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31 August, 2017
17 September
15 Timofey Mozgov (RUS)
13/09/2017
Game Report
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Russia run over Greece in second-half comeback, book Semi-Final spot

ISTANBUL (FIBA EuroBasket 2017) - A strong second-half has lifted Russia past Greece and into the Semi-Finals. 

After a slow start and trailing by 10 points midway through the third quarter, Russia clicked into gear after that and recorded a 74-69 victory over Greece, whose resurgence ended after two stunning victories on the trot. 

Turning point: Greece had the ascendancy and led 49-39 midway through the third. However, Aleksey Shved started to find his groove and scored 7 points in Russia's 11-2 run to close the gap late in the third. It gave them the momentum to run over the top of Greece although they needed a jumper from Dmitry Khvostov with 44 seconds left to effectively seal the result. In brave coaching, Sergey Bazarevich took out the tiring Shved with a little over 2 minutes left but the gamble paid eventual dividends. 

Stats-don't-lie: Free-throws can sometimes be an underappreciated aspect of the game but Greece will rue their woeful shooting from the line. They converted just 10-of-20, while Russia made 20-of-25. 

Game hero: It was far from his best performance but Shved confirmed his MVP legitimacy by turning the game around in the decisive third quarter. So much is asked of Shved and he looked gassed towards the end as he started badly missing his jumpers. He was substituted out of the game down the stretch but Russia held on for the victory. 

They said: "Today he was struggling from the beginning. But the guys stood on his back and give him all the confidence. We kept trusting him and it's a team win" - Russia coach Sergey Bazarevich talking about Shved's performance after his team's victory.

Highlights 

FIBA