IZMIR (FIBA World Championship) - France have suffered no hangover from their victory over Spain, clinically taking part a Lebanon team that presented a strong challenge early in the game.
 
An even spread of scorers including Mickael Gelabale (18 points, 5 rebounds), Alain Koffi (17 points, 5 rebounds), Ian Mahinmi (14 points, 9 rebounds) and Nando de Colo (14 points) saw the French record an easy 86-59 victory where they held Lebanon to just 21/55 from the field.  After the win Gelabale visited with FIBATV.Com.
 
The decisive run came in the second quarter, with Alain Koffi dominating the keyway with eight points for the term as France pulled off a 13- 2 run over the first seven minutes to extend their 25-20 quarter time advantage to 16 points.
 
Nando De Colo picked up matters in the third quarter, scoring seven points on perfect shooting as France won the quarter 21-19. While Lebanon battled hard in the final term France outscored them 23-12 for the final margin.
 
Early in the game Lebanon had troubled France with their speed and versatility, big man Matt Freije nailing three triple in the first 5:32 as his team took a 16-11 lead. From there on though they could not escape the French shackles, scoring just 12 more points before half time.
 
Lebanon’s best were Jackson Vroman (19 points, 5 rebounds), Freije (11 points, 8 rebounds) and Fadi El Khatib with 12 points. Lebanon were out-rebounded 38-26.

Mickael Gelabale: We enjoy the moment. We worked in defence, we moved together, we know what we are doing on the floor and we do it. I very comfortable, my shot is back, I can make the three so I am happy to make this shot. This is beautiful and my teammates make me better.

Vincent Collet (coach): The first quarter was very close, our defence was ok but not like yesterday. Lebanon were playing good, moving the ball fast and moving the ball inside. From the second quarter we picked up the D a little bit, and I think that was the key to the game.

We insisted much more on the paint, even against the zone. This is because we know they had some players who could not go out of the court. So when you put the ball close to the basket they have to make a choice to give you the basket or foul.

Tab Baldwin (coach): It was one of those games we feared it might be  and it turned out like that. I think we had a good first quarter, we got transition opportnities, we moved the ball pretty well, Freije started out well hitting three threes, and we felt comfortable.

Obviously at the break coach Collet talked to his team and they came out with a different mentality. From that point it became very difficult to execute offensively. I thought we had the right idea, but France did a great job of taking us out of any offensive rhythm or flow.

 
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ANKARA (2010 FIBA World Championship) – Turkey saw off Russia 65-56 in front of more than 10,000 fans at Ankara Arena to stay undefeated in Group C of the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

Both teams had the hot hand early as the game looked more like a three-point shootout. The score was tied at nine with all points coming from behind the arc.

Both teams eventually cooled off, particularly David Blatt’s men who made only three of 16 attempts from two-point range in the first half and didn’t find their range until late in the game with Turkey holding a double-digit lead.

Andrey Vorontsevich hit a tough shot in the lane to put Russia up 14-11 but the hosts got in front by accounting for the last five of the first quarter.

Ender Arslan connected twice from downtown as Turkey extended their advantage to 25-16.

Sinan Guler buried a three-pointer from the corner as Bogdan Tanjevic’s men took a 33-22 lead at the break.

The Russians went on a 6-0 spurt – capped off by Sasha Kaun’s thunderous dunk – to get within 33-28 early in the third quarter.

The Turks though pulled away once more with Omer Asik and Hidayet Turkoglu knocking down timely baskets.

Semih Erden then flipped up a shot with his back to the basket and completed a three-point play as the hosts went into the final frame with a 48-37 advantage.

Russia’s struggles were best illustrated by Sergey Monya blowing a straightforward looking dunk and Sergey Bykov missing a lay-up from point blank range.

Monya made up for his miss by hitting a three-pointer and Vitaliy Fridzon added one of his own to cut the deficit to 57-49, before Turkoglu re-established a double-digit lead for his team to put the game beyond reach.

Quotes:

Bogdan Tanjevic (Turkey head coach): “This game was similar to the one against the Ivory Coast. We played this game like a surgeon: operating slowly and carefully. I think we spread our energy well throughout the game and got a good result.”

Hedo Turkoglu (Turkey forward): “Our target was set from the beginning: take it game game by game. We worked hard. Coach said that every ball, every score and every second is important. We played hard until the last second. I know I made a couple of stupid mistakes all around. It was a good game for us and I am happy to win. Tomorrow we are going to relax but also keep on training. The day after (Tuesday) we will be competing in order to top the group. All in all, I am happy with tonight’s game.”

David Blatt (Russia head coach): “This was a hard-fought game and I think from our perspective we had a bad second quarter and could not come back. My guys played hard and played good defense but it’s hard against the Turkish team and their crowd. We faced a really strong Turkish team and we made bad decisions at the key points of the game.”

Sasha Kaun (Russia centre): “We played hard, good and smart but our second quarter was bad and it was hard to come back from that. We put pressure on ourselves, we tried to come back but couldn’t do it. We hope to come back strong in the next game.”


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