Now or Never / Semi Finals

Latvia beats Lithuania, takes first place in Group D

Latvia has started this European Championsji very well, tonight they defeated strong Lithuanian team. This game was intriguing, because Lithuani and Latvia are neighbour countries. The games started with a slight advantage from Latvia 9-2, Kristaps Valters was showing his best in first minutes of the game. Lithuanians came back from the awful start and won the first quarter 19-17. The second quarter was an even battle both teams getting a few point lead, but none getting more than 4 points ahead. Lithuanians had the lead at 40-37 just 5.8 seconds until the end of first half, but Sandis Valters shot a buzzer beating trey to tie the score 40-40 after first half. Second half started with a great performance from Janicenoks, who made 2 threee-pointers and a jump shot to get Latvians ahead 48-42. Lithuanians struggled to take the lead back and lost the quarter 59-62. In the 4th quarter Lithuania at last tied the score at 69-69, later getting the lead too 72-71, but then Latvia scored 10 points in a row and it was just too much to Lithuanians, who lost the game. Latvia won this 85-81, now they are in the first place of group D.

Player of the Game:

Andris Biedrins 12pts 12rebs 4ast 3blk


Other notable performers:

Latvia

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

K.Janicenoks 19/1/2/0/0
K.Valters 17/2/5/0/1
A.Skele 11/3/6/0/2

Lithuania

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

A.Macijauskas 19/1/2/0/0
D.Paulauskas 18/1/4/0/0
Z.Ilgauskas 12/13/3/1/0

Highlights:

Biedrins blocks Siskauskas shot
Skele with a dunk
Biedrins dunks on Big Z...
...and blocks his shot on the other end

Other Games:

Group A

Spain 95-78 Croatia
Spain won it's second game in a row thanks to a big game from Garbajosa, who had a game high 25 points. Best from the Croatian squad was Marko Popovic, who scored 24 points. Spain continues it's journey to the gold medals, while Croatians will have a hard battle against Bosnia to get to the next stage of the tournament

Italy 90-83 Bosnia & Herzegovina
This was the second win for Italy in a very interesting matchup, despite the fact that Bargnani still struggles to find his way to score. Another great game from Gallinari and Belinelli, who scored 29 points. On the Bosnian side the best player was K.Bajramovic with 20 points.

Group B

Serbia 91-109 Slovenia
Serbians surprisingly lost to Slovenia a now they got no chance on getting to the next stage of the tournament. That's the first really big surprise of the tournament. About the game - Slovenians didn't have any problem defeating Serbia, because of the great play of Vujacic and Udrih, who had respectively 27 and 29 points. In the next game Slovenia meets Israel for a fight for the second place in the group B.

Greece 116-93 Israel
Greece is currently the best team in the tournament, they didn't leave a chance for Israel to win this game and now Greeks have guaranteed a first place in the group. The best player for Greece side was T.Papaloukas with 26 points, while T.Burstein scored 32 for Israel

Group C

France 83-89 Germany
France haven't won a game in this tournament yet, while Germans have two wins already. If France continues like this, they aren't getting to the next stage of the tournament. The game was a really close matchup, but it ended in favour for Nowitzki's team, with Dirk getting some imrotant baskets late in the game. Nowitzki had 18 points and 7 boards, while on France's side Diaw scored 23 points.

Russia 96-89 Bulgaria
Russia got it's first win against the surprisingly well playing Bulgarians, but none of those two teams can be sure of playing in the next stage. N.Morgunov had his game of career with 20 points and 9 boards, while Bulgarian leader T.Stoykov had 20 points.

Group C

Turkey 90-67 Ukraine
Turkey has it's first victory against bad playing Ukrainians, who we won't see in the next stage, while Turkey will battle Lithuania for second place in the tournament. Okur had 19 points, 8 rebounds in this game.

NLSCers in the tournament:

Will Sit / Spain
Sit had a much better game today - his team won and he got his first points in the championship. Sit came from the bench to replace bad playing Navarro and scored 8 points adding 2 assists. Maybe this will make Spanish coach to start him over Navarro.

