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ESP - Calderon fires Spain into EuroBasket semi-finals |
| Theallineed.com |
Spain demolished Germany 83-55 on Thursday to storm into the semifinals of the EuroBasket.
Behind the spirited play of emerging superstar Jose Calderon of the Toronto Raptors, Spain went on a decisive 9-0 run at the end of the first half to lead 40-27.
The game was out of hand by the end of the third quarter with Spain leading 66-43.
Calderon scored nine of his game-high 17 points in the second quarter when the world champions took command.
"We never look at the score," Calderon said. "All we wanted to do today was to put pressure on Germany and take advantage of their mistakes. Our style is to play for the same intensity for 40 minutes."
Germany fell apart against Spain's pressure defense, with Pepu Hernandez's team scoring 19 points off turnovers – 10 of those by half-time when the hosts led 40-27.
Calderon said: "We have played really well on defense, helping each other out and we have been successfully in limiting Dirk Nowitzki."
Nowitzki beat Spain in the semi-finals of the EuroBasket two years ago in Belgrade with a long turnaround jump shot just four seconds from the end.
 | | José CALDERON was the leading scorer of quarter Final game between Spain and Germany. 2007 EuroBasket, Madrid, Spain (FIBA Europe / Castoria / Vlachos) |
Spain's win means they now face the winner of Greece's quarter-final against Slovenia.
"We are where we wanted to be, which is in the semi-finals," Calderon said.
"We had the crowd behind us. We are playing as one and we have to take advantage of this.
"The best team will win the next game between Greece and Slovenia and that's who we're going to face. We will be ready for them. We have one day to rest. We only have to worry about ourselves and not our rivals, which has been our task from the very beginning."
Rudy Fernandez finished with 12 points – seven of them in the third quarter when Spain blew the game wide open.
Juan Carlos Navarro added 12 points, Marc Gasol 10 and Jorge Garbajosa seven.
FRANCE vs GERMANY
In Thursday's first game, Russia edged France, 75-71, to reach the last four for the first time since 1997.
Tony Parker, the NBA Finals MVP with the San Antonio Spurs, missed a free throw with just seven seconds remaining to leave the Russians leading, 71-70, before David Blatt's team held on for a memorable victory.
"What can I say, there is little to say," Parker said immediately after the defeat.
"We had our opportunities, but we didn't take them. We will have to look at the replay video and find out why we lost the game.
"It's frustrating because we had the opportunity. Russia are a good team, they took their chances and they are through to the semifinals."
Victor Kryapa led Russia with 16 points and seven rebounds.
"We didn't play that well today but we've won the game," Blatt said. "The biggest challenge I had in this job was getting these guys to believe in themselves because they haven't reached the semifinals for so long. Now we're there."
There are no guarantees in basketball, even when it comes to some of the world's leading players like France's Parker and Boris Diaw of the Phoenix Suns.
France led by as many as seven points in the game and its biggest advantage in the fourth quarter was 61-57 with 7:47 remaining.
JR Holden's 3-pointer closed the gap to 61-60, and the naturalized Russian then put his team into a 62-61 lead with 5:17 to go.
Petr Samoylenko extended the advantage to 64-61 with a layup, only for France to pull level.
Diaw buried a jumper in the lane, and Andrei Kirilenko of the Utah Jazz picked up his fifth foul trying to steal the ball from the Los Angeles Lakers' Ronny Turiaf, who made 1-of-2 at the line to make it 64-64 with 3:25 left in the game.
Russia kept its composure without Kirilenko.
Holden hit a shot from the arc and Samoylenkno's layup extended the lead to 69-64 with 2:35 remaining.
After a timeout by France, Diaw drilled a long jumper and Sergey Monya failed to catch a pass from Samoylenko with the ball going out of bounds.
Parker went to the other end and made a 3-pointer to tie the game at 69-69 with 1:26 to go.
A frantic finish was on the cards.
After Nikita Morgunov charged into Tariq Kirksay, Kirksay missed a jumper and Russia rebounded.
France elected to foul Holden, who made two free throws for a 71-69 lead with 24 seconds to play.
Russia fouled Diaw, who missed two free throws, but then Pashutin missed twice for the Russians with 11 seconds to go.
Russia fouled Parker with seven seconds to go, and he made the first, but missed the second.
Parker had also missed a potential game-tying free throw with two seconds remaining in France's group defeat to Slovenia.
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