If someone had any doubts about Andrei Kirilenko's performance in this EuroBasket after a sub-par NBA season, then the opening night of EuroBasket sent out a big message.

The Russian forward led his team to a key 73-65 win in the tournament's opener against Serbia on Monday night in Granada's Group A game.

Kirilenko finished the game with 24 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, three blocks and drew seven fouls, but every play he made was in the best timing to keep his team on the winning side.

Serbia had a bad shooting night.

Darko Milicic was shutdown by a great defensive team effort by Russia, and was representative of Serbia's poor shooting, connecting on just two of his 13 shots.

His front line teammate Zoran Erceg converted only a single free throw shot of his six attempts to symbolize Serbia's poor form from the line (58%).

Russia stormed the court from the first moment to take a 9-0 lead after three minutes, before Marko Jaric scored the first points for Serbia.

Russia's team play was on display from the very beginning as four players shared the first 11 points of the team.

Kirilenko collected seven points by the end of the first quarter when his team took a 21-13 lead, but didn't think about stopping.

Serbia couldn't find any answer for the aggressive Russian defense and by the 13th minute David Blatt's guys were already doubling Serbia's points, 31-15 after J.R. Holden connected a mid range shot.

That was when the Russian machine took a rest.

For the next 5:20 Russia added only three points, all from the charity stripe, but Serbia was still struggling and used that to reduce the game to only 10 points, 34-24.

Another small push by Serbia made it just a six point game, before Nikita Morgunov sealed the half with a key mid-range shot, not his last in the game, to make it 38-30 after two quarters.

After shooting only 37% from two-point range and a miserable 43% from the line in the first half, Serbia was still down by only eight, and had a reason to be optimistic but the first minutes of the second half changed that feeling.

Milos Teodosic hit three points from the line to make it just a five point game, and then Kirilenko stepped up.

He accounted for four points in a row, drew the third foul from Zoran Erceg and with a downtown arrow capped a 10-0 run to make it 48-33 after 25 minutes, only to see his team fall asleep again.

Teodosic hit another three pointer to start a Serbian 13-0 run, and make it just a two point game, but now it was time for Kirilenko to step up again.

With two minutes to go in the third Milan Gurovic missed a three pointer that could have give Serbia the first lead of the night, and saw Kirilenko show how to do it with an and-1 play, and the gap was back to five, 51-46, on the way to a 54-48 Russian lead with 10 minutes to play.

With the game slowly running away Serbia made one last effort.

Russia held a 70-63 lead with 1:38 to play when Milicic posted up, but once again Kirilenko came for the help and blocked his shot away.

Morgunov, once again, was there to hit the clutch shot, this time from long range, to make it a ten point game and decide the game.

"If we don't win tomorrow then today's win means nothing," said Russian's coach, David Blatt referring to the game against Israel that can secure Russia a spot in the next round.

Serbia will face the champs from Greece in the second game.

Russia

Coach David Blatt: "I'm very happy to win. Every time you beat Serbia it means you've done something good. We played well and led the game from start to finish, so the victory was deserved. Serbia is a good team, they are well coached and they had great results in preparations. If we don't win tomorrow then today's win means nothing. One of the concerns we had coming into the game today was that we started preparations without some of our top players. To teach some of the things we want to do defensively takes time, and we didn't have as much as I think is necessary. That's why I said we need more time to be ready for this tournament. In EuroBasket teams don't win games individually, but you do need big performances from your best players, and that's what Kirilenko did on both ends. He dominated the game and cleaned the boards like they do with a towel before the game."

Zakhar Pashutin: "I'm very satisfied with the result. The team controlled the rhythm of the game from the start. It was a good performance for us, especially as a team. Savrasenko and Morgunov did a great defensive job on Milicic, and they got help from Kirilenko and Khryapa who came for the double team, but then also scored big points at the other end. That was one of the main factors for our win. "

Andrei Kirilenko: "If people think it was an easy win for us, they are wrong. We had to work hard to beat Serbia. Sometimes it's tough to follow all the things the coach asks you do to, but we tried to play like a team today. They have many young players, most of them I didn't now before this game, and that's good for the future of the team. Maybe now they will lose some games, but it will benefit them."

