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.
Real dominator!! The game of Lithuania against New Zealand was totally decided by the size of the Lithuanian team. They put the ball inside the paint where Jonas Valanciunas was a total dominator. He scored 22 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and it was a very difficult miss match for the “Tall Blacks”. Moreover the defense of Lithuania forced their opponents to shoot more from outside. The points in the paint differential was +10 for Lithuania. The only time of the game during which the New Zealanders came back, was when they started to shoot the ball better and decided to send double teams in the paint. In this critical part of the game Valanciunas scored some huge baskets and Maciulis added a big three to increase the lead of Lithuania to +7 which never looked back. The Greens took 42 points from their frontcourt (Valanciunas, Motiejunas, Lavrinovic brothers) and this was the critical part that which led them to the quarterfinals stage.
Serbia prevailed!
Serbia played their best game in the tournament so far and won the big European derby against Greece. This happened mainly because of the following reasons.
Greece didn’t play defense: The Greek defense was in a very low level in this game, not only individually but also the team defense. Serbia scored 90 points! Most of them was not a result of a team play but points on one on one situation. Nothing was right in the Greek defense and as a result Serbia scored easily in many different ways.
Serbia stopped the offensive plays of Greece: In the previous games the Greek team had as basic weapon in offense the transition game and the good ball movement with many screens away of the ball and in the weak side. In this game, Serbia stopped almost all the transition plays with clever fouls, never letting Greece to open the tempo and find rhythm. Moreover, they played with switches in all screens away of the ball with the risk of creating miss matches but with the advantage that they never let open spaces for Gthe reeks, in order to make some good passes to cutters for easy baskets. This risk proved to be successful and Greece found only some easy baskets because of the miss matches, especially with Printezis in the beginning, but nothing more.
The psychological aspect: Serbia proved to be better prepared mentally for the game. They were ready to face all the advantages of the Greek team and they showed huge confidence in their offense. They scored in almost every possession after Greek baskets and “killed” their opponents in the psychological part. The Greeks were never been able to make a run or make 2-3 crucial plays in a row.
My name is Emir! What can we say about that game? It could have gone either way but it was decided by two huge three pointers presented by Emir Preldzic in the last minute of the game. He scored 17 points, 11 in the crucial fourth quarter, including the game winning three point shot, 5 seconds before the end. This was the third big comeback of the Turkish team. First it was the game against New Zealand, then the game against Finland and now Australia was the victim.
The “Boomers” took a double digit lead in the third quarter with their full court pressure as a weapon. Turkey faced many difficulties to share the ball well and find the way to the basket. But as we have mentioned in previous “shots”, Turkey this year is the definition of the team. They improved their defense in the last quarter with Guler as the basic weapon and they managed to turn the tide. Despite the presence of Asik, the Aussies controlled the boards and the battle in the paint. Turkey was saved bythe performance of their backcourt. Preldzic and Guler scored 16 points and added some huge defensive plays. Arslan had also 10 points in very crucial parts of the fourth quarter.
No Scola, no party… Brazil came into the game with one big target. To stop Scola and never let him score easy baskets in the offensive end. They faced difficulties from the other players for the first 20 minutes but in the second half they prevailed. They used a great defensive plan to stop the pick and rolls with Scola, sending always help from the weak side and risking some free three pointers. In the paint they always played him with a double team and forced him to receive the ball 4-5 meters away from the basket. Again they risked some long range open shots that Argentina made with high percentages in the first half, but in the second they didn’t have the same effeciency. It was an almost perfect defensive plan from Ruben Magnano. Moreover, the win of Brazil was a result of deeper roster and better solutions from the bench. Neto was huge when Huertas faced foul troubles. He scored 21 points and orchestrated like a veteran the offensive game of his team. Vieira was also great and Varejao was a key in defense and rebounding. In the end it was an easy and fair win for Brazil.