By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Italy beat Finland 70 – 57 and became the third team to advance to the quarterfinals of the EuroBasket after Slovenia and Germany. They will face the winner of the match between Serbia and Hungary for a spot in the semis.
Shooting Spree: With Marco Belinelli shooting blazes from downtown (3/3) and scoring 14 out of his 22 points in total, the “Azzurri” (7/13 3s at halftime) went to the locker rooms for the break holding a lead of 19, 29 – 48. Coach Messina’s players basically cashed in this fiery first half that gave them a safety belt against the Fin’s counterattack.
Reaction: The “Susijengi” improved their poor perimeter defense that cost them many wide open shots by their opponents in the first two periods and with Petteri Koponen turning his engine on (13 points), they slowly began chewing some of their deficit.
They still failed to diversify their offense though and never managed to get closer than 9. With the score 57 – 66 and two minutes remaining Italy pulled off enough successful defenses to completely shut Finland down and face no problem until the end.
Bulls’ rookie Lauri Markkanen after a great group phase had just 4 points and 3 rebounds for the losing side.
(Photo credit: FIBA)