By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Croatian Hall of Famer Dino Radja shared his thoughts on Drazen Petrovic’s winning mentality and how it can be compared with the one Michael Jordan had. Radja made the post in light of the 17th anniversary of Petrovic’s death in a car accident on June 7, 1993.
Here’s what Radja wrote on his Facebook page:
“It is difficult to write something about Drazen that has not already been written. Yet after watching the Last Dance I have to make a comparison. I’m not going to talk about playing qualities because it doesn’t matter in this situation. Just the mind. Everything that was in Jordan’s head was in Drazen’s. Identical. That’s why he was what he was. A winner above all. Games were lost here and there, championships and titles, but it was the mind that did not allow surrender and that pushed forward without compromise. From him, my mind also learned a lot and copied unconsciously. Who then has an idea of anything. And now to confirm only one situation that few people know. Drazen’s last match against Slovenia in Poland. Totally irrelevant because we played the qualifying finals and the first three go to the European Championships. It means a match for nothing. Nobody even needs to play. However, this was never an option for him.
Radja and Petrovic were teammates on the Croatian national team that faced Jordan’s Dream Team in the 1992 Olympic Games. The two sides clashed in the group stage and the title game with Team USA winning both matches.
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