France - Tunisia
1st Quarter
With 4:11 remaining in the quarter, Tony Parker has 5 points while Tunisia has 4 and France leads 11 to 4. Tunisia can barely make a basket in this game, they have been blocked a couple of times, but also have missed wide open shots, just unacceptable.
At the end of the quarter, France leads 20-15. France shot 50% from the field, while Tunisia shot 33% . Tony Parker scored 5, Nicolas Batum had 7 and Kevin Seraphin had 4. Ben Romdhane scored 6 for Tunisia.
2nd Quarter
Less than two minutes gone in the second, Ben Romdhane keeps impressing, he had a blocked shot and went end to end and hit a layup and also got fouled. Tunisia is now only losing by a single point. Romdhane has 9 points, 5 rebounds and 1 block.
Tony Parker got an extended rest, he came back with 5:20 left to go in the 2nd quarter and he took over, in those five minutes he managed to scored two baskets and dished out two assists to help France get a 35-27 lead at the end of the half. Parker finished the half with 9 points (4-7 FG), 3 assists and a steal. Ben Romdhane (4-10 FG) lead all scorers with 11.
3rd Quarter
With 4:28 remaining in the quarter France seems ready to put this game away for good, they have a 50-35 lead, they have outscored Tunsia 15 to 8.
Tony Parker almost outscored Tunisia by himself, Tunisia ended up with 16 points in the period while Parker had 13. France took a 60-43 lead with 10 minutes left to play. Parker has 22 points and has only missed three shots in twelve attempts. Mohamed Hadidane has been on fired for Tunisia.
4th Quarter
Tunisia has cut the France lead to eleven with Parker resting on the bench and 6 minutes left to play. The lead was cut down to seven points, but Nicolas Batum made a three followed by a steal and layup from Nando De Colo to take the lead back to 12.
With 1:05 remaining in the game, Tunisia isn't going away easily as they're down 7. Tunisia has outscored France 21-11. Tunisia scored yet another basket to cut the lead down to 5, however, France missed a shot and got an offensive rebound, which lead Tunisia to commit three fouls just to get France to go to the line with 16 seconds left in the game.
Nando De Colo made both free throws and France is leading 73-66 with 16 seconds to go. Hahidane hit a three at the buzzer and France won the game 73-69. Tunisia outscored France 26 to 13 in the quarter and that wasn't enough.
Final Stats:
France
Tony Parker - 22 Points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists.
Nicolas Batum - 19 points, 8 rebounds.
Kevin Seraphin - 10 points
Tunisia
Ben Rondhane - 17 points, 8 boards.
Mohamed Hadidane - 20 points.
Salah Mejri - 11 points
I saw the NBC feed of the game and wanted to point out some stuff the announcers said because they were just out of it.
- Kevin Seraphin reminded them of Detroit Piston's Rick Mahorn.
- Nando De Colo looked like a poor man's Danny Ainge (Nando hasn't even played a minute of NBA basketball yet)
- They said it was the third quarter when it was actually the 4th.
- While praising Salah Mejri's potential, they compared him to Dan Gadzuric, not the ideal comparison if you want to praise someone's potential.
Russia - Spain
1st Quarter
After 91 seconds, Spain has a 7-0 lead, Pau Gasol has 5 points already, this lead Russia to call their first timeout.
Spain is leading 18-2 with 5 minutes remaining in the game, Spain, a team that doesn't create points from turnovers, already have 10 points from Russia's mistakes. Spain's size has made all the difference in the world, Russia doesn't seem to react well against it.
Russia improved offensively hitting 3 three pointers, but they couldn't keep Spain from scoring either. At the end of the first quarter, Spain has a 28-11 lead.
- Pau Gasol matched Russia's total first quarter points of 11.
- Juan Carlos Navarro returned from his injury and scored 4 points.
- Spain shot 58% from the field in the 1sr quarter, Russia allowed 38% in the other games.
2nd Quarter
Midway through the second quarter, Spain lead remains double figures (12) Everyone has been getting into the act for them, Sergio Rodriguez went coast to coast for a layup & Sergio Llull banked a three pointer.
With their defense finally woken up and 11 points from Vitaly Fridzon, the 18 point lead Spain once had in the first quarter has been now cut to 8. At the end of the 1srt half, Spain leads 40-32.
- Russia outscored Spain 21 to 12.
- Fridzon lead all scorers with 14. Pau Gasol had 11, Marc Gasol contributed with 8.
- Andrei Kirilenko has only 2 points.
