ponedjeljak, 23.08.2010.
40 MINUTES OF TRUTH - PREVIEW: Croatia vs U.S.A. (28th August 2010, 19.00 CET)
ONE FOR THE HISTORY - 1992 BARCELONA OLYMPIC FINAL BETWEEN CROATIA AND USA
HISTORY OF THE MATCH-UP: USA leads the series 3-0
1992 OLYMPIC GAMES IN BARCELONA, GROUP: Croatia 70, U.S.A.103
SHORT RESUME: with all eyes on the match-up of the future Chicago Bulls teammates Kukoc vs Pippen, Nets SG Drazen Petrovic was up to the task as expected and proved that he is already one of the NBA's elite players.
1992 OLYMPIC GAMES IN BARCELONA, FINAL: Croatia 85, U.S.A. 117
SHORT RESUME: Croatia opened the game as best it could with C Franjo Arapovic dunking one down on a fastbreak and gaining historical 26:25 lead for Croatia. But Barkley scored the three-pointer on the next possetion and the rest is history.
1996 OLYMPIC GAMES IN ATLANTA, GROUP: Croatia 71, U.S.A, 102
SHORT RESUME: talented Croatia guards Mulaomerovic and Rimac have been left undrafted in 1996 NBA Draft and were eager to prove themselves against The Dream Team III. With both Kukoc and Radja performing below their NBA level Raptors C Zan Tabak picked up a slack and scored 19 points (on 8-13 from the field, 7 rebounds).
2010 EXIBITION RECORDS
- Croatia N/A (losses coming from Lithuania, Greece and Russia)
- USA 3-0
PROPABLE STARTERS
CROATIA
PG Roko Ukic, Fenerbahce Ulker
SG Zoran Planinic, CSKA Moscow
SF Marko Tomas, Fenerbahce Ulker
PF Ante Tomic, Real Madric
C Luka Zoric, BC Zagreb
USA
PG Chauncey Billups, Denver Nuggets
SG Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls
SF Kevin Durant, Oklahoma Thunder
PF Lamar Odom, L.A. Lakers
C Tyson Chandler, Charlotte Bobcats
SHORT PREVIEW
In order to keep it close Croatia should play the best game it can at the moment given the injuries of it's backcourt players over the summer (Ukic, Kus, Planinic). If the Croatia sticks up to the game plan, score open shots and attack the offensive boards effectively it's starting unit could stay close.
However performance of Croatian bench reinforcements (Popovic, Bogdanovic, Peric, Loncar, Banic, Andric) will determine if this game will become just a regular or a blow out loss.
In the best case scenario this game could stay close until the last couple of minutes but this is when Mike Krzyzewski's Hall of Fame type experience takes over Joke Vrankovic's limited Euroleague experience with Cibona.
In any case this game should be just a formality for Team USA if it 's players give their best on the floor. Croatia NT should save the strenght for the next important games in the group (vs Brasil and Slovenia) while trying not to embarass itself in front of the global audience.
KEYS TO WIN THE GAME
CROATIA
1 - slow down the tempo either with hitting shots or not commiting turnovers
2 - attack the offensive boards being aware that Chandler is only true center out there
3 - install the zone defense to protect the basket from "pick and role" schemes
USA
1 - apply defensive pressure in massive extent in order to create easy transition baskets
2 - protect the basket from the easy drives and prevent offensive rebounding
3 - exploit favorable match-ups, especially try to have a big night from Kevin Durant
Marjan Crnogaj is editor-in-chief of Nba.blog.hr & CroHoops.com.
He can be reached at marjan.crnogaj@gmail.com
