Slovenian NT for Eurobasket 2009 (Poland)

[elaj]

4. prep. game - Slovenia - Russia 66:70

We lost in second game against Russia (Russia was in control for most part of the game), played without Vujačić, B. Udrih and Smodiš. Terrible performance, especially by Lakovič. Erazem Lorbek was the only one prodoucing, despite he was also terrible from FT line.

This game opened a lot of questions, at least to me.

[inaminute23]

Originally Posted by elaj

4. prep. game - Slovenia - Russia 66:70

We lost in second game against Russia (Russia was in control for most part of the game), played without Vujačić, B. Udrih and Smodiš. Terrible performance, especially by Lakovič. Erazem Lorbek was the only one prodoucing, despite he was also terrible from FT line.

This game opened a lot of questions, at least to me.

I watched the game & as GB fan read my thoughts by clicking the link below.

[wardjdim]

Originally Posted by elaj

This game opened a lot of questions, at least to me.

I wouldn't worry. It's too early to talk. Especially with the 3 key players missing and Nachbar not being allowed to contribute more

However, this one did look like a Eurobasket game. Like an elimination game. And no-one should fool themselves. Either way or another, Russia will keep on pushing the way they did in the past couple Eurobaskets to achieve tight, close wins like this one, simply because they can't win in a different fashion. But with Monya, Khryapa and Ponkrashov as their leaders, no-one can seriously believe they can go far this time...

Slovenia, on the other hand is clearly a better team than the disgrace we noticed today. What a horrible game, really. What a BAD decision making throughout the game by Lakovic, who keeps on leading them in the last minutes (although he made a couple of big baskets late in the game). Seriously, it is more than obvious that without Smodis, they are lacking a true leader. And, the soonest they get rid of this so-called basketball player called Brezec, the better it will be for them. There must be a better back-up center in this country

Lorbek was amazing, really. Although, yes, he was annoyingly bad in shooting his free throws. But, he proved today that he can carry the team at stretches and this is good. Dragic was again positive and a better PG than Lakovic, who can't emerge as nothing else than a productive scorer and Zdovc needs to realize that as early as possible. I guess that the team didn't manage to pass the pressure-test today against a more mature opponent and they had dozens of chances throughout this (extremely annoying, boring and uninteresting until the 38th minute) game. But, they do have the depth and the character to make it. Their supporting cast is very very good and this game can only help them realize what they have been doing wrong for so many years

[elaj]

Basketball federation added another physiotherapist Gašper Suhadolnik to the staff due to Matjaž Smodiš back problems. He has problems with disk hernia and will skip both next two games against Croatia. Saša Vujačić is still undergoing the treatment for his knee problems, while Beno Udrih should be fully fit for the next games.

[zwbgr]

Smodiš will probably skip not only next two games against Croatia but tournament in Spain (Spain, GB, Lithuania) too and maybe also the tournament in Maribor...

[elaj]

This is probably the worst thing that could happen to our NT. He said he will practice 14 days individually and then he will see if the pain goes away and then he will try to practice with the team.

[Alyosha12]

Damn that sucks. We always have problems with injuries. First Bečirović then Vujačič and Udrih a bit and now Smodiš again. I just hope that Vujačič and Smodiš will be able to play we need them both. Vujačič is our only consistent 3 pt shooter and we really need him to space the floor. And Smodiš is ofcourse Smodiš.

As for the game last night. I think Lakovič is playing a bit more because Zdovc wants him to get in the zone, but i only hope if he keeps playing like he is playing he won't get many minutes once we arrive in Poland because truth be told Udrih is much better and Dragič is in excellent shape, sad but true is that Klobučar has been playing the SG spot a lot better then Lakovič. Also Lakovič is an orange cone on defense, i mean he was bad before but now he has gotten even worse, also he is a black hole if he plays a PG, everything comes to a halt when he mans the point and its just him poundin the ball till the clock almost runs out.

I am not worried though, our defense was solid apart from some open looks the Russians got. The shots were just not landing for us.

