Now or Never / Semi Finals

[newc]

C-77, yeah you're looking great in the Turkey squad
BaronDavis1, yeah, coach doesn't let you play
thierryhenry50, the world championship will start after I end the european championship

[newc]

Despite 3d straight loss, Latvia will play in quarter finals

Today Latvia met the biggest favourite to win the tournament - Spain. Latvia couldn't show much resistance as they lost 68-83. The game started with a surprising 6-0 lead from Latvia, who certainly relied on thre-point shooting tonight. Spain came back from the deficit, but still lost the first quarter 16-17. It really made them angry. In the second half Spain started to show their power, they gained the lead thanks to Navarro's three-pointer and won the hole quarter 42-36. But it was only beggining, cause after the third they was 11 point ahead already 60-49, leaving minimal chances for Latvia to beat them. The last quarter was a formality, cause Latvia struggled to score against Spain's defense, but the spaniards wasn't motivated to smash Latvians, cause they had quarter finals ahead. The score at the end 83-68 in favour for mighty Spain. But there are two good news for Latvia - 15 point win was the smallest for Spain in the tournament and despite this loss Latvia still continues the tournament and will meet Germany in the quarter finals.

Player of the game:

Rudy Fernandez 24pts 5rebs 2ast

Other notable performers:

Latvia

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

K.Janicenoks 16/0/1/0/0
A.Biedrins 15/9/3/1/0
K.Berzins 11/3/0/3/1
K.Valters 9/0/9/0/2

Spain

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

J.Navarro 17/0/3/0/3
P.Gasol 12/7/0/2/1

Highlights:

Berzins blocks...
...and dunks
Biedrins does it again

Other games:

Group E

Turkey 91-83 Italy

Turkey shows a much better performance since the arrival of Carl Cruz, especially great is their leader Turkoglu, who had 31 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists in this game. But despite of this win Turkey still doesn't get to the quarter finals, but Italians does. However Turkey fans doesn't have to be sad, cause World Championship is going to be hosted in Turkey and with Carl Cruz the whole tournament they could really shine there.

Lithuania 97-85 Bosnia & Herzegovina

Lithuania beats Bosnia and takes the second place in the group, while Bosnians will have to go home, cause they finished last in the group. The best player for Lithuanian squad was Songaila with 32 points.

Group F

Greece 98-83 Germany

A game for the first place in the group and Greece wins it easily, they are expecting to be the team which can stop Spains dominance in this tournament, cause they have very strong starting five. As for this game, the best player for Greece was T.Papaloukas with 18 points, 6 boards, 5assists. Greece will meet Italy in the quarter finals, while Germany will have to battle against Latvia.

France 82-60 Israel

This was the game for not getting to play against Spain in quarter finals. France won it easily and their ready to shoot the lights out in the next round, where they have to meet Lithuania. As for Israel, I think they're not very happy about their next opponent Spain, cause none of the teams have managed to loose them less than by 15 points.

Russia 92-87 Slovenia

Game with no importance, cause both of the teams are going home after this game. The player of the game was Russia's Andrey Kirilenko with 22 points, while Vujacic had 28 points for the other side.

NLSCers in the tournament:

Will Sit / Spain
Sit played a nice game against Latvia, leading the second squad, he had 6 pints 2 rebs, 2 assist. Although the Spain team has such a great PG for their second squad in person of Rubio, the coach let's Sit to make plays and be with the ball much more than Rubio.

Donatas Paulauskas / Lithuania
Paulauskas didn't have such a spectacular game, like he showed in the start of the tournament, but at least he got on the field, scored on three-pointer and was sent to the bench. Let's just hope he plays more in quarter finals.

Carl Cruz / Turkey
This was Cruz's second and last game in the tournament, he showed another great performance, which gives a hope for Turkey, that they can be competetive in the World Cahmpionship. Against Italy Cruz had 14 points and 7 assists. Where would be Turkey if Carl could play from the beggining of the tournament?

Standings



So the quarter final matchups are:

Spain - Israel
Germany - Latvia
Greece - Italy
Lithuania - France

[Martti.]

