EuroBasket 2011: Spain Beats France To Repeat As European Champion

Both Spain and France had moved on to the 2012 London Olympics by virtue of semifinal wins. Only four bids to the London Games remain at large.

Despite the loss, Russia will still have a chance to qualify for the London Olympics in the qualifying tournament. They’ll be joined by Macedonia, Lithuania and Greece.

Macedonia looked poised to potentially pull off an even bigger upset than their quarterfinal shocker over host Lithuania, but that was before Navarro took over. He hit two threes, including one running off the wrong foot, to eventually give Spain a nine-point lead at the end of the third quarter. Macedonia didn’t quite go away in the fourth quarter, but Spain was never really threatened.

Spain will now face the winner of a semifinal game between France and Russia. The winner of that game will also receive a berth in the 2012 Olympics.

France will next face the winner of the second game of the day, which pits Serbia against Russia.

Macedonia pulled off a shocking upset in the EuroBasket 2011 quarterfinals on Wednesday, knocking off the host Lithuania 67-65 as American-born guard Bo McCalebb, who played college ball at the University of New Orleans and has never sniffed the NBA, scored 23 points. Macedonia advances to the semifinals of EuroBasket, just one win away from the 2012 London Olympics.

Macedonia now faces Spain, who beat Slovenia in Wednesday’s first game, with a bid to the Olympics and a spot in the championship game on the line. Lithuania will face Slovenia, with the winner earning a bid to next July’s last-chance Olympic qualifying tournament.

Russia remained unbeaten at EuroBasket 2011 thanks to a win in the final game before the knockout round. Russia beat Macedonia to win Group F and a top seed in the knockouts. The Russians totally had it in the bag all the way through. No drama needed. Right, Sergei Monia?

That was a game-winning banked fallaway three-pointer at the buzzer. With the shot, Russia draws Serbia in the next round, while Macedonia must now face daunting host nation Lithuania.

Turkey is not only eliminated from the European Championship, but has no shot of playing in the 2012 London Olympics. For the team who lost only to Team USA in the 24-team World Championships last year, that’s a bitter pill to swallow.

Serbia will be the fourth team to advance from Group E, joining Spain, France and Lithuania. In the round of eight, which begins Wednesday, Serbia will face the winner of Monday’s match between unbeaten Russia and sizzling hot F.Y.R. Macedonia.

EuroBasket 2011 is nearly to the end of pool play, meaning over the next few days, teams will find out their fates as to whether they will be able to move on to the quarterfinals -- and another step closer to a berth in the 2012 London Olympics. Saturday’s action, featuring three games, sealed the fate of Greece and Georgia while Finland kept its unlikely hopes alive.

The second game on Saturday took place between Macedonia and the aforementioned Slovenia as Bo McCalebb scored 19 points to continue his impressive play to give Macedonia the 69-58 victory. Macedonia is already headed to the second round, but the momentum certainly can’t hurt.

EuroBasket 2011’s Group E is, frankly, nasty. With Spain, Lithuania, France, Turkey, Serbia and Germany in place and only four spots in the knockout round available, two good teams were bound to be left out. After Friday’s results in Vilnius, Lithuania, it’s appearing that Turkey -- who placed second in the 2010 FIBA World Championships a year ago, losing only to an unbeatable Team USA -- could be in the cold and miss the 2012 London Olympics.

Serbia also lost on Friday, brutally falling to Spain 84-59. Those results left Serbia, Turkey and Germany tied at 1-3 in the second group stage, with Lithuania (who fell to group leader France) at 2-2 and Spain and France uncatchable. To move on, Turkey needs to beat Serbia on Sunday and for Lithuania to beat Germany. If Germany beats Lithuania, it will advance. Lithuania also advances with a win over Germany, or a loss coupled with a Turkey victory over Serbia. (Lithuania has a tie-breaker over Turkey via a win in the first group stage.) Serbia advances with a win over Turkey.

Macedonia basketball didn’t exactly start EuroBasket 2011 on the right foot. In just its third EuroBasket appearance since independence, Macedonia fell to Bosnia and Herzegovina, a team that doesn’t exactly strike fear into opponents. Hopes of advancing to the knockout round for the first time ever looked bleak, even though Macedonia had been blessed with a shallow group.

Since then, Macedonia has become magical, going unbeaten in the five games following the loss. That includes Thursday win to open the second group stage for Macedonia, a narrow 65-63 victory over Georgia. Nationalized American Bo McCalebb, who played college ball at the University of New Orleans, gave Macedonia the victory with a last-second lay-up after driving right through the Georgian defense. The win sent Macedonia to the knockout round, though there are two games left in the second group stage, with all-important seeding on the line.

Germany now finds itself at the bottom of Group E, with no wins and three losses. (First-stage wins against teams eliminated from a team’s record heading into this second group stage.) Spain moves to 2-1 and looks solid in advancing to the knockouts with Serbia and France left on the docket.

