CROATIA DEFEATED SLOVENIA AT THE OPENING OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES QUALIFICATION TOURNAMENT -

First game, first victory! Croatia has to play three more matches in this qualifying tournament.

CROATIA – SLOVENIA 108:92 (31:16, 23:25, 27:39, 27:15)

Croatia played a great match against Slovenia and managed to tame their neighbors. Croats won by 16 points, although they had a 25-point advantage at one point. Croatia had a victory, and in the group, they still had a match against New Zealand, which had a physically powerful lineup. But let the game be played, and we will see what happens next.

Dario Šarić stood out the most in Croatia’s great match, which was played especially well collectively. Šarić scored 19 points with ten rebounds and as many assists. Let’s mention that Toni Kukoč and Stojko Vranković were the only ones before Šarić to have such an effect. Kukoč did it in 1995 against Finland at Eurobasket, and Vranković against Germany in 1993 in Germany.

Ivica Zubac scored 18 points, and Luka Dončić played badly. This duel dates back to the NBA floor, where Dončić and his team were better than the LA Clippers.

Croatia is one step closer to Paris and the Olympic Games with this win. But with this match, she started returning to her old ways. Croatian basketball sank to the lowest values and played against lower-ranked national teams. And now, finally, a slightly more serious team has arrived. Slovenia is not an innocent team, and who knows what will happen by the end of the tournament.

By the end of the week, this tournament should be over, and it should be known who is going to Paris. Of course, we will all know how the Croatian national team will do in the tournament and what Croatia’s final victory will be. In addition to EURO 2024 and the preparations of Croatian clubs, Croatian basketball is lagging behind, and they could easily return to the old paths on which Croatia once won.

We opened the beginning of the game very well and some things later went our way. Everyone played a good team game and I wouldn’t single out anyone in particular, but Goc Filipović hit the shots in key moments, and kudos to him for that. Everyone has a little part in this victory.
Dario Šarić, Croatian basketball player

We immediately set the tone of the game and kept our rhythm throughout the game. The aim is to play our game, we have our actions, we know what our strengths are and we stick to it. We play smart, everyone is involved in actions.
Ivica Zubac, Croatian basketball player

Croatia outplayed us in every way and won deservedly. From the first minute on we were not right. Personally, at the beginning I did not feel well, I was without real energy. Now that I look carefully at the stats, I see that he has a really bad shot. We have to work on the defense, with me at the helm. We know it wasn’t our true colors and we have to show that on Thursday against New Zealand.
Luka Dončić, Slovenian basketball player