Eurobasket

Eurobasket: Greece, France, Turkey unbeaten

Ender Arslan has been big for Turkey in the group phase (FIBA).

After three games of group play, three teams came out of the first phase of Eurobasket unscathed. France, Greece, and Turkey all were undefeated.

In Group A, Greece won their three matches by an average of 22 points per game. Without their veteran backcourt of Theodoros Papaloukas and Dimitris Diamantidis, Vasileios Spanoulis and Ioannis Bourousis stepped up to the plate; each averaging 15 points in wins over Macedonia, Croatia, and Israel.

Greece has a great supporting cast of players including Nikos Zisis, Antonis Fotsis, Kosta Koufos, and Sofoklis Schortsanitis all contributing 7-10 points a game as well as rebounding the ball.

Up next, Greece will play Germany on Friday, Sepetmeber 11, 2009 (discuss the game).

In Group B, France downed defending Eurobasket champions Russia, a tougher-than-expected German team, and Latvia led by their NBA trio of Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, and Ronny Turiaf.

Parker led Les Bleus with 19.7 points in the three wins, good for the second-leading scorer in the tournament. Turiaf averaged a double double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. The multi-faceted Diaw passed out a team-high 14 assists, as well as 10.7 points per game in the three wins.

France’s next opponent is F.Y.R. of Macedonia tomorrow, Sepetmeber 11, 2009 (Discuss the game, predict the winner in our forum).

Group D saw 2010 World Championships hosts Turkey round out a perfect phase one with wins over Lithuania, Poland, and Bulgaria. Turkey’s top-scorer in the trio of games has been Ersan İlyasova (17 ppg), who will return to the NBA this year.

Turkey’s success has been buoyed by the surprising play of point guard Ender Arslan, The 26-year old has hit for 14.3 points per game and has shot eight for eleven from three-point range.  Hedo Türkoğlu put up 13.3 points in the group phase.

Turkey will play Spain in their next match on September 12, 2009 (Discuss the match/predict the winner in our forum).

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