Croatia cruised by Finland in their 2nd round Eurobasket encounter on Thursday, winning 88-63 and moving to the top of their group. With the game played just over the border in Slovenia, Croatian fans made their presence known as they chanted throughout, leaving the appearance of a home game. The first quarter was sloppy for both teams, but Croatia’s dominance on the the boards and two three pointers from Damjan Rudež allowed them to take a 17-11 lead. A hot start for the Croats in the 2nd saw them pull ahead with a 14-0 run that stretched over seven minutes. They went into the half with the game safely out of reach, at 39-20. Croatia out-rebounded Finland 32-15 in the first half, and also shot dramatically better than the Finns.
Highlights
The Croats cruised in the 2nd half, with the game finishing Croatia 88, Finland 63. Damjan Rudež led all scorers with 17 points, and was 5 for 8 from beyond the arc. Bojan Bogdanović, Roko Ukić, and Ante Tomić also scored in the double digits. Tomic shot a perfect 5 for 5 and secured seven rebounds in just 17 minutes of play.
Next up for Croatia will be Italy on Saturday. Italy are the only undefeated team thus far, at 5-0. Italy are led by San Antonio Spur guard Marco Bellinelli, who has averaged 16 points per game. A win for either team would secure their spot in the quarterfinals.
Ante Tomić Interview
yeah, Tomic is soft. Skilled, but soft.
Big win against Italy. If only Tomic could put some size on that frame he would be a monster.
We just beat italy, played a great second half. With the win we qualified for the QFs and if we beat Greece on Monday we get first in the group and n paper and easier opponent in the QFs.
Well done to the boys.
i’m also against all these black americans on national european teams.. It’s a bs a rule. but almost every team has a black pointguard playing for them.
Wish bojan could have came over to the nets ths season.
Hood rats !
on a side note, I played HS ball against Omar Cook in the CHSAA. Dude was a monster as PG… Killed it at SJU but I’d like to meet his people who told him to declare early…
No racism…..my issue is that he is not a hrvat. I am against the two brazilian-born wanne be hrvati who are on the soccer team now.
We could bring in Messi to play for the repka and the gasol brothers for hoops and I would be against that.
@živa,
No need for racism bro, you have to get passed that, get with the times, this isn’t the hitler era anymore, you need to get out of the basement a little more;)
It is crazy, but if a player has citizenship for a specific country (how they get it is another matter to discuss), has not played internationally for another country, then what is FIBA to do.
I hate the fact we have a crnac on our roster who is not born or raised in Cro or has any cro blood in him. Absolutely hate it.
Just googled it.
Omar Cook played for Montenegro and he never even played in Montenegro nor is he married to a Montenegrin.
I think they literally just asked him to play, he said yes, and they gave him citizenship… And this doesn’t break FIBA rules.
Yes, Ibaka was in Spain long ago, but FIBA rules are weird.
There have been players like Quincy Douby and Omar Cook who played for Macedonia or Montenegro (I forgot which team exactly) and they literally spent like 6 months on thar country throughout their lifetime.
BiH had some American crnac play for them as well.
I know that FIBA allows for one naturalized player on the roster. I guess they’re not as strict as FIFA when it comes to those overnight citizenships that countries offer to these players.
you can’t just naturalize anyone. The person has to meet citizenship requirements for that country.
Ibaka moved to Spain when he was 14 or 15 and didn’t gain citizenship until a few years ago.
I think the team looks heaps better than the Georgia game.
Some of the teams they have played are crap (Finland) however our guys seem more confident with the style as the tournament has gone on.
@Matesic
“Each team can naturalize one player. Spain has Serge Ibaka.”
Is that seriously in the rules or were you joking? Each country can naturalise one player????? What the lol???
Again, we haven’t done anything yet. If we lose the next two game, we are out and its a repeat of previous failures.
The guy who needs to really step up if we are do make any legit noise is Tomic. Dude had a great year for Barca, but needs to show it now.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/croatian-16-old-ready-murray-173334188–ten.html
our future player who can break the top 10 in mens tennis 🙂
@ Faux Cro
Each team can naturalize one player. Spain has Serge Ibaka.
He is a good back up point guard.
This crew has great team work.
@ Zach
Saric is playing his role on the team for this tournament. He is ready.
Bogdanovic can fill it.
@ Ziva
Have some cedevita brought to the basement and enjoy the games without the cynicism.
Actually first time in years that I have seen the team play so well together.
Repesa is doing a great coaching job!
Does he have a Croatian mom?
Or did he marry a Croatian?
Or is he just not good enough for the US?
Or any combination of the above 3
Draper has been on the repka for a few years now. Nothing new. Interest level in Cro hoops is not high.
Sammir not Damir looks like a true Dalmatinac compared to Donte Draper!
Would have figured some of you guys would have been all over this one.
Matesic Method has inspired me to watch some more Cro basketball (non Olympic).
For anyone interested ESPN3 has the replay of Cro-Finland game online.
Crna Hrvat?
Bogdanovic looks ready for the NBA, Saric definitely will need some more development
18 years of crap basketball will do that. If you think the soccer federation is bad, you should read up on the basketball federation.
Nice results so far, but I’ll impressed if we get to the knockout stage and able to win the QF game. We saw this before in Beograd and then choked in the knockout round.
Where were the fans? Low attendance considering how close we are. Back in the day it would be packed.