EuroBasket 2011
FIBA Europe asserted that Lithuania managed to organize the best European championship in its history.120,000 people (both local and foreign) watched EuroBasket 2011 matches in special fan zones that were constructed beside every arena with a large screen and outdoor seating available.This included the president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov and prince of Spain Felipe.Other naturalised players moved to their current countries in their youth, with a notable example being Great Britain's Luol Deng, who fled the Sudanese Civil War with his family as a child.Turkey had Enes Kanter, who was born to Turkish parents in Switzerland as well as Emir Preldzic, who was born in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina and had already played on the national team of Slovenia in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in 2008 and Slovenian youth national teams.Some of the Eastern European national teams, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, were composed mainly or entirely from players playing abroad.This was primarily true for countries that have good basketball players but no powerful clubs or leagues to match that.The balls were drawn by retired basketball players European champions and Olympic medalists Stasys Stonkus, Modestas Paulauskas, Dino Meneghin, Sergejus Jovaiša, Alexander Anatolyevich Volkov and Arvydas Sabonis.Spain Serbia Greece Slovenia France Croatia Russia Turkey Lithuania Germany Montenegro Belgium Great Britain Macedonia Israel Georgia Italy Bulgaria Poland Bosnia and Herzegovina Ukraine Latvia Portugal Finland In the first stage every team had to play against every other team of their group (round robin).The EuroBasket 2011 logo was unveiled on 24 January 2009 in Cido Arena, Panevėžys, during the final game of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation Cup.The name "Amberis" is a portmanteau of the English word amber and the Lithuanian nominative case masculine gender ending "is".As such, many events were organized to mark the championship, including: Additionally, from Spring 2011, many of the TV and newspaper advertisements became basketball-oriented.Each of the cities where EuroBasket 2011 would take place received many minor details marking the championship: for example, the trash bins in Panevėžys were repainted to look like basketballs, an abandoned building in Vilnius had its windows covered by flags of the participant nations while balls were drawn on the pavement in some places.A major Lithuanian news company adopted the practice of predicting each Lithuania national basketball team match in the EuroBasket.Finland and Georgia, the latter supported by some 1,500 fans who had traveled to Lithuania, managed to reach the second stage despite being allowed to take part in the championship only after FIBA Europe decision.The biggest surprise was probably Macedonia, a country that had had no major basketball victories prior to this championship.Having lost only two games in the first and second stages and these two by just a single point each (one of them after overtime) Macedonia easily advanced to the quarterfinals.There were more than 1,000 Georgians and under 1,000 Russians in the arena during the game and large police forces were amassed to prevent possible riots.Two countries, Spain and France, qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics basketball tournament outright.The following players were named to the All-Tournament Team:[14] PG – Tony Parker SG – Bo McCalebb SF – Juan Carlos Navarro (MVP) PF – Andrei Kirilenko C – Pau Gasol
FranceRussiaMacedoniaJuan Carlos NavarroTony Parkerpoints per gameEuropean Basketball ChampionshipFIBA EuropeLithuania1939 championship2012 Summer OlympicsBaltic statesthe tournament's MVPAlytus ArenaŠiauliai ArenaCido ArenaPanevėžysKlaipėdaSiemens ArenaVilniusŽalgiris ArenaKaunasGeorgiaMikheil SaakashviliSergey LavrovFelipeŠiauliaiAlytusŠvyturio Arena2010 FIBA World ChampionshipEuroBasket 2011 qualificationCroatiaGermanyGreeceSerbiaSloveniaTurkeyBelgiumGreat BritainIsraelMontenegroBosnia and HerzegovinaBulgariaLatviaPolandUkraineFinlandPortugalEuroBasket 2011 squadsBo McCalebbChris KamanDavid Bluentitled to Israeli citizenship from birthSerge IbakaDontaye DraperE. J. RowlandMarcus FaisonThomas KelatiOmar CookGreat Britain'sLuol DengSudanese Civil WarEnes KanterSwitzerlandEastern EuropeanPau GasolMarc GasolRudy FernándezRicky RubioJosé CalderónSergio ScarioloJoakim NoahNicolas BatumBoris DiawMickaël GelabaleNando de ColoAndrei KirilenkoVictor KhryapaTimofey MozgovAndrey VorontsevichVitaly FridzonAlexey ShvedSergei MoniaDavid BlattVlado IlievskiPero AntićŠarūnas JasikevičiusJonas ValančiūnasDarius SongailaRimantas KaukėnasKšyštof LavrinovičIoannis BourousisNikos ZisisNick CalathesKostas PapanikolaouKosta KoufosJaka LakovičGoran DragićErazem LorbekMirza BegićBožidar MaljkovićMiloš TeodosićNemanja BjelicaNenad KrstićDuško SavanovićDušan IvkovićDirk NowitzkiErsan İlyasovaÖmer AşıkHedo TürkoğluZaza PachuliaGiorgi ShermadiniTornike ShengeliaAnte TomićMarko PopovićBojan BogdanovićJoel FreelandOmri CasspiDardan BerishaMirza TeletovićAndrea BargnaniMarco BelinelliDanilo GallinariSimone PianigianiNikola PekovićNikola Vučević