FIBA Update: Mario Hezonja, Croatia fall short against Greece
Mario Hezonja stepped into the starting lineup for the first time and struggled, making some key poor decision late in Croatia’s loss to Greece.
Croatia had a chance to put a vice grip on their group and hold home court with Greece’s backs against the wall. Croatia had a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter.
Greece though has a way of grinding down a defense with its half-court execution, particularly using the pick and roll. Their guards are smart and capable of stepping out and hitting threes when you lay off or driving in and dishing to their skilled big men when you press up.
Some youthful mistakes cost Croatia in the end as Greece pulled out the 72-70 win. Croatia did have a chance to tie at the end as Krunoslav Simon intentionally missed his second free throw, picked up his own rebound and missed a 15-footer at the buzzer.
Vassilis Spanoulis torched Croatia throughout the fourth quarter, finishing with 16 points and six assists.
Mario Hezonja certainly can look at himself for some of the poor execution and leaving the door open for Greece to steal the victory.
Hezonja played in 27 minutes with Bojan Bogdanovic out with a concussion. He shot only 3 for 10 from the field though and had two opportunities in the final two minutes to tie the game with 3-pointers. Both shots though were rushed, early in the shot clock and a bit selfish. He missed his first in the final moments as he came off a screen on a pin down and just took the shot instead of running more offense. His second miss came when he did a dribble sidestep and chucked up the three.
Hezonja is never short on confidence — on both of his made three-pointers, he immediately threw both hands in the air in celebration — and you want to see him keep shooting. Croatia showed a lot of faith in him to keep him in and to to run plays for him.
He just showed his need for continued maturity.
It is not all bad (not that this is bad or concerning) though. Hezonja has looked very engaged on defense and capable of being a playmaker on defense.
Hezonja’s daily highlight was a block on Yanis Bourousis.
It is unclear how much longer Bogdanovic will be out. Hezonja is clearly the guy to fill in and step up until he can play again. Croatia plays Macedonia on Tuesday.
Canada opens second round play in style
Canada made sure this time around they would start off the second phase of group play off in style. There would be no struggles.
Canada defeated 103-66 behind Brady Heslip‘s 23 points. This game was over quickly as Canada’s firepower just overwhelmed Panama.
Melvin Ejim failed to score and Andrew Nicholson recorded four points on 2-for-6 shooting. He also had six rebounds for his tally.
However, two of Nicholson’s points came on this massive jam:
That will do Andrew, that will do. Getting him in the highlights in what turned out to be a dunk and 3-point contest from Canada is very nice. Seeing Nicholson in the post is even better.
Canada plays Uruguay on Monday.
France back on top
France found some somewhat surprising struggles in its opener against Finland. The upstarts took the tournament favorites to overtime and made the French sweat. They found something in a period-opening 7-0 run and carried it over to their matchup with Bosnia & Herzegovina on Sunday.
France dominated its way to an 81-54 victory, getting 23 points off 14 turnovers and an improved shooting performance from Nicolas Batum to cement the victory.
Evan Fournier came off the bench and scored just two points on three missed field goals. He did add three assists in his 16 minutes. Again, coming off the bench, Fournier’s opportunities are going to be somewhat limited, he just needs to continue contributing as a shooter (and make shots eventually) and defend.
France plays Marcin Gortat and Poland on Monday.
Lithuania handles Latvia
Lithuania has long been one of the major powers in European basketball. Even as other teams have come to surpass them, Lithuania is still the gold standard.
Asking this young Latvian team to muscle up against Lithuania was a tall order.
Lithuania took control in the second quarter and never let go in a 68-49 win in Riga, Latvia. It moved Latvia to 1-1 as they prepare to take on Czech Republic on Monday.
The good news with the blowout was that it gave Jannis Timma plenty of time to play. He logged 15 minutes, scoring five points on 2-for-9 shooting. Timma, as we have said throughout the process, is a work in progress. He took seven 3-pointers and made just one.