Good luck against Nowitzki and co! You're gonna need it.

[Its_asdf]

Spain's definitely a stacked team, there are a lot of NBA names in there (including Jose Calderon, woot). To lose by 15 and still be the smallest margin of victory is really telling about how dominant they are. Hopefully you'll be able to get some pay back on them later on in the tournament.

[Fresh8]

Go me!!!

[Jing]

The hell Sit is in Spain

[kibaxx7]

Biedrins is playing nice Good luck against Germany!

[newc]

Martti., Thanks!

Its_asdf, Yeah, Spain is really playing well. We could meet them in semi-finals, so I hope then i'll get a chance of beating them

Sit, Go You!

Jing, yeah, he betrayed Australia!

thierryhenry50, Thanks!

[KB24.]

Sent you my info!

[newc]

Sent you my info!

something must have went wrong, cause I haven't received your info :/

EDIT: My 100th post

[KB24.]

Sent you my info!

something must have went wrong, cause I haven't received your info :/

EDIT: My 100th post

Now you got it!

Hope to see update soon!

[newc]

Latvia beats Germany, reaches semi finals

The game started nervously and with many missed shots, none of the teams got a lead bigger than 3 points. Already in first quarter Nowitzki had to beat mighty Latvian defence, sometimes even 3 players were guarding Nowitzki, just to be sure, he doesn't score. Thanks to Janicenoks jump shot at the buzzer Latvia had the lead 17-16. In the second quarter Germany stepped in and took a 5 point lead 28-33, which they held until the end of first half - 39-34 in favour for Germany. The second half started with a 12-2 run from Latvia 46-41 was the score. K. Valters was shooting the lights out with his three-point shooting. 59-53 was the score after the third quarter. In the last quarter Germany stepped, Nowitzki started to sore against double and triple teams and team got close as of 2 points 63-65, but then Latvia ran away with a 74-65, just 1:16 before the end and it was all over. The game ended with a score 85-77. This means that Germany goes home and starts preparing for World Championship, but Latvia will play in semi finals against mighty Spain.

Player of the game

Kristaps Valters 24pts 5 ast

Other notable performers:

Latvia

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

A.Biedrins 16/7/2/3/0
K.Berzins 16/6/2/1/0

Germany

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

M.Nikagbatse 20/1/2/0/1
D.Nowitzki 14/7/6/1/0
M.Pesic 14/4/1/0/1

Highlights:

Biedrins blocks Nowitzki's shot, but two other players ready to help him guard the German
Kristaps Valters with a strong dunk
Biedrins and Berzins double teams Nowitzki, Berzins blocks his shot
Biedrins with a layup
Kambala joins the "Block Nowitzki" club

Other quarter finals:

Spain 100-83 Israel

Spain easily beats top scorer of the tournament T.Burstein and his team Israel, Burstein had only 21 points, while Navarro scored 30. Israel still can remember this tournament as succesful, cause they had little chances at beating Spain. On the other side Spain continues heir winning strike and they'll meet Latvia in the semi finals. Will they stop Spain? Or at least will they loose by less than 15 points?

Lithuania 101-79 France

France struggled all the way from tournament beggining and their loss in quarter finals was predictable, maybe they'll have better luck in the World Championship. A.Macijauskas had 26 points for Lithuanian side and his team will meet Italy in semi finals.

Greece 82-83 Italy

Greece surpisingly lost this to Italy, despite they were showing a respectable performance in previous stages of tournament and Italy was luckily to even get to the quarter finals. Kakiouzis had 29 points for Greece, which could have a great run in the World Championship. While Italy will battle against Lithuania in semi finals, Their best player in this game was M.Belinelli with 20 points.

NLSCers in the tournament:

Will Sit / Spain
Will continues his run to the European Championship title. The game against Israel was one of his best in the tournament, he had 11 points and 2 assists and he was a big help for his team, which esily defeated Israel. Sit will once again meet Latvian side in next game.

