Slovenian National Team (part V.)

[Texas_Ranger]

Thank god we hit our free throws in the last minutes.

[velik_m]

The good: We outrebounded the croatians by a significant margin, we hit 3-pointers.

The bad: Interior defense non-existant, we couldn't hit a free throws until final moments of the game.

Given the rebounding edge we had it should have been a blow-out.

Croatians were missing several players too and they are not so far along in their preperation program as we are, but they should do well in this championship.

I expect a loss tomorrow. Hope Dragic will be fine.

EDIT: Oh and i'm happy we avoided the usual up at the finish.

[sendman]

There isn't much to say after this game except that Croatians don't have a clue. If Slovenian team would shoot their free-throws average at least, this game would be ended after 3 quarters. They have Ukic, Vujcic and bunch of butchers...pathetic. Add domestic refs and picture is complete.
Golemac was terrible in the second half, he got nervous as (who knows what home crowd yelled at him). Zdovc should noticed that and take him out.
After tonights game I have to correct my cut predictions. S. Udrih should stay, and D. Lorbek should go home.

All in all, this one feels great....you all know why!

KDOR NE SKAČE NI SLOVENC HEJ, HEJ, HEJ!

[Kamnik]

Name calling your own players isn't cool.

Trash his game all you like, but keep it within a good taste.

Yeah, you are right.

I shouldn't be angry at Jaka anyways, he is doing his best actually. The real problem here is Zdovc.

[Kamnik]

I wish Golemac would stop talking to the refs.

+1 He really can't give it a break even when he obviouslly ed up.

But apart from that he is contributing quite nicely in several areas.

[velik_m]

CROATIA - SLOVENIA
78:82 (21:25, 18:19, 20:25, 19:13)

Ukić        21   E. Lorbek     14 
Banić       12   Lakovič       13 
Kasun       12   S. Udrih      12 
Rožić       11   Nachbar       10 
Nicević     10   Golemac        8 
Vujčić       5   Slokar         7 
Tomić        3   Brezec         5 
Kus          2   Dragič         5 
Tomas        2   D. Lorbek      3 
                 Jagodnik       2
                 Zupan          2  
                 Vidmar         1

Free throws: 15/22; 20/33
Two pointers: 21/35; 19/33
Three pointers: 7/16; 8/17
Rebounds: 16; 30

Looking at that boxscore i think Ukic had a pretty unnoticable 21 points, i thought Vujcic did more damage than that.

Pics from the game: http://www.kzs-zveza.si/kzs/index.php?x=11&galerija=568
------------------
In other news:
Erazem is about to sign with Barcelona to play along side Lakovic . He will be replacing Andersen (which is what he, ironically, did at CSKA too)

Apparently Smodis hela a feast for the russian team when they played in Novo Mesto (Smodis is a captain of CSKA and plays with a lot of team Russia members).

[velik_m]

After tonights game I have to correct my cut predictions. S. Udrih should stay, and D. Lorbek should go home.

I'm still not convinced - yeah he played great in extended time, and as a part time pg, he had a ball in his hands a lot of time and he obviuosly likes it that way. BUT in Euro extended time for our 5th guard means, we have bigger issues, than him not playing well. He also will not be handling pg duties - if he is, we're ed anyway (Beno, Goran, Saša, Jaka all come before him, so Samo running point means at least three of those are down). He needs to show he can do what Slokar does - come in for few minutes, so other players can take a breather, hit a couple of open shots, do some dirty work on defense and in general: do not -up.
The one guard that can perform in his limited time on court, should get that last spot (assuming no injuries). Right now neither one of the trio Samo, Jaka K., Domen looks too hot.

[sendman]

I'm still not convinced - yeah he played great in extended time, and as a part time pg, he had a ball in his hands a lot of time and he obviuosly likes it that way. BUT in Euro extended time for our 5th guard means, we have bigger issues, than him not playing well. He also will not be handling pg duties - if he is, we're ed anyway (Beno, Goran, Saša, Jaka all come before him, so Samo running point means at least three of those are down). He needs to show he can do what Slokar does - come in for few minutes, so other players can take a breather, hit a couple of open shots, do some dirty work on defense and in general: do not -up.
The one guard that can perform in his limited time on court, should get that last spot (assuming no injuries). Right now neither one of the trio Samo, Jaka K., Domen looks too hot.

