Day 8, Classification Games, Friday - Sep 7, 2002
- by
Eurobasket
Places 5-8: Spain - Brazil 105-89 Spain: Rodrํguez 7, Navarro 22,
Jim้nez 8, Gasol 21, Garbajosa 16; Marco 2, Felipe Reyes 5, Angulo 5,
Paraํso 10, Junyent 5, Calder๓n 4 Brazil: Alex Garcํa 17,
Ferraciu 2, Klafke 19, Sandro Varejao 8, Anderson Varejao 4; Helio
Filho, Giovannoni 12, Splitter 13, Lendro Barbosa 3, Araujo 11
All stats
Spain showed way better shape than their Brazilian opponents. Now they
will play against USA for 5th place, while Brazil will challenge
Puerto Rico for 7th spot.
Spain advanced to the fifth-place game thanks to a 105-89
classification round victory over Brazil in the World Basketball
Championship on Friday in Conseco Fieldhouse.
Spain bounced back impressively from Thursday night's loss to Germany,
shooting 60.4 percent (29-48) from the floor, including 47.6 percent
(10-21) from three-point range, and 90.2 percent (37-41) from the free
throw line.
"This was a very difficult game for us to play because this team was
still sad, but this win helped us recover our winning spirit," said
Spain Coach Javier Imbroda.
The victory was Spain's sixth in a row over Brazil, second of this
year's World Basketball Championships, and advances them against the
winner of Puerto Rico-United States Saturday at 9:45 p.m. at Conseco
Fieldhouse. While Imbroda did not indicate which team he would rather
play, he did say he is ready should Spain have to face the Americans.
"Everybody has seen the U.S. lose two games and there is a feeling
that there is a chance to win," he said. "But we know if will be
difficult to play them."
Pau Gasol led Spain with 21 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Juan Carlos Navarro led all scorers with 22 points. Rogerio Klafke
paced Brazil with 19 points while Alex Garcia added 17 points to go
along with five rebounds and three steals.
Spain's offense was almost unstoppable in the first half, hitting 64
percent of its shots in the first half while hitting 17-of-18 free
throws and leading by as many as 13 points after Gasol's free throw
gave it a 40-27 lead.
Brazil, however, would not go down easily, cutting the lead to 48-44
in the second quarter as Alex Garcia accounted for eight points (six
points and an assist) of a 10-0 run. Brazil's defense also keyed the
run, holding Spain without a field goal for the final 3:48 of the
quarter.
Spain re-gained its shooting touch from the opening tip of the third
quarter as a Navarro three-pointer sparked a 12-1 run to extend the
lead 66-48. Brazil was playing without Marcelo Machado (left leg) and
Vanderlei Mazzuchini (left shoulder). Coach Helio Rubens Garcia said
it is possible both will be able to play Saturdaybut he is awaiting
their injuries to be evaluated.
By FIBA (Mike Ingberg). For more info check
www.fiba.com
USA - Puerto Rico 84-74 USA: Pierce 15, Wallace 12,
A.Davis 10, B.Davis 10 Puerto Rico: Carlos Arroyo 21,
Santiago 16, Ortiz 8
All stats
It seems that USA is no more a threat to other countries. After losing
two games in a row, now even Puerto Rico was able to challenge NBA
stars. They had a very good first and third quarter, and only thanks
to 2nd quarter speed up of U.S. team, they were leaving the court with
10-point victory. It gives US team a chance to play for 5th place at
WC 2002 against Spain. Puerto Rico will fight Brazil for 7th place.
Places 9-12:
Turkey - China 94-86 Turkey: Hakan Koseoglu 3,
Ibrahim Kutluay 15, Helmet Okur 24, Mirsad Turkcan 9, Hidayet Turkoglu
21; Husayin Besok 15, Haluk Yildirim, Harun Erdenay 7 China: Shioiang Guo, Hu Weidong
20, Yao Ming 26, Li Nan 2, Gong Xiaobin; Wei Liu 14, Zhu Fangyu 5, Du
Feng, Menke Bateer 17, Chen Ke, Liu Yudong 2
All stats
Turkey beat China in a very tough game. Okur raised to a team leader,
scoring in teh last game 24 points. Yao Ming was top Chinese player
again with 26 points. Both players will have a chance to face each
other on the NBA courts this season.
Turkey will play against Russia for 9th place, while China will try to
get 11th spot in the game against Angola
Playing what amount to consolation games is not what Turkey's national
team had in mind entering the World Basketball Championship, but such
is the case. After beating China 94-86 in a classification game on
Friday in Conseco Fieldhouse, Turkey will face Russia in the
ninth-place game on Saturday morning.
Coming off a second-place finish (to Yugoslavia) in the European
Championships, Turkey had high hopes, even though this was the
country's first-ever trip to the WBC. But close preliminary round
losses to Puerto Rico and Brazil set the team back and it could not
fully recover.
