Eurobasket 2009: Quarterfinals Recap (Spain-France & Serbia-Russia)

Quarterfinals (Thursday): Spain 86, France 66

I guess Spain can flip the switch when they want to. After appearing aimless in the first four games, Spain sent a message to the rest of the field with this thrashing of previously unbeaten France. Third game in a row where Spain has dominated its opponent.

Spain's scrambling defense gave France major issues, forcing bad passes all over the court. Had little concern for France's perimeter shooting ability, which led to unfettered help by Spain defenders. The Gasol Bros. paid very little attention to the French bigs.

Spain never went with much straight zone, but Pau Gasol (and also Marc Gasol) was basically playing a one-man zone by sloughing off in the paint the whole game. Anytime a Frenchie tried to get to the rim, there was always a big waiting to help. Parker rarely had easy access to the rim.

Anywhere Tony Parker went with the ball, extra Spanish defenders followed. Actually, anytime the ball went below the free-throw line, you had extra Spanish bodies flocking to the ball. This forced the French ball-handlers to pass the ball out under duress, often leading to turnovers (19 French TOs). Spain had 13 steals, six of which belonged to Rudy Fernandez.

Pau Gasol simply ate up the French bigs with 28 pts on 11-for-13, 9 rebs & 3 blks. We wondered if Gasol's length would be an issue for the undersized French frontline. It was a major issue. Gasol was a major factor in fouling out Ronny Turiaf in 21 minutes. Ali Traore fouled out in eight minutes. Yikes. This was a game where Joakim Noah could have come in handy.

Pau scored in any way he wanted: multiple rolls to the rim, a few alley-oops, lefty hook, righty hook, turnaround banker, baseline spins and a 18-foot jumper for good measure. A clinic the late, great Pete Newell would have loved.

Most of Rudy Fernandez's 16 points came behind the arc (4-for-6), including three bombs in the 1st quarter. Juan Navarro wasn't quite as efficient as he was the night before, but he was still a factor. Navarro dropped a patented floater and a runner going across the lane on his way to 11 pts & 4 assts.

Ricky Rubio had a solid outing with 8 pts & 4 assts--he even knocked down two 3pts. Ricky did have four TOs. Was active defensively, not afraid to pressure Parker. Just don't make the mistake that Rubio shut him down, it was a team effort.

Tony Parker had been averaging 18 ppg before this game, but Spain held him to six points. When Parker did get some open looks on the perimeter, he continued to struggle with his jumper--1-for-8 from the field. Rarely had much room to operate, too many Spanish defenders shadowing him.

Ronny Turiaf took advantage of the Gasols not paying much attention to him. Ronny cut to the open spaces well to lead Les Bleus in scoring with 12 pts on 6-of-9. Boris Diaw was due for a good game after a no-show the previous game, and he did alright with 9 pts (all 3pters.) & 6 rebs.

France had been playing some of the best defense in the tourney before this matchup. But they had not seen an offense with this type of firepower in the prelim rounds. France had been holding opponents to 40% overall shooting, but Spain was able to hit 52% from the floor. France is normally a strong rebounding club, but the Spaniards helped their cause with 10 off. boards to France's 20 def. rebs.

Spain gets a day off before they take on the winner of Turkey-Greece. France still has work to do for a 2010 Worlds qualifying spot. France moves into the loser's bracket where they will face the loser of the Turk-Greece game. If France wins that game, they earn a trip to the Worlds. If they lose, they might have one more game where they can qualify, but that depends on Turkey's status.
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Quarterfinals (Thursday): Serbia 79, Russia 68

Serbia scored a decisive victory over the Russians, securing a spot in the semifinals, and next summer's 2010 Worlds. Russia came out strong in the 1st quarter, scoring 24 pts to Serbia's 21. But then Russia's offense slammed to a halt.

Serbia took the game over in the 2nd quarter and never relinquished control the rest of the way. The key was a 17-0 run to start the 2nd quarter. Russia didn't score its first points of the 2nd quarter until the 2:30 mark and were outscored 20 to 4 in the quarter.

Serbia's lead ballooned to 20 pts midway thru the 3rd. Serbia committed a bunch of turnovers in the late 3rd to early 4th that let Russia makes things semi-interesting, but Serbia was never seriously threatened down the stretch.

The usually meticulous Russian defense had trouble dealing with Serbia's pick/roll action. Russia allowed Serbia to score on 61% of their 2-pt. attempts, that's 20 percent points higher than their average defending 2-pters. for the tourney. Just not your typical defensive outing by the Russians. Seemed slow with their help, seemed to lack their normal concentration.

Serbia looked like the fresher team, which is a little strange since Russia was the team with the off-day on Wednesday. Might have something to do with the way Serbia spreads their minutes around--10 guys average 14 mins/game. And this was another game where Serbia got nice contributions up & down the roster.

PG Milos Teodosic ran the pick/roll masterfully today, creating opportunities for himself and his teammates. Milos hit a few quick dribble pull-up jumpers and found teammates with some precise passes (12 pts, 4 assts, two 3pts). Teodosic has been one of the top PGs in this year's Eurobasket.

Nenad Krstic came out of the gates sharp scoring, 9 of his 10 pts in the 1st quarter, while his starting frontcourt partner Novica Velickovic chipped in with 13 pts & 5 rebs, scored a few put-backs off his 3 off. rebs.

Serbian sniper Uros Tripkovic's duty is to drill jumpers, and that what he did today--4-for-6 from deep, few pull-ups for 18 pts. Former G-State Warrior Kosta Perovic was vital to Serbia's 2nd quarter run scoring 11 of 13 points in the quarter. Kosta scored off a few rolls, a pick/pop, a lefty hook, and a dunk in transition.

Russian big man Timo Mozgov wasn't dominant like last game, but did contribute with 10 pts & 6 rebs (3 off.). Mozgov finished a couple of rolls with hard dunks, even connected on a lefty hook.

Sergey Monya probably had the best all-around game for the Russians with 12 pts (two 3pters.), 3 stls, & 2 blks. Monya has been one of the top defenders in the tourney. Vitalii Fridzon led all Russian scorers with 15 pts on a perfect shooting day of 6-for-6 (three 3pters.)

Russia didn't help itself with a 9-for-19 FT shooting display. Letting the Serbs grab 10 off. boards while only securing 14 def. boards wasn't helpful either.

Russia's tourney is not done yet, they still have a chance at a qualifying spot. Like France, Russia moves on to the Loser's Bracket where they face the loser of Slovenia-Croatia. Serbia will face the winner of Slovenia-Croatia on Saturday.