FIBA World Cup Day 2: Finland Shocks Ukraine
By Phil Watson
Group A at Granada
France 74, Serbia 73
Joffrey Lauvergne hit the first of two free throws with one second left before intentionally missing the second, lifting France to a win over Serbia in Group A play.
Both teams are now 1-1 in group play.
Serbia led 42-34 at halftime, but France rallied after intermission, closing to within 62-60 to start the fourth quarter.
France tied the game early in the period on a jumper by Thomas Heurtel and with 8:32 to go, Charles Lombahe-Kahudi drained a 3-pointer to give the French their first lead of the second half.
Serbia responded with seven straight points to go back on top 69-65, before Lauvergne stopped the run with a layup off a feed from Boris Diaw of the San Antonio Spurs.
Diaw tied it up with 4:17 to play on a dunk off an assist from Edwin Jackson.
Serbia went back on top on a layup by Marko Simonovic, but with 1:31 to go, Diaw again found Lauvergne under the basket for a game-tying dunk.
Miroslav Raduljica gave Serbia the lead once again with a dunk of his own with 1:18 to go before Diaw tied the game at 73-73 on a jumper.
Bogdan Bogdanovic turned the ball over with four seconds left and with one second to go, Lauvergne went up for a shot but was fouled by Raduljica, setting up the game-winner.
Lauvergne led France with 19 points and six rebounds, Antoine Diot added 15 points, Jackson went for 12 points and Nicolas Batum of the Portland Trail Blazers finished with 11 points and six boards. Heurtel dished out six assists and scored four points.
Raduljica had 21 points and seven rebounds for Serbia, Bogdanovic added 12 points and Nemanja Bjelica scored 11. Teodosic handed out five assists to go with five points and Stefan Jovic nabbed four steals and scored nine points.
France was 29-for-55 (52.7 percent) from the floor, while Serbia hit 25-for-53 (47.2 percent).
Brazil 79, Iran 50
Brazil improved to 2-0 in group play and dropped Iran to 0-2 on the strength of a big second quarter surge.
Iran actually led 18-17 at the end of the first quarter before the Brazilians asserted themselves, outscoring the Iranians 23-6 to take a 40-24 halftime lead. Brazil steadily pulled away from there, opening a 61-36 advantage entering the fourth period.
Alex Garcia scored 12 points and had three steals for Brazil, Leandro Barbosa of the Golden State Warriors added 11 points and four steals and Tiago Splitter of the San Antonio Spurs checked in with 10 points and six rebounds. Anderson Varejao of the Cleveland Cavaliers also had six boards to go with four points and Marcelinho Huertas handed out six assists and scored two points.
Mohammad Jamshidi had a game-high 13 points for Iran and Mehdi Kamrani finished with 11 points and three steals. Hamed Haddadi grabbed seven rebounds and finished with four points and Arsalan Kazemi had four steals and scored two points.
Brazil shot 54.2 percent (34-for-59) and Iran hit just 37.5 percent (21-for-56).
Spain 91, Egypt 54
Spain rolled to its second straight blowout win behind 18 points and eight rebounds from Serge Ibaka of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The competitive phase of the game ended quickly—Spain led 26-10 after one period and was up 64-37 after three quarters.
Rudy Fernandez scored 14 points for Spain and Pau Gasol of the Chicago Bulls had 12 points. Ricky Rubio of the Minnesota Timberwolves finished with seven assists and six points and Felipe Reyes notched three steals while going scoreless on 0-of-4 shooting.
Ibraham El-Gammal scored 16 points for Egypt (0-2). Rami Ibrahim had seven rebounds, but did not score on 0-of-7 shooting.
Spain was 35-for-71 (49.3 percent) overall while Egypt made just 22-of-65 (33.8 percent) and was just 4-for-25 (16 percent) from 3-point range.
Group A Standings (with point differential)
Spain 2-0 (+67)
Brazil 2-0 (+31)
Serbia 1-1 (+20)
France 1-1 (-1)
Egypt 0-2 (-58)
Iran 0-2 (-59)
top four teams advance
Monday in Group A at Granada (All Times Eastern)
Iran vs. Serbia, 9:30 a.m.
France vs. Egypt, noon
Brazil vs. Spain, 4 p.m.