ImageTurkey had no interest whatsoever in this game, a mood that was clearly to be seen in the game against Russia, as they lost 66-89 to finish at 8th spot.

Turkey seems to have lost all motivation to continue in this tournament after the loss against Greece in the quarterfinals as they already had a spot at the World Championship 2010 secured for hosting the event.

Russia took the lead right from the beginning and they were not planning to give it up until the end. The were up by 11 at halftime, but the margin blew to over twenty points in the final period behind 26 points by Vitalii Fridzon and 16 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds by Anton Ponkrashov. The Russians had the amazing 16/24 three-pointers, while the only one fighting for the Turkish side was Omer Asik who finished the game with 24 points and 11 rebounds.

Turkey 66 – 89 Russia

Turkey: Yarangume 2, Guler 2, Atsur 6, Onan 5, Ilyasova, Erden 9, Tunceri, Savas 4, Asik 24, Arslan 6, Hersek 4, Turkoglu 4

Russia: Vorontsevich, Kurbanov 13, Bykov, Fridzon 26, McCarty, Sokolov 5, Dmitriev, Vualtsev, Monya 11, Ponkrashov 16, Zozulin 16, Mozgov 2

Game quotes:


David Blatt (Russia Coach):

"We came here as a champions, but we didn't come here with the same team. Only three players were here comparing to last year's Olympic Games and all were non-starters there. That's why I called Kelly McCarty and asked him for a personal favor. He agreed to help us and he led a young and inexperienced team to an excellent performance."

Kelly McCarty (Russia):

"We wanted to continue a good performance from yesterday's match and to finish strong this tournament. Coach prepared us really well for this game and every player stepped in today and contributed. We won and for me playing here for Russian national team was a great experience."

Bogdan Tanjevic (Turkey Coach):

"So we finished this tournament in eighth place. I thought we were ready to take one of the medals, but when we lost to Greece in the Quarte-Finals after overtime, we lost ambition to continue. We also had an injury problem. At the end I can't be happy with the final result, but I'm generally satisfied with the performance of our team."

Baris Hersek (Turkey):

"I want to thank the hosts for a good work with the organization of this championship. We started this tournament really good, but it stopped after the Quarter-Final game. Hopefully next year, with the support of our fans, we will finish in a medal position."