Because of Poland’s loss to Great Britain, both teams in this game have been assured of a spot in the next round of the EuroBasket tournament. However, since the head-to-head win-loss records will carry over, the match does have some importance going forward.
The key question is, “Who or what can stop Spain?” This team has looked unstoppable through four games, dominating Lithuania last night with 63 points in the first half. Turkey has looked a bit sluggish in its last two and with a loss would bring an 0-2 record to start Group E play. Who wins this battle of NBA- and Euroleague-stocked teams? Read below the break and follow the game with BallinEurope’s live blogging. Enjoy the game!
Pregame. For Spain, Serge Ibaka gets the start in place of Pau, along with Marc Gasol, Jose Calderon, Juan Carlos Navarro and Rudy Fernandez. Turkey sticks with its usual lineup of Omer Onan, Kerem Tunceri, Ersan Ilyasova, Hedo Turkoglu and Omer Asik.
First quarter. 9.25: Really fast play on the first possession by Spain. The strategy must be to tucker out Turkey. Bet it works.
8.44: Fernandez with the first points of the game. Spain, 2-0.
8.15: Asik misses the easy dunk … a bad sign early?
7.46: Asik takes it underneath, going against Marc and Ibaka, draws the shooting foul. And misses both FTs!
7.14: Hedo dribbles around past the double-team, steps back, hits. Spain, 5-2.
6.42: Ilyasova adds the jumper. 5-4.
5.53: Onan with the floater from the baseline … but Ibaka answers on the other end with a 10-footer. Spain now up, 9-6.
5.11: Enes Kanter in the game for Turkey.
5.00: Marc with the step back and fadeaway. How can that be stopped? Already with seven, with Spain up 11-6.
4.06: Kanter not looking too good early, witih one miss and one PF.
3.33: Marc beats Kanter for a second time on the rebound. It seems like last night Jonas Valanciunas played The Brothers better than Kanter thus far. 11-8 to Spain.
2.12: And Marc shows up Kanter again, pushing past him in the lane for an easy two. 13-10.
1.47: Wow, Fernandez with the steal, the breakaway, the dunk. 15-10 to Spain.
1.12: Calderon hits and, of the starters, only Navarro has yet to score. Fernando San Emeterio’s in for him. Spain up, 17-10.
0.08: Hedo controls the ball for 24 seconds, misses at the buzzer.
0.00: The fast pace of this one — stop BiE if you’ve heard it before — is favoring Spain. 19-10 lead at the end of one.
Second quarter. Tunceri finds Emir Preldzic in the corner for three … and on the breakaway, it’s Preldzic again. 19-15 to Spain.
8.52: Navarro wide open beyond the arc, swishes it. 22-15, Spain.
8.29: Ilyasova back in for Kanter. Still no Pau out there for Spain.
8.03: Spain on the break, leads to a Navarro layup. 24-15 to Spain. Pulling away? Now Ibaka back in, Marc out and a Gasol-less Spain hasn’t been seen since they were blowing out Great Britain.
7.24: Preldzic again! Drives for the two, gets the foul, makes the and-one. Spain up, 24-21.
6.29: Felipe Reyes and Ricky Rubio getting lots of quality time tonight … Reyes hits his first two in the lane. 26-21 to Spain.
6.01: Asik beats Ibaka at the rim. 26-23, Spain.
5.36: Rudy’s three gives him seven for the game.
5.03: Marc Gasol back in the game for Spain. Asik makes 1 of 2 FTs. Spain, 29-24.
3.17: Turkey drives and redrives the lane. Spain, 31-26.
2.53: Timeout called by Spain after the ultra-aggressive Preldzic draws another foul. Spain up, 31-26, and Pau’s still leaving the warmup jacket on.
2.29: Kanter back in, takes the feed for the dunk. Spain up, 31-28.
2.07: …but then racks up his third PF and is out. Navarro responds with a nice jumper. 33-28 to Spain.
1.40: Turkoglu again controls the ball for Turkey, but hits this time. He’s 3-of-5 for six points.
1.24: At the line, Navarro sinks both. Spain, 35-30. Navarro has nine, all in this quarter.
1.03: Turkoglu taking charge yet again, drives and draws the foul on Fernandez. His FT makes it 35-33 to Spain.
0.23: Asik with the dunk and Turkey is tied for the first time in the game (well, since 0-0)! 35-all.
0.02: Spain coolly moves the ball around, finds Calderon for the long three. 38-35 to Spain.
0.00: And that’s the way it stays after 20 minutes: 38-35, Spain up.
Third quarter. 6.37: Apologies for the delay. Ibaka’s been drawing a buncha fouls and Spain is up, 45-40. Ibaka now with nine.
5.05: Marc with a nice three at the buzzer. God knows what he was doing out there, but Spain’s thankful he was … and alone.
4.39: Asik at the line again, hits both to get Spain within six. 48-42. He immediately comes out for Kanter.
4.20: Preldzic hits on a 15-footer. 48-44 to Spain. Emir has a big 18.
4.02: Ibaka can’t connect above the rim, and Ender Arslan makes Spain pay with a three. 48-47, Spain.
3.39: Reyes makes two FTs to end the 7-0 Turkey run.
3.13: Turkey recovers after the Turkoglu miss for a fresh possession, but Arslan throws it away … maybe looking for Kanter…?
2.54: Turkey cannot close the gap as Preldzic misses on a rushed jumper … Turkey gets a break with the Ibaka offensive foul.
1.34: Gasol stops Kanter again on the baseline, Turkey turns it over, and it culminates in Onan’s foul on Fernandez on the break. Fernandez hits both, Spain up 54-47.
0.10: Ilyasova with the two off the rebound.
0.02.6: Taking their time, Spain gets it to Reyes in the lane, who gives up the body, knocked to the floor. Makes one of two.
0.0: Spain widened the gap again, and it’s 55-49 with 10 minutes left.
Fourth quarter. 9.08: Turkey has two wide-open shots on two possessions, but can’t convert either. Instead, Asik fouls Marc.
7.03: It feels like Spain keeps wanting to pull away, but Turkey just won’t quite let ’em. It’s 57-49 now and Turkey’s a bit cold, down to 40% shooting.
6.44: Asik misses 1 of 2 FTs; he’s just 4-of-8 from the ‘stripe today. 57-50, Spain.
5.56: Then Asik with the big slam! Somebody look through the blog and see if he does that every time he misses a FT. It seems like it.
5.35: Back down the floor, Arslan banks one home and gets the and-one. Makes it. 57-55 to Spain.
5.14: Here’s Asik again … makes both that time to tie it at 57.
4.50: Turkoglu misses the opportunity to take the lead with the rushed shot.
4.27: O, Ibaka with the “unsportsmanlike foul” trying to prevent the Asik jam. He mauled him sure.
3.42: Wow, Onan for three gives Turkey the lead at 60-57!
2.57: Turkey on an 11-0 run and now force the 24-second violation.
2.10: And now Spain forces the TO as Turkoglu loses the handle.
1.11: Rubio misses the wide-open three. Ouch.
0.52: Fernandez misses both FTs! Game over?
0.31: Hedo with a three and the Turks flood the court. They sense it!
0.00: Wow, nice 16-0 run to close the game. BiE guesses we have to take Turkey seriously again. Although no Pau Gasol for Spain…
