Blocking his rivals in defence, the 35-year old from Barcelona often beat two markers at a time in attack to paper over long spells of poor lone-range shooting by his team mates.
Advertisement
France and Spain will collide in the semifinals of EuroBasket 2015 on Thursday in Lille, where the winner will automatically get a ticket to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Spain survived the tough challenge of the gutsy Greece squad, 73-71, during their quarterfinal meeting on Tuesday to set up the highly-anticipated 2013 semis rematch. Like when Tony Parker dusts off his alpha dog shoes and scores nine straight points to take control of France’s quarterfinal against Latvia, for instance. According to a report on the EuroBasket 2015 website, Spain defeated France in the EuroBasket 2009 quarterfinals, EuroBasket 2011 final and 2012 London Olympics final.
“Being in the semi-final with so many main players out is a great, great accomplishment”, Scariolo said. Until an opponent overcomes us, we will be there. And France continues to compete on both sides of the floor – the team ranks fourth in overall offense and ranks first in team defense of all the teams competing in Eurobasket.
Mirotic made two free throws to give Spain a six-point lead as Greece center Yanis Bourousis fouled out with 3:30 remaining.
Greece star guard Vassilis Spanoulis, who went 4-for-14 from the field and finished with 10 points and five assists, missed a jumper but Nick Calathes stole the ball and made a layup. Gasol, the tournament’s leading scorer, also had nine rebounds. Kostas Sloukas knocked down another three-pointer to pull within one point, while Gasol split his free throws again.
Advertisement
Along with Parker, Spurs forward Boris Diaw chipped in with 14 points and three rebounds, while the defense of France continued to have its impact in certain quarters of the game, as France held Latvia to just 13 points in the second quarter and seven points in the third quarter – which allowed France to build a comfortable double-digit lead going into the final quarter.
