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By Stathis Trapezanlidis/ info@eurohoops.net
Once again Spain and France are among the big favorites to win the 2015 EuroBasket and by now their battles tend to become classic. The Furias Rojas are the ones who have been dominating in Europe in the past decade and the French the ones that aspire to build their own empire having already made the start with winning the trophy in 2013 in Slovenia and the silver medal in Lithuania.
Eurohoops looks back and presents all the games the two teams have played in a final stage of the European championship. In total, the French and the Spaniards have clashed 20 times in the EuroBasket, with the Iberians having 16 wins (80%)! Of course, in this flashback are not included clashes between the two from the Mundobasket, where the score is tied (2-2). France won last year’s quarterfinal in Madrid and in the group stages in 2010, while Spain prevailed last year in the group stages and in 1986 on the tournament’s opening day.
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[lptitle title=”11. 1963-1973 Group stage“]
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The feared Spaniards
The Spaniards remained undefeated for 32 years and 12 consecutive games against the French (1963-1995). In the first decade (1963-1973) the French were very weak and finished at the bottom of the first round groups. There is no prehistory between the two teams prior to 1963 when France was powerful having won a silver medal and three bronze medals since Spain didn’t even take part in the final stage!
The Spaniards, on the other side, with players like Clifford Luyk, Wayne Brabender and Emiliano Rodriguez on their roster won several distinctions with the highest being the advancement to the final in 1973. In this period the two teams met four times. In 1963 the Spaniards prevailed 86-70 (Buscato 24 points, Gilles 18 points), in 1965 90-77 (Rodriguez 25 points, Jouaret 14 points), in 1971 79-66 (Luyk 21 points, Gilles 18 points) and in 1973, in the most competitive game they’d ever played with each other up to that point, 85-80 (Brabender 18 points, Bonato 23 points). All of the games were for the first stage (groups) of the EuroBasket.
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