Spain and Lithuania advance to basketball semis
August 20, 2008
This afternoon in Beijing Spain and Lithuania have eased into the Olympic men’s semifinal for the basketball tournament.
First up Spain defeated world no. 20 ranked Croatia. Spain started well with a 12-1 run thanks to nine points from Paul Gasol. At the end of the first quarter they were up 22-11. Despite committing six turnovers in the second quarter Spain maintained their 11 point advantage at the halftime break with the score 37-26.
Spain pretty much killed off the match with a 10-2 run to start the third quarter. Croatia did give their fans a glimmer of hope when they had a 10-3 run in the third quarter to make the score 51-38 with one quarter to play.
Paul Gasol helped his team to close out the win and the final score was 72-59. Gasol scored 20 points and pulled in 10 rebounds.
In the second semifinal China had a large crowd on their side as they took on Lithuania. The first quarter was close with the Lithuania’s ahead by two 19-17. This all changed in the second quarter as Lithuania outscored the locals 22-13.
The home crowd could not help the Chinese team overcome a tough opponent. As the match progressed the margin slowly increased. Each time China tried to close the gap Lithuania seemed to be able to answer with a 3-pointer. Overall they shot 13/31 from beyong the three-point line. China could only manage 4/21.
Top scorer for Lithuania was Sarunas Jasikevicius with 23 points. He shot an impressive 5 from 6 outside the arc. Yao Ming tried to carry his team and he scored 19 points however this was not enough.
The Lithuanian’s booked their semi-final spot with a comprehensive 94-68 win and should provide the current world champions Spain a tough match.
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