Spain captures spot in Eurobasket quarterfinals

Once again it was the court craftiness of the Gasol brothers. They helped Spain advanced to the Eurobasket 2011 quarterfinals on Friday after annihilating Serbia 84-59. The play-by-play drama that took place in Vilnius was centered on the explosive action by Pau and Marc Gasol.

It was apparent the Spaniards wanted revenge and they wanted Pau Gasol to do the work. The didn't have the Los Angeles Lakers forward when Spain lost to Serbia at last year's World Championship quarterfinals. Pau Gasol provided a preview of what was to take place during the first few minutes when he made the first four points leaving Serbia scoreless.

As the two highest point-getters, the Gasol brothers together packed in 46 points and 18 rebounds for the Spanish team ? Pau pulling off 26 and his younger brother 20. Along with the relentless blocks by Rudy Fernández and reigning confusion among the Serbs, Spain was able to pull away in the early third quarter when it made off with 14 consecutive points.

The Serbs had trouble getting past the Spanish defense but did show some signs that all may not be lost, especially when Milenko Tepic helped to close the gap in the second quarter 39-29 after a lay-up. At half time, Serbia got closer with a three-pointer by Dusko Savanovic who put the score at 43-32. Milan Macvan chipped in with two more points at the beginning of the third quarter. Still, Serbia was unable to catch up, even with captain Nenad Krstic's top team score of 12 points.

Afterwards, Calderón praised the Spanish defense against Serbian star Milos Teodosic, who currently plays for CSKA Moscow, He believed the Spanish team had a more precise game than it showed against Lithuania earlier this week.

"Overall we played a really good game with good concentration and with everyone prepared to help each other. We are very happy how everything turned out," he told Europa Press. Spain goes on to play France on Sunday in its final game of the second round.