Sunday, September 16, 2007

2 Americans lead Russians to Gold Medals in Eurobasket 2007


Believe it or not, but it's true! Russians win the Eurobasket 2007 beating in the final game the Spanish team (who are the world champions). The Russian national basketball team has been led by J. R. Holden who is an American citizen but was offered russian citizenship and invited to the Russian team.
The head coach is Davit Blatt who is also an American citizen.
The Russian team was an underdog prior to the tournament. Moreover, Russians lost to Spanish team a few games before. But then they became unstoppable. Frenchmen with their leader and 3 time NBA champion Tony Parker were defeated. Then Lithuanian team was also defeated. Even Jasikiavichus was unable to help.

The Spanish team with their leaders Pau Gasol, Calderon, soon-to-be an NBA player Rudy Fernandez was waiting for their turn.

Nobody believed in Russians. But a unique talent of David Blatt, J. R. Holden, NBA players Andrei Kirilenko and Victor Khryapa and their and other Russian players' great desire to win helped them win by one point in the final seconds of the game. That was J. R. Holden who made the game-winning shot!

And Russian basketball team are headed now to Beijing ranking as the champions of Europe.

Watch the highlights of the final seconds of the game: