# EC qualification tournament



## Scipio (Feb 18, 2004)

You can move this topic to International forum if you wish but I put this in here as none really reads that forum and this qualification has Italy in it which should raise some intrest to you guys. I'm able to watch all finnish teams games and will gladly report on the outcome and performances of Barni and Bellinelli. Let's get some discussion going.

Anyway, it's three team facing each other twice: Italy, France and Finland. Winner gets to play in EC tournament. From NBA team it means that either Italian or French players will not be that busy for their national teams in couple of years and others very busy, unless Finland comes on top of course.

France and Italy have failed to land their best players in pre-qualification tournament and struggled. Now both team have loaded up and sadly, one of the European heavyweights will be out of EC tournament and also WC tournament as EC tournament acts as qualification tournament to there too. Main losses for team are Michael Pietrus (France) and Danilo Gallinari (Italy). These are two evenly matched teams and I can't predict how it'll end up. It could come up to individual clutch performances to sort it out. Finland has the capability to affect the outcome as they are fully capable beating any team in Europe in their homecourt. We lack in size so we need to catch some fire from three point line. Koponen and Rannikko form a very good backcourt on european level. Anyway if Italy or France loose a game in Finland it'll put them in a must win situation in their matchup.

*Latest News*
- Looks like Mancinelli is ready and allowed to play without penalties on the sucker punch in friendly game against Canada. 
- Tony Parker will miss the opening game and this will be big for Italy as they have the possibility to get a good start on this group. He will most likely play against Finland as he is very enthusiastic to get into action according the French coach Collet

*Schedule*
5.8. Italy - France
8.8. France - Finland
11.8. Finland - Italy
14.8. France - Italy
17.8. Finland - France
20.8. Italy - Finland

*ROSTERS*

Italy

* Amoroso Valerio (204 cm, Bancatercas Teramo)
* Bargnani Andrea (213, Toronto Raptors, USA)
* Belinelli Marco (196, Toronto Raptors, USA)
* Cusin Marco (211, Vanoli Soresina)
* Datome Luigi Dal (203, Lottomatica Rooma)
* Giachetti Jacopo (192, Lottomatica Rooma)
* Gigli Angelo (209, Lottomatica Rooma)
* Mancinelli Stefano (203, AJ Milano)
* Mordente Marco (190, AJ Milano)
* Poeta Giuseppe (192, Bancatercas Teramo)
* Soragna Matteo (198, Angelico Biella)
* Vitali Luca (201, AJ Milano)

France

* Batum Nicolas (201 cm, Portland Trailblazers, USA)
* Bokolo Yannick (188, Gravelines-Dunkerque)
* De Colo Nando (195, Pamesa Valencia, ESP)
* Diaw Boris (203, Charlotte Bobcats, USA)
* Diot Antoine (190, Le Mans)
* Jackson Edwin (188, Rouen)
* Jeanneau Aymeric (185, Lyon Villeurbanne)
* Koffi Alain (204, Le Mans)
* Petro Johan (214, Denver Nuggets, USA)
* Pietrus Florent (Pamesa Valencia, ESP)
* Traore Ali (205, Lyon-Villeurbanne)
* Turiaf Ronny (Golden State Warriors, USA)

Finland

Samuel Haanpää (203, Free Agent)
Shawn Huff (198, Maroussi, GRE)
Tuomas Iisalo (195, Honka, FIN)
Mikko Koivisto (194, UNC-Greensboro (USA)
Petteri Koponen (194, Virtus Bologna (ITA)
Tuukka Kotti (205, Free Agent)
Gerald Jr. Lee (208, Old Dominion (USA)
Jukka Matinen (203, Honka, FIN)
Kimmo Muurinen (202, Honka, FIN)
Vesa Mäkäläinen (200, Plannja, SWE)
Ville Mäkäläinen (194, KTP, FIN)
Hanno Möttölä (209, Free Agent)
Antti Nikkilä (210, Pyrintö, FIN)
Teemu Rannikko (189, BC Himki (RUS)
Juha Sten (191, Free Agent)
Petri Virtanen (183, Kataja, FIN)
Ilkka Vuori (181, Lahti, FIN)