Donatas Paulauskas / Lithuania
Lithuanian had another great game, this time against Latvians. He was flying on the court dunking the ball and shooting treys, he confused Latvian guards with his great speed. Donatas scored 18 points and dished 4 assists in the game
Paulauskas dunkin'

Standings


Leaders

Points
1. T.Burstein / Israel / 31.5
2. S.Vujacic / Slovenia / 26.5
3. M.Belinelli / Italy / 24.0
4/5. D.Nowitzki / Germany / 23.5
4/5. T.Papaloukas / Greece / 23.5
6. D.Gallinari / Italy / 23.0
7. P.Stojakovic / Serbia / 21.5
8. K.Bajramovic / Bosnia / 21.0
9. V.Kobzytsy / Ukraine / 20.5
10. B.Diaw / France / 20.0
...K.Janicenoks / Latvia / 15.5

Rebounds
1. P.Gasol / Spain / 12.0
2/3. Z.Ilgauskas / Lithuania / 11.5
2/3. D.Songaila / Lithuania / 11.5
4. M.Kasun / Croatia / 10.5
5. K.Bajramovic / Bosnia / 10.0
6. B.Diaw / France / 9.5
7. A.Biedrins / Latvia / 9.0
8/10. A.Bargnani / Italy / 8.5
8/10. G.Galanda / Italy / 8.5
8/10. D.Nowitzki / Germany / 8.5

Assists
1. J.Navarro / Spain / 7.5
2/3. T.Parker / France / 7.0
2/3. T.Papaloukas / Greece / 7.0
4/6. J.Caleron / Spain / 6.5
4/6. M.Jaric / Serbia / 6.5
4/6, A.Skele / Latvia / 6.5
7/8. Y.Bozov / Bulgaria / 6.0
7/8. M.Belinelli / Italy / 6.0
9/10. A.Bargnani / Italy / 5.5
9/10. B.Diaw / France / 5.5

Well, I guess you'll like this better when World Championship starts, because Canadians will take part in it

Other than the random NBA potential draftee here and there, I'm pretty clueless when it comes to the Canadian roster as well. Yeah, they're that awful.

Nice start to the tournament!

I went to play for Spain because I want to play for a winner and also if I play against Slovenia, I wil get a chance to punch crybaby Vujacic

Its_asdf, well but at least you'll see Nash, Dalembert and Magloire on the Canadian roster

Martti., thanks!

Sit, you could meet him on quarter finals

Hell,this is going good.I Was on Vocation and Couldn't Follow This.
Hehe,im allmost leading the Team in PPG.I Should lead Lithuania to at least 2nd Place in Group D.
Though Lithuania Would be the Strongest In reality,In the D Group.

really interesting dynasty.. its like new to the menu what teams are still available? pls make a list

Great job newc, Latvia on top of the table

Latvia gets past Ukraine

Tonight Latvia finished the first group stage of the tournament by beating Ukraine 96-91. Latvia took the control of the game from the begining with a great shooting from brothers Valters. 18-9 was the biggest lead for Latvia in the first quarter, which ended 22-15. In the second quarter Ukrainians woke up and almost got the lead 28-27, then Biedrins and Janicenoks stepped in making Latvia end the first half with a 8 point lead 42-34. In the second half the things were going the same - Latvians had a 6-8 point lead. The quarter ended at 75-70. In the last quarter Ukrainians tried to get the lead, but couldn't, Latvia won this 96-91.

Player of the Game:

Kristaps Janicenoks 16pts 8rebs 3ast 1blk 2stl

Other notable performers:

Latvia

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

S.Valters 18/0/1/0/0
K.Valters 17/1/5/0/1
A.Biedrins 15/10/1/1/3

Ukraine

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

S.Lischuk 18/12/1/2/0
S.Medvedenko 10/9/1/0/1

Highlights:

Berzins with a nice dunk
Sandis Valters made some incredible shots

Other games:

Group A

Spain 114-86 Italy
Spain really showed it's strenght on this match, Italy didn't have any chance taking this. Garbajosa had another great game with 27 points. On Italian side, Andrea Bargnani continues to struggle in finding the basket and Belinelli and Galinari weren't so great in this match.

Croatia 74-77 Bosnia & Herzegovina
A crucially important match for both teams, because this game's loser will go home after this match. The game was really thight, but at the end the Bosnian experienced players like Bajramovic stepped in and took the game into their hands. This means Croatians surprisingly goes home after just 3 games, while Bosnia continues to play in the next stage of hte tournament.