You have some very good points in your writing and I agree completely.
But I'll try to explain my choice.
1. S. Udrih played poorly in his previous matches in very limited time. D. Lorbek played poorly including yesterday and he got much more playing time so far.
2. I preferred D. Lorbek because I was worried about SF spot (and saw him as a third choice SG). Our SF spot is covered adequately with Nachbar, Golemac and Jagodnik. We don't need D. Lorbek, because Jagodnik is still useful.
S. Udrih showed yesterday that he is able to cover PGs and SGs duties so he can fill in if things go wrong. And things are going wrong with our smalls all the time. For me he is a safe choice. If our main guns are healthy, then it doesn't matter who is sitting at the end of the bench. If hits the fence, S. Udrih is a guy that is prepared to take over the responsibility. He wasn't hiding, like D. Lorbek likes to do.
Also, Brezec showed signs of life and that is another good news.

[Kamnik]

Angel just for you; a video recap from the croatian TV: http://www.hrt.hr/index.php?id=37&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=45726&tx_ttnews[backPid]=34&cHash=643cb2685e
(copy the whole adress)

I just screamed from excitment with that last dunk from Boki even if it is just a preparation match

[Kamnik]

Also a replay at 15pm on šport tv if anyone is interested... I didn't see most of the first half so I am surely going to watch!

[Texas_Ranger]

Also a replay at 15pm on šport tv if anyone is interested... I didn't see most of the first half so I am surely going to watch!

@ commentator replacing Jagodnik with Goran Jurak...not just once.

[Kamnik]

@ commentator replacing Jagodnik with Goran Jurak...not just once.

Yeah, sometimes I have a feeling my 80 year old grandmother who usually can't tell a diference betwen basketball and handball would do a better job comentating.

After watching the game I also changed my mind about Samo Udrih.

Because it seems we need better insuarance in our 1/2 slots than our 2/3 it might be better to keep Samo Udrih then Domen Lorbek who really didn't show anything yet.

[Texas_Ranger]

Yeah, sometimes I have a feeling my 80 year old grandmother who usually can't tell a diference betwen basketball and handball would do a better job comentating.

After watching the game I also changed my mind about Samo Udrih.

Because it seems we need better insuarance in our 1/2 slots than our 2/3 it might be better to keep Samo Udrih then Domen Lorbek who really didn't show anything yet.

You're right. So far they both sucked pretty bad. Specially D.Lorbek, for who I thouhgt that he'll be better than Samo. But yesterday Udrih played really well. I know it's just one game, but it's still better then Lorbek's overall performance.
It really sucks that todays game is not on TV.

[angel_luv]

Nachbar with the dunk to seal the game. We win 82-78.

Awesome!

[velik_m]

starting 5 for game 2: Jaka Lakovič, Samo Udrih, Goran Jagodnik, Jurica Golemac & Primož Brezec.
No Dragic for this game.

Croatia leads 42:36 at half-time.

[velik_m]

Our team went on 16-0 run to start the third. we lead 54:61 at the end of the third.

[sendman]

Our team went on 16-0 run to start the third. we lead 54:61 at the end of the third.

Thanks for the info man. What is your source?

[velik_m]

Slovenia wins 72:77.

[velik_m]

Thanks for the info man. What is your source?

http://www.rtvslo.si/sport/kosarka/e...ovenija/210048

[sendman]

There are wins and there are WINS.

It's good to be Slovenian right now!

[velik_m]

Here is a play-by-play (in croatian): http://kosarka.hr/main.asp?dir=news&newsID=28767
The server is pretty slow though.

[Texas_Ranger]

Without Beno, Vujacic, Dragic and Smodis this win looks pretty good.

[Kamnik]

http://www.rtvslo.si/sport/kosarka/e...e-zmage/210048

Read the middle prt about Radič/Golemac.

I feel bad for Jurica that he needs to "eat that kind of " because he is a nice guy.

But on the other hand... will anyone be more motivated to make a good result than him?

And god damn.... it feels nice to finally have a clear cut go to guy in Erazem Lorbek. If the things get bad; throw the ball to him and let him work!

PROPS TO OUR GUYS FOR THIS WIN!

[Goran Dragic]

Did I play? If yes, how did I do?

[angel_luv]

There are wins and there are WINS.

It's good to be Slovenian right now!