TUR/SRB - Survive and advance

ISTANBUL (EuroBasket/FIBA Basketball World Cup) - Was that a collective sigh of relief we heard on Tuesday night when both Turkey and Serbia booked their places at EuroBasket 2013 in Slovenia?

You bet it was.

International basketball heavyweights, both national teams left it until the last night of the Qualification Round to seal places in the Final Round in Slovenia.

Sweden, Belgium, Latvia and Israel also sealed their spots in next year’s Final Round, though the latter had all but punched their ticket in their penultimate game against Slovakia on Saturday.

For the European teams with designs on reaching the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain, they first had to make it to the EuroBasket – the European zone’s qualifying event for the major event in 2014.

The pressure was immense on Tuesday night for those sides that still had not reached EuroBasket 2013.

So what is to be made of the tough summer for both Serbia and Turkey, teams that squared off in the Semi-Final of the 2010 FIBA World Championship?

Mark Twain once wrote: "The report of my death was an exaggeration."

There were certainly reports that Turkey's men's team was dead and not going to Slovenia next summer.

Missing key men from years past and relying on a bunch of youngsters (20-year-old Utah Jazz center Enes Kanter not among them) to qualify for the EuroBasket, Turkey went into their game last night in Istanbul against the Czech Republic needing a victory to assure themselves of a place in next year's Final Round.

They had lost to Italy, the Czech Republic and Italy again to put their progression in serious doubt.

The most calamitous of all the setbacks was the second against the Italians on 5 September, as the Turks blew an 18-point advantage at home and lost, 83-82.

In their eighth and final Qualification Round game against the Czechs on Tuesday, though, Turkey not only rolled to victory but did so by 23 points.

They had to win by more than 18 to leapfrog the Czechs into second place in Group F, and they did.

"We had two goals before these qualification games," said Turkey coach Bogdan Tanjevic.

"The first was of course taking the ticket to Slovenia and the second one was testing the young players.

"It was risky, but it was included in the Turkish Basketball Federation's new plan.

"We wanted to give a chance to the young generation to gain experience."

Youngsters that would appear to have a very good chance of playing in Slovenia after their performances in the Qualification Round are Dogus Balbay and Ilkan Karaman.

Balbay, a point guard, and forward Karaman both averaged more than 21 minutes per game this summer.

Furkan Aldemir, a 2.07m power forward, is a great talent who played an average of 10.5 minutes per game but his time may not come in Slovenia.

"Now, we have different goals such as a medal at EuroBasket 2013, qualification for the World Cup and the Olympics," Tanjevic said.

"Next year, we will have a combination of young and veteran players and I hope we will get new success."

Serbia barely made it, too.

The Blues' ups and downs were understandable and perhaps even predictable.

They knew this summer was going to be extremely difficult in Group A, the hardest of the six in the EuroBasket Qualification Round.

Group A was the only pool with six teams, so sides had to play 10 games and not eight.

Serbia also had to cope with long journeys to Iceland, Estonia and Israel.

And Group A opponents Montenegro and Israel are very good teams.

Serbia had to play without captain Nenad Krstic the first couple of games while the veteran center battled back from an injury.

And this summer, the team also missed its firebrand point guard off the bench, Stefan Markovic, with a back injury making him unavailable.

When Montenegro hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer from beyond half-court in Belgrade for a 73-71 win on 18 August - just the second game for the teams – Serbia’s confidence was knocked down a peg.

They appeared to find some balance in their game with victories the next two times out against Slovakia and Estonia, yet they ran into an Israeli buzz saw on 28 August in Tel Aviv.

The Israelis already had two defeats and simply could not afford to lose that game.

They defeated Serbia, 89-76.

Serbia ended up falling in two more games, at unbeaten Montenegro and at Estonia.

The message from Serbia coach Dusan Ivkovic before Tuesday's home clash with Israel was to win at all costs, and they did, though not by the 19-point margin that would have left them advance as the second-place team from Group A.

As it was, Israel, Serbia and Estonia all finished with 6-4 records and the Estonians failed to advance on goal differential.

"The main thing is that we qualified for EuroBasket 2013 despite very big problems," Ivkovic said.

Krstic added: "We needed to win, and we showed character.

"We wanted to beat Israel with a margin higher than 19 points, but it's ok because we reached our main goal."

FIBA