By Panos Katsiroumpas/ 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 from the courts of Madrid and Barcelona.
They need more! Team USA beat Mexico with ease but their performance was not impressive. We can even say that it was problematic. They won the game mostly because of the high class of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson who were the only players that shot the ball well. The biggest problem of Team USA was the set offense. They faced many difficulties to create team plays and they scored mainly from good defensive plays that lead to fast breaks, or transition plays where they found some open shots in the first, or second possession. With such performances they don’t scare their opponents and they have to improve because much more difficult games are coming.
NBA class! Although he is leaving the NBA for better money Gustavo Ayon showed again to the basketball world that he is NBA material. He more than held his ground against the front line of the USA team and finished the game with 25 points and 8 boards. Still, his performance was not enough to help Mexico be more competitive in the game
The best team won. The biggest game of the day was the European derby between France and Croatia. A game that was decided surprisingly in the last possessions. In general we have to say that after the first period during which the French were shooting the ball poorly, the best team won. The French national team had better ball movement, good distances in offense that lead to many open shots from Gelabale and Batum. They were also good in the transition game with Fournier making the difference in this part. Want more? They were better in defense, they were hard and quick and they played great individual defense against Simon, Saric and Tomic. They conceded only 30 points after the first 28 minutes. On the other side Croatia had a lot of issues in point guard position and in the aspect of creation. They didn’t move the ball enough and the attacked with individual plays. They had also many defensive problems in the center position as Tomic and Zoric played defense only with their eyes.
Oasis. There is one reason which makes us sad in the defeat of Croatia. We will miss Bogdan Bogdanovic for the rest of the competition. He is a real world class player, he tried alone to make the comeback for his team scoring 27 points, 16 of them in the last quarter. He scored in any possible way, shooting, posting and in transition. Pure talent!
The turning point. Dominican Republic felt short against Slovenia and the main reason for their loss was a black out. Between the 15th and 22nd minute Slovenia outscored them 23-2 and convert the score from 19-26 to 42-28. In this part of the game the Dominicans couldn’t score in any way and they made eight turnovers, most of them leading to easy baskets from the great transition game of Slovenia. Uros Slokar was the key for the team of Juri Zdovc, he gave a lot of solutions in the offensive end during moments in which Slovenia appeared to be out of rhythm.
Watching the same play again! Spain dominated the game against Senegal from the beginning with Pau Gasol being unstoppable in the offensive end. The Spanish team controlled the paint and they blocked many shots of their opponents. In our opinion the biggest advantage of this team is the very attacking defense they play. They press the ball very well and that causes many turnovers which lead to easy baskets in transition, because Spain is very quick and talented in this part of the game. It was an game that leaves us no place for further comments.
However it’s unacceptable for Rudy Fernandez to try to kick his opponent in a game already decided and a Spanish lead of more than 20 points. This move destroyed the mood on the court and out of the blue, tension rised between the players. It was a really childish action from Rudy.