Group B

Serbia 80-68 Greece
There was no meaning in this game, because Serbia already had no chance in getting to the next tournament stage and Greece already had the first place of tis group. The game was really boring and at the end Serbia took a bigger lead and won the game, but anyway they go home after just 3 games, which is a big dissapointment for a team with 6 NBA players on the roster.

Slovenia 86-112 Israel
A battle for the second place in the group, which was won by Israel, because of the poor play from Slovenian leader Sasha Vujacic. On the other side T.Burstein had another big night with 26 points.

Group C

France 104-103 Russia
France had to win this game, otherwise they would be going home just after three games, but thanks to Parker's great performance and a final seconds shot, they managed to get to the next round of the tournament. Parker had 25 points in the game.

Germany 111-89 Bulgaria
Germany still is unbeaten and they can say thanks to Nowitzki for that, he had another big game against weak Bulgaria with 33 points, 13 boards and 6 assists. He's on of the favourites to win the tournament MVP prize. But Bulgarians goes home after this game.

Group D

Lithuania 95-77 Turkey
Lithuania destroyed Turkey in battle for the second place in the group, and they still think that defeat against Latvia was just a bda luck. They remain chances on getting the gold medal of the tournament, while Turkey will have a hard time on getting to the quarter finals.

NLSCers in the tournament:

Will Sit / Spain
Will had his best game of the tournament against Italy, which was won by his team Spain. Sit scored 13 points and also added 4 assists and 1 rebound. He's at last starting to show his potential.

Donatas Paulauskas / Lithuania
Donatas had a good game against Turkey, although it was his poorest performance in the tournament. He had 11 points and 1 rebound. The coaches didn't like the way Paulauskas was not sharing the basketball, on which the player stated that it is just his playing style.

Standings after the first group stage


Standings on the second group stage

BaronDavis1, Thanks, you're tied at best scorer on the team with Siskauskas

XpLosibo, thanks. If by "available" you meant teams in which you could land your virtual player, than all of them are for the world championship. But if you want to play in this tournament, you should pick teams, that are in the second group stage except you can't apply for Latvia.

thierryhenry50, thanks, yeah we're trying to reach the medals

Looks like we are going to play you in the second group stage at one point.

Nice work winning all group-stage games! Sit is playing nice for Spain

Martti, soon I will be a starter.

Latvia suffers a 2 OT loss to Bosnia & Herzegovina

We all were witness to a great 2 overtime matchup between Latvia and Bosnia, at the end Bosnians won 105-97. The game started evenly, but soon Latvia took a slight lead 11-6, thanks to another great start of the game from K.Valters. The first quarter ended in favour for Latvia 17-14, thanks to Janicenoks last seconds jump shot. In the second quarter Bosnia took it's first lead of the game 25-24, but soon Latvia took it away winning the first half by 4 39-35. The second half started with a run from Bosnia, which took a 6 point lead 48-42, the third quarter ended in favour for them 53-50. In the middle of 4th quarter Latvia was short by 10 points 58-68, but then with a great play from Biedrins, Janicenoks and others they managed to tie the score at 70-70, Bosnians got the lead again at 73-70 with just 8 seconds on the clock, Latvia took a time-out. The ball was passed from inbound to Sandis Valters, whoo took a three-pointer just 3.7 seconds left to play in quarter 4 and it went in! We were going to OT. After 3 minutes of play in the overtime Bosnia grabbed a 7 point lead 85-78, but Latvia was able for another comeback 87-89, 6 seconds left and ball was in hands of Janicenoks. He dribbled it to the other end and took a jumpshot 0,6 seconds before the buzzer and it went in and again Latvia escaped from a loss. The second OT had the same scenario as first, Bosnia took a 7 point lead, but only this time Latvia couldn't come back and lost the game 97-105.

