CSKA Moscow guard Theodoros Papaloukas stole the show from CSKA teammate J.R. Holden Thursday and Greece stole the game, beating Russia 66-61 to knock the Russians out of medal contention in the European Basketball Championships.

According to the Moscow Times

Naturalized Russian J.R. Holden, an American point guard from Pittsburgh and a teammate of Papaloukas' with CSKA, continued to struggle from the field in the tournament, scoring just 15 points on the 19 shots he put up.

Meanwhile, Papaloukas scored 23 points while Russia shot just 33 percent from the field.

According to Eurobasket, Russia now will meet Lithuania in its quest to play its way into the World Championship field. The top six teams at the European Championships qualify for the World Championship tournament.
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From CBS Sportsline's Eight things to watch at the European Championships :

6. What's J.R. translate to in Russian? American J.R. Holden, who played at Bucknell through 1998, has developed into one of the top guards in Europe, leading CSKA Moscow to great heights. As a result, according to the Moscow Times, the general manager for CSKA made the case to the Russian Federation that he be accepted as a naturalized citizen due to 'special merit,' which would supersede the standard criteria of speaking the language and living there for a minimum of five years. His special merit? The point guard skills Russia needed. Holden joined the team earlier this month. Henry Domercant, a scoring machine at Eastern Illinois, made a similar move in joining the Bosnian team.

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From EUROBASKET, another piece on the novelty of an American playing for the Russian national team, that includes two very telling comments from the Russian point of view:

Zakhar Pashutin, who's played with the Russian national team since 1997 and with Holden for two seasons at CSKA, enjoys having the short American around.

"He's a very great player, and we needed a player like him. He gives us some more power on the break," he said. . . .

Russian coach Sergey Babkov added: "He's a very good guard, a versatile one as well. And we don't have any better in Russia at the moment."

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