Day 2 of the second round of the 2013 FIBA EuroBasket Championship will feature European powerhouses going head-to-head with Greece taking on Spain at 11:45 a.m EST and Italy facing host nation Slovenia at 3 p.m. EST.
Greece vs. Spain (11:45 a.m. EST)
After racking up three dominant victories in a row in the first round, Spain (1-1) will open the second level of the competition taking on a familiar foe in Greece (0-2), who went a bit flat in the last two games of the preliminary round.
Greeks kicked off their EuroBasket campaign with three straight victories, but fell to fellow Group D second round qualifiers Finland and Italy. On the other hand, Spain bounced back from their upset loss to Slovenia in a big way by crushing Croatia, Poland and Georgia in the last three games of Group C qualification.
Key Match-up & Prediction
Greece's Vassilis Spanoulis (13.7 points and 1.3 steals per game) vs. Spain's Rudy Fernandez (11.6 points and 1.4 steals per game)
Spain is expected to bring their A-game in every game in the second round as they are aware a loss could inflict heavy damage on their bid to advance to the knockout stages. With Ricky Rubio, Marc Gasol and Jose Calderon, the Spaniard will be the huge favorite in the game. However, the Greek team should not be underestimated given the caliber of players they posses.
Then again, the Spaniards have the tools to dominate each game in this tournament. Despite the absence of Pau Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro and Serge Ibaka, Espana is still the overwhelming title contender in this tourney. Spain winning by 10 points.
Slovenia vs. Italy - (3:00 p.m. EST)
Italy (2-0) enters the second round with a clean slate after sweeping through a very competitive Group D, which also featured Turkey, Russia, Sweden, Greece and Finland. Now, it's up for Marco Belinelli and company to continue their winning ways as they take on the challenge of host nation Slovenia (1-1) on Thursday.
Ket Match-up & Prediction
Slovenia's Goran Dragic (13.8 points, 5.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game) vs. Italy's Marco Belinelli (15.8 points and 1.3 steals per game)
Dragic, who plays the starting point guard role for the Phoenix Suns, will have to provide another stellar performance again if he wants Slovenia to have a chance against this formidable Italian team. Italy, on the other hand, will lean on Belinelli to carry the scoring load but they have also other guys capable of stepping up.
This is going to be a furious game that could go down the wire. Backed with a raucous home crowd, Slovenia might be on its way to another upset against Italy. Slovenia by four points.
Live Streaming, Recap & Boxscore and Information
Finland vs Croatia (8:30 a.m - Recap & Boxscore) / Spain vs. Greece (11;45 a.m - Recap & Boxscore) / Italy vs. Slovenia ( 3:00 p.m- Recap & Boxscore)
Live Streaming of the EuroBasket 2013 will start at 8:30 a.m EST on ESPN3 (ESPN Watch) and LiveBasketball T.V. This link also provides free live streaming of FIBA EuroBasket 2013.
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