“I am happy and it is not only for victory. After all, the Georgian national team showed that game they should play. The team showed great unity. After losing 3 matches in a row, it was a very important victory”, - Manuchar Markoishvili made this comment after the brilliant win over Macedonia (90:75).

After the bad start of EuroBasket, the anxiety was observed in all directions. Mostly, the team members felt uncomfortable due to unpleasant development of the events. Some breakthroughs were necessary, what happened in the match against Macedonia. Georgian national team beat the opponent with 15-point difference.

After the evaluation of the match, it is difficult not to agree with Markoishvili. The Georgian basketball players showed that balanced game, without which it is impossible to achieve such success. The defense was very hard and in attack, our team was so aggressive that after the game, Vlado Ilievski said sincerely: “They have disbanded us”.

The national team was very motivated from the first minutes. At the start of the match, the elbow of Pachulia started bleeding. Giorgi Shermadini replaced the captain and soon gained 2 points.

The importance of having leaders in the team was demonstrated once again in this game. Zaza Pachulia, who did not have desired statistics in the previous matches, fought amazingly. He did the greatest job under the shield and in attack was unstoppable. The Georgian center scored 8 2-pointers of 12, free throw of 11, 23 points and 14 rebounds.

Manuchar Markoishvili was incomparable. During that time he was on the arena, the Georgian team scored 28 (!) points more than opponent did. Markoishvili scored 4 3-pointers of 6 and gained 18 points. Giorgi Tsintsadze (12 points, 6 assists) had the best game in the current European Championship. Tornike Shengelia, Kokoskov named as the best player of this EuroBasket after the match, gained 15 points.

As for the opponents, Vlado Ilievski and Vojdan Stojanovski scored 4-4 points. The last one got trauma and the opponents were psychologically broken. Macedonia’s head coach Marijan Srbinovski admitted the team was not ready for decisive match.

The Georgian national team has the next match against Croatia tomorrow, at 20:00 Tbilisi time.

Macedonia – Georgia 75:90 (18:21, 19:27, 18:23, 20:19)

Macedonia: Ilievski 4, Brckov, Kostoski 12, V.Stojanovski 4, D.Stojanovski 14, Simonovski 6, Trajkovski 13, Gjuroski 3, Hendrix 14 p, 7reb, Samardziski 5.

Georgia: Tsintsadze 12 point, 6 assist, Markoishvili 18, Sanikidze 4 p, 6 reb, Shengelia 15, Pachulia 23 p, 14 reb, Pullen 6 p, 3 assist, Shermadini 6, Sanadze 6, Burjanadze.

Dato Manjavidze, specially for worldsport.ge from Zagreb