EuroBasket 1995

FIBA EuroBasket 1995
29th FIBA European Basketball Championship
Tournament details
Host nation	Greece
Dates	21 June – 2 July
Teams	14 (from 50 federations)
Venues	1 (in 1 host city)
Champions	Serbia (6th title)
MVP	Šarūnas Marčiulionis
Tournament leaders
Players Teams Points Šarūnas Marčiulionis (22.5)  Russia (91.8) Rebounds Arvydas Sabonis (14.5)  Russia (34.8) Assists Toni Kukoč (5.3)  France (15.0)
Official website
EuroBasket 1995 (archive)
< 1993 1997 >

The 1995 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1995, was the 29th FIBA EuroBasket basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 1996 Summer Olympics, giving a berth to each of the top four teams in the final standings. It was held in Greece between 21 June and 2 July 1995. Fourteen national teams entered the event under the auspices of FIBA Europe, the sport's regional governing body. The city of Athens hosted the tournament. FR Yugoslavia won its sixth FIBA European title by defeating Lithuania with a 96–90 score in the final. Lithuania's Šarūnas Marčiulionis was voted the tournament's MVP. This edition of the FIBA EuroBasket tournament saw the successful return of the Lithuania national basketball team to the tournament, since its last triumph in 1939.
The tournament's official anthem was "Wings of Tomorrow" by Finnish band Stratovarius.

Venues

All games were played at the O.A.C.A. Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens.

Athens

O.A.C.A. Olympic Indoor Hall Capacity: 18,500 Opened in 1995

Format

• The teams were split in two groups of seven teams each. The top four teams from each group advance to the knockout quarterfinals.
• The winners in the semifinals compete for the European Championship, while the losers from the semifinals play a consolation game for the third place.
• The losers in the quarterfinals compete in a separate bracket to define 5th through 8th place in the final standings.

Squads

Preliminary round

Times given below are in Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3).

Qualified for the quarterfinals

Group A

Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
Yugoslavia	6	6	0	490	411	+79	12
Lithuania	6	5	1	513	442	+71	11
Greece	6	4	2	448	430	+18	10
Italy	6	3	3	438	433	+5	9
Israel	6	2	4	419	417	+2	8
Germany	6	1	5	448	488	−40	7
Sweden	6	0	6	393	528	−135	6

Group B

Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
Croatia	6	6	0	534	464	+70	12
Spain	6	4	2	499	473	+26	10
Russia	6	4	2	577	508	+69	10
France	6	4	2	496	466	+30	10
Slovenia	6	2	4	505	506	−1	8
Turkey	6	1	5	462	539	−77	7
Finland	6	0	6	457	574	−117	6

Knockout stage

Championship bracket

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	30 June – 16:00
	Russia	71
					1 July – 22:00
	Lithuania	82
					Lithuania	90
	30 June – 18:00
					Croatia	80
	Italy	61
									2 July – 22:00
	Croatia	71
									Lithuania	90
	30 June – 20:00
									Yugoslavia	96
	Greece	66
					1 July – 20:00
	Spain	64
					Greece	52			Third place
	30 June – 22:00
					Yugoslavia	60
	France	86							Croatia	73
	Yugoslavia	104							Greece	68
									2 July – 20:00

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Third place

Final

One of the most intense matches in Eurobasket history, the finals match-up between Yugoslavia and Lithuania on Sunday, 2 July 1995 almost ended in scandal. Played in the boiling atmosphere of the Athens' OAKA, more than 20,000 people filled up the arena, most of them local Greeks vociferously cheering for Lithuania, or more specifically cheering against Yugoslavia because it eliminated Greece in the semifinals.^[1]

From the start, the two teams matched up evenly, as Lithuania's Šarūnas Marčiulionis and Arvydas Sabonis and Yugoslavia's 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. 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. Players 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 further showed their displeasure during the winners ceremony by chanting "Lithuania is the champion!".^[2] 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 due the ongoing war between the two countries.

5th to 8th place

	Classification round				Fifth place
	1 July – 16:00
	Italy	80
	Russia	70
					2 July – 16:00
					Italy	82
					Spain	75
					Seventh place
	1 July – 18:00			2 July – 18:00
	France	74		Russia	108
	Spain	75			France	89

Statistical Leaders

Individual Tournament Highs

Individual Game Highs

Department	Name	Total	Opponent
Points	Aleksandar Đorđević	41	Lithuania
Rebounds	Arvydas Sabonis	23	Greece
Assists	Toni Kukoč	11	Finland
Steals	Panagiotis Fasoulas	6	Yugoslavia
Turnovers	Šarūnas Marčiulionis Stéphane Ostrowski Stojko Vranković	7	Yugoslavia  Turkey  Greece

Team Tournament Highs

Team Game highs

Department	Name	Total	Opponent
Points	Russia	126	Finland
Rebounds	Russia	54	Finland
Assists	Croatia  Yugoslavia	23	Turkey  Germany
Steals	France	15	Finland
Field goal percentage	Spain	66.7% (34/51)	Slovenia
3-point field goal percentage	Spain	68.8% (11/16)	Russia
Free throw percentage	Finland	100% (7/7)	Croatia
Turnovers	Yugoslavia	26	Israel

Awards

1995 FIBA European Champions
Yugoslavia 6th title

1995 FIBA European Championship MVP: Šarūnas Marčiulionis ( Lithuania)

All-Tournament Team[12]
Arvydas Sabonis
Šarūnas Marčiulionis (MVP)
Toni Kukoč
Vlade Divac
Fanis Christodoulou

Final standings

Qualified for the 1996 Olympic Tournament

Rank	Team	Record
01 !	Yugoslavia	9–0
02 !	Lithuania	7–2
03 !	Croatia	8–1
4	Greece	5–4
5	Italy	5–4
6	Spain	5–4
7	Russia	5–4
8	France	4–5
9	Israel	2–4
10	Germany	1–5
11	Sweden	0–6
12	Slovenia	2–4
13	Turkey	1–5
14	Finland	0–6

			4th
Yugoslavia Dejan Bodiroga Predrag Danilović Saša Obradović Zoran Sretenović Žarko Paspalj Miroslav Berić Aleksandar Đorđević Željko Rebrača Vlade Divac Zoran Savić Dejan Tomašević Dejan Koturović	Lithuania Valdemaras Chomičius Mindaugas Timinskas Saulius Štombergas Arūnas Visockas Darius Lukminas Gintaras Krapikas Rimas Kurtinaitis Arvydas Sabonis Artūras Karnišovas Šarūnas Marčiulionis Gintaras Einikis Gvidonas Markevičius	Croatia Josip Vranković Velimir Perasović Arijan Komazec Toni Kukoč Vladan Alanović Ivica Marić Ivica Žurić Stojko Vranković Alan Gregov Veljko Mršić Dino Rađa Davor Pejčinović	Greece Efthymis Bakatsias Kostas Patavoukas Panagiotis Giannakis Tzanis Stavrakopoulos Giorgos Sigalas Lefteris Kakiousis Fragiskos Alvertis Nikos Oikonomou Dinos Angelidis Panagiotis Fasoulas Efthimios Rentzias Fanis Christodoulou

References

External links

• 1995 European Championship for Men, FIBA.com.