Croatia, Mexico Grab Final Semifinal Berths In Italy
The group stage of the Italian Olympic Qualifier tournament is done, with Tunisia and Iran bidding farewell to their dreams of Rio.
The group stages are done and the semi finals are set, The group stage went as per script except for host nation beating Croatia to finish top of Pool B. This means that they have the easier semifinal against Mexico.
The two top-ranked nations at the tournament, Greece and Croatia, play off in the other semifinal. I thought that this was going to be the final, but Italy pulled off an upset over Croatia.
The two teams already knocked out of the tournament are Iran and Tunisia.
The four remaining teams are the ones with the greatest amount of NBA talent and this has shone throughout the tournament.
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Italy
With the two games that Italy played, they beat Tunisia 68-41 and then provided the upset of the tournament when they beat Croatia 67-60.
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Marco Belinelli was the leading scorer for Italy. In 21.8 minutes he scored 15 points per game with his best game being 19 points against Croatia.
Andrea Bargnani was second on the team with 11.5 points in 19.6 minutes per game.
Danilo Gallinari leads Italy’s rebounding, collecting 8.5 per game, including nine against Tunisia.
Bargnani was second again with five per game.
Greece
The other unbeaten team of the tournament was Greece, which beat Iran 78-53. Greece then beat Mexico 86-70.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was Greece’s leading scorer and tied for second overall in the group stage with 18.5 points in 20.5 minutes per game. His best game was 21 points against Mexico.
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Ioannis Bourousis was second on the team with 13.5 points in 19.7 minutes per game.
Bourousis led Greece’s rebounding, 6.5 rebounds per game including nine against Mexico.
Ioannis Papapetrou was second with 5.5 per game.
Croatia
Croatia was beaten by Italy 67-60, setting up a mouth-watering clash with Greece in the semifinals. Croatia then qualified for the semifinals by beating Tunisia 72-52.
Bojan Bogdanovic was Croatia’s leading scorer and the leading scorer in the group stages with 25.5 points per game in 34.3 minutes. He had the top two games of the tournament with 26 points against Italy and 25 points against Tunisia.
Dario Saric was second on the team with 11 points in 33.6 minutes per game.
Saric also led Croatia’s rebounding and the group stages with 9.5 rebounds per game including 10 against Italy in a double double performance with 11 points also.
Miro Bilan was second with 5.5 per game in19.3 minutes.
Mexico
Mexico is the weakest of the four teams in the semifinals but they still had some strong performers. Mexico beat Iran 75-70 which qualified them for the finals. They were then defeated by Greece 96-70.
Francisco Cruz was Mexico’s leading scorer and tied for second in the group stage with 18.5 points per game in 25.8 minutes. He was consistent with 19 points against Greece and 18 against Iran.
Jorge Gutierrez was second on the team with 12.5 points in 25.7 minutes per game.
Israel Gutierrez and Hector Hernandez led Mexico’s rebounding with 7.5 rebounds per game each.
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The first semifinal between Croatia and Greece should be the match of the tournament and the winner should come from this game. Italy is favorite to win against Mexico and on form could take out the entire tournament and get the Olympic berth.