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1. Russia 2/0 4
2. Croatia 2/0 4
3. Spain 1/1 3
4. Greece 1/1 3
5. Israel 0/2 2
6. Portugal 0/2 2
Fixtures
07.09.2007
Portugal vs Russia
Spain vs Greece
Israel vs Croatia
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Portugal 94 Israel 85
Undoubtedly the best game for Portugal so far, a great surprise. It's true Israel was not the same as in the previous games, they seemed totally unorganised and their outside shot didn't work, but Portugal was great defensively, they were quite concentrated and totally relaxed, in contrast to Israel, they looked nervous at times. João Gomes (23 pts + 11 rebs) came up big this time in all aspects of the game, his 2 alley oops were magnificent. Jordão also provided a big help. Green seemed lost today for Israel.
Die Liebe wird eine Krankheit, wenn man sie als eine Heilung sieht.
: BASKET-SPOT : - Global Basketball
Sep 11, 2007, 5:28 am
(This post was last modified: Mar 13, 2010, 1:16 pm by TalkBasket.)
This has to be great result and of course a great moment for Portuguese basketball in particular. Defeating Latvia was something but to beat Israel tops it all of.
Up till now I've been a neutral supporter but I guess the Tall Equipa das Quinas can count this Malaysian as another fan.
Good luck and hopefully they'll go far
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2 replies on this board? Come on, this group deserves more
Portugal have been a pleasant surprise, to start with. They came hoping not to get hammered and they leave with 2 wins and with a lot sympathy. Well done to our neighbours
Then Russia have been a great team as well and they'll deserve some praise, even our Lithuanian friends will agree on that. I am glad we beat them
Spain are for me the favourites still - A final with Lithuania appears in the horizon, but not before some tough games. I think we'll have Italy first in the QF, and then the winner of... Slovenia v Greece? We will know soon
Croatia have been the only side to beat Spain in the last 32 games, but then they were poor in other games so you don't know. Could they upset anyone else? Doubtful
Greece... what about them? It seems they are saving the energy for when it matters as they lost clearly to Spain and Russia and they have not shown the same level. They are defending champions, so you can't write them off
Israel have been a bit of fresh air too. beating Serbia must ahve risen all the alarms in Belgrade, but the defeat to Portugal made the Portuguese really happy. maybe Portugal are here to stay, we may have a new country in the future tournaments. Not a real challenger, but a decent side
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So, after the last round of games, Group E is finished (basically, as expected)
1 Spain 4/1
2 Russia 4/1
3 Greece 3/2
4 Croatia 2/3
5 Portugal 1/4
6 Israel 1/4
Spain bounced well after the Croatia defeat and have won every 2nd pahse game comfortable. Funny enough, Croatia slumped after that win and have lost the 3 games. Portugal had a memorable win over Israel and a tournament to remember.
Russia have looked brilliant. Greece are a doubt, why so weak compared to Spain and Russia, why so much trouble to beat Croatia. Israel were knackered after the qualification tournament.
QF look to be
Spain v Italy/Germany , and the winner of this will play the semis with
loser of Lithuania/Slovenia v Greece
The other half of the draw is
winner of Lithuania/Slovenia v Croatia
Russia v France
The bottom half is as tough as it can be. My prediction here and now for the semis is Spain v Greece and Lithuania v Russia. The Spain v Lithuania for gold and so we can win what we lost in 2003. Russia for bronze, France finishing 5th