Player of the Game:

Kenan Bajramovic 22pts 10rebs 4ast 1stl

Other notable performers:

Latvia

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

A.Biedrins 26/15/5/2/1
K.Janicenoks 25/5/4/0/2
K.Valters 16/3/4/0/1

Bosnia & Herzegovina

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

J.Hukic 22/4/4/2/1
V.Princ 11/0/2/0/1

Highlights:

Kambala dunks the ball on two Bosnian players
Kristaps Valters with a crucial last secon steal, which converted into 3 points and OT.
Berzins does the thing he loves to do the best
Biedrins wit a huge 2 plus a foul basket.
Janicenoks dunks

Other games:

Group E

Spain 100-83 Turkey
Spain still remains unbeaten in this tournament, this time they crushed Turkoglu and the Turkey team. Another big game from Garbajosa, who had 26 points, he's one of the best scorers in tournament now. On the Turkey side the best player was Okur, who had a giant game scoring 33 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Spain now heads to a first place in the group, but Turkey will have to do a lot of work to get into top 4 or the group to continue this tournament.

Lithuania 81-70 Italy
The big trio of Italy was useless in this match, Lithuania just didn't let them play and that was the biggest reason of their win. After this win Lithuanians are almost guaranteed a quarter finals spot, while Italy will have to battle hardly for it against Turkey and Bosnia. Siskauskas had agreat game for Lithuanians with 22 points, the best player from Italy was G.Galanda, who had 22 points too.

Group F

Greece 102-81 France
Another great win for Greeks, while France continues to struggle to win in this tournament. "Baby Shaq" Shortsanitis had a big game for Greece with 26 points, while on France's side the best scorer was M.Pietrus with 25. Greece will play for the first place in the group against Germany, while France will have to start winning if they want to play in quarter finals.

Russia 82-96 Israel
Another surprising win from Israel, as they now stand as the 3rd best team in group F. This was the best game of the tournament for the championships leader in ppg T.Burstein who had 39 points. Israel have a great chance at playing in the quarter finals, while Russians have no wins in the second group stage, so they have to step up to play in the medal round.

Germany 89-84 Slovenia
Surprisingly, but Germany still remains unbeaten in this tournament and they can thank to one person for that - Dirk Nowitzki. The potential tournament MVP had another great game with 33 points 8 boards and 7 assists. While on Slovenian side Beno Udrih continued his last games performance and scored 28 points.

NLSCers in the tournament:

Will Sit / Spain
Sit's team won, but he had only 5 points and 2 assists, the dreams of getting on the starting spot ar fading away, although Navarro isn't playing his best game either.


Donatas Paulauskas / Lithuania
Donatas had only 4 points and 3 boards as coach didn't let him play much, because of his attitude on the court and not sharing the basketball.

Next game of the tournament for NLSCer's will be very intriguing, because Spain meets Lithuania and Sit will have a chance to paly agains Paulauskas.

Martti., thanks. And yes he's not bad

Sit, yes Latvia will meet Spain at last game of the second group stage. Should be an interesting matchup

I hope I get to play so that I can punch Biedrins

Snet You my Info newc

This sounds cool. Canada is in it.

Italy defeats Latvia

Thanks to a great game from Gallinari, Italy managed to take a win from Latvia 82-72. latvia took a 7-0 lead at the beggining of the game, Italy scored it's first points just after two and a half minutes of playing, but they managed to loose the first quarter just by 1 points 16-17. The second quarter was a close match-up, none of the teams were able to make a big run, it ended with a slight Italian lead 43-42. Best players at the half were Gallinari and Janicenoks, Italian had 13 points, while Latvian had 10. The second half started with a 10-0 run from Italy, which produced into a 53-42 lead for them, Latvia tried, but couldn't get any closer. Score after the third was 65-56 in favour of Italy. The beggining of the 4th quarte was a real disaster for Latvia, cause they fall behind by 15 points 56-71, but then Latvia started to play making the score 65-71. At this moment Latvia had the ball, Berzins was heading to the basket and bang, fell onto the ground. He suffered a knee injury, but will be able to help the team in next games. After Berzins' injury Latvia was demoralised and couldn't continue the run and lost 72-82. After this loss, it's possible that Latvia could not get to the quarter finals.

Player of the game:

Danilo Gallinari 21pts 5rebs 1blk

Other notable performers:

Latvia

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

K.Janicenoks 18/2/2/0/2
K.Kambala 14/5/4/0/0
A.Biedrins 11/12/1/1/0

Italy

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

M.Belinelli 14/2/3/0/1
G.Pozzecco 12/0/5/0/0
G.Galanda 11/6/1/0/2

Highlights:

Kambala with a nice dunk
Biedrins stops the Italian offence
Janicenoks had a great shooting night

Other games:

Group E

Spain 95-75 Lithuania
Spain still remains unbeaten in this tournament and is steadily heading to a championship title. After this win they have guaranteed a first place in Group E, so in quarter finals they will get the 4th team from Group F. While for Lithuanians the next game will be very important for even getting to quarter finals, but they still can take the second place in this group. The best player for Spain again was Garbajosa, who had 29 points.

