Russia Faces Spain in Eurobasket Finals

[azirish]

http://www.eurobasket2007.org/en/coid_dtRH8K0pI-E8I2VAjcPBr2.articleMode_on.html

The Kirilenko Show

By Yarone Arbel

15 September 2007​

For the first time since 1993 Russia is in the EuroBasket finals, and will get a shot to win the title for the first time since 1985, back when it was still known as the USSR.

Russia shocked favorites Lithuania on Saturday night in the Palacio de Deportes as David Blatt led a brilliant group who took control of the game from the tip and never trailed, but on top of it showed great character.

You must be registered for see images

Lithuania, coming to this game unbeatable in EuroBasket 2007, chased after the Russian J.R. Holden had 18 points and six rebounds in Russia's improbable win.
side from the first moment.

They made a heroic comeback from minus 19 to a tied game, but Russia didn't blink for a second.

Andrei Kirilenko, in an amazing individual performance of 29 points and eight rebounds, carried his team to a big win, and didn't allow anybody to take this win from his team.

"It was a very physical game, but we played great defense," he said after the buzzer.

"Our goal coming to this EuroBakset was to reach the Olympics. We've done that and now we're aiming at the finals. If we play as we did tonight, nobody can count us out."
Ramunas Siskauskas was the only one who stepped up for Lithuania.

He scored 30 points, including five shots from long range, which cut into Russia's lead time after time, but couldn't secure the win alone.

Russia played 40 minutes of very aggressive defense and didn't allow any Lithuanian to get anywhere close to the rim without being hammered down.

The bad side was that with six minutes on the clock Russia had three big men in big foul trouble – Morgunov, Khryapa and Savrasenko had four fouls each, but eventually none fouled out.

The good side was Lithuania's front line was out of the game.

Darius Songaila, Darius Lavrinovic, Ksystof Lavrinovic, Linas Kleiza and Robertas Javtokas combined only 18 points and weren't factors for Lithuania.

You must be registered for see images

Russia stopped Lithuania right from the start, and after six minutes one of the best Siskauskas tried to do it alone, leading all scorers with 30 points.
offensive teams in EuroBasket had only scored three points.

Russia took advantage of that to jump out to an 18-3 lead.

Siskauskas and Simas Jasaitis connected on some three-pointers to give Lithuania some life, trailing 20-11, but Russia took a 25-12 lead after ten minutes.

Blatt's side opened the second quarter with two hits from downtown by Victor Khryapa and another by Morgunov.

When Kirilenko added a tip-in, it was a 19 point game, 33-14, but it wasn't over yet.

Up by 17 Khryapa stole the ball at mid-court and was on his way to send a message with a big dunk.

He missed and Rimas Kaukenas nail a corner three pointer at the other end, setting the score at 33-19 and starting the comeback.

Saras returned off the bench to hit a three-pointer of his own with a minute to go in the first half and Russia's lead was narrowed to no more than six, but the action wasn't over yet.

Lithuania finished the half down by seven, 40-33, and three minutes inside the second half was all the way back in the game.

Saras hit a mid-range jumper and dished an assist for a three-pointer by Jasaitis who made it 45-42.

Russia hung on to the lead with every nail and muscle, but Lithuania's aggressive defense and great execution made it a new game.
Siskauskas hit five in a row to force Blatt to call a time-out, this time without the lead anymore, 52-52 with a little over four minutes to play in the third.

Big players step up in big moments, and that’s what Kirilenko was about to do.

Six points in a row followed by a big block on Linas Kleiza sent Russia on an eight point lead again, 60-52.

When Khryapa nailed his third three-pointer of the night and set the margin on 11 again, Lithuania was called on a challenge – to prove they have the character to come back again.

Squeezing their last drops of courage Lithuania answered immediately.

Siska hit two from the line, instantly stole the ball and finished with a big dunk and opened the last quarter with a three pointer to cap an individual 7-0 run and make it 65-61.

But tonight was Kirilenko's night, and in order to prove that he replied with a 7-0 run of his own and the gap was 11 again, with 7:48 to play in the semi-finals.

With less than a minute to go the celebrations on the Russian bench emerged as a team that nobody believed in back home is in the EuroBasket finals.

A group of underdogs on a mission.

Russia will take on Spain in the 2007 EuroBasket finals, while Lithuania will face Greece in the game for the bronze medal, which will also be a game for the second secured ticket to the 2008 Olympics.

 

[dodie53]

ak! ak!

 

[cly2tw]

AK is streaky and can perform very well on offense when not really the first or second options on a team. If not injured, his defense is always there. So, let's do the AK+Giricek for Marion+Banks thing and move on!

