By
OrlandoMagicFan on Thursday, September 8th, 2011 |
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Hedo Turkoglu scored 13 points for Turkey in a 68-64 loss to France Wednesday.
The second round of the 2011 EuroBasket tournament began today, with the tournament’s lone Orlando Magic player — Hedo Turkoglu — playing a key role for Turkey, one of the 12 teams still remaining in the competition in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Turkey fell to France 68-64 on Wednesday morning, falling victim to 20 points and five assist from France’s Tony Parker. Turkoglu led Turkey with 13 points and eight rebounds.
The tournament’s remaining 12 teams are divided into two groups of six, in which they’ll play three games against teams they haven’t previously faced. The points from the first round carry over, so if Turkey can win its final two games, it will likely advance to the final round of four teams. Another loss will likely doom Turkey, which plays Dirk Nowitzki and Germany on Friday.
Turkoglu had an up-and-down first round. In five games, he averaged 11.8 points and 2.8 assists while shooting just 23.8 percent from deep — and that’s from a three-point line that’s closer than the NBA’s arc. He’s been strong taking it to the rim, however, completing 68.2 percent of his two-point field goal attempts.
Part of Turkoglu’s inconsistency is because his coach isn’t giving him the ball enough, says Adam Papageorgiou. That was certainly true in today’s loss to France, when Turkoglu didn’t attempt a shot in the final two minutes despite being the team’s leading scorer.
Turkoglu is certainly the best perimeter player on Turkey, which also features NBA names Omer Asik, Ersan Ilyasova and Enes Kanter. Turkey utilizes him similarly to the way the Magic use him, running pick-and-rolls off the wing and letting him improvise as a scorer and facilitator. But just like last season in Orlando, Turkoglu has a way of disappearing and deferring to his teammates in international play.
The Turkish team did pull off the first round’s biggest upset, toppling tourney-favorite Spain and its NBA contingency of the Gasol brothers, Jose Calderon, Ricky Rubio, Rudy Fernandez, Juan Carlos Navarro and Serge Ibaka.
For a complete listing of games, click here. You can watch the games on ESPN3 or find an online stream.
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