Latvia's dream run continues as they advance to the last eight

JAKARTA (Indonesia) - Latvia more than convincingly signed up to be the first team from Group L to advance to the Quarter-Finals in a 104-84 affair against Brazil.

The Baltic nation led for almost 17 minutes in the first half and even had a 10-point advantage, but you could hardly call the game one-sided as Brazil kept on pursuing them and were down by only 3 points at halftime.

Turning point: Arturs Zagars started it off with his magic in the pick-and-roll, then everyone joined in on the fun as Latvia scored 36 points in the third quarter putting on an offensive exhibition to pull away for a commanding 18-point lead at 81-63.

It would be madness if they had kept it up for the remaining ten minutes, however, Latvia did their job in the fourth to slow down the tempo a bit and close out the game as victors.

TCL Player of the Game: Andrejs Grazulis was as reliable on defense as he always has been, yet also contributed with 24 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds, all while making 11-of-15 shots from the field.

Yago Santos did his best to be Brazil's offensive general, but his 14 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds just weren't enough to get the job done.

Stats don't lie: They've always been a three-point shooting nation and the proof is again in the pudding after today's game. Latvians knocked down 16-of-33 shots from downtown, whereas Brazil only converted 7-of-24 long range shots. 

Bottom line: Latvia have to be considered serious contenders after they have kept World Cup regulars Brazil and France outside of the Quarter-Finals. They now wait for the outcome of the game between Slovenia and Germany to determine their next opponent as they continue a fantastic rookie World Cup campaign.

Despite the loss, Brazil were still very interested in Group L standings. However, Canada's win against Spain robbed them off the chances of earning a ticket to Paris 2024.

They said: "Congratulations to Latvia for the great game! Mainly on offense. They did a great job playing against our defense. Even though we tried to make some adjustments throughout the game, they were able to find the gaps in our adjustments to score the ball. They did a great job in that." - Gustavo de Conti, Brazil head coach

"Not the game we wanted to play, but our guys fought until the end. We gave it our best. We can control some things, but can't control other things. We didn't adjust defensively and they were making some tough shots. We were right there in the first half. In the second half our defense wasn't as good as it could have been. They capitalized on that, for sure." - Tim Soares, Brazil

"Brazil is a very specific team. They already proved against Canada how much they are capable of exploring some details of the game that can put you in trouble. Like a boxer who receives a jab, it was just a matter of adjusting our defense during halftime. The staff and the players did an amazing job to find the proper way to behave on the court. That's the secret of an impressive performance during the entire third period where we collected stops and played very sharp on offense with 36 points. A game with 24 assists and 6 turnovers explains a lot about the quality of basketball we produced tonight." - Luca Banchi, Latvia head coach

"The game was pretty interesting. We started slow. They found their baskets in the pick-and-roll. We couldn't stop that in the first half. We made adjustments at halftime. Then the game presented itself. We played good defense, could run on offense and control the game that way." - Andrejs Grazulis, Latvia

FIBA