The FIBA EuroBasket 2013 will be the 38th edition of the EuroBasket championship that is organized by FIBA Europe. It will take place from 4 September till 22 September 2013 in Slovenia. The number of participating teams will be 24. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIBA_EuroBasket_2013 Several teams look interesting to follow: France, Germany, Israel, Lithuania, Slovenia, Spain, Croatia and Italy. Host cities are: Ljubljana, Celje, Jesenice, Koper.
Best teams on this EuroBasket will qualify for the upcoming World Cup directly. Not sure how many, maybe European Champion only. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIBA_Basketball_World_Cup#Qualification Two teams are qualified: Spain and United States. Previous EuroBasket results: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIBA_EuroBasket Croatian players participated for Yugoslavia before, but Serbia took Yugoslav common results. Especially World Cups after 1963, where Croats had much more significant role and contribution. At World Cup 1990 Yugoslavia had 12 players, 5 of them were Croats, 1 was Slovene. It's easy to check their birthplaces. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavia_national_basketball_team http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Croatian_sportspeople#Basketball Quality became much weaker in Europe. Spain will win this EuroBasket, hard to find anyone who can compete against them. Maybe France, Lithuania could surprise them, but I doubt.
Second round: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIBA_EuroBasket_2013 Best Highlights: http://gol.dnevnik.hr/clanak/kosark...-dosadasnjeg-dijela-eurobasketa---302612.html Emotional moments, Croatian coach Aleksandar Petrovic - current coach of Bosnia and Herzegovina: http://gol.dnevnik.hr/clanak/kosark...i-bih-je-zasluzila-malo-radosti---302240.html Moments from history:
Lietuva onto the quarterfinals, sweeping its three games in the second round. Holding Tony Parker to 11 points, wow. That's gotta be a fluke, either that or TP has a ding.
Official website: http://www.fiba.com/spain2014 Several results on this EURO surprised everyone. Spain is not untouchable, expected more from France. We lost several strong teams in first group stage. Quarterfinals could offer nice and dramatic matches. Problem is that those matches are not so visited in the halls. Evening matches bring more viewers, maybe wrong schedule of matches, early afternoon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIBA_EuroBasket_2013 Croatia won against Greece after two extra times. Italy won against Spain after one extra time. Maybe Spain had some calculations. I think that they wanted to avoid Lithuania/Lietuva. Quarter-finals: Spain-Serbia France-Slovenia Croatia-Ukraine Lithuania-Italy One quarter-finals seems much more dramatic: Lithuania-Italy, other quarter-finals could offer clear situation for Spain, France and Croatia, but it's hard to predict.
France with an OT upset of Spain! Tony Parker had 32 points. In the other semi, Lithuania beat Croatia.
I'm trying to talk my wife into going to Duke's for the final. Duke's being a Lithuanian/Fire combo restaurant just outside Toyota Park. There won't be a France fan in the house. Nor much English spoken, for that matter.
Interesting semifinals. Croatia could not find answers and way how to handle with Lithuanian players, energy was on the edge, not so wide bench, anyway match for bronze medal is still nice, problem is that Spain is on the other side. France and Lithuania will decide about the title. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIBA_EuroBasket_2013
France wins its first gold medal at Eurobasket. Tony Parker stuffed in the finals with 12 points on 6-17 shooting but Lithuania couldn't score for bleep. Something peculiar going on between Lithuania's coach and Valanciunas, who barely got in the final game at all and went 0 points, 2 rebounds. OK, onto the NBA regular season.
Eurobasket 2013: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIBA_EuroBasket_2013 Next major competition is 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIBA_Basketball_World_Cup There are four wild card places left. Large diversity and contrast I notice between the teams. There is also one interesting club competition in Europe: Euro League. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013–14_Euroleague