Unfortunately, our expectations which we did not want to believe were justified. The Georgian national team could do nothing against Czech Republic with limited roster and lost 79:95.

The team of Igor Kokoskov played well in the first games of EuroBasket but they managed to beat only Poland. The Georgians lost to Croatia and host Slovenia at the last seconds. The Georgian team was very tired and morally unready. It was so obvious that after the game everybody highlighted this fact.

If in the previous games the Georgian team had a perfect defense, everything changed against Czech Republic. The opponent basketball players easily ran under the net and earned 60 (!) points from a 3-minute zone. Jan Vesely was the best from the Czech team. He had many slam-dunks.

Finally, the forward of “Washington Wizards” earned 27 points (12 from 14 2 points) and 10 rebounds in 27 minutes. He became the best basketball player of the game. Tomas Satoransky, teammate of Georgian Beka Burjanadze in “Cajasol” of Spain, also played well. He gained 20 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists.

Thanks to Vesely and Satoransky, the fate of the game was decided in the first half. The Georgian basketball players could do nothing against the temp of the Czechs (they earned 16 points and the Georgians – only 4). We lost the first quarter with 11 points and the second – with 8. After the first half the opponent team had 54 points. It was impossible to think about success.

During the whole game, the Georgian national team was leading only for 1:05 minutes. The Czechs were leading for 38:43 minutes. They even had a 26-point advantage. 2 points of the Czechs were the main reason of their success. The Czechs shot 2 points with 63% (32 from 51).

When the Georgians were losing with great difference, they started to shoot 3 points. But we used only 6 from 27 shots. Manuchar Markoishvili scored 4. Finally, “Manu” ended up the game with 20 points. Giorgi Tsintsadze earned the same points. Giorgi Shermadini gained 18 points and 9 rebounds. Viktor Sanikidze earned 10 points. Unfortunately, substitutes could not show themselves. They earned 8 points combined. The Czech substitutes gained 30 points.

Unlike the first half, the second one turned out equal. However, the Czechs kept advantage and the Georgians only managed to reduce the difference to 13 points (it happened in the last quarter when our team had 9:0 run). Finally, the Czech team defeated us 95:79 and established record with scored points at the tournament.

The Czechs kept the chance to make through to the next round. The Georgian national team has one game left. On 9 September they will play Spain at 16:30 Tbilisi time.

EuroBasket 2013. Group C. Celje (Slovenia). IV round. 129000 spectators

Czech Republic - Georgia 95:79 (26:15, 28:20, 21:19, 20:25)

Czech Republic: Benda (11 mins. 8 pts. 4 rebs.), Pumprla (25 mins. 10 pts. 3 as.), Hruban (25 mins. 3 rebs. 3 as.), Satoransky (31 mins. 20 pts. 6 rebs. 7 as.), Vesely (27 mins. 27 pts. 10 rebs.); Balvin (11 mins. 6 pts. 3 rebs.), Welsch (17 mins. 3 as.), Houska (7 mins. 4 pts. 3 rebs.), Barton (20 mins. 9 pts. 4 rebs.), Jelinek (20 mins. 11 pts. 3 rebs.), Kudlacek (5 mins.), Svrdlik (1 min.).

Head coach: Pavel Budinsky.

Georgia: Tsintsadze (38 mins. 20 pts. 4 rebs. 6 as.), Shermadini (28 mins. 18 pts. 9 rebs.), Markoishvili (32 mins. 20 pts. 3 as.), Patsatsia (14 mins. 3 pts. 4 rebs.), Sanikidze (36 mins. 10 pts