By Panos Katsiroubas info@eurohoops.net
The World Cup shots is going to be an everyday round up from Eurohoops in which we will summarize everything that we liked or dislike during the games! So sit back and enjoy some very important details of the basketball festival at Spain…
Dario Saric! This kid is improving every day and his talent is really unlimited. He was the best player of Croatia in the big showdown against Argentina. He scored 16 points, grabbed 9 rebounds and he was impressive in almost every part of the game. He is only 20 years old and his future is bright!
MVP: Francisco Garcia played like a true leader and lead Dominican Republic to a huge win against New Zealand. His numbers are just insane, 29 points with 11/15 FG (6/8 2pts, 5/7 3pts), 6 rebounds, 2 assists and a leading attitude in offense plus a solid defensive contribution.
The new generation of France! As we mentioned in yesterday’s “shots” France has huge problems without Parker and needs other players to step up. In the game against Serbia the next generation of France took over and got the job done in the thriller against Serbia. Lauvergne with 19 points and 6 rebounds, Antoine Diot with 15 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and Jackson with 12 points and many important plays in crucial parts of the game.
The “mas Grande”! Luis Scola showed again why he is considered one of the best forward/ centers of the last 15 years. He destroyed all the big guys of Croatia keeping Argentina in the game till the end. His numbers? 30 points and 9 rebounds!
North power! Finland was demolished yesterday by Team USA but they showed to the world why they deserved the wildcard. They reminded the impressive team of the last EuroBasket. Huff and Koponen where the keys to success. Koponen played great, sharing the ball and scoring when needed, and he also had 9 assists. At the same time Huff was a scoring machine from the beginning till the end. They are tough and they are the definition of the TEAM!
Family matters! Goran and Zoran Dragic started the competition in a crazy way. After 2 games they are the transition machine of Slovenia looking to run in every possession and till now they have done it successfully. They are a real menace for all defenses in the World Cup and they are unstoppable either in set basketball or in transition. They average together almost 36 points, 10 rebound and 6 assists per game.
Bad team, Bad luck: For Puerto Rico this competition is going completely wrong. They have a talented roster but they play very individual basketball without cooperation in the offensive end and without energy in defense. In the 1st game against Argentina they had only 5 assists. Today they shared the ball better but they were very unlucky and after losing their leader Carlos Arroyo due to injury didn’t have clear mind.
No Iliasova, No Turkoglu, Yes team basketball! The performance against the United States showed that Turkey will not be an easy to beat opponent. This happens because although they don’t have the stars of the past, they are looking much more like a solid unit. They have “workers” in every position who are willing to play defense, to put their bodies to the fire in every play. They had an incredible comeback against New Zealand and they put pressure to the USA for 30 minutes.