It is said that "there is no weak brigade in Europe", this sentence has its existence in the football world or the basketball arena. The recent fierce battle of the Men's Basketball European Cup is also to let Chinese fans once again truly feel the strength of the overall strength of European basketball, so even if it is only the group stage, each game has its wonderful highlights.
Slovenia suffered its first defeat
Although Group B is known as the Death Group, Slovenia, led by Doncic, first fought against Lithuania and the second time, seemed to be thriving in this highly competitive group. Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the other hand, defeated Hungary, the weakest in the same group, in the first match, and was returned to the prototype by the host Germany in the second match. So before this game, the strength of the two teams did not seem to be on one level at all, and even the level of confidence was a big gap. But it also made the result of Bosnia and Herzegovina's 97-93 win in the end seem so unexpected.
In fact, the fierce offensive firepower of Slovenia is not impeccable, and the internal line is their relatively weak link. The basket is where Bosnia and Herzegovina's strength lies, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has Nurkic, will not be afraid to face off against any opponent in the three-second zone. This trade-off seems to have cut the gap between the two teams to a certain extent, and Bosnia and Herzegovina played Slovenia 8-0 at the beginning, giving the championship a downward spiral.
Slovenia, which has a powerful backcourt combination of Doncic and Dragic, also quickly stabilized its position, and Doncic used it as an offensive driving point, whether it was a personal assault or an assist to a teammate, or as in the first two games. Throughout the game, Doncic once again handed over a comprehensive statistic of 16 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists. However, since the beginning of the European Championship, Doncic's feel outside the three-point line has not been found, and in this battle with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Doncic has made 0 of 8 three-pointers in the whole game, and only 4 of the three-game total of 22 shots in the European Cup, and the three-point shooting rate is only 18.2%.
In contrast, Bosnia and Herzegovina, their core Nurkic is also inefficient in the match against Slovenia. The center shot just 3-of-13 from the field, and the two-pointers from 2-of-9 shooting were not as high as the three-point shooting rate of 1-of-4. However, Nurkic still has his own way to help the team, in the 30 minutes and 17 seconds of the game, Nurkic in addition to 12 points, but also 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals, really played a central role.
The core characters of the two teams do not feel good about the attack, but fortunately, their helpers are very reliable in this battle. Goran Dragic, who partnered doncic at the backcourt, scored 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting and also delivered six assists, while Qianchar of the front line scored a team-high single-game 22 points. On the Bosnian side, naturalized guard Robertson felt hot, hitting 7 three-pointers in a single game and getting a single-game high of 23 points, while Moussa of the front line scored 22 points with more than 50% shooting, plus 5 rebounds and 5 assists.
Through these data, it can be seen that in this battle, many players outside the core of the two teams have played extremely efficiently, which also makes the score of the two teams always close together. With a 25-20 offensive in the last quarter, Bosnia and Herzegovina finally overthrew the mighty Slovenia. Nurkic and his teammates not only ended Slovenia's 11-game winning streak at the European Championship since 2017, but also gave Doncic its first defeat at the European Championship.
After this battle, the situation in Group B was further complicated. Germany, the host of the three-game victory, is in the first place, while the second to fourth generations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and France are 2 wins and 1 loss, and the bottom of the group, Lithuania and Hungary, which are all 0 wins and 3 losses, have not completely lost the hope of qualifying.
The escalation of the conflict has angered Turkey
The situation in Group A seems to be clearer, after the first two rounds of the group stage, Spain, Turkey, Montenegro and Belgium rank in the top four of the group, and the hosts Georgia and Bulgaria have lost the first two rounds due to their strength, and are at the bottom of the group. However, after the third round, the situation in this group may change to some extent, and the "eye of the storm" of change is the battle between Georgia and Turkey.
Turkey, which has the advantage in strength, took a 25-19 lead from the beginning of the game. However, in the second quarter of the game, they suddenly lost power, and georgia, who played at home in the single quarter, played a wave of 17-8 attack, and the situation on the field was reversed. In the cheers of the home fans, Georgia became more and more courageous, and the five players of the whole team scored 13+, all the way to the final moments of the fourth quarter of the game.
