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Jasikevicius leads Lithuania past Parker's france |
| Theallineed.com |
Sarunas Jasikevicius upstaged Tony Parker on Monday as Lithuania defeated France 88-73 at the Telefonica in Madrid for a fifth consecutive victory to clinch a place in the quarter-finals of EuroBasket 2007.
The reserve guard with the Golden State Warriors, Jasikevicius made 3-of-4 shots from 3-point range and finished with 14 points while dishing out seven assists.
France led 20-19 at the start of the second quarter after a dunk by Pape Badiane, but Lithuania then took command with a 17-0 run.
At half-time, the French trailed 48-32, and though France did score the first 10 points of the third quarter to close to 48-42 and then pull even closer at 55-50 with 4:11 remaining in the period, Lithuania always seemed in control.
A Jasikevicius free throw capped an 11-2 run as Les Bleus lead 66-52.
France closed the gap to 68-60 at the of the third, but Jasikevicius opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer and made sure the Lithuanians held on to their advantage.
Jasikevicius, 31, has not been as big a hit in the NBA with the Indiana Pacers or the Warriors, whom he joined in the middle of last season, as he was at Barcelona and later Maccabi Tel Aviv.
With those two European giants, he won a combined three Euroleague crowns and a host of other titles.
In Lithuania, he is a legend, something that was assured when he was voted MVP of the EuroBasket four years ago in Sweden.
In fact, had his team-mates not missed some lay-up opportunities created by Jasikevicius passes, he would have had double the amount of assists.
"To have Saras in the team means everything to us," said Ramunas Siskauskas, the Lithuanians' leading scorer with 19 points.
Two of his points were scored when he raced in for a lay-up after catching a behind-the-back pass from Jasikevicius.
"He is the best playmaker in Europe," he added, "he is like half of the team."
"All of us are better because he (Jasikevicius) is here," said center Robertas Javtokas, who received a couple of ally-oop passes for dunks from his team-mate.
San Antonio Spurs guard Parker, the MVP of this year's NBA Finals, struggled against the Lithuanians.
He scored 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting while Boris Diaw of the Phoenix Suns finished with six points - all of them scored in the first quarter.
Florent Pietrus, the older brother of Golden State's Mickael Pietrus, led France with 13 points.
In Monday's first game, Hedo Turkoglu poured in a game-high 34 points for Turkey but it wasn't enough to upset Marco Belinelli and Italy on Monday in the qualifying round at the EuroBasket.
Belinelli scored all 17 of his points after half-time as the Italians won 84-75 in overtime.
Turkey had a chance to win at the end of regulation but Ibrahim Kutluay missed a wide-open attempt from the left corner to leave the game tied at 70-70.
Engin Atsur hit a three-pointer to put the Turks into a 73-72 lead but Italy responded with a 9-3 run to take control for good.
Belinelli, who is set to begin his rookie season with the Golden State Warriors in the NBA, was amazing.
He scored most of his points on an array of drives to the basket that Turkey could not stop.
"It has been a tough game," said Belinelli. "We trailed by 15 points in the first quarter but we managed to come back.
"We had to win this game and we did. We played some really tough defense in the third and fourth quarters. And the team won, not me.
"Now we have to prepare for another challenging game against Dirk Nowitzki's Germany."
Turkoglu was a hero even in defeat with one of the finest performances of the EuroBasket, with his contribution containing five of eight shots from the arc.
"It doesn't matter because we lost so there's no consolation," said Turkoglu.
"It was a good game and we played well. I'm happy for my team and my team-mates because of that but it wasn't enough."
Turkey were plagued by poor free-throw shooting again, making just 16 of 29 (55%) for the game.
With the loss, Turkey were eliminated from the competition with an 0-4 record.
The Italians meanwhile face Germany on Wednesday, knowing they are still in with a chance of reaching the quarter-finals if they beat the 2005 silver medalists.
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