By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
Croatia is in the final of the pre-Olympic tournament of Turin and Dario Saric expected to face the hosts, Italy in the final.
As he said after beating Greece: “The favorite is Italy. We expect a low scoring game, like the first game between us. We will try to fight, try to beat them, we expect a battle in the paint and that’s the way we must play”.
Croatia was defeated by Italy in the first game of the tournament during the group phase, but Saric believe that the home court advantage of the Italian can make them feel even more pressure in a knock out game:”This can be a double edged sword. If we start good we will put the pressure on them. We will try to make their players nervous and I think that in the first game we showed that we have our chances against them”.
As for the game against Greece and the way he defended against Giannis Antetokounmpo, he explained: “We had a day off and coach told me that I was guarding him. I knew it was going to be a hard job, because for sure he will be an All Star next year. You must always find a “medicine” for everybody. I watched many videos, how he moves to the left after he stars to speed up on his right. I was waiting for that. And I think we find the way. We stopped him, we stopped Bourousis who had an unbelievable season. And it’s also what I said before the game. Perperoglou and Papapetrou could have a big role in this team, because we were focused on Antetokounmpo and Bourousis. Ok, they did score some points, but we got the win”.