Such a tense situation makes the nerves of the players on both sides tense and tighter, and the smell of gunpowder on the field is getting stronger and stronger. With 4 minutes and 48 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Kirkmaz, a Turkish player who had completed a quasi-kill in the first game, had a verbal altercation with Georgia's Duda Sanadze in a confrontation round, and also posed as a "top bull" head-to-head on the court. After the referee blew two technical fouls separately, they still did not spare, and there was a situation of trying to bypass the pull frame teammates to continue to find each other's theory.
The Georgian fans at home were also indignant for a while, and in addition to shouting, they also began to throw debris into the stadium. In order to control the situation, the referee expelled the two players directly from the game, which calmed the situation and allowed the game to resume. The morale-boosting Georgia reached the second extra time with Turkey and finally defeated the opponent 88-83 to win the first victory of the group stage.
However, the battle on the field is over, and the strife outside the field has just begun. Turkish officials issued a statement saying Kirkmaz had been violently attacked by rival players and stadium personnel. According to a statement from the Turkish side, after Kirkmaz and the trainer entered the players' tunnel, the Georgian bench players, The banished Xanadze, and the police all attacked Kirkmaz. After the match, as many as 30 georgian official police officers also embroiled Turkish players in the clashes. Turkish officials have asked Georgia to provide complete, uncut surveillance footage, and if this condition is not met, Turkey will opt out of the European Championships.
Turkish assistant coach Demir also said in an interview after the game: "It was a double overtime basketball game, there were times when we played well, georgia played well in some times, but after our player Kirkmaz was expelled, three opponent players attacked him in the tunnel, and the security guards on the field attacked our players and trainers. We came here to play basketball instead of boxing, so we're upset about the security that we've experienced so weakly, and we'll keep an eye on that. ”
After this match, Turkey, with 2 wins and 1 loss, is temporarily in third place in Group A, while Georgia, with 1 win and 2 losses, is fifth in the group.
Both Poland and Croatia won
In the first two matches on the evening of September 5, Poland beat Israel 85-76 and Croatia beat Estonia 73-70. One thing the two games have in common is that the winning side tangles with the opponent until the last moment of the game before putting the victory in its pocket.
The first is the war between Poland and Israel, after the 2019 Men's Basketball World Cup, Chinese fans have a deep impression of the Polish team. Today, this Polish team is still centered on naturalized defender Slauter and Ponetka on the flank, playing very holistically. In the first match against Israel, the Polish team had 11 players on the field, 9 had scored contributions, and 4 scored in double figures. Ponetka contributed 11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists across the board, while Slaughter hit six three-pointers from the perimeter and scored a team-high 24 points.
On the Israeli side, Avdia, who played for the Wizards, played well in his first two games, contributing 23 points and 15 rebounds against Finland and 21 points against the Netherlands. As a result, against Poland, Avdia was out of par, scoring only 3 points on 1-of-6 shooting. Although there was still Zusman, who scored 18 points, and Madar, who scored 17 points, Israel, which lost such an important firepower point as Avdia, was defeated at the last minute and lost to Poland.
In another game, Croatia, which has multiple NBA players, faced the unknown Estonia and almost overturned the gutter. With 9 seconds left in the game, Estonia, which was 3 points behind, created a foul on Saric outside the three-point line, and once had the opportunity to tie the score by serving, but Josel's 3 shots and 2 shots allowed Estonia to stop the table with tactical fouls, and Croatia finally took the initiative to foul and opened a "penalty shootout" with the opponent, only to finally win with a 3-point advantage.
In the game, Croatia's Batkovic scored a team-high 17 points on 8-of-8 shooting, only Saric scored 15 points in double figures among NBA players, Zubac had only 8 points and 8 rebounds, and Bojan Bogdanovic scored only 4 points on 1-of-6 shooting. Estonian striker Xosa scored a team-high 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting.