By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Croatia star forward Mario Hezonja had a rather short and quite sweet answer to laconically point out why his team won’t be focusing on any specific players in the Olympic Qualifiers Final vs. Greece.
Even if said player is one of the biggest superstars on the planet right now.
“This isn’t tennis my man. It’s basketball,” Hezonja told Eurohoops when asked about the defense against Giannis Antetokounmpo being a key in the upcoming battle for the Olympic Games ticket in the Piraeus tournament. The Real Madrid player echoed what he had said about stopping Luka Doncic, following Croatia’s win over Slovenia in the opener.
“We need to stop everybody,” Hezonja added. Based on what we’ve seen from Greece so far, he’s not exaggerating.
Four Greece players scored in double figures in the semifinal win over Luka Doncic’s Slovenia and 10 made at least one basket. Those who led the offensive charge where Thomas Walkup and Vassilis Toliopoulos with 19 and 17 points apiece while Giannis had 13.
Greece has several players with the quality and potential to inflict heavy damage when left unattended. Hezonja has a first-hand knowledge of this after facing many of them in his EuroLeague journeys with Real Madrid.
“I knew this even before the tournament,” Hezonja said, speaking from experience. “Because these guys are proven players. Many of them were in the Final Four in EuroLeague. They are big for their clubs. They have a huge roster. It’s going to be a difficult game and everything is at stake.”
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To make the Final against Greece, Croatia had to overcome the challenge of a Dominican national team that was perhaps way tougher than many would have expected.
Croatia trailed 71 – 70 down the stretch before a decisive 0 – 7 run. The Dominican side approached 77 – 78 in the very last seconds when Hezonja drained a pair of free throws and his team managed to play the decisive defense on the other end to get the win.
“Today we indeed had bad energy,” Hezonja said. “Which is understandable after a terrible loss to New Zealand and the days in between. It’s hard to recuperate in this kind of tournament. But OK we played with a lot of brain in the end. I’m glad to what we adapted to what our coach was asking from us and we actually won the game.”
So far in the Olympic Qualifiers, Hezonja is averaging 13.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 6.6 assists.