[Alyosha12]

Originally Posted by inaminute23

I watched the game & as GB fan read my thoughts by clicking the link below.

Sure GB has a nice team, but you lost to BIH and Israel in the qualifying rounds with Deng playing, and barely won against the Czechs by 4 points.

You have a nice team but i think GB is getting a bit ahead of them selfs.

[inaminute23]

GB lost to Israel in overtime after many dodgy decisions by the ref. Deng had not trained with the team before hand either. Also Betts & Archbald were injured! Lost to Bosnia, again Deng & Archibald were injured. Beat Czech republic by only four points, but at the end of the day we won, again no Archibald or Betts.

Oh by the way we won our group.

worried?????

Originally Posted by inaminute23

GB lost to Israel in overtime after many dodgy decisions by the ref. Deng had not trained with the team before hand either. Also Betts & Archbald were injured! Lost to Bosnia, again Deng & Archibald were injured. Beat Czech republic by only four points, but at the end of the day we won, again no Archibald or Betts.

Oh by the way we won our group.

worried?????

Slovenian NT in basketball does not need to worry about any opponent should they have all their currentl players fit for fight (except Becirovic ofc).
With all due respect, GB without Deng and Gordon will most likely be a team competing for the 14-16 final positions.
I see GB as Serbia's only realistic chance to advance from the group.

EDIT: sure u got some solid inside players, but ur guards and SF's are far too vague to be taken seriously.

[Alyosha12]

Originally Posted by inaminute23

GB lost to Israel in overtime after many dodgy decisions by the ref. Deng had not trained with the team before hand either. Also Betts & Archbald were injured! Lost to Bosnia, again Deng & Archibald were injured. Beat Czech republic by only four points, but at the end of the day we won, again no Archibald or Betts.

Oh by the way we won our group.

worried?????

Not in th least. The point i was trying to make was that you struggled with teams far far inferior to Serbia, Slovenia and Spain, sure you pulled out some wins, and lost some close games, but the point is that the teams you were playing were BiH, Israel and Czech Republic, you need to keep that in mind.
Even if Deng and Gordon would have played it would not be any different. The best example for this is the the USA team, they needed to play 3 years together to really get it going, they needed to lose the worlds to latter win the Olympics, and mind you that these are the 10 best players in the NBA and they still needed time to gel.
It would have been the same if Gordon and Dang had played. However had they played and even if GB wouldn't have made it out of the group stage they would have been a different team come London time.
(damn i used so many different future tenses i bet a screwed them all up lol)

[wardjdim]

Originally Posted by inaminute23

GB lost to Israel in overtime after many dodgy decisions by the ref. Deng had not trained with the team before hand either. Also Betts & Archbald were injured! Lost to Bosnia, again Deng & Archibald were injured. Beat Czech republic by only four points, but at the end of the day we won, again no Archibald or Betts.

Oh by the way we won our group.

worried?????

I am sorry, mate, but to be honest, you will not find anyone in this forum that would be worried if they had to face your team. Although your site is rather interesting and you are admirable, since in the UK basketball is one of the least popular sports, it is still questionable whether your team would manage a loss of less than 15 points in the group stage with Deng and Gordon in the roster. Imagine now that they are not with the team

I am pretty sure that the likes of Bosnia and Czech Republic are not worrying anyone either

[inaminute23]

Don't get me wrong, GB are up against it. Possibly though, GB are even stronger than last year even without Deng. Betts & Archibald are back (Betts only played one game last year). Freeland is a better player than last year, and our guards are probably stronger. Lenzley is back, Leven is fully fit (carrying a foot injury last year). Agree we don't have a quality PG, but they are steady. Our shooters are pretty decent, Reinking, Leven, & possibly Forbes can hit 40%+. Don't forget the Slovenian weak point is 3 point shooting. Slovenia have some great players, but if you lose Smodis, & Vujacic it might become interesting.

Also the last time Slovenia played England in 2001 (eurobasket division A), England won.

Plus I need to hold onto some hope!

