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(1).jpg "Левски")
.jpg "Миньор 2015")
.jpg "Черно море Тича")
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.jpg "Ямбол")
Spain finally on top of Europe
Spain won Eurobasket 2009 (Photo: FIBAeurope.com)
21-09-2009 00:21 | Gong.bg
A tradition of finishing second ended emphatically on Sunday when clearly superior Spain marched to the gold medal at EuroBasket 2009 with a resounding 85-63 victory against young, overmatched Serbia in Kotawice, Poland. Spain had finished second by losing all six of its previous finals appearances over the last 74 years, including the first European championships in 1935 and three in the last decade. That's ancient history now, as Spain not only swept the knockout stage - quarterfinals, semis and final - by an average of 20 points, but tied for the second-biggest title-game margin of victory in tournament history, behind only the Soviet Union defeating Czechoslovakia 120-89 in 1985. Spain also avenged a tournament-opening loss to Serbia that helped force the favorites into a do-or-die situation just to reach the quarterfinals. From that point forward, however, Spain was golden, never moreso than Sunday, when a 19-4 first-quarter run established leads that ballooned as high as 25 points right after halftime.
Pau Gasol led the winners with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Rudy Fernandez added 13 points. Regal FC Barcelona teammates Juan Carlos Navarros, last season's Euroleague MVP, had 12 points, and Ricky Rubio 10. Felipe Reyes of Real Madrid added 8 rebounds as Spain won the battle of the boards 42-24.
Serbia, proud owners of silver medals despite the final blowout, had its best finish since winning five golds in 12 years between 1989 and 2001 as Yugoslavia. Novica Velickovic of Real Madrid and Uros Tripkovic led Serbia with 15 points each, while Nenad Krstic added 12.
Under the direction of new head coach Sergio Scariolo, Spain's defense held Milos Teodosic, Serbia's hero in the semifinals, to 6 points on Sunday. "I think the hard road that we took will help us value more what this gold medal means," Rubio said. "People thought we would win easy, but to achieve something like this, a gold medal in Europe, is never easy. Once again, though, we learned that it's not how you start, but how you finish that's important."
Pau Gasol led the winners with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Rudy Fernandez added 13 points. Regal FC Barcelona teammates Juan Carlos Navarros, last season's Euroleague MVP, had 12 points, and Ricky Rubio 10. Felipe Reyes of Real Madrid added 8 rebounds as Spain won the battle of the boards 42-24.
Serbia, proud owners of silver medals despite the final blowout, had its best finish since winning five golds in 12 years between 1989 and 2001 as Yugoslavia. Novica Velickovic of Real Madrid and Uros Tripkovic led Serbia with 15 points each, while Nenad Krstic added 12.
Under the direction of new head coach Sergio Scariolo, Spain's defense held Milos Teodosic, Serbia's hero in the semifinals, to 6 points on Sunday. "I think the hard road that we took will help us value more what this gold medal means," Rubio said. "People thought we would win easy, but to achieve something like this, a gold medal in Europe, is never easy. Once again, though, we learned that it's not how you start, but how you finish that's important."
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