By Chris Sheridan KAUNAS, Lithuania — This city is the birthplace and/or childhood home of Arvydas Sabonis, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Sarunas Marciulonis and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and by the end of next weekend it will be the metropolis (to use that word loosely) where the latest European champion is crowned. Eight teams have made it to the quarterfinals of EuroBasket, and the do-or-die portion begins Wednesday night with Spain-Slovenia and Macedonia-Lithuania. Thursday’s games are France-Greece and Russia-Serbia, and the semifinals — which will determine which two teams qualify for the 2012 Olympics
Eurobasket: France tanks its final first-round game vs. Spain
By Chris Sheridan VILNIUS, Lithuania — The best defense played by France came from its coach, Vincent Collet, when he had to explain his decision to bench Tony Parker and Joakim Noah in a 96-69 loss to Spain on Sunday that dropped Les Blues into second-place in Group E. And Collet was indeed on the defensive after Spanish coach Sergio Scariolo opened his post-game remarks by saying Spain had too much respect for the game — and for the other teams still fighting to stay alive in EuroBasket — to
Tony Parker at Eurobasket = Dirk Nowitzki at NBA Finals
By Chris Sheridan VILNIUS, Lithuania — The hungriest player in last June’s NBA Finals was Dirk Nowitzki, who was starving to avenge the heartbreak of his loss in the championship round five years earlier. At EuroBasket, he has an equal in the hunger category. So hungry it might be fitting to call him a gourmand. That player is Tony Parker, whose 19 points — including five in the final 2:10 — fueled a 73-67 victory over Lithuania in front of a raucous, hostile
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