IZMIR (FIBA World Championship) - France have suffered no hangover from their victory over Spain, clinically taking part a Lebanon team that presented a strong challenge early in the game.
 
An even spread of scorers including Mickael Gelabale (18 points, 5 rebounds), Alain Koffi (17 points, 5 rebounds), Ian Mahinmi (14 points, 9 rebounds) and Nando de Colo (14 points) saw the French record an easy 86-59 victory where they held Lebanon to just 21/55 from the field.  After the win Gelabale visited with FIBATV.Com.
 
The decisive run came in the second quarter, with Alain Koffi dominating the keyway with eight points for the term as France pulled off a 13- 2 run over the first seven minutes to extend their 25-20 quarter time advantage to 16 points.
 
Nando De Colo picked up matters in the third quarter, scoring seven points on perfect shooting as France won the quarter 21-19. While Lebanon battled hard in the final term France outscored them 23-12 for the final margin.
 
Early in the game Lebanon had troubled France with their speed and versatility, big man Matt Freije nailing three triple in the first 5:32 as his team took a 16-11 lead. From there on though they could not escape the French shackles, scoring just 12 more points before half time.
 
Lebanon’s best were Jackson Vroman (19 points, 5 rebounds), Freije (11 points, 8 rebounds) and Fadi El Khatib with 12 points. Lebanon were out-rebounded 38-26.

Mickael Gelabale: We enjoy the moment. We worked in defence, we moved together, we know what we are doing on the floor and we do it. I very comfortable, my shot is back, I can make the three so I am happy to make this shot. This is beautiful and my teammates make me better.

Vincent Collet (coach): The first quarter was very close, our defence was ok but not like yesterday. Lebanon were playing good, moving the ball fast and moving the ball inside. From the second quarter we picked up the D a little bit, and I think that was the key to the game.

We insisted much more on the paint, even against the zone. This is because we know they had some players who could not go out of the court. So when you put the ball close to the basket they have to make a choice to give you the basket or foul.

Tab Baldwin (coach): It was one of those games we feared it might be  and it turned out like that. I think we had a good first quarter, we got transition opportnities, we moved the ball pretty well, Freije started out well hitting three threes, and we felt comfortable.

Obviously at the break coach Collet talked to his team and they came out with a different mentality. From that point it became very difficult to execute offensively. I thought we had the right idea, but France did a great job of taking us out of any offensive rhythm or flow.

 
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KAYSERI (2010 FIBA World Championship) – Germany needed two overtimes to beat Serbia 82-81 in the second day of competition in Group A of the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

The game was well contested from the start, where the Serbaisn started the game by going strong in the paint and had a balanced attack. The first quarter ended 17-14 in favor of Serbia as Kosta Perovic, Novica Velickovic and Milan Macvan scored 12 of those points.

Then in the second quarter the bench players came out for Germany and scored big for them as guard Heiko Schaffartzik made 11 points, 8 of them in the second and also Jan Jagla was a factor to give them a 37-34 halftime lead.

Demond Greene and Steffen Hamann (who visited with FIBATV.Com after the victory) took control of the game in the second half as Greene made some big shots to put Germany on top as they finished the third quarter up 56-54.

The Serbian shooters were held during the game but came out in the final quarter, as Aleksandar Radic made two straight three pointers in the final seconds to send the game into the first overtime of the FIBA World Championship tied at 69.

In the overtime period the veteran guards came into play again as Hamann, captain of the German team, made two key baskets at the beginning of the quarter to give the Germans an early lead. Then Serbia came back with a three pointer by Milenko Tepic and a free throw by Kosta Perovic tied the game at 73 with 1:06 left. The game stayed that way as both teams scored 4 points each, to go into a second overtime.

The German offense exploded in the second overtime led by Jan Jagla and Demond Greene while their defense pressured the ball to disrupt the Serbian offense. An impressive fade away three pointer by Jan Jagla with 1:04 left didn’t take the Serbians away but in the final possession the German defense avoided a loss.

Quotes:

Dirk Bauermann (Head coach, Germany): “Both teams deserved to win today. We played so hard. Jagla’s 3 pts shoot at the second overtime was the most critical point in the match. The harder you work, luckier you are. We have very young team like our opponent Serbia and we need to make a lot of progress too. I am happy that we won this game.”

Dusan Ivkovic (Head coach, Serbia): “It was tough game with 2 overtimes. German team had better control the game and they were sometime lucky, as in Jagla’s 3 point shot in the second overtime. We still have 3 more games and we will be better.  I also want to congratulate German team.”

Jan-Hendrik Jagla, (Forward, Germany): “Both teams were great. Although there were two overtimes, none of the players showed any sign of exhaust. We did our best. We lost yesterday and that was really bad and if we did not win today, we would not go any further. I am happy we did it.”

Steffen Hamann (Guard, Germany): “I think its a big win, especially for a young team like us. This moment team going especially for a young team like this. we don’t have too much time to celebrate, we have a tough game tomorrow. Its my 7-8th year in this team, we have a different role, growing up our young team. They make mistake, i make mistakes, it happens a lot but we help each other.”

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