EuroBasket: Pau Gasol leads Spain past Greece
LILLE, France — Pau Gasol scored 27 points and Nikola Mirotic added 18 to lead Spain into the semifinals of the European basketball championship with a 73-71 victory over Greece on Tuesday.
Guard Sergio Rodriguez also contributed three free throws down the stretch as the teams stayed close together throughout the match.
Previously undefeated in six games, Greece got 12 points and 17 rebounds from Giannis Antetokounmpo, who also had a pair of late turnovers.
Mirotic added 18 points for Spain, which will next play either defending champion France or Latvia.
Spain has never finished lower than fourth in the past eight Eurobasket tournaments and won the title in 2009 and 2011, before finishing third in 2013, when it lost to France in the semifinals.
Neither team led by more than nine points, and Spain trailed by two at the end of the third quarter.
Mirotic made two free throws to give Spain a six-point lead as Greece center Yanis Bourousis fouled out with 3:30 remaining.
Rodriguez made one of two free throws to make it a six-point game again with 1:05 left.
Greece star guard Vassilis Spanoulis, who went 4-for-14 from the field and finished with 10 points and five assists, missed a jumper, but Nick Calathes stole the ball and made a layup. Gasol made one free throw on the next possession, Calathes hit a 3 but then fouled out and Rodriguez made two free throws to make it 72-68 with 13 seconds left. Calathes finished with 14 points.
Spanoulis threw an air ball on a 3-point attempt, Antetokounmpo grabbed the rebound and fed Kostas Sloukas, who made a 3.
But Gasol got fouled and made one of two free throws with two seconds left for the final score. Gasol had only two points in the final quarter. Gasol, the tournament’s leading scorer, also had nine rebounds.
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