TUR/FRA – Unstoppable Turkey
ISTANBUL (2010 FIBA World Championship) - Turkey and their vaunted zone defense paved the way for another dominating win at the FIBA World Championship on Sunday night against France. Bogdan Tanjevic's team scored 13 points off 11 first-half turnovers to take command and then lowered the boom in the third quarter before pulling away for a 95-77 ...
ISTANBUL (2010 FIBA World Championship) - Turkey and their vaunted zone defense paved the way for another dominating win at the FIBA World Championship on Sunday night against France.
Bogdan Tanjevic's team scored 13 points off 11 first-half turnovers to take command and then lowered the boom in the third quarter before pulling away for a 95-77 triumph.
The Eight-Final victory has thrown the Turks into a Quarter-Final showdown with Slovenia, who blew away Australia 87-58 in the first game of the day.
The two-three zone employed by the Turks never gave France a chance.
With Omer Onan, Kerem Tunceri, Ender Arslan and Sinan Guler at the top of zone, Les Bleus couldn't cope.
When the French did throw the ball into the lane, the tall frontcourt of Turkey was an unmovable wall.
Hedo Turkoglu led the way with 20 points and the sensational Guler added 17.
Tunceri had a team-high three steals which all came in the first half when Turkey built a 43-25 advantage.
Vincent Collet's team managed to hang on for 26 minutes and only trailed 30-24 when Turkoglu and Co began to knock them out.
Tunceri came up with his third steal to trigger a fastbreak that Guler finished and after Ali Traore was called for travelling, an Oguz Savas three-point play made it 35-24.
France would end up closing the gap to 37-28 on a Florent Pietrus basket, but Turkey responded with an Ersan Ilyasova three-ball, another Savas basket and a Savas free-throw just two seconds from half-time for the 15-point edge.
Turkoglu began the second half with two three-pointers, Omer Asik made two free-throws and Onan had a lay-up for a 10-0 run that put the result beyond doubt.
Turkey ended up getting 21 points off turnovers for the game.
You can see complete highlights of the game plus an interview with Turkey star Hedo Turkoglu on FIBATV.Com.
QUOTES
Turkey coach Bogdan Tanjevic: “I am very happy. We found France to be tough and playing great defense. Before Hidayet Turkoglu opened the shooting and from them on, we found everything easy. We played another good game, great defense and executed on offense.
(When asked if his team could be stopped) “I don’t know. I think we are ready, but also Slovenia are. They play with great intensity and it’s going to be another test for us.”
Turkey captain Hedo Turkoglu: “Everyone contributed to this win. This team deserves it, the crowd deserves it and our nation deserves it. We have two more games to get to where we want.”
France forward Florent Pietrus: “It was normal for Turkey to play like this. We knew it was going to be a tough game. We fought and we tried to show the best we had. Of course we have regrets. We made a big mistake in the last game and now we just have to look forward to next year.”
France coach Vincent Collet: "We knew at the start of the game that to have any chance we had to keep it close. At the beginning of the game I think it was ok, the difference was about six. But unfortunately the last two minutes of the half we did some bad mistakes, especially defensively, we missed rotations two or three times giving them two points, sometimes 'and one', and then the points differential was -15. Then at the start of the second half Turkoglu hit three big shots, and we give him complements for them because we were right there."
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