KAUNAS, Lithuania -- An American from New Orleans is helping a small Balkan nation make basketball history.
Bo
McCalebb scored 23 points to lead Macedonia into the semifinals of the
European basketball championship for the first time with a stunning
67-65 victory over host Lithuania, a small country itself but a
basketball giant.
Wednesday's victory meant Macedonia will play
defending champion Spain in the semifinals, not only to make the final
but also to qualify for the London Olympics.
"I am not European
and I don't know the importance of making it to the Olympics, but I'm
sure I'll find out shortly," McCalebb said with a smile.
McCalebb became a Macedonian citizen last year, taking up an offer after two guards from the team came down with injuries.
He
had never played club basketball in Macedonia, but had made a name for
himself in neighboring Serbia with Partizan Belgrade, going to the
EuroLeague Final Four in the top club competition in Europe. He also did
that with his present club, Montepaschi Siena of Italy.
Macedonia
is a landlocked country north of Greece and south of Serbia, slightly
larger than Vermont, with just over 2 million people. It became
independent from Yugoslavia 20 years ago.
In basketball terms, it
never achieved any success, although it made the second round at the
Europeans two years ago. Now it is one of the continent's top teams.
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EUROBASKET 2011
Turning Point: Greece
held a five-point lead early in the final period and were keeping a lid
on Tony Parker but things changed and the guard began to exert his
influence as France took control with a commanding 16-5 run.
Game Heroes:
Nando De Colo and Nicolas Batum both posted efficient numbers. The
former had 16 points on 6-of-8 floor shooting while the latter finished
with 15 points making 6 of 9 from the field.
Stats Don't Lie: Greece probably needed to make outside shots to stretch France and win the game but only managed to make 3 of 21 from downtown.
 |
| Tony
Parker faced problems with the Greek defence in the first half but his
rise in the second was a deciding factor in the French success |
A far from convincing France left it late but eventually slipped past Greece to punch their semi-final ticket.
In
a game where defence was definitely king, the French struggled for long
periods against a Greek team which made life difficult until they came
alive in the last ten minutes, to secure a 64-56 success.
Greece got off to a flying start and after two minutes found themselves seven points ahead.
French coach Vincent Collet was calling a quick time-out with his team yet to score.
While
it was followed by a Tony Parker jump-shot and vicious dunk by Nicolas
Batum, France continued to labour and it was all they could harvest in
seven minutes.
While Greece were playing the kind of defence
Illias Zouros craves, they were also performing offensively too. A
triple by Antonios Fotsis helped to open up an early double digit lead
at 15-4.
However France responded at both ends of the floor,
holding Greece to a solitary basket during the last four minutes of the
period with a 10-2 run making it a one-shot game heading into the second
quarter
Greece immediately opened up some daylight again at
21-14, but France rattled off seven points in a row. Defensively,
neither team were allowing the other to establish any kind of a rhythm.
Joakim
Noah had missed his first six attempts and a dunk in traffic showed his
frustration although it was a similarly emphatic dunk by Ioannis
Bourousis which ended the half, with his team 31-27 ahead.
Defences
continued to dominate during the third quarter but with Bourousis
continuing his good work, which eventually resulted in him claiming a
double-double, Greece stretched their advantage to 39-32.
They
were also managing to keep the shackles on the dangerous Parker although
it didn't last much longer. He subsequently brought France level and
while a three-pointer from Nick Calathes and free-throws by Kostas
Koufos made it 45-40 early in the final quarter, he was at the heart of a
French revival.
Les Bleus posted a devastating 16-5 run to take
control with four minutes remaining although with five fouls already
committed, Greece still had a glimmer of hope.
They tried hard to
regain the initiative and narrowed to 56-54 with two minutes left but
France kept their cool in crunch time to close out the game.
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