France has clinched a spot in the knockouts. This group will reconvene on Friday; Group F, starring Russia, Greece and Macedonia, will get in action on Thursday.

The first stage of EuroBasket 2011 is officially over, as Monday’s set wrapped up the initial group stage and cut the field in half. Twelve teams were officially eliminated on Monday, none more surprising than Croatia. The Croats had finished sixth in EuroBasket 2009, made it to the knockouts and nearly knocked off semifinalist Serbia at the 2010 FIBA World Championship and had a favorable draw coming into Lithuania. But an awful loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sunday and a final defeat to Greece on Monday knocked Croatia out as the Greeks, Macedonia and -- in a shocker -- Finland took Group C’s spots in the knockouts.

The remaining 12 teams have been sorted into two groups, and their wins and losses against eliminated teams have been removed from the board. Each team will play three more games in the second group stage, and the teams will the top four records in each group will move to an eight-team knockout round.

In Group C, Greece beat Finland 81-61, Macedonia surprised Croatia 78-76 after being down 10 in the second half and Bosnia and Herzegovina beat Montenegro 94-86.

In Group D action, Bulgaria edged Belgium 68-65, Russia beat Georgia 65-58 and Slovenia tipped Ukraine 68-64.

If you’re watching EuroBasket 2011 on your computer or T.V., you may have noticed British announcer Liam Canny talking about, during clutch moments, how it’s “waiter at the table time.” This makes no sense out of context. Thankfully, Canny explained the analogy during the final moments of Spain-Poland. As always, Sebastian Pruiti was ready to capture it.

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Navarro, nicknamed “La Bomba” for reasons probably relating to his shooting prowess and not the Ritchie Valens song with a similar title, pulled up for three on a fastbreak from Spain with 1:31 left to play to give his team a 77-69 advantage and the Spanish National Team was able to do just enough the rest of the way to stave off the upset.

At EuroBasket 2011, Group D certainly lacks the glamour of Group A, the star power of Group B and the mystery of Group C. We pretty much know how Group D will go, and fireworks may not be a part of the equation. But it’s still basketball! And three teams here will still move on to the second group stage, where things will get mighty interesting.

FIBA Rank: No. 11

EuroBasket 2009: Seventh

FIBA Worlds 2010: Seventh

It’s almost unfair that Group A is stacked with so much talent, giving teams like Great Britain so little room to breath, while a group like C -- headlined by an unstable Greece, rising Croatia and mysterious Montenegro -- has all sorts of opportunity. While the Greeks are a clear favorite, the other two spots in the next group stage could very well be up for grabs.

FIBA Rank: No. 4

EuroBasket 2009: Bronze

FIBA Worlds 2010: 11th

FIBA Rank: No. 8

EuroBasket 2009: Silver

FIBA Worlds 2010: Fourth

Serbia’s chief rival in the group is France, but the teams don’t play until the final day of the first group stage, at which point the standings may already be determined. Serbia should definitely enter that game undefeated.

There is certainly a “group of death” in the first stage of EuroBasket 2011, as Group A managed to include defending champion and World No. 2 Spain, 2010 FIBA Worlds silver medalist and World No. 6 Turkey and host nation/World No. 5 Lithuania. It’s just a brutal troika of contenders that have to beat up on each other early. Pity the others in the group: Great Britain, Poland and Portugal. Only the top three finishers will advance to the second group stage, leaving the latter group in deep nerves.

We preview Group A below. Our friends at The Painted Area also have a very in-depth preview.

With or without Mbenga, Belgium was unlikely to make the cut for the knockout round, even in EuroBasket’s weakest group (featuring favored Russia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Georgia and Bulgaria).

Portugal and Finland have claimed the final two spots in this season’s EuroBasket tournament, clinching via a three-team additional qualifying round. Hungary has been eliminated.

It still remains to be seen which groups Portugal and Finland will land in; the teams will play Aug. 24 to decide that matter. The winner will end up in the relatively light Group C with Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia. The loser will end up in the Group of Death, a Group A featuring Spain, Turkey, host Lithuania, Poland and Great Britain. The top three finishers in each group move on to a second group round before knockouts.

Portugal knocked off Hungary on Wednesday to strike the first blow in the final qualifying round for EuroBasket 2011. Three teams -- the two aforementioned nations and Finland -- are fighting for the final two spots in the EuroBasket field. That tournament begins on August 31 and will be held in Lithuania.

The additional qualifying round was needed because after the 2010 qualifying round, FIBA Europe decided to expand the EuroBasket field from 16 to 24. Portugal and Finland each finished 1-7 in last year’s qualifying round, and Hungary finished 3-5. The competition was second-rung European teams -- no Spains, Russias, Turkeys or Serbias -- which makes those records especially frightful.