the FIFPRO World Player Awards | | |  | | | Idian tennis player threatened for wearing on-court dress | | |  | | | Liu Xiang stars in Seiko Super Track and Field 2005 | | |
|
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top Sports
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
