By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Croatia star center Ivica Zubac was visibly disappointed following the defeat of his national team to Greece in the Final of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament of Piraeus.
“It’s a tough loss,” a frustrated Zubac told Eurohoops, moments after Croatia fell to Greece 69 – 80. “I don’t know. They were just the better team today and they won. Congratulations to Greece. They played well. It is what it is.”
Zubac finished the tournament with team-highs 22,8 points (on 36 – 47 from the field) 11.3 rebounds, as well as 2.2 assists. He had 19 points and 12 rebounds against Greece in a game where Croatia was overall lackluster on offense and made 6-21 on threes.
On the other end, apart from Giannis Antetokounmpo, who finished with 23 points and eight rebounds, Croatia saw center George Papagiannis stepping up from afar to stretch the floor and make them pay for almost every open look they gave him.
Papagiannis, a new player of EuroLeague side AS Monaco, finished with 19 points while hitting 5 – 8 triples, a new personal all-time record.
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Vassilis Spanoulis has given his players a “license to kill” and Zubac and Croatia were well aware that Papagiannis won’t hesitate to take any shot from deep. They hoped that he just wouldn’t make them.
He didn’t do them the favor.
“We know he can shoot,” Zubac said on Papagiannis before applauding his opponent for his shot-making. “We know that’s what he can do. We decided to live with that. He made shots. Congrats to him. He made a lot of big shots for them when they needed it. Especially in the first half.”
Papagiannis delivered a spectacle in the first half with 4 out of 5 threes to keep Greece 45 – 39. It took him some time to connect to the basket after the break but when it happened, he hit a huge triple to put Greece up 75 – 62 with 2:48 to play.
The Croatia national team took a reasonable, calculated risk with the perimeter shooting of the Greek national team while packing the paint to mainly try and eliminate the massive damage that Antetokounmpo can inflict if left unattended.
This is kind of a blueprint for teams that face Giannis and Greece. But, like Slovenia before them, Croatia saw some of their opponents taking up the gauntlet and responding to the situation.
It wasn’t just Papagiannis. Nick Calathes also emerged as perhaps an unlikely threat from beyond the arc, contributing 3 out of 6 threes to go with his 11 assists.
“With a team like this, you got to decide,” Zubac added. “You got to live with something. That’s why we decided to give the outside shots. Some guys made them and hats off to them.”
Croatia was held to 30 points in the second half, losing their touch to the basket and failing to move the ball as well as they did before the break. Josip Sesar’s players heavily struggled against their opponents tough, highly energetic and ever-active defense.
“We knew it’s going to be a different game against Greece,” Zubac commented. “They are bigger and more physical than the other teams we faced so far and we knew we had to play outside more. The Xs and Os, pick n’ rolls, swing it from side to side. We tried to switch it up a bit. Unfortunately it didn’t work. But I’m proud of my guys. Proud of my teammates and proud of my coaches. We fought until the end and unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”
With the EuroBasket 2025 being the next target for the Croatian national team, Zubac hopes that this group of players will try to take advantage of future opportunities in order to gel together and present a more powerful squad.
“Just playing together,” Zubac said when asked what he and his teammates can learn from this tournament. “We haven’t been playing much together. We played one big competition in a lot of years. We need continuity. Games are only going to help us.”