2013 FIBA EuroBasket Quarterfinal Live Stream: Spain vs. Serbia, Marc Gasol Taking on Nenad Kristic - Preview, Schedule & Scores
After two rounds of furious preliminary round qualification, the 2013 FIBA EuroBasket Championship 2013 is now down to the final eight. Spain, France, Ukraine, Italy, Lithuania, Croatia, Slovenia, and Serbia all look to extend their stay in Ljubljana, but only four of them will move closer to win it all in Europe's most prestigious basketball tournament.
Spain vs. Serbia - 11:45 p.m (Perth/ Manila time)
The first quarterfinal offering will feature the showdown between two nations with rich basketball history.
Spain has been the cream of the crop of European basketball for the last six to seven years, winning back-to-back EuroBasket championships and silver medal finishes at the Beijing and London Olympics.
Meanwhile, Serbia traces its basketball success way back during the Yugoslavian era. Vlade Divac, Peja Stokovic and Marco Jaric powered Yugoslavia to world basketball dominance from the late 90s to early 2000s, winning two EuroBasket gold and bagging the top prize in two consecutive World Basketball Championship.
Playing without Pau Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro and Serge Ibaka, the Spaniards struggled to fend off challenges from their opponents in the second round as they finished the elimination with a 2-3 slate - which is enough to take last quarterfinal berth in Group F. Serbia, meanwhile, captured the top spot in Group E after beating Belgium, Ukraine and France in the second round.
Still, head coach Juan Antonio Orenga is very much optimistic of his team's chances against the formidable Serbia squad, stressing that they have been preparing for the tough grind in the knockout stages even before the start of the tournament.
"Serbia, France and Lithuania, who were our potential quarter-final rivals before the match with Italy, are all in the same bracket in terms of quality and it makes no difference who we drew," he told reporters.
"We respect Serbia but I think they too will be worried about playing us. Either way, it should be a great game to watch," Orenga told Reuters.
Marc Gasol, Ricky Rubio, Rudy Fernandez, Jose Calderon and the rest of the Spanish team are indeed headed into a rough a battle with Serbia, who boasts former NBA center Nenad Kristic and Golden State Warriors shooting guard Nemanja Nedović.
The winner of Wednesday's quarterfinal opener will face the victor in France vs, Slovenia showdown, which is scheduled at (3:00 a.m Perth/ Manila time)
2013 FIBA EuroBasket Live Streaming and Information (Links will be provided 30 minutes before the match)
Spain vs. Serbia quarterfinal match is set to begin at 11:45 p.m (Manila/ Perth Time) at Arena Stožice in Ljubljana. Streaming Links is available on Link 1/ Link 2/ Link 3
Live streaming video by Ustream