By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Cologne – Bosnia and Herzegovina star center Jusuf Nurkic was satisfied with the fighting spirit of his squad during the EuroBasket game against France despite a 81 – 68 loss and feels great about the team’s chances to ultimately punch a ticket for the knockout phase in Berlin.
“I think we have great heart. We played our ass off. You can’t judge anything about it,” Nurkic said. Bosnia could’ve advance with a win. “We feel bad because we had the chance to win the game. That’s all we care. To have a chance and be able to compete against everybody. We showed that tonight. We could’ve easily won this game. Unfortunately, we didn’t.”
Bosnia erased a 12-point deficit over a span of four minutes through the end of the third period and the beginning of the fourth thanks to a 13-0 run. Nurkic scored eight straight points and his team went up 61 – 59 with six minutes to play.
That was the last lead for Nurkic and his teammates in the game since France responded with a 2 – 14 counterattack to close the game successfully.The Portland Trail Blazers big man finished with 14 points (4-13 shots), 10 rebounds, four blocks and four turnovers in 31:53.
“Tonight was a bad night for us but tomorrow is a great day for us because we still control our fate,” Nurkic added.
This “great day” will bring Nurkic and Bosnia likely against Lithuania in a “winner takes all” match, a heated Group B Final. The Lithuanian team are grand favorites against already-eliminated and Adam Hanga-less Hungary and it will be a surprise of epic proportions if they don’t get the victory that will keep them alive in the qualification race.
Nurkic believes that everything is open but still looks forward to the clash against Lithuania and his own personal matchup vs. fellow NBAers Jonas Valanciunas and Domantas Sabonis.
“That’s what you said about Lithuania when they came in, right? That they will likely gonna win against everyone. You never know about basketball man,” Nurkic said. “They are 0-3 now. We won two games. We will see what’ll happen tonight. I respect Lithuania for what they do and what kind of players they are. Especially their nation, they are fanatics in their country about basketball. It’s going to be an interesting game. I’m excited. They have two big fellows there, Valanciunas and Sabonis. I know both of them really well. I’m excited to play. We just need to care about how we show up.”
Nurkic hopes that he and the rest of the team will build on how they behaved on the floor during their comeback and leave behind some costly clumsiness that they showed especially during the first half.
France was ahead 44 – 34 at the break by getting 16 points off 11 Bosnia turnovers and nine second-chance points after 10 offensive rebounds.
“We had a 13 – 0 run,” Nurkic said. “We want to play basketball like that. Play in a smart way. We had too many turnovers and obviously on the glass also. We have to take care of that. ”
While there weren’t many French supporters in Lanxess arena, Les Bleus were showered with love by numerous Lithuanian fans. If Bosnia had won, then Lithuania would’ve been eliminated but now they stay alive to fight another day.
“They can cheer whatever they want,” Nurkic said. “I’m excited to play tomorrow. For us it’s a great thing to control our fate with a win going forward. I’m feeling great about that. “