[Alyosha12]

Originally Posted by inaminute23

Don't get me wrong, GB are up against it. Possibly though, GB are even stronger than last year even without Deng. Betts & Archibald are back (Betts only played one game last year). Freeland is a better player than last year, and our guards are probably stronger. Lenzley is back, Leven is fully fit (carrying a foot injury last year). Agree we don't have a quality PG, but they are steady. Our shooters are pretty decent, Reinking, Leven, & possibly Forbes can hit 40%+. Don't forget the Slovenian weak point is 3 point shooting. Slovenia have some great players, but if you lose Smodis, & Vujacic it might become interesting.

Also the last time Slovenia played England in 2001 (eurobasket division A), England won.

Plus I need to hold onto some hope!

Believe me if GB was in a different group i would be your no.2 fan just behind you but sadly you are not
Also Slovenia is not such a bad 3 pt shooting team as the game against Russia lead you to believe, true the only real 3 pt specialist is Vujačič and that is why he is so important to us but we still have guys who can hit the 3 pt with regularity like Nachbar, Udrih, Lakovič, Smodiš, Jagodnik, D.Lorbek and Klobučar. However it is true that if we lose Vujačič it will be a big hit and god forbid we lose Smodiš.

[Joško Poljak Fan]

it's just a preparation game, it happens those are even less watchable than the yesterday's one

@wardjdim: Brezec is a shadow of his former self obviously, he used to be a good threat from below the rim, but obviously his bench time in NBA and nowadays in Roma wasn't all that coincidental.

Otherwise, it would really be nice to have the machine in the team, we were really weak on guard rotations yesterday. Samo Udrih might step up as a role player, same to some lesser extent goes for Lakovič, while the ideal scenario would be Beno, Saša and Dragič playing most of those minutes.
Lakovič gets busted pretty fast when he receives a lot of attention, same for D. Lorbek, we need some creating anti-ballhogs that'll make the ball move.

one more attitude I dislike: Slokar not doing anything in the game, he gets one elbow in his neck and as if the whole world turned against him: Uroš you just got a punch - it's frustrating and annoying, but... play the game, return the same punch, be a soldier not a wussy...

[Srle]

With Deng and Gordon I would consider GB as very serious contender in Poland even tough you have very poor basketball history . But without them it will be very hard for you guys to get out of group. But again in basketball anything is possible that 's why basketball is the best team sport

[ip84]

Don't you think that you give up on Lacovich too fast?

It's a player who was considered of the best PG at Europe when he was at Panathinaikos, and I don't know what happened to him after that, but last year after he came back from the injury he was not bad at all, including at the ACB final.
Plus 2 years ago despite being in worst shape of his career he was performed well at the Eurobasket (well, until that last 2 minutes vs Greece).

[pohani komarac]

Originally Posted by inaminute23

Don't get me wrong, GB are up against it. Possibly though, GB are even stronger than last year even without Deng. Betts & Archibald are back (Betts only played one game last year). Freeland is a better player than last year, and our guards are probably stronger. Lenzley is back, Leven is fully fit (carrying a foot injury last year). Agree we don't have a quality PG, but they are steady. Our shooters are pretty decent, Reinking, Leven, & possibly Forbes can hit 40%+. Don't forget the Slovenian weak point is 3 point shooting. Slovenia have some great players, but if you lose Smodis, & Vujacic it might become interesting.

Also the last time Slovenia played England in 2001 (eurobasket division A), England won.

Plus I need to hold onto some hope!

Smodis would be big lose for them, but Vujacic it's not so important. Most important thing for them is that their players don't f... mothers to each other and that Lakovic isn't their go to guy and result will be there

[zwbgr]

Beno Udrih is ready to play tomorrow against Croatia and Saša Vujačič is returning to practice on monday. Now we just hope Smodiš will be ready in two weeks or so...

[elaj]

I heard rumors from very reliable source that Matjaž Smodiš and NT will soon announce that he will drop out from the list of players for Eurobasket 2009 due to back problems. This will be a huge shock, he is our captain afterall. I hope this will not come true.