EuroBasket 1995

EuroBasket 1995 final tournament stage was XXIX European basketball championship and was held in Athens, Greece from 21 June to 2 July, 1995. This European championship was the first one that saw the successful return of Lithuania national basketball team to the tournament, since its last triumph in Eurobasket 1939.

Groups

14 team participating in the tournament were separated into two groups. 4 teams from each group advanced into quarterfinals.

First round

The preliminary round was held between June 21 and June 28 in Athens, Greece.

Group A

Group B

Finals

Places 5 - 8

Finals

Yugoslavia vs. Lithuania

One of the most intense matches in Eurobasket history, the finals match between Yugoslavia and Lithuania almost ended in scandal. The match was played on July 2, 1995. From the start, the two teams matched up evenly, as Šarūnas Marčiulionis, Arvydas Sabonis, Aleksandar Đorđević and Predrag Danilović exchanged points. At halftime, the Lithuanians were ahead by a point, 49-48. Vlade Divac got a technical foul early in first half. In second half, an American referee George Toliver signaled Lithuanian center Arvydas Sabonis for a technical foul, which led to Lithuanian protestations.

After a few more fouls signaled by the referee, one offensive and one technical against Lithuania, the Lithuanian team refused to return to the court after timeout. Everyone in the crowd was in total shock. After a few minutes, Aleksandar Đorđević, who was the leading scorer with 41 points (made 9 three-pointers out of 12 attempted), tried to convince Marčiulionis to continue playing.

The persuasions were successful, and five Lithuanians returned to the court. Yugoslavia was leading 93-89 with 2 minutes remaining in the game. Playmakers Arvydas Sabonis and Rimas Kurtinaitis could not return to the court, as they fouled out before the Lithuanian refusal to play. And although the Lithuanian team tried their hardest to catch up with the Yugoslavian team, they eventually lost 96-90.

After the Yugoslavs' victory, the Greek crowd that cheered against Yugoslavia throughout the final because it eliminated their team in the semifinals, further showed their displeasure during the winners ceremony by chanting "Lithuania is the champion!".^[1] Furthermore, there was controversy during the medal ceremony as right before the winning Yugoslav team were about to receive their gold medals, the third-placed Croatian team, in an unprecedented move, stepped down from the medal podium and walked off the court. |}

Final rankings

1.  Yugoslavia
2.  Lithuania
3.  Croatia
4.  Greece
5.  Italy
6.  Spain
7.  Russia
8.  France
9.  Israel
10.  Germany
11.  Sweden
12.  Slovenia
13.  Turkey
14.  Finland

Team rosters

1. FR Yugoslavia: Vlade Divac, Žarko Paspalj, Zoran Savić, Predrag Danilović, Aleksandar Đorđević, Dejan Bodiroga, Željko Rebrača, Saša Obradović, Dejan Tomašević, Zoran Sretenović, Miroslav Berić, Dejan Koturović (Coach: Dušan Ivković)

2. Lithuania: Arvydas Sabonis, Šarūnas Marčiulionis, Artūras Karnišovas, Rimas Kurtinaitis, Valdemaras Chomičius, Gintaras Einikis, Arūnas Visockas, Gintaras Krapikas, Gvidonas Markevičius, Saulius Štombergas, Mindaugas Timinskas, Darius Lukminas (Coach: Vladas Garastas)

3. Croatia: Toni Kukoč, Dino Rađa, Stojan Vranković, Arijan Komazec, Velimir Perasović, Vladan Alanović, Veljko Mršić, Ivica Žurić, Alan Gregov, Davor Pejčinović, Josip Vranković, Ivica Marić (Coach: Aleksandar "Aco" Petrović)

4. Greece: Panagiotis Giannakis, Panagiotis Fassoulas, Fanis Christodoulou, Nikos Ekonomou, Fragiskos Alvertis, Giorgos Sigalas, Dinos Angelidis, Lefteris Kakiousis, Efthimis Bakatsias, Tzanis Stavrakopoulos, Kostas Patavoukas, Efthymis Rentzias (Coach: Makis Dendrinos)

All-Tournament Team

• Arvydas Sabonis (Lithuania)
• Šarūnas Marčiulionis (Lithuania)
• Toni Kukoč (Croatia)
• Vlade Divac (Yugoslavia)
• Fanis Christodoulou (Greece)

Top scorers (ppg)

1. Šarūnas Marčiulionis (Lithuania) 22.5
2. Arvydas Sabonis (Lithuania) 21.7
3. Yann Bonato (France) 21.6
4. Michael Koch (Germany) 21.5
5. Arijan Komazec (Croatia) 20.2
6. Teoman Alibegovic (Slovenia) 20.1
7. Artūras Karnišovas (Lithuania) 19.7
8. Sergei Bazarevich (Russia) 18.37
9. Alberto Herreros (Spain) 18.3
10. Predrag Danilović (Yugoslavia) 17.4
11. Sergei Babkov (Russia) 16.8
12. Slavko Kotnik (Slovenia) 16.6

References

• FIBA Archive
• http://www.kupindo.com/kupovina/Knjige/Sport-i-hobi/ARHIPELAG-BASKETA-Vladislav-Radosavljevic/9269296