23-0, and a possible Spanish resurgence

So, wow. After continuing to sort of wallow in the mire of mediocre play for the majority of this tournament, and going down early to Lithuania, Spain managed to pull off a 23-0 run that put them into the lead for good. The 84-70 win sees them go to a 2-2 record in the qualifying round, and leaves them in pretty good position going into their final game of this round. They were sparked by the creative play of Ricky Rubio, who had just 5 points but managed 9 assists and 3 steals, as well as the somewhat dominant presence of Pau Gasol, who finished with 19 points and 8 boards, continually providing an option the Lithuanians just weren't able to stop. It looked like a Spanish team back to something resembling their best, and if that's the case it will be a scary proposition going forward, as this tournament reaches its latter stages.

Eurobasket Initial group stage done, onto...

...the qualifying round? They really need to think of a different name for this. Anyway.

Lithuania managed to beat Bulgaria and avoid complete embarrassment, getting into the qualifying round as the third placed team in their group. Greece, France, and Turkey are the three teams to go undefeated in the group stage, and all go into the qualifying round with 2-0 records (the games against non-last place teams carry over. So, the "qualifying" groups:

Group E

1. Greece 2/0 4
2. France 2/0 4
3. Croatia 1/1 3
4. Germany 1/1 3
5. Russia 0/2 2
6. F.Y.R. of Macedonia 0/2 2


Group F
1. Turkey 2/0 4
2. Slovenia 1/1 3
3. Serbia 1/1 3
4. Spain 1/1 3
5. Poland 1/1 3
6. Lithuania 0/2 2

Both groups give us quite a few good match ups, and everything really seems to be up for grabs.