Donatas Paulauskas / Lithuania
Paulauskas continues his way to European Championship too. However Lithuania had much stronger opponent in this game than Spain, they had to beat France and they did it. Paulauskas helped with 4 points and 1 rebound.

Semi Finals Matchups:

Spain - Latvia
Lithuania - Italy

[KB24.]

Gratz for the win! BEAT SPAIN!!!

[kibaxx7]

Latvia-Lithuania, that would be a totally unexpected final. You should change your topic title man...

[newc]

KB24., thanks, i'll truly try, but i don't have much faith after the 15 point loss i had against the m:(
thierryhenry50, thanks man, I totally forgot to change it

[balozunite]

Spain would be tough, but you were able to beat team Nowitzki, so maybe you can carry that and try and beat Spain.

[Its_asdf]

There's no way you're going to lose to Spain. That would be the biggest buzzkill to feel in any NBA Live dynasty.

[Fresh8]

Actually asdf, we all love the underdogs!

But I'm going to lead Spain to the win!

[XpLosibo]

whoa, JC "la bomba" Navarro scored 30 for spain (sorry for being excited, coz he's my 3rd pg in my dynasty) and sorry again coz im rooting for the powerhouse spain.. goodluck dude

[KB24.]

I would like to see an update!

[newc]

balozunite, well i don't have much faith in winning them, but we'll see

Its_asdf, why do you think like that? I think i have little chances at beating them

Sit, we'll see )

XpLosibo, Navarro didn't have a great career in NBA, but in Europe he's great. No hard feelings about you rooting for Spain, they could win this

KB24., Be patient Today or tomorrow i think there will be an update

[newc]

Latvia fails to beat Spain

Although Team LAtvia showed a very good performance tonight, they still couldn't beat strong Spain team. The score was 82-87. The game started very evenly witha score 8-8. Both teams had a great three-point shooting at the first quarter, which ended with a slight Latvian lead 21-20. In the second quarter Spain shifted it to 5th gear with Fernandez's and Navarro's great three-point shooting they had the lead after first half 41-35. Latvia came back in the start of second half with a 11-0 run, thanks to Janicenoks' and K.Valters' great shooting, but Spain came back. The score after the third was tied - 65-65. In the last quarter Spain took the control of the game and easily finished with a 5 pint lead 87-82.

Player of the game:

Jose Calderon 13pts 2reb 11ast 2stl

Other notable performers:

Latvia

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

K.Kambala 17/5/1/3/1
K.Janicenoks 17/5/1/0/0
K.Valters 16/0/4/0/1
A.Biedrins 14/2/5/2/0

Spain

Name Points/Rebounds/Assists/Blocks/Steals

R.Fernandez 25/3/3/0/0
J.Navarro 24/0/4/0/1
P.Gasol 11/4/0/3/1

Highlights:

Kambala with a dunk
Biedrins blocks Gasol's shot

Lithuania 79-77 Italy

In the other semi final Lithuania beated Italy thanks to a buzzer beater three-pointer from A.Macijauskas, who had a decent game with 16 points. The best scorer for Italy was Gallinari, who had 22 points. Lithuania will meet Spain in the Final, those two teams already have met in a European Championship final, it was in 2003 and Lithuania won it. Let's see who will win this year! Mean time Italy will meet Latvia in a bronze metal match.

NLSCers in the tournament:

Will Sit / Spain
Sit had a pretty dissapointing game against Latvia, he played just 2 minutes and didn't do anything in that time. But he's team will play in the Gold medal match, so personal statistics is in second place

Donatas Paulauskas / Lithuania
Donatas had a pretty nice game in the semi final match against Italy, he had 6 points with a two made shots behind the arc. He will meet Sit in the European Championship final.

Gold medal match:

Spain - Lithuania

[b]Bronze medal match:[/b]

Latvia - Italy

[Martti.]

Well, the fairytale had to end sometime. I think it's still impressive, that you have a chance to win the Bronze. Beat Italy!

[Fresh8]

Maybe I will win gold then. That's all that matters.

[kibaxx7]

Maybe I will win gold then. That's all that matters.

Tough loss newc!