3rd Quarter
Khryapa has made 3 three pointers in the quarter in less than 6 minutes, Vitaly Fridzon's still hot from the first half and Spain's lead is down to two. Spain has only been getting offense by Pau Gasol, the others haven't helped much.
Russia has been remarkable, they outscored Spain 24 to 13 in the period, they played outstanding defense and were able to knock down shot after shot. Fridzon, Khryapa & Mozgov were Russia's best players in the period. After the third, Russia leads 56-53.
4th Quarter
With 6:48 remaining Spain has a 63-57 lead. Juan Carlos Navarro made a three pointer, Sergio Rodriguez hit two free throws and had some nice passes. Russia started the quarter 0-5.
Just when Spain had a comfortable 7 point lead, Russia came back with two baskets in a row by Timofey Mozgov and Andrei Kirilenko. There's only 3 minutes left to play
Russia was down three, but Victor Khryapa tied the game by hitting his fourth three pointer of the game. Rudy Fernandez missed a three at the other end, Timofey Mozgov grabbed the rebound off the missed shot and the dunk that put Russia up by 2 with 18 seconds remaining.
Russia leads 75-73 and Pau Gasol will go to the line for a chance to tie, he missed the first free throw, made the second one. The Russians have a one point lead with 5 seconds left.
Spain fouled Vitaliy Fridzon to stopped the clock, he hit both. Spain with no timeouts left, couldn't inbound to a three point shooter, so it ended up in Marc Gasol hands, when he tried to pass the ball, it got deflected and time expired. Russia beats Spain 77-74. Russia closed the game on a 17-5 run.
Final Stats:
Russia
Vitaliy Fridzon 20 points
Timofey Mozgov 12 points, 9 rebounds.
Spain
Pau Gasol 20 points
Marc Gasol 10 points
USA - Lithuania
1st Quarter
With less than 5 minutes to play in the quarter, the United States only lead by five points. Linas Kleiza has been on fire, he scored 13 out of Lithuania's 25 points, he's keeping them in the game. Carmelo Anthony is still shooting the lights out, he came off the bench and scored 10 points. At the end of first, USA leads 33-25.
2nd Quarter
Both teams are scoring at will, Linas Kleiza has 15 points. With 3:36 left in the quarter, Lithuania is down by just 5. Lithuania has moved the ball well, have hit open shots and have contested shots against the American team. Team USA is falling in love with the three point shot and aren't making as many as they did against Nigeria.
After the first 20 minutes, team USA leads Lithuania 55-51. Former teammates Carmelo Anthony and Linas Kleiza are leading their team in scoring, Melo has 14 while Kleiza has 16
3rd Quarter
Lithuania had a 5-0 run to get a one point lead over team USA, but team USA responded with a 7-0 run in less than 40 seconds to go up by 6.
Lithuania has been in the penalty for awhile but team USA is missing a lot of free throws, they are also forcing a lot of shots, especially Carmelo Anthony & Kobe Bryant.
Deron Williams hit a driving layup at the buzzer giving team USA a 78-72 lead at the end of three.
4th Quarter
Team USA insists on shooting threes, even though they keep missing. They are 7-28 from beyond the arc. Coach K has gone to a small lineup to have more offense at the same time, but this is helping Lithuania as they're taking the ball to the hoop every chance they get, especially Martynas Pocius.
Just when Lithuania got a brief 2 point lead, Lebron James took over, he had three field goals along with a Deron Williams three to give them a 9 point lead with two minutes remaining.
Final score: Team USA 99, Lithuania 94.
Final Stats:
Team USA
Lebron James 20 points
Carmelo Anthony 20 points
Chris Paul 7 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals.
Lithuania
Linas Kleiza 25 points
Brazil - China
1st Quarter
China was held scoreless for the first three minutes of the game and with 4:58 remaining in the first, they only have scored 3 points.
Brazil's 5 out 7 from three point land. Everyone got into the action, Leandro Barbosa made two triples and one apiece for Marcelo Huertas, Guillherme Giovannoni and Marquinos. After one Brazil leads 25-9.
2nd Quarter
ZZZZZZzzzzzzZZZ. Brazil outscored China 17 to 12 in the period and now lead 42-21. Both teams had long droughts without scoring a single point, it was almost embarrassing at one point.
3rd Quarter
Five minutes have passed and China has scored only four points, Brazil has scored 11. Brazil has double China in scoring, they lead 52-26.
Brazil finished the third quarter with a 70-38 lead over China.
4th Quarter
Blowout city. Brazil won by over 1000 points.
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