Nikita Morgunov: "All the team enjoyed every play and that was one of the secret for the win. Everybody played hard. Milicic is a very good player but we played a lot of double team on him and it worked in stopping him. Our big guys received a lot of fouls but we needed that to stop him."

Serbia

Coach - Zoran Slavnic: "I'm very disappointed because I had bigger expectations especially from Darko Milicic and Marko Jaric. Our young players were scared and I can't do anything about it. We missed a lot of free-throws and that was a big problem. We have no time now. My experience tells me that sometimes you can play better against stronger teams, and I hope that's what we'll do tomorrow. We knew we can lose to Russia, but now we must find patience and find our energy inside the team."

Milos Teodosic: "We were unlucky in the final quarter. We came to within just two point and then missed too many free-throws for such an important game. They scored a three-pointer on the other side every time it happened and that's how the game went in the last minutes. I thought throughout the entire game we can turn around the result but it didn't happen. We'll need to regroup for the next game against Greece, and it's going to be tough."

Milan Gurovic: "We didn't have luck today. We lost the game when we missed so many free-throws. My team-mates don't have experience. This is our problem and we'll carry it also in the next games. We knew when we came here it will be so, but we have to fight until the end."

Darko Milicic: "I had a very bad game. Tomorrow we need to show character but Greece are the European champions and it will be very difficult."

Two former giants who used to dominate the world of basketball and traded the EuroBasket title between themselves for over two decades - as the former USSR and Yugoslavia respectively - are coming to the 2007 EuroBasket needing to proof they still deserve respect.

After several tournaments where they produced disappointing results, both Russia and Serbia want to show they can still dominate and this is where the journey begins.

In the blue corner is Serbia. In the red corner Russia. Each team has a new coach, two NBA players and a big desire to send out a message.

Last Time Out: Serbia won four of their last five practice games - including a 93-62 demolition of Greece - in the lead-up to this tournament. Russia meanwhile scored 66 and 65 points in their last two practice games respectively. It was enough to beat Portugal by 11 (66-55), but the second tally fell saw them fall by just a point to Germany.

Key Match-up: Keep an eye on the battle between the team's playmakers who offer

		Jaric will have an interesting battle with Holden

very contrasting styles. Russia's J.R. Holden, one of the shortest players in the competition, is a scorer, while his Serbian counterpart, Marko Jaric, is one of the tallest point guards, and has a pass-first mentality. Both have a tone of experience and will need to put it to good use out on the court. In the opening game of this type of competition, teams are always trying to seize each other up and make the necessary adjustments as quickly as possible. The point guards often play a huge part in this process, especially in the early stages.

Statistics: Andrei Kirilenko was Russia's top scorer in most of their practice games. That was nothing new though as he provided much of the team's points in this tournament both in 2003 and 2005. He is still - as he was then - the player who keeps them going offensively. Going up against him will be Milan Gurovic, Serbia's most lethal threat, who can quite literally score at will. Unless something goes drastically wrong, he should average over 20 points per game in this championship. Based on performances in their practice games - in which they scored at least 87 points in five of seven encounters - Serbia look like they plan on going with a fast-tempo and high-scoring approach. Russia on the other hand will rely on their defense. In four of their last five warm-up games, they held opponents - all participants in this tournament - to under 67 points. So, Russia's defense or Serbia's offense? That question will determine the outcome of this game.

X-Factor: Both teams can play long stretches of time without a true dominant center. Russia coach David Blatt didn't use either Aleksey Savrasenko or Nikita Morgunov much in the practice games as he went for a more athletic line-up. Serbia meanwhile does have Darko Milicic, but the 7-footer tends to gets in foul trouble quite a lot and coach Zoran Slavnic does not have any really talented big men on his bench he can turn to if that situation arises. So this game could be decided by getting an unexpected boost from a back-up big man. The young and inexperienced - but talented - pair of Zoran Erceg and Dragan Labovic could provide that for Serbia, while their opponents will simply play without a true center.

What It Means: Under the competition's new system, every win or loss matters much more as it is carried over to the next round. That means there's no time for slow starts. Keep in mind that the defeated side of this game still have to face European champions Greece knowing they have to make up for that first loss. That is certainly something both sides would like to avoid. In addition, starting the EuroBasket with a win has a special meaning – Of the last six champions, only Italy (in 1999) went on to win the tournament despite losing their opening game.