FIBA PAGES
http://www.eurobasket2009.org/en/


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## Scipio (Feb 18, 2004)

France - Italy 80-77 OT

A thriller of a match it seems. Didn't see that so not much to comment. Based on Recap and boxscore, Bargs had little impact in the game 10/4 while Belinelli was their go to guy. France played well without Parker, led by Batum, Diaw and Pietrus.

Recap


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## WillFlight! (Jul 11, 2009)

It looked like neither team shot well from 3 point land. Andrea shot 5/8 from 2 and 0/2 from 3. Reading the box score it mentioned that Andrea made a clutch hook shot to bring Italy within 1 lat in the game.... not a bad sign. 

Belinelli was impressive getting to the free throw line 12 times. He shot 7/12 from 2 point land, from 3 he was only 1/5. Marco managed 3 steals as well.


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Belinelli with 26 points, very nice indeed. 

Anyone else notice the Nicolas Batum picture? I'm literally still laughing, did Eurobasket ring his Mother up and ask for a baby picture?


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## Dee-Zy (Jan 12, 2006)

link? (To pic)


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Its in Scipios post man. 

It's in the bottom right hand corner. It's superb.


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## Dee-Zy (Jan 12, 2006)

hahahaha


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## Scipio (Feb 18, 2004)

France - Finland 82-72

France was in control throughout the game. Finland no response to their overall athletism. Dunks, layups putbacks, you name it. They 2pt shooting percentage was nearly 70 because of that and I have no idea why finnish coach didn't make them to shoot from the three as only Diot seemed to be capable of hitting shots beyond the 3 second area. BAtum was man of the match, continuing where he left of on game agains ITaly. He was everywhere on defence and finnishing fastbreaks and layups. Really liked his game. Diaw was also solid if not spectacular. Only thing that kept finns within reasonable distance was their better backourt players in Koponen and Rannikko and an excellent performance by Haanpää, 21 points without missing a shot. 

I was impressed by France but they will have big problems when someone will crowd the paint make them to shoot to win the game. I'm expecting more zones against them to expose they're glearing weakness. Parker played only 5 minutes in the game. Now he has one week of rest before they face ITaly again in a game that could decide who will win this group. But first Italy will come to Finland tomorrow and will have their hands full. I'm expecting a close game and Italy is not really athletic team and that suits Finland better. A home win is not a reach. I'm sure as hell going to enjoy the game tomorrow in Vantaa.


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## Dee-Zy (Jan 12, 2006)

Wow! Thanks for the update, that was really nice to hear!


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## Scipio (Feb 18, 2004)

Barni and Belinelli interviewed by finnish reporters

On the match on tuesday:
- They can't afford to take Finland lightly. Finland is a well organized, defensice team that can really shoot the ball. Tehy won't win by just shoving up
- Belinelli gave some props to Möttölä, Rannikko and Koponen as good players to keep eye on.
- It's a must win for them. If they loose then that could be the end of it. It would be the first time Italy would not participate in EC tournament so ITalian press is viewing this tournament with great passion

On the Raptors
- Bargs gave props to Gordon Herbert. He worked with him the whole summer and Gordie demanded more every single day and BArgs thinks it showed in the end.
- He's ahppy that Marco will play for the Raptors. He developed nicely last season and Barni is sure Marco will fit in in Torontos system.
- Says MArco is a great player and a teammate

Game starts today at 7PM finnish time (GMT+2). So it's noon for you guys in Toronto


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## WillFlight! (Jul 11, 2009)

I will be looking forward to an update on the game!


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## Scipio (Feb 18, 2004)

Finland - Italy 75-77

Excellent atmospehere, infernal noise and a real letdown in the end. A close game of basketball where finns had the shot for the win but didn't deliver. I couldn't be much more pissed that I was after the match.

