By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Russia got the 101-78 win and returns to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2011 and ten years after winning the title. Croatia, on the other hand, made a huge step back, despite stealing the show in last year’s pre-Olympic tournament and taking the ticket to Rio over Italy.
This was not expected after a close first half, but Russia dominated the third and the fourth quarter and Croatia simply didn’t have any answers.
The star: Shved is having his best Eurobasket no matter how you try to rank his performance. And the numbers are there. Against Croatia, he registered 25 points in the first three periods. He finished the game with 27 points, resting for most of the fourth period. And also he dished 12 assists!
The turning point: The third quarter proved to be the most crucial of the game. After leading by four at half time (46-42) thanks to partial 15-7 run fueled by Shved’s hot hand, Russia got for the first time a double digits lead (61-49).
Croatia collapsed after that. The third period ended with Russia having a 15 points lead (72-57), four minutes later the score was 84-62 and the game was over.
Too little: Bojan Bogdanovic tried his best and scored 28 on a more than great 63% shooting, but Dario Saric in the most crucial game for Croatia until now in the tournament fell short. The Sixers forward had 11 points on 3/14 shots, two rebounds, two turnovers and one assist and of course, he couldn’t help his team avoid Eurobasket elimination.
(Photo credit: FIBA)