The group stages have come to an end in the four Lithuanian cities, and it has mainly gone as expected.
So Group E will house France, Serbia, Spain, Turkey, Lithuania and Germany. Group F will have Russia, FYR of Macedonia, Slovenia, Greece, Georgia and Finland.
Group B was settled a day early as France, Serbia and Germany were already through and Israel, Italy and Latvia were going home. That didn’t mean the last round of games wouldn’t be thrilling.
The French defeated Serbia 97-96 in overtime to finish top of the group, and head to Vilnius with a 2-0 record, leaving themselves a prime position to continue their journey onto Kaunas.
Germany defeated the winless Latvians 81-80 to improve their record to 3/2. But they will start Group E in Vilnius with a 0/2 record and a mountain to climb.
Group C was no doubt the most wide open group of all with only FYR of Macedonia through and Montenegro out.
Additional qualifiers Finland booked their tickets to Vilnius thanks to a 71-65 victory over Montenegro. But will start 0/2 in Group F.
The Macedonians surprised everyone to top the group, and they confirmed their status with a 75-63 victory over Bosnia & Herzegovina. That defeat sealed Bosnia’s fate as they went out.
Greece confirmed their qualification with a 74-69 win over Croatia, Greece’s win sent Croatia home early. Greece though will begin life in Vilnius with a 1/1 record.
Group D went as expected, Slovenia and Russia contested top spot with third place becoming wide open. Russia topped the group with a narrow 65-64 win over Slovenia.
Georgia, competing in their first Eurobasket booked their place to Vilnius, despite losing to Bulgaria.
The Georgians booked their place though due to losing by less than 14 points to Bulgaria. Bulgaria needed Belgium to beat Ukraine but Belgium came short.
