By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
The road to FIBA EuroBasket 2021 reached an important milestone with the start of the Qualifiers, with the 16 games on Thursday and Friday delighting with drama and incredible individual performances.
Saturday is a day off for all the teams, giving us time to review the players who stole the spotlight during Gameday 1.
Charlon Kloof of Netherlands, Kristian Kullamae of Estonia, Jonathan Kazadi of Switzerland, Miroslav Raduljica of Serbia and Giorgi Shermadini of Georgia make up Team of the Week for Gameday 1 in the FIBA EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers.
The highest efficiency of the gameday belongs to Estonia’s 20-year-old guard Kristian Kullamae, who paced the team to an 81-72 win over North Macedonia with 31 points on 12-of-17 shooting, including 5-of-9 from beyond the arc. He also had 5 assists and 3 rebounds, good for an efficiency value of 31.
A win in Skopje could be crucial in Estonia’s battle to book a FIBA EuroBasket ticket, because the other two teams in Group B are juggernauts Italy and Russia.
One of the biggest upsets of the opening gameday belongs to the Netherlands. Charlon Kloof raised the roof in Ankara with 27 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and an efficiency value of 28, handing Turkey a 72-65 defeat, their first one at home in a long time.
Out of the five selected players, only Jonathan Kazadi of Switzerland came away with a defeat. And it was a heartbreaking one, as the Swiss fell 96-88 to Georgia in overtime on the road in Tbilisi.
It was certainly to no fault of Kazadi, who became the first player to collect a triple-double in the FIBA EuroBasket Qualifiers since Gal Mekel did it for Israel in 2014. Kazadi finished the game with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
The frontcourt of the Team of the Gameday is filled with two well-known faces.
Miroslav Raduljica led Serbia with 19 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks in a comfortable 80-58 win over Finland, while Giorgi Shermadini carried over the good rhythm from the Basketball Champions League for Georgia. He had 16 points, 13 rebounds and 4 assists to guide the the Goergian national team to a valuable win over Switzerland.
Source: FIBA