EuroBasket 1951

Tournament details
Host country	France
City	Paris
Dates	3–12 May
Teams	18
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Soviet Union (2nd title)
Runners-up	Czechoslovakia
Third place	France
Fourth place	Bulgaria
Tournament statistics
Games played	73
MVP	Ivan Mrázek
Top scorer	Ivan Mrázek (17.1 points per game)
← 1949 1953 →

The 1951 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1951, was the seventh FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). Eighteen national teams affiliated with FIBA entered the competition, a record number and more than twice the number that had competed two years earlier. The competition was hosted by France, who had taken second place at EuroBasket 1949, behind 1949 hosts Egypt. The Vélodrome d'hiver, Paris was the location of the event.^[1]

73 matches were held over the course of the tournament, including the three walkovers caused by Romania withdrawing after the competition schedule had been set.

Results

First round

In the preliminary round, the 18 teams were split up into four groups. Two of the groups had five teams each, with the others having four each. Romania withdrew, leaving 2 groups of 5, 1 group of 4, and 1 group of 3. The top two teams in each group advanced to the quarterfinal round. The seven teams that had placed third and fourth moved into the classification rounds, leaving one more spot in that round two be contested in a head-to-head match between the two fifth-place teams.

Group A

Rank	Team	Pts	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Italy	7	3	1	233	132	+101
2.	France	7	3	1	232	146	+86
3.	Netherlands	7	3	1	172	177	−5
4.	Switzerland	5	1	3	180	214	−34
5.	Luxembourg	4	0	4	114	262	−148

Group B

Rank	Team	Pts	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Soviet Union	8	4	0	312	117	+195
2.	Turkey	7	3	1	227	154	+73
3.	Finland	6	2	2	175	180	−5
4.	Austria	5	1	3	112	200	−88
5.	Denmark	4	0	4	94	269	−175

Group C

Rank	Team	Pts	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Bulgaria	6	3	0	147	70	+77
2.	Greece	5	2	1	121	103	+18
3.	Portugal	4	1	2	69	158	−89
4.	Romania (withdrew)	0	0	3	0	6	−6

Group D

Rank	Team	Pts	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Belgium	6	3	0	208	81	+127
2.	Czechoslovakia	5	2	1	203	99	+104
3.	West Germany	4	1	2	117	157	−40
4.	Scotland	3	0	3	68	259	−191

Elimination game

The two fifth-placed teams from the preliminary groups, Denmark and Luxembourg, played a single elimination game for the honor of being the eighth team in the consolation round. The game was perhaps the closest in Eurobasket history; it was tied at 45–45 with Peter Tatalls at the free throw line with 5 seconds left. Tatalls made the shot, putting Denmark ahead 46–45. Luxembourg moved the ball up to about half-court before attempting a shot just before time expired. The shot bounced off the rim, eliminating Luxembourg from the tournament and giving Denmark their first win of the tournament as they moved into the classification round to play for 9th–16th places.

Classification round 1

The first classification round was played in two round-robin groups. Teams advanced into the second classification round depending on their results in the first round—first and second place teams played in the 9–12 segment of classification round 2 while third and fourth place teams played for 13th to 16th places.

Group 1

Rank	Team	Pts	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Austria	6	3	0	118	102	+16
2.	West Germany	4	1	2	132	129	+3
3.	Switzerland	4	1	2	134	136	−2
4.	Portugal	4	1	2	122	139	−17

Group 2

Rank	Team	Pts	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Finland	6	3	0	201	119	+82
2.	Netherlands	5	2	1	162	111	+51
3.	Denmark	4	1	2	99	158	−59
4.	Scotland	3	0	3	101	175	−74

Classification round 2

13th-16th place classification playoffs

	13th-16th place semifinals				13th place game
	Denmark	46
	Portugal	39
					Denmark	22
					Switzerland	54
	Switzerland	68
	Scotland	19
					Third place
					Portugal	49
					Scotland	42

9th-12th place classification playoffs

	9th-12th place semifinals				9th place game
	Finland	67
	West Germany	56
					Finland	57
					Netherlands	52
	Austria	28
	Netherlands	44
					Third place
					West Germany	49
					Austria	51

Quarterfinals

The quarterfinal round was played in two round-robin groups. Teams advanced into the final round depending on their results in the first round—the top two teams advanced to the medals round, while third and fourth ranked teams played for 5th to 8th places.

