Reporting from Istanbul: Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
For many years Croatia was considered a talented team, which simply couldn’t get the job done when it mattered. That perception changed last summer when Croatia beat Italy and Greece in order to advance to the Rio Olympics.
However, after being eliminated by Russia in the round of 16 in the first knock out game of the tournament for his team, Bojan Bogdanovic was visibly disappointed.
As he said: “We didn’t have pride. It’s unacceptable to let your opponent to score 100 points and not even foul”. Veteran Roko Leni Ukic added: “It was a terrible game for us. They made a big run in the start of the third quarter and we couldn’t stop them. There’s not much else to say”.
Coach Aco Petrovic tried to explain: “In the first 20 minutes we scored 42 points, but we missed too many easy baskets. In the third quarter, we had psychological problems and missed even free throws”.
(Photo credit: FIBA.basketball)