Serbia&Montenegro - Spain 67-75

Sodertalje, SWEDEN, August 7 (www.eurobasket2003.com) - Emotions boiled over at the end as a big brawl started after Pau Gasol grabbed a defensive rebound under his own basket. The fight led to three players on each team being ejected from the game in the final minute. The players ejected were Gurovic, Koturovic and Jaric for Serbia & Montenegro and Garbajosa, Felipe Reyes and Grimau for Spain.

The Serbian players lost their temper after playing yet another game were they did not play up to their usually lofty standards. This game was Serbia & Montenegro's best effort thus far in the tournament, but they still could not defeat the impressive Spanish squad. The game was close throughout, as Serbia & Montenegro led after the first, second and third quarter. In the fourth quarter Spain hit some tough shots and got the lead for the first time since the first quarter on a Navarro 3-pointer which made the score 59-58.

Navarro was especially effective for Spain in the final period. He scored 9 of his 22 points in the fourth. Peja Stojakovic, who finished with a game high 25 points on 9-15 shooting, scored on a drive to the basket to make the score 62-63. After that Spanish power forward Jorge Garbajosa stepped up and hit perhaps the biggest shot of the game when he knocked down a 3-pointer to give Spain a 66-62 lead with 2 minutes left.

In the dramatic final two minutes Navarro hit a tough runner in the lane and went 4 of 4 from the line for 6 points, and Gasol had a dunk after Serbia & Montenegro closed to within 3 points in the final two minutes.

Serbia & Montenegro was able to do a decent job of containing Spanish star Pau Gasol in the first half as he shot only 3 for 9. Serbia & Montenegro came with a hard double team as soon as Gasol caught the ball in the post and they forced him to take some tough shots. In the second half Gasol got going again and he finished the game with 20 points and 6 rebounds. The hero for Spain was Juan Carlos Navarro with his 22 points.

For Serbia & Montenegro Peja Stojakovic played his best game of the tournament with 25 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Point guard Marko Jaric also had a good game with 18 points.       

Serbia&Montenegro - Sweden 78-68

Sodertalje, SWEDEN, August 6 (www.eurobasket2003.com) - From the very beginning Sweden played without any respect for the reigning World and European champions Serbia & Montenegro.

In spite of that was it was Serbia & Montenegro that went ahead 18-8 and the Swedish coach Jan Enjebo had to take his first time out five minutes into the game. After the time out the Serbia & Montenegro team couldn't make the shoots as easily and the Swedish team started to play really good defence. They forced Serbia & Montenegro to take bad shoots and Fredik Jönzén and Jonas Larsson started to score at the other end.

The Swedish players Joakim Blom, Fredrik Jönzén and Oluoma Nnamaka made a good job in the paint and took the defensive rebounds and Fredrik Jönzén scored 7 points in the first quarter.

In the second quarter Serbia & Montenegro did a good job defending Jönzén but then Jonas Larsson stepped up and scored 9 straight points.

Serbia & Montenegro had a very difficult time to find the shots during the whole game but when they had to they always made the important three pointers that keept them ahead of Sweden. In the third quarter when Sweden trailed by only two points, Serbia & Montenegro woke up and started to make their shots.

In the final quarter, Sweden really fought hard for points but Serbia & Montenegro never let them get too close during the end of the game.

The Swedish team showed fighting spirit and they really wanted to show that they weren't as bad as they looked yesterday against Spain. Serbia & Montenegro played like they were in a scrimmage and did not show any heart until the last quarter when Milos Vujanic made two quick 3-pointers. After five minutes Sweden were down by ten points.

The Swedish coach Jan Enjebo was very pleased with the team's attitude, something which the Serbia & Montenegro coach Dusan Vujosevic probably wasn't. Many times during the first half he shook his head in despair.       

Serbia&Montenegro - Russia 80-95

Sodertalje, SWEDEN, August 5 (www.eurobasket2003.com) - Russia played a perfect game in the second half, outscoring the heavy favourite Serbia & Montenegro 48-35 after the intermission.

Russia relied heavily on their biggest star, Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko. Kirilenko had a superb game, logging 37 minutes of playing time, scoring 29 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and also serving up 6 blocks on the defensive end. The hero for the Russian team was, however, another lesser known player, Fedor Likholitov, a 23 year old center without much previous experience from national team play. Kirilenko scored only 6 of his 29 points in the second half and drew his fourth personal foul at the end of the third quarter.

Serbia & Montenegro got as close as within 2 points, 69-71, in the fourth quarter, but never came closer. At this point Likholitov stepped up for Russia.

Likholitov scored the next 7 points for Russia. First he completed a three point play, after being fouled by power forward Ostojic, who fouled out on the play. After that he provided the biggest highlight of the game, a monsterous dunk after being trapped right under the basket. Likholitov continued his heroics with 2 more points, pushing the Russian lead up to 78-69. After this run Serbia & Montenegro never got back in the game.

Likholitov finished the game with 14 points, 13 of them coming in the second half, on 6 of 10 shooting from the floor. Other strong individual performances for Russia were provided by guards Vassili Karassev, 16 points, and Zakhar Pachoutine, 12 points. They combined to shoot 4 of 5 from 3-point territory.

For Serbia & Montenegro the pressure on Sacramento Kings superstar Peja Stojakovic was heavy before the game. He did not live up to his reputation in this game. He did score 17 points, but only 3 of them came in the second half. He shot horribly from the field, finishing 5 for 21 (2 for 7 on threes) for the game.

The only players who had above average performances for Serbia & Montenegro was center Predrag Drobnjak, 18 points and 8 rebounds, and forward Milan Gurovic, 14 points and 8 rebounds. However in the second half Drobnjak was the only one producing for Serbia & Montenegro, and that was not enough against a fired up Russian team on this day.

Russia shot incredibly well throughout the game, 18 of 30 for 60% on 2-pointers and 11 of 20 for 55% on 3-pointers. Serbia & Montenegro on the other hand shot only 19 of 48 on 2-pointers and 9 of 24 on 3-pointers. The reason Serbia & Montenegro got that many more attempt than Russia was the fact that they grabbed 18 offensive rebounds.