Paris, France, 2nd July - The Yugoslav basketball players has not managed to qualify for the 31st European Championship, since they were deservedly beat by Italians (62-71, 23-37), who tonight expressed much more will, wish and disposition than the actual world and now already former European champion.
The defeat is a surprise, but could be justified by numerous problems that the Yugoslav national team was facing prior and during the Championship, starting from abnormal situation in Yugoslavia due to the NATO aggression to bad lucks caused by injuries of the standard national team players.
Abbio (ITA, right) tries to
block Danilovic's shot
|
Thus, already in the eve of the Championship the national team was without the captain Aleksandar Djordjevic and the best European center Zeljko Rebraca. Then followed injuries of Predrag Stojakovic, Dragan Lukovski and, at the end, of Sasa Obradovic. Any world national team could not endure such a handicap and it is quite normal that the Yugoslav national team did not show its maximum.
Truly speaking, all what has happened is not any justification for extremely poor play of the Yugoslav national basketball team in the fist half-time, when practically the winner of the match was determined. Even ten lost balls as compared to only one of Italy, then complete indisposition of Vlade Divac and insufficient use of Predrag Danilovic made conditions for Italian players to realize in 19th minute the advantage of even 18 points - 37-19.
Perfect 14 minutes of the second half time when Yugoslavia managed to achieve and even surpass its rival (57:55 in 34th minute), exhausted the Yugoslav players and the cost was paid in the finish. Tonight Italians were simply better and in full extend revenged for the defeat at the European basketball championship in Barcelona two years ago.
Tomorrow, on 3rd July, Yugoslavia will play for the third place and bronze medal against host France.
PARIS - Bercy Hall. Attendance: 14,000.
YUGOSLAVIA: Player Statistics
|
Player
|
Min
|
2P FG M/A
|
%
|
3P FG M/A |
% |
FT M/A |
% |
REB(O/D) |
Totals |
Ast |
PF |
St |
Pts |
|
Bodiroga
|
36
|
5/8
|
63
|
0/0
|
|
7/9
|
78
|
4/9
|
13
|
2
|
4
|
0
|
17
|
|
Danilovic
|
36
|
6/8
|
75
|
0/2
|
0
|
2/2
|
100
|
0/0
|
0
|
2
|
3
|
0
|
14
|
|
Divac
|
26
|
1/5
|
20
|
0/1
|
0
|
6/10
|
60
|
1/3
|
4
|
1
|
5
|
0
|
8
|
|
Gurovic
|
0
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Loncar
|
10
|
1/2
|
50
|
1/1
|
100
|
0/0
|
|
0/0
|
0
|
1
|
4
|
1
|
5
|
|
Lukovski
|
6
|
0/0
|
|
0/0
|
|
0/0
|
|
0/0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Obradovic
|
0
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Scepanovic
|
32
|
3/3
|
100
|
1/2
|
50
|
3/6
|
50
|
0/2
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
12
|
|
Stojakovic
|
0
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tarlac
|
8
|
0/0
|
|
0/0
|
|
0/0
|
|
0/1
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
0 |
0 |
| Tomasevic |
21 |
1/2 |
50 |
0/0 |
|
2/4 |
50 |
1/3 |
4 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
4 |
| Topic |
25 |
1/1 |
100 |
0/1 |
0 |
0/0 |
|
0/2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| Totals |
|
18/29 |
62 |
2/7 |
29 |
20/31 |
65 |
6/20 |
26 |
10 |
23 |
3 |
62 |
Legend
Min - Minutes Played
2P FG (M/A) - Two Point Field Goals (Made/Attempted)
3P FG (M/A) - Three Point Field Goals (Made/Attempted)
FT (M/A) - Free Throws (Made/Attempted)
REB (O/D) - Rebounds (Offensive/Defensive)
AST - Assists
PF - Personal Fouls
ST - Steals
PTS - Points
After the Match
Zeljko Obradovic, Yugoslav head coach
"I would like to congratulate the Italian team for this victory, but also my
players who did their best and came back from 14 under to a lead of 2 in the second half.
We had a lot of organizational problems in the first half and this cost us a number of balls.
I am satisfied with the offensive solutions we tried at the end of the game, but we missed at
least 5 easy shots."
Semi-Finals (Paris, Bercy Hall, July 2)
YUGOSLAVIA - Italy 62-71
Spain - France 70-63
Previous Yugoslavia's results at Championship
Group A
|
June 21 - Yugoslavia - Israel 81-61
|
|
June 22 - Yugoslavia - Macedonia 83-68
|
|
June 23 - Yugoslavia - France 63-52
|
Group E
|
June 26 - Yugoslavia - Slovenia 71-66
|
|
June 27 - Yugoslavia - Spain 77-63
|
|
June 28 - Yugoslavia - Russia 68-76
|
Quarter-Finals
|
July 1 - Yugoslavia - Germany 78-68
|
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