Holders Spain cruised into the European basketball championship quarter-finals with a match to spare in the second group stage after crushing 2009 runners-up Serbia 84-59 on Friday.
Hosts Lithuania still have work to do after a 73-67 defeat by France, who stretched their unbeaten record to seven games, while Germany rekindled their hopes of reaching the last eight with a 73-67 win over Turkey.
France top Group E with four wins, Spain have three wins and one defeat, while Lithuania have a 2-2 record. Serbia, Turkey and Germany all have one win and three defeats and are still in the hunt for a berth in the knockout stage.
Spain romped to an early 15-5 lead against a disorganized Serbia team and never looked back as they had 11 rebounds and eight steals more than their opponents.
Center Pau Gasol and his younger brother, Marc, were again at the heart of Spain’s success, the former scoring 26 points to go with eight rebounds and the latter finishing with 20 points and 10 rebounds in the one-sided contest.
Spain will win the group if they beat France today, but France, led by their outstanding point guard Tony Parker, will in all likelihood be a much tougher nut to crack.
Having secured their own quarter-final berth with two games to spare after Wednesday’s win over Turkey, France showed no nerves against Lithuania, who were roared on by a passionate 11,000 home crowd in the Siemens Arena.
What they did demonstrate was depth in their 12-man roster which could lift them to their first title in any major event.
Reserve shooting guard Nando de Colo started instead of the injured Mickael Gelabale and finished as the game’s top scorer with 21 points, burying 11 of them in the latter stages to give France a 62-54 lead which sealed the rip-roaring contest.
Parker, a three-time NBA champion with the San Antonio Spurs, was also instrumental with 19 points, while Chicago Bulls centere Joachim Noah capped an excellent all-round performance with nine points and 13 rebounds.
Turkey had pulled one of the shocks of the tournament with a preliminary pool win over Spain, but then lost to France and their lack of resources was also obvious against Germany.
Los Angeles Clippers center Chris Kaman led the winners with 20 points, Dirk Nowitzki scored 19 and forward Philipp Schwethelm added 14, including a barrage of three-pointers in the fourth quarter which swung the game Germany’s way.
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