2007-09-03
Poland vs France 19:00 GMT
Italy vs Slovenia 21:30 GMT
Poles are the underdogs of the group. I can't see them being a serious opponent for France. An easy opening game for Tony Parker and company.
Now this is a tough one. Italians looked unmotivated in friendly games plus they lost two players just before Eurobasket. Their key to success is 3-point shooting. If they have a night when they hit them like crazy over the hands of opposition defenders then it is hard to stop them. My bet is on Slovenia.
Poland 66 France 74
(Adam Wójcik 19 pts | Tony Parker 16 pts)
Harder win for France than expected and it's amazing how Wójcik can still be leader of the NT at 37.
Italy 68 Slovenia 69
(Massimo Bulleri 20 pts + 5 assists | MatjaÃ
¾ SmodiÃ
¡ 19 pts)
Lakovi?'s buzzerbeater gave Slovenia the win.
Well done France and Slovenia.
I think that everyone expected a big win from France in this games. But it looks like team spirit of Poland was also big. Underdogs are putting all their effort to win the opening games. Though it could leave them tired during remaining matches. Well done for Poland for keeping the intrigue.
I predicted Slovenia to be victorious against Italy. It should have been a very tight match and so it was. I wonder if this loss would demoralize Italians or maybe it would have an opposite effect and bring the team together?
France 69 Italy 62
(Tony Parker 36 pts | Andrea Bargnani 16 pts)
Tony Parker scored more than half of his team points. France were favourite to win this and they did it. I guess Italians won't go far this time. They will probably defeat Poland tomorrow but two losses might be too much in the second round.
Looks like if Italy had defended a bit better against Tony Parker they may well have won that game!
Slovenia 70 Poland 52
(Erazem Lorbek 16 pts + 8 rebs | Andrzej Pluta 12 pts)
We see teams getting in better shape and as a result of that we get larger gaps between favourties and underdogs. I think this groups is wide open and Slovenia could still win the group if they win against France tonight.
Slovenia 67:66 France
Slovenia: Matjaz Smodis 15, Domen Lorbek 15.
France: Tony Parker 25.
Another last minute victory win for Slovenia. Well done <img src='http://www.talkbasket.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thup.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':thup:' /> They played against all the odds and won their group.
Poland 70:79
Italy
Poland: Andrzej Pluta 15.
Italy: Marco Belinelli 20, Andrea Bargnani 19.
Italy saved themselves in the last game where they clear favourites. They will have a very hard job to do if they want to qualify for the quarter-finals.
1.
Slovenia 3/0 6
2.
France 2/1 5
3.
Italy 1/2 4
4. Poland 0/3 3