EuroBasket 2005

The EuroBasket 2005 (common short name for the 34th edition of FIBA's European Basketball Championship) was held in Serbia and Montenegro (now Serbia and Montenegro) between 16 September and 25 September 2005. Greece won the gold medal by defeating Germany, while France won the bronze medal over Spain. Germany's Dirk Nowitzki was named the tournament MVP.

The EuroBasket is a biennial basketball competition between national teams organized by FIBA Europe, the sport's governing body in Europe. This was the third time that the championship was hosted by the city of Belgrade (previous times in 1961 and 1975).

Venues

Belgrade

Belgrade, the capital of Serbia and Montenegro, was the main stage of the Eurobasket 2005 action. The Pionir Hall hosted Group C's six preliminary round games, while the Belgrade Arena hosted the competition following the preliminary round.

This was the third time that championship was hosted by the city of Belgrade. Belgrade has previously hosted the European basketball championships in 1961 and 1975.

Podgorica

Podgorica's Morača Sports Center hosted Group B, where six games were played. Being in Montenegro, it is the farthest locale from the central venue.

Novi Sad

Novi Sad, nicknamed "The City of Sports", is the capital of province of Vojvodina and home to the Spens Sports Center. The six Group D games were played there.

Vršac

Vršac was home to Group A during the tournament, and also had a total of six games played in the 5,000 person capacity Millennium Center.

Qualification

For details on qualification, see EuroBasket 2005 qualification.

First round

Group A – Millennium Center, Vršac

Group B – Morača Sports Center, Podgorica

Group C – Pionir Hall, Belgrade

Group D – Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad

Knockout stage

Play-offs

Quarter-finals

Classification 5-8

Semi-finals

Finals

All-Tournament Team ^[1]

• Theodoros Papaloukas
• Juan Carlos Navarro
• Dimitris Diamantidis
• Dirk Nowitzki
• Boris Diaw

Conclusion

Final standings

Team Rosters

1. Greece: Dimitris Diamantidis, Theodoros Papaloukas, Nikos Zisis, Lazaros Papadopoulos, Michalis Kakiouzis, Dimos Dikoudis, Antonis Fotsis, Nikos Hatzivrettas, Kostas Tsartsaris, Vassilis Spanoulis, Yiannis Bourousis, Panagiotis Vasilopoulos (Coach: Panagiotis Giannakis)

2. Germany: Dirk Nowitzki, Patrick Femerling, Pascal Roller, Demond Greene, Marko Pesic, Mithat Demirel, Robert Garrett, Sven Schultze, Misan Nikagbatse, Robert Maras, Denis Wucherer, Stephen Arigbabu (Coach: Dirk Bauermann)

3. France: Tony Parker, Antoine Rigaudeau, Boris Diaw, Mickaël Piétrus, Mickaël Gelabale, Florent Piétrus, Cyril Julian, Frédéric Weis, Frédéric Fauthoux, Mamoutou Diarra, Sacha Giffa, Jérôme Schmitt (Coach: Claude Bergeaud)

4. Spain: Juan Carlos Navarro, José Calderón, Rodolfo "Rudy" Fernández, Jorge Garbajosa, Francisco "Fran" Vázquez, Carlos Jiménez, Carlos Cabezas, Felipe Reyes, Ignacio de Miguel, Sergi Vidal, Iker Iturbe, Sergio Rodríguez (Coach: Mario Pesquera)

5. Lithuania: Vidas Ginevičius, Simas Jasaitis, Mindaugas Žukauskas, Kšyštof Lavrinovič, Robertas Javtokas, Giedrius Gustas, Simonas Serapinas, Ramūnas Šiškauskas, Darjuš Lavrinovič, Darius Šilinskis, Paulius Jankūnas, Mindaugas Lukauskis (Coach: Antanas Sireika)

World championship qualification

• Teams ranked 1-6 (Greece, Germany, France, Spain, Lithuania, Slovenia) have qualified as European representatives for Basketball World Championship 2006 in Japan.
• Four wild cards were additionally awarded by FIBA: Italy, Puerto Rico, Serbia & Montenegro and Turkey

Statistics

The top ten scorers were:

1. Dirk Nowitzki (GER) - 26.1 ppg
2. Juan Carlos Navarro (ESP) - 25.2 ppg
3. Andrei Kirilenko (RUS) - 17.5 ppg
4. Igor Rakočević (SCG) - 16.3 ppg
5. Gordan Giriček (CRO) - 15.7 ppg
6. Jorge Garbajosa (ESP) - 14.5 ppg
7. Ramūnas Šiškauskas (LTU) - 14.0 ppg
8. Boris Diaw (FRA) - 13.7 ppg
9. Jaka Lakovič (SLO) - 12.8 ppg
10. J.R.Holden (RUS) - 12.5 ppg

• Spain scored a total of 522 points, with 87 points per game, even though they were only eighth in the field goal percentage, which was 42.7% in their six games at the tournament. Although their quarter-final match against Croatia, in which their scored 102 pts. spanned many controversies.^[2] (In Serbian and Croatian)

• Lithuania led the scoreboard in 2-pointers per game at 55.0%, followed by Serbia and Montenegro at 53.6%. With three-point field goals made per game, Croatia and Israel were tied at the top with 39.5%, although they were closely followed by Lithuania at 38.8%.

• Of the top ten games with the most free throws made, Spain held the first, second, third, seventh and eighth place, averaging 31.3 free throws per game. In their game against Latvia, they made 51 out of a total of 63 attempted free throws; a distant second although nonetheless impressive was the 38 free throws they made out of 49 attempts against Croatia. Their free throw percentage was 76.7%, just behind the leading Germany with 77.9%.

• The teams with the most rebounds per game were France, Russia and Slovenia. France played the two games with the most offensive rebounds, although the latter two offset it in the defensive rebound percentages.

• Lithuania and Israel topped the charts in both steals and assists, although Turkey snatched the title of the team with the most steals per game.

• The Croatia v. Turkey group-stage game (which ended with the score 80-67) was the game with the most turnovers for both teams, 27 each. In the same game, Croatia at one point had a 32-0 scoring streak that lasted over ten minutes.

References

1. ^ MVP Nowitzki Tops EuroBasket 2005 All-Tournament Team
2. ^ [1]

External links

• Eurobasket 2005 Official site
• www.fibaeurope.com
• www.fiba.com