Turkey 82-74 Bosnia & Herzegovina
This win by Turkey makes things in group E very difficult, cause 5 teams will be battleing for 3 places in the next stage of the tournament. Hedo Turkoglu at last had a game Turkey fans were waiting from him, he had 27 points, 5 boards, 6 assists.

Group F

Greece 84-87 Russia
Greece surprisngly lost to Russia, but this loss doesn't affect them, because they still have to battle the first place against Germany and any lower than second place in group they can't be. As for Russians, this win makes a hope for them to qualify for the next tournament stage.

Germany 92-86 Israel
The second team that still remains unbeaten in this tournament is Germany. It could be a surprise, but only for those, who haven't seen a game with Germans participation. In this game the tournaments two best scorers met - Nowitzki and Burstein, while Burstein had a decent game with 23 points, Nowitzki was just shooting the lights out. He had 39 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. He's truly worth a MVP prize.

France 82-69 Slovenia
Is France finally awake? Maybe. They had a good game against Slovenia, Parker and Turiaf were making some nice pick&rolls on which Slovenians didn't have an answer. After this game france has a great shot at taking the third place in the group, but they still can fell outside the Top 4. While Slovenians doesn't have any chance on getting to the next stage of the tournament.

NLSCers in the tournament:

Will Sit / Spain
In a matchup against to NLSCers Sit was only on to play, he had 7 points 4 rebounds and 1 assist. Nothing special, but much better than Paulauskas siting on the bench.

Donatas Paulauskas / Lithuania
Paulauskas was watching the Spain-Lithuania match from the bench, he didn't get any minutes of playing time.

Carl Cruz / Turkey
The Philipines native Cruz didn't have a chance at playing the first four game of the tournament because of some paperwork he had to do to get the Turkish citizenship, but now he's here and he's looking good. Cruz was in starting five(only one from NLSCers to achieve this) and was very well getting along with Turkoglu, who had his best game in the tournament majorly thanks to Cruz. Carl, himself had 11 points 6 assists and 1 rebound.

Sit, well, we'll see who's going to get punched
C-77, thanks
balozunite, thanks

Standings



Leaders

Points

1. D.Nowitzki / Germany / 30,4
2. T.Burstein / Israel / 30,2
3. J.Garbajosa / Spain / 26,0
4. B.Udrih / Slovenia / 22,8
5. M.Pietrus / France / 19,4
6. M.Pesic / Germany / 18,6
7/8. K.Bajramovic / Bosnia / 18,2
7/8. S.Vujacic / Slovenia / 18,2
9. K.Janicenoks / Latvia / 18,0
10. T.Parker / France / 17,6

Rebounds

1. A.Biedrins / Latvia / 11,0
2. Z. Ilgauskas / Lithuania / 10,2
3. P.Gasol / Spain / 9,6
4/5. D.Songaila / Lithuania / 9,4
4/5. D.Nowitzki / Germany / 9,4
6. R.Nesterovic / Slovenia / 8,0
7. N.Morgunov / Russia / 7,8
8/10. M.Okur / Turkey / 7,6
8/10. G.Galanda / Italy / 7,6
8/10. K.Bajramovic / Bosnia / 7,6

Assists

1. J.Calderon / Spain / 6,8
2/3. T.Parker / France / 6,2
2/3. T.Papaloukas / Greece / 6,2
4/5. J.Navarro / Spain / 6,0
4/5. C.Cruz / Turkey / 6,0
6. D.Nowitzki / Germany / 5,8
7. J.R.Holden / Russia / 5,6
8. B.Diaw / France / 5,4
9. T.Burstein / Israel / 5,0
10. S.Hamann / Germany / 4,8
... A.Skele / LAtvia / 4,4

wow i had a good game!,good game by Turkoglu too my fav. international player!

Damn,this doesn't look good for me.

Tough losses, especially the one against Bosnia. When does the World Championship start?