 

[dodie53]

maybe if russia wins,
the suns will pull the trigger on this trade

 

[carey]

I doubt that has any bearing on this trade at all.

 

[azirish]

I doubt that has any bearing on this trade at all.

Paul Coro indicates that it was the Suns who turned down the deal (spin?). My guess is that the extra two years on AK's contract was the deal killer, but if it was about whether AK could do the job -- then it might make a difference.

 

[nash2stouds]

There has not been a deal killer. The deal has not been turned down. Talks have stopped but they are not dead. We will find out more in the next two weeks. Going off of media reports, the Suns love AK. Marion is looking for a paul peirce type of extension at 3 years 59 million. The Suns obviously will not do that so they are looking at possible deals. Should the deals fall through they will sign vitaly potapenko on a non-guaranteed deal.

 

[azirish]

http://www.eurobasket2007.org/en/coid_TrSiKFGUHOglJejGUGpRf1.articleMode_on.html

.R. Holden's jumper with 2.1 seconds left secured Russia their first-ever EuroBasket title with a thrilling 60-59 victory over reigning world champions and hosts Spain.

Pau Gasol had a chance to win the game at the buzzer but his mid-range jumpshot went in and out, leaving Spain to collect their sixth European silver medal.

You must be registered for see images

It was J.R. Holden who delivered the final blow for Russia, hitting a jumper with two seconds left.
Andrei Kirilenko collected Most Valuable Player honours for the tournament after collecting 17 points, five rebounds, two assists, one blocked shot and a steal with 59 seconds remaining.

That swipe led to a basket by Nikita Morgunov to pull Russia to within 59-58 with 43 seconds to play.

Holden grabbed his own steal with 28 seconds left against Gasol in the post.

The American-born guard shook himself open and launched a long jumper which hit the rim and came back down in.
The crown was Russia's first ever after the Soviet Union won 14 European gold medals. It was also their third medal overall following silver in 1993 and bronze in 1997.

Spain's silver medal goes with those from 1935, 1973, 1983, 1999 and 2003.

Holden finished with eight points while Aleksey Savrasenko scored 10 points and Victor Khryapa collected seven points, 12 rebounds, four assists, three steals and a blocked shot before fouling out with four minutes to go.

"Hopefully this will be the first of many titles. Spain are a great team, but we just played really well tonight," said Kirilenko. "We made Spain nervous and we played as a team. I might be the MVP but it's been a team effort all the way."

Gasol finished with 14 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots but the NBA superstar also missed five of eight foul shots in the fourth quarter (5-of-12 overall) and committed five turnovers.

"You must understand that today is a very sad day for us. I admit I wasn't at my best. But I take responsibilty for that," Gasol said. "On the last shot, I thought I saw the ball going in, maybe I should have taken another step forward."
Jose Calderon scored a team-high 15 points while Jorge Garbajosa added eight points and six rebounds.

While Russia started cold, the Spaniards got the crowd into the game with the three-ball.

Rudy Fernandez opened the scoring with a trey and Calderon followed suit with two triples

You must be registered for see images

José Calderón delivered for Spain with 15 points but will have to settle for silver.
in opening a 15-4 lead midway through the first period.

The Russians missed 11 of their first 13 shots - including five three-pointers - as they failed in their attempt to match the hosts from outside.

Sergey Monya did knock down a trey but Marc Gasol's five foul shots and Carlos Cabezas's buzzer-beating jumper re-established the 11-point advantage - 22-11 - after one period.

After falling behind 25-13, Russia buckled down on defense in holding Spain scoreless for more than three minutes and cutting the deficit to 25-19.

The Spanish bombers struck again though as threes by Calderon, Carlos Jimenez and Pau Gasol kept Pepu Hernandez's team ahead 34-25.

The Russians again held Spain scoreless for three minutes and fought to within 34-31 at half-time on Anton Ponkrashov's foul shots with six seconds in the half.

Spain drew a number of fouls early in the third period and found themselves in the bonus with 6:51 to play in the quarter.

They failed to take advantage of it until Kirilenko was charged with this fourth foul and had to be taken out at the 2:32 mark of the third. Jimenez's two foul shots made it 49-41.

Russia refused to give up and continued to work hard defensively and Khryapa's trey had Russia down just 49-46 going into the fourth.

Zakhar Pashutin tied the game at 49-49 with a long bomb and Holden gave Russia their first lead 51-49 on a driving lay-up with 9:02 left.

Spain eventually pulled away on Pau Gasol's inside basket for a 59-54 lead but Gasol missed the chance for a three-point play and Kirilenko came back down to hit two foul shots with 1:17 left to set up the last minute heroics.