Georgian national basketball team took part at the European Championship for the third time and in previous cases was in the lead, this time the tradition has been violated in an unpleasant way. The Georgian basketball players lost the match at “Zagreb Arena” with one point.

I must say that it is difficult to call the outcome illogical. The Netherlands, which was not really considered as favorite was ahead during 30:30 minutes and Georgia was leading only 07:04 minutes. The apprentices of Igor Kokoskov reached maximum advantage at the end, however errors and inaccuracy in final attack brought failure.

We had a chance to win 3 times in the last seconds. Jacob Pullen’s attack failed. The referees considered the episode disputed and we were given another chance. In the first case, Manuchar Markoishvili could not attack well, the second time he shot the ball together with final whistle, however lacked a little to target and the Dutch celebrations began.

There were a number of reasons why we lost this match. We had to load 3-second zone against such team as Netherlands. The opponents scored 32 points from this zone and Georgia – 24.

Unfortunately, the absence of a valuable substitutes for the national team still remains a headache and this time, if not Duda Sanadze’s excellent game, we would have nothing to boast. Duda used 4 shots of 5 (3 3 pointers of 3).

Jacob Pullen did not bring the benefit we expect from him. He used the only point of 8 in 25:17 minutes.

It was glad that Tornike Shengelia regained the usual form soon. He was the most valuable (16 points) together with Zaza Pachulia.

Obviously, losing the first match does not mean anything and we hope the Georgian basketball players will play the remained matches better, however it is a fact that this mission will be very difficult. Recall that the Georgian team has the next match on September 6, 20:00, against Slovenian national team.

Georgia 72:73 Netherlands (17:17, 9:19, 22:22, 24:15)
Georgia: Tsintsadze 8, Markoishvili 11, Sanikidze 1 point, 9 rebound, Shengelia 16 points, 8 rebound, Pachulia 16; Pullen 7, Shermadini 2, Sanadze 11, Patsatsia, Burjanadze

Netherlands: Kloof 22, Worthy De Jong 16, Norel 8, Smeulders 8, Kherrazi 2, Akerboom 5, Schaftenaar 6, Nicolas De Jong 4, Slagter 2
Full statistics: 72:73

Dato Manjavidze, specially for worldsport.ge from Zagreb