"We have had a really bad tournament, so as players we are upset,"
said Hedo Turkoglu, who had 21 points and nine assists. "We want to
win these last two games to make our country a little bit happy.
"We are sorry we have made our country upset. They were expecting a
lot for us, and we're sorry for that. We'll try to do better in the
next European Championships and World Championships."
Turkey got strong performances not only from Turkoglu of the
Sacramento Kings, but the Detroit Pistons' Mehmet Okur, who scored 24
points and pulled eight rebounds. Ibrahim Kutluay and Huseyin Besok
scored 15 points apiece. Kerem Tunceri (ankle), Kaya Peker (ankle) and
Asim Pars (groin) did not play because of injuries and are not
expected to play Saturday.
"After some difficult losses in this tournament, we finally came to
the point where there were two games in front of us and we had to win
both of them," said Aydin Ors, Turkey's head coach. "We played like a
team today. Our players played well together."
China was led by Yao Ming with 26 points and 14 rebounds. Hu Weidong
made six 3-pointers and scored 20 points. Menke Bateer scored 17 and
Wei Liu 14. China entered the game leading the tournament in turnovers
(21.0 per game) and struggled again, committing 18 that led to 22
points for Turkey. China shot 57 percent from the field and
outrebounded Turkey 28-23.
"We played pretty well today," said Wang Fei, China's head coach. "We
lost pretty much on turnovers. In crucial parts of the game, we
allowed too many turnovers."
The first such stretch came in the first quarter, when Turkey put
together a 21-4 run to take a 26-17 lead. China had a 13-2 run
bridging the third and fourth periods to close to 67-64, but Turkey
scored the next seven points and kept a comfortable lead the rest of
the game.
China will face Angola in the 11th-place game on Saturday at 8:30 a.m.
By FIBA (Conrad Brunner). For more info check
www.fiba.com
Russia - Angola 77-66
Russia: Z.Pachoutine 14, Karassev 12, Morgunov 12,
Chikalkin 11, Avleev 11, E.Pachoutine 7, Savrasenko 6, Khryapa 2,
Bashminov 2, Panov Angola: A.Victoriano 14,
Almeida 12, Costa 10, Muzadi 8, Monteiro 6, E.Victoriano 6, Carvalho
3, Silva 3, Gomes 2, Lutonda 2, Belarmino
All stats
Russia assured their right to play for 9th place after they beat
Angola 77-66. Angola, for sure the best team from Africa will play
against the best Asian team - China, for 11th place.
Russia enjoyed large advantages in rebounding and free-throw shooting
as it defeated Angola 77-66 to advance in a classification game in the
World Basketball Championship on Friday in Conseco Fieldhouse.
It outrebounded Angola 45-22 and outscored Angola at the foul line
19-5. Angola had no free-throw attempts until the fourth quarter.
Nine Russians scored and five were in double figures. They were led by
forward Nikita Morgunov and guard Vassili Karassev with 12 points
apiece. Rouslan Avleev scored 11 points and led Russia at the foul
line by hitting 7-of-11.
Center Alexei Savrasenko led Russia in rebounding with a game-high 11.
"I think the game depends on good defense. Yesterday U.S.-Yugoslavia
proved that," Savrasenko said. "The first 10 minutes was very
successful, then we lost our game and started to hurry with our
attack. At the end, we played better defense."
After leading the entire first quarter, Russia (3-4) and Angola (1-6)
changed leads eight times. Russia took control in the third quarter as
Angola shot just 18.8 percent. Although Russia shot just 29.4 percent,
it outscored Angola 8-0 on second-chance points on the way to a 19-5
advantage for the game.
Angola, 0-3 against Russia, has a chance to earn 11th place. It
already is assured its best finish ever in four WBC appearances. It
placed 13th in 1990.
Angola's leading scorers were forward Angelo Victoriano with 14, guard
Carlos Almeida with 12 and guard Walter Costa with 10. Forward Victor
Muzadi led Angola in rebounding with nine and added eight points.
Angola won the steal category, 13-8, and led 49-48 at halftime.
However, Russia's size was too much for them.
"Russia today got double rebounds against us," Angola coach Mario
Palma said. "It's very difficult to play against a team like that.
Because we are the smallest team, we need to run more and fight more
and give a lot of effort."
Russia plays the Turkey-China winner on Saturday at 10:45 a.m. for
ninth place.
Angola plays the Turkey-China loser for 11th place on Saturday at 8:30
a.m. Angola, in its first World Basketball Championship since 1994 and
fourth overall, barely missed a shot at a medal on Wednesday night
when it lost 89-87 in double-overtime to Puerto Rico. Including the
years it was part of the Soviet Union, Russia earned medals in 10
consecutive World Basketball Championships since 1963. In the last
four World Basketball Championships, Russia and the Soviet Union
earned silver. Russia placed fifth in the European Championship to
qualify for the World Basketball Championship.
By FIBA (Dan Habing). For more info check
www.fiba.com
