14.09.2013

Croatia In Quarters With Total Recall

Turning Point: An explosive Croatia came out of the locker rooms after the interval and scored 18 points in the first 4:51 of action in the third, as Bojan Bogdanovic and Krunoslav Simon drilled two three-pointers apiece, to turn a 36-31 deficit into a 49-43 lead.

Game Hero: Simon was sublime all over the floor during Croatia's majestic third-quarter burst, but his partner-in-crime Bogdanovic was the player who sparked some life into Croatia during the second frame, to prevent Italy from escaping, then capping his performance by hitting a key triple with 3:28 left in the game to give Croatia some breathing space, 70-62, amidst Italy's fight-back.
Stats Don't Lie: Croatia hit 10 of their 16 shots from the floor in the third quarter, including four of their first five three-point attempts. Italy went 2-for-14 in that period and also turned over possession on four occasions.

Krunoslav Simon was the everywhere-man for Croatia, finishing with 14 points and five rebounds

Croatia outscored Italy 26-9 in the third quarter to turn around the tables on their Group F Saturday clash and then held out for a 76-68 win, their sixth consecutive at EuroBasket 2013, which secures them a spot in the quarter-finals. 

Italy's game plan to stretch the floor on offence and collapse inside on defence worked wonders during the first quarter of Saturday's early clash at Stozice Arena in Ljubljana.

Croatia seemed unable to hit any shot from any range, went 22% from the floor during the first ten minutes and Luigi Datome sunk a triple at the end of Italy's 24-second possession with 1:17 on the clock to give his team a 17-8 lead after the opening period.

Six minutes before the half-time buzzer, Marco Belinelli drove to the basket, drew a foul mid-air, made the lay-up but missed his free throw, to make it 26-13 for Italy.

With the game slipping off Croatia's hands, Bogdanovic went on a damage-limitation mission.

He dunked in the open floor, on Croatia's first fast-break in the game, to reduce to 26-17, and after Travis Diener hit a jumper from the top of the key for Italy, the Croatian winger drilled a three and sunk two free throws 3:58 from the half-time buzzer to bring his team within six points, 28-22.

Italy went into the interval leading 36-31, but could sense they should have done better.

"Our big mistake was not to go at half-time with a lead of at least 10-15 points, because of a few mistakes on our part," Italy point guard Andrea Cinciarini said after the game.

"In the third quarter they started off by hitting consecutive triples and suddenly we couldn't match them for energy."

Bojan Bogdanovic kept Croatia in the hunt during a poor second period for the eventual victors

Simon with a floating lay-up 8:56 from the end of the third and Bogdanovic with a triple just 25 seconds later, levelled the scores at 38.

"There were lots of people, there were lots of expectations, we started bad and lost confidence in the first half," Simon said afterwards.

"But at the break we calmed down and you saw we were great afterwards, we played like we can to win the game."

Cinciarini replied from the corner with 6:27 on the clock to give Italy their last lead in the game, 43-41 but Luka Zoric sunk two free-throws and then Bogdanovic and Simon combined for eight consecutive points to bring Croatia ahead, 51-43.

"We just said in the locker room that we have to keep our concentration, press their point guards on the pick-and-roll, and on offence share the ball more and take the open shot," said Croatia center Ante Tomic.

Roko Leni Ukic took it upon himself to drive to the Italian basket and finish at the rim to score the last six points in the third, and Croatia led 57-45 at the end of the period.

Dontaye Draper gave Croatia their biggest lead on the night, 64-49, with 6:58 left to the final buzzer and from then on Italy threw everything but the kitchen sink at their opponents, managing to reduce the gap to four points, but Simon and Bogdanovic were there again for Croatia to push back the charge with key baskets.

"It's a great feeling to play for these fans because they are here for us and we need to give them what they came here for," Tomic said.

"But the other reason [for the six-game winning streak] is between us, because we said before the championship 'come on guys, this is our year, we need to do something special this time'."