Italy took the lead in the first quarter even if they didn't shoot very well. Finns were just nervous and missing everything. Bargs got into foul trouble and got his 3rd foul in the early 2nd quarter and finns were able to get some momentum but couldn't close the gap. It wasn't until the middle of 4th quarter when Finland got the break. A very stupid technical by Soragna when Italy would have had ball and were leading 10 points. Rannikko sank the free throws and Muurinen got a dunk and a foul in the following posession. At that point the game was blown open. Belinelli scored on off-balance jums shot over Koponen to make it 75-77. After that Rannikko missed two open three point shots and game was over.

Why Finland lost:
They couldn't shoot to save their lives (5/25 from three) and usually we are a good shooting team and game system relies quite a lot on those. Even if Italy wasn't nearly as athletic as France, they still managed to take 16 offensive rebounds. This is where FInlands lack of size plays huge part. There were situations when two guys managed to box-out the center but the guy still managed to poke to ball to his teammates. And honestly, we clearly could use some toughness. 

Koponen sucked for 34 minutes yesterday (0/4 on threes 6 TO) and should've had more time waving the towel. In the last 6 minute he found a pulse again. Sank his only three pointer, found Rannikko for his only three and got Bargs his fifth foul on strong drive to the hoop to even the game. His late game heroics played huge part that we had the chance to win the game. Best player was Möttölä who active in the offensive end, driving by Bargnani when he wanted to. He had trouble s with Italian bigs on the defensive end but finished with 16 points. Rannikko didn't shoot well but showed why he is one of the best PGs in old continent. 

Why Italy won:
They were bigger and tougher and won the rebounds and had on OK shooting night. They also had the man of the match in Belinelli. There is a lot of Manu in him as I didn't see him take a single, balanced shot all night. It was an array of off-balance jumpers and difficult layups but I'm convinced that he's used to make them. He shot 60% field today and every time the jumper left his hand, it looked like it was in control even if his body didn't seem like. He can hit tough shots regularly. He also can't defend to save his life. Finish guys were able to abuse him all the time. In NBA if you're looking instant offence from the bench, Marco sure can deliver it. He scored 23 yesterday

Bargnani was troubled by foul trouble. He was bigger than all finns and just didn't have the legs to stay in front of them. Still he was shooting the ball quite well and made few nice drives to the basket that I haven't seen live from such a big man in years, if ever. One thing is he didn't make his presence felt under the basket or in rebounds in anyway even if he finished with 8 rebounds. those were not contested rebounds and it just looks like toughness is not his game and in his nature. It's just one game I've seen live so that is the first impression after also seeing some of his NBA games on TV. But he sure can shoot and drive and got 21 points.

BArgs and Belinelli were the best players in Italian team. Gigli was strong under the basket and Vitali did a solid job running the point. But the rest of the team was fairly average and I'd be surprised if France won't beat them in their homecourt on next game.


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Great recap. 

Belinelli getting his D abused by the Fins? Not a good sign at all. Terrible in fact.


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## Scipio (Feb 18, 2004)

Porn_Player said:


> Great recap.
> 
> Belinelli getting his D abused by the Fins? Not a good sign at all. Terrible in fact.


Well the finnish guards are good and Koponen and Huff even fairly fast when driving past defenders and Belinelli isn't the quickest guy laterally as you propably have seen in GS. It was not like he was taken to the whole regularly but when the finnish guard did drive, Belinelli was left behind. It also resulted to a lot of fouls on Italian bigs as none of the Italian guards were very good defenders.

Belinelli was most likely also saving his legs to offence as he was the main offensive threat. But still yes..his defense wasn't his bread and butter.


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## WillFlight! (Jul 11, 2009)

Thanks for the recap!


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## junkyarddawgg (Mar 24, 2005)

You're doing a great job, Scipio! Excellent read!


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