EUROBASKET 2011

A hand injury may have knocked France center Ronny Turiaf out of the EuroBasket.

Turiaf fractured the fourth metacarpal of his left hand his hand in Tuesday night's game against Great Britain at the London Invitational Tournament and has travelled back to Paris to be examined further on Thursday.

"The hypothetical withdrawal of Ronny Turiaf, a player who is as important on the court as he is off it, could be a real blow to France," France head coach Vincent Collet said.

"I can only imagine how disappointed and frustrated Ronny would be to miss the EuroBasket.

"If he has to withdraw, we will see how to fill the void. For the time being I do not want to bring myself to think he is not a part of the team."

France suffered a heavy defeat to Spain over a week ago in Almeria but looked much better in a win over the Brits on Tuesday.

On Wednesday without Turiaf, Les Bleus beat Australia 71-67 after getting another big scoring effort from point guard Tony Parker.

The San Antonio Spurs playmaker had 27 points while Nicolas Batum contributed 16 and Boris Diaw 10.

The French got five points and eight rebounds from Joakim Noah.

For the second straight game, Andrew Albicy got most of the time as the second point guard and not Antoine Diot.

Krunoslav Simon and Croatia made it two wins in a row in London

Albicy played 22 minutes and but had just one assist and no points to go with six rebounds.

France take on China on Thursday.

Serbia, Croatia Prevail

EuroBasket teams Serbia and Croatia each won on Day 2 of the London Invitational.

Serbia followed up their defeat to the Croatians by thrashing China, 87-53, on Wednesday with Milos Teodosic's 19 points leading the winners.

Dusan Ivkovic's team had a 41-31 advantage at half-time and then blew out the Chinese over the next 10 minutes, outscoring them 26-11.

Serbia shot 31 of 45 (68.9%) inside the arc but continued to struggled at the free-throw line.

After making just 12 of 24 at the stripe in the loss to Croatia, Serbia sank four of 10 against China.

"After the defeat to the Croatian national team, we concentrated all of 40 minutes," said Serbia's assistant coach Aleksandar Kesar.

"Players had this approach literally to the last seconds of the game against China, which resulted in a convincing victory.

"All 12 players got a chance to play and they all gave a big contribution to the triumph.

"It was very important that we showed a strong team spirit and the team the right way reacted after the defeat at the start of a tournament to Croatia."

The Croatians had a much tougher game against Great Britain, who fought back from an 18-point deficit but fell to Josip Vrankovic's side, 75-70.

Krunoslav Simon led Croatia in scoring for the second straight game and finished with 16 points.

Joel Freeland of Great Britain had 22 points and nine rebounds.

"I think we came out hot in the first quarter, second and third weren't too good but we definitely showed we can compete in the fourth," Freeland said.

"We brought it back in the final period, and it's not easy to do that against world class teams.

"It was definitely better than yesterday. We're learning all the time, we've only been together for two weeks and we have another two weeks to get better. We're learning, and that's what we're here to do."

One player that hasn't been with Britain is Luol Deng.

The Londoner has so far missed the warm-up tournament for the EuroBasket in his hometown in order to be present at his basketball camp in Loughborough.

Deng will not be available on Thursday, either, when Britain take on Serbia.

He announced via his Twitter account, LuolDeng9:  "4 those that keep asking why I'm not at the LND Invitational with team GB its cause I'm at my Bball camp with the kids. I play on Saturday."

Montenegrins Looking For Form

Montenegro have been hard at work in Bar, getting ready for their EuroBasket bow in less than two weeks.

The national team recently came in fifth at a warm-up tournament in Ljubljana following one win in three games and while the results weren't important, they did set alarm bells ringing for Montenegro's players who have grown accustomed to beating most opponents the past few summers.

"Every day in Bar, we have worked on improving all segments of games, especially ones that were recorded as the weaker parts, but to also improve what was good in Ljubljana," Montenegro coach Dejan Radonjic said.

The Montenegrins will compete in Group C at the EuroBasket against Greece, Croatia, FYR of Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and a team that comes through the Additional Qualifying Round (Portugal, Hungary or Finland).

"We have plenty of time," veteran guard Goran Jeretin said.

"I think they (the coaches) are all satisfied with the attitude of all players in the team and we hope to achieve the desired shape and be ready to go to the European Championship.

"I think the tournament in Ljubljana showed a lot when it comes to the pluses and disadvantages of this team.

"During our stay in Bar, we have used the time to eliminate our deficiencies, through seeing the video in detail and analyzing our game and seeing some segments that could be better."

Montenegro have accepted a late invitation to play in two games in Skopje against FYR Macedonia after Bulgaria cancelled their appearance.

"Although we were not scheduled to play against Macedonia, the organizers informed us that Bulgaria cancelled the show so we'll have to play with the host," Radonjic said.

"Certainly the news was not received with enthusiasm, but we need to take advantage of two days in Skopje in the right way."

Belgium Finish American Tour

Belgium are licking their wounds after falling twice to Canada in the 2011 Jack Donohue International Classic.

Warming up for the EuroBasket, Belgium lost 79-74 in the first game.

Dimitri Lauwers had 11 points for the Belgians.

In their second meeting with Canada, Belgium got 15 points and six rebounds from Axel Hervelle but lost 74-68.

Belgium will play in Group D at the EuroBasket against Ukraine, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Russia and Georgia.