Group A

Rank	Team	Pts	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	France	5	2	1	149	140	+9
2.	Bulgaria	5	2	1	152	142	+10
3.	Turkey	5	2	1	125	124	+1
4.	Belgium	3	0	3	122	142	−20

Group B

Rank	Team	Pts	W	L	PF	PA	Diff
1.	Soviet Union	6	3	0	175	121	+54
2.	Czechoslovakia	5	2	1	157	127	+30
3.	Italy	4	1	2	140	177	−37
4.	Greece	3	0	3	133	180	−47

Final round

5th-8th place classification playoffs

	5th-8th place semifinals					5th place game
	B3	Italy	48
	A4	Belgium	36
						B3	Italy	43
						A3	Turkey	38
	A3	Turkey	42
	B4	Greece	36			7th place game
						A4	Belgium	39
						B4	Greece	28

Classification 5–8

Classification 7/8

Classification 5/6

Medal Round: Bracket

	Semifinals					EuroBasket Final
	A1	France	50
	B2	Czechoslovakia	59
						B2	Czechoslovakia	44
						B1	Soviet Union	45
	B1	Soviet Union	72
	A2	Bulgaria	54			Bronze Medal Game
						A1	France	55
						A2	Bulgaria	52

Semifinals

Bronze-medal match

Championship

1951 FIBA EuroBasket champions
Soviet Union 2nd title

Final standings

1.  Soviet Union
2.  Czechoslovakia
3.  France
4.  Bulgaria
5.  Italy
6.  Turkey
7.  Belgium
8.  Greece
9.  Finland
10.  Netherlands
11.  Austria
12.  West Germany
13.   Switzerland
14.  Denmark
15.  Portugal
16.  Scotland
17.  Luxembourg
18.  Romania

Team rosters

1. Soviet Union: Otar Korkia, Stepas Butautas, Joann Lõssov, Anatoly Konev, Ilmar Kullam, Heino Kruus, Alexander Moiseev, Justinas Lagunavičius, Anatoly Belov, Vasili Kolpakov, Yuri Larionov, Evgeni Nikitin, Viktor Vlasov, Oleg Mamontov (Coach: Stepan Spandaryan)

2. Czechoslovakia: Ivan Mrázek, Jiri Baumruk, Zdeněk Bobrovský, Miroslav Skerik, Jaroslav Šíp, Jan Kozák, Miroslav Baumruk, Karel Belohradsky, Miroslav Dostal, Jindrich Kinsky, Zoltan Krenicky, Jiri Matousek, Milos Nebuchla, Arnost Novak, Karel Sobota, Zdenek Rylich, Stanislav Vykydal (Coach: Josef Andrle)

3. France: André Buffiere, René Chocat, Jacques Dessemme, Louis Devoti, Jacques Freimuller, Robert Guillin, Robert Monclar, Marc Peironne, Marc Quiblier, Jean-Pierre Salignon, Pierre Thiolon, André Vacheresse, Jean Perniceni, Justy Specker (Coach: Robert Busnel)

4. Bulgaria: Georgi Georgiev, Stefan Bankov, Nejcho Nejchev, Vladimir Slavov, Ilija Asenov, Petar Shishkov, Kiril Semov, Konstantin Totev, Anton Kuzov, Gencho Rashkov, Ivan Vladimirov, Dimitar Popov, Metodi Tomovski (Coach: Veselin Temkov)