EUROBASKET 2011

Lior Eliyahu and Israel face a daunting prospect as they take on mighty Serbia

Serbia v Israel - Friday at 15:15 (14:15 CET)

If Serbia were young and exciting two years ago when they surpassed expectations and reached the gold-medal game of EuroBasket 2009, imagine how good the national team must be two years later with the same coach and virtually the same group of players.

After last year's run to fourth place at the World Championship in Istanbul, Serbia have travelled to Lithuania and looked better than ever in Group B wins over Italy and Latvia.

The team boasts arguably the best point guard in Europe in Milos Teodosic, terrific centers in Nenad Krstic and Kosta Perovic and versatile forwards like Dusko Savanovic, Marko Keselj and Milan Macvan.

The harder the punch thrown at Serbia so far at the EuroBasket, the harder the punch thrown back by coach Dusan Ivkovic's team.

With two wins in as many games, the Serbians go into their clash with Israel (0-2) with a head full of steam.

On paper, the game looks like a huge mismatch but Ivkovic said: "Israel have players at the highest level and I coached Yotam Halperin at my club (Olympiacos). We respect everyone."

"We need to forget about our two losses and be ready for tomorrow," Israel forward David Blu said.

Latvia v Italy - Friday at 17:45 (16:45 CET)

Latvia and Italy will be fighting for their EuroBasket lives when they meet on Friday in Group B.

The two national teams know each other well after meeting in qualifying for this year's event in Lithuania, with each team winning at home.

Latvia coach Ainars Bagatskis brought the country's youngest-ever national team to a EuroBasket this year, with the average age in the squad 22.5 years.

The team has impressed in defeats to France, and on Thursday to Serbia.

While veteran Janis Blums had 32 points in the setback to the French, the standout performer against Serbia was Rolands Freimanis, who had 19 points and eight rebounds.

Italy, meanwhile, have had plenty of excitement in their games against Serbia and Germany, but they, too, have suffered back-to-back defeats.