QF: Croatia Vs Serbia

[CoachZ]

Well, it's not like everything went right for Croatia. 2nd best player Šarić was non existant, Simon started a few Serbian counter attacks by handing them the ball, Ukić did almost nothing offensively, Bilan committed few stupid fouls. Not what you call a perfect game. Only good performances were from Bogdanović, Planinić and Hezonja at the end.

Serbia had Bogdanović on a good shooting day, Teodosić who didn't score much but made plays for others, Marković and Jović were OK. The main difference were turnovers, Teodosić's playmaking and Bogdan's hot streak. If you wanna talk about bad day, Šarić had it worst by far. And still it was close.

The whole team shot 10/31 for 2pts in the first half. Most of them easy layups. So many offensive rebounds. Than in the second half we stopped rebounding. The whole team played way under their potential. Saric and Simon didn't show up on the other side, but on our side 6-7 guys just gave shitty performances. Like I said, with these rosters in a normal game it's an easy 10-15 win. Of course, this never happens since we get into our heads for no reason when playing them. Missed layups, dunks and easy buckets are a sign of nerves.

[Beva]

The whole team shot 10/31 for 2pts in the first half. Most of them easy layups. So many offensive rebounds. Than in the second half we stopped rebounding. The whole team played way under their potential. Saric and Simon didn't show up on the other side, but on our side 6-7 guys just gave shitty performances. Like I said, with these rosters in a normal game it's an easy 10-15 win. Of course, this never happens since we get into our heads for no reason when playing them. Missed layups, dunks and easy buckets are a sign of nerves.

Besides Raduljica's efficency, every other Serbian player played exactly like they've been playing the whole tournament. Teodosić shoots like crap all six games, Kalinić had one good game versus China. It's not like they were good in other games and then suddenly bad this one. Only Raduljica really played bad by his standards. But Šarić did also so I'm not sure about your 15 points difference in quality.

This Croatian team proved themselves winning Italy, Greece, Spain and Lithuania. Not something many NT's could do.

[Big Lebowski]

once you run away from the medal podium, you can never come back..
02.07.1995

Croatia may ask to Greek Federation to organize again the ceremony and see if the curse may disappear.

[CoachZ]

Besides Raduljica's efficency, every other Serbian player played exactly like they've been playing the whole tournament. Teodosić shoots like crap all six games, Kalinić had one good game versus China. It's not like they were good in other games and then suddenly bad this one. Only Raduljica really played bad by his standards. But Šarić did also so I'm not sure about your 15 points difference in quality.

This Croatian team proved themselves winning Italy, Greece, Spain and Lithuania. Not something many NT's could do.

Keep in mind that we are playing like crap all tournament except the game vs USA. That is why I said, if it was a normal game where both teams give their 100% and play at the peak of their talent and power, it is a 10-15 point difference with these rosters. I will not even go into speculations about Bjelica and Marjanovic being there. That is the current gap, that is there and I have said already that it will narrow to a few possessions in the coming years.

Just read what I said. The way we have played this is a realistic result more or less 5-6 point gap. In terms of talent, quality and peak play the gap is larger. Of course this will never be like that, since we are bitter rivals and it will always be close game, regardless of talent gap. Nerves, stakes, mind games etc.

We have underperformed this OG tournament so far, except for that one game vs USA. Even there we had a terrible start to the game. We need to show up against Australia at 100% and the final is in grasp.

[the_black_planet]

Agreed 100% on Djordjevic. He lost control of the game a lot of times. This 100% on the players, the win. We had them in foul trouble and early bonus in all of the game, especially in the first half and you shoot just 4 FTs in a half. If it wasn't for the FT shootout at the end, we just didn't use the foul situation to our advantage. And then suddenly we started making retarded fouls up by 14 and let them back into the game.

Like I said, if coached and played correctly this is a 10-15 win for Serbia with these two rosters as of now. In the years that gap will be reduced due to some of the young bigs for Croatia maturing. As of now, they played a tough game and gave a lot of fighting spirit and still it wasn't enough to beat us on a bad day for us offensively and many things going wrong.

On the other hand, I think if Aco had benched Bojan for a couple of minutes in the 4th to have him fresh in the last 1-2 minutes Croatia could win it. I know it's hard to decide to bench your leader just as soon as you have come back from a double digit deficit and you are fighting for the win but it was obvious to me that Bojan who was fantastic all night needed some rest and a chance to clear his head, so it would be a good decision. We all know Serbia has a more complete roster and the advantage of the great maestro Milos Teodosic, on the other hand Bojan played at a fantastic level this summer and he was an absolute leader, with this Bojan and the other bunch of talented and motivated players Croatia has a chance against anybody no matter how more complete roster they have. Again great fight, looking forward to enjoy equally beautiful matches in the Semis!

[CoachZ]

Definitely the defining moment of the game:

14022240_775823672560780_5557065517492043199_n.jpg

Hezonja's face in the background is priceless

[Titov Pionir]

[Titov Pionir]

Sorry about the title, but it's a cool video to watch )))

[Arsonist]

The detail for Croatia's defeat yesterday is that there appeared Saric, Bogdanovic took the team on his shoulders throughout the tournament but always supported Saric yesterday that only 6 Pts influential in the defeat

[reamily]

The detail for Croatia's defeat yesterday is that there appeared Saric, Bogdanovic took the team on his shoulders throughout the tournament but always supported Saric yesterday that only 6 Pts influential in the defeat

thats the first game plan stop saric, because saric was the one responsible on why this team got this far, with hezonja maturing and bogdanovic scoring croatia outside usa is a tough team to beat..

[ThePeraCar]

dont worry Picek, soon its gonna be much easier, first 20 years are the hardest,later you get used to it

[Picek]

dont worry Picek, soon its gonna be much easier, first 20 years are the hardest,later you get used to it

whatever makes you happy.
just continue trolling..
I seriously don't mind.
take your best shot..

[CoachZ]

So the video of Bojan Bogdanovic cussing at Kalinic at the end of the game is out, when they are supposed to shake hands and in general acting like a bitch after losing is just terrible. Coupled with the fact that he will fight the bench That says something...

[usagre]

So the video of Bojan Bogdanovic cussing at Kalinic at the end of the game is out, when they are supposed to shake hands and in general acting like a bitch after losing is just terrible. Coupled with the fact that he will fight the bench That says something...

Not surprising that it was somebody like Kalinic that the beef was with. It usually is some bit role player that acts and feels strong at the opposing team's star knowing that the better players on his team will back up his talk.

[CoachZ]

Not surprising that it was somebody like Kalinic that the beef was with. It usually is some bit role player that acts and feels strong at the opposing team's star knowing that the better players on his team will back up his talk.

It has more to do with the fact that he shot 6/9 at the half nad ended 7/15 and it was Markovic who basically beat the shit out of him. Kalinic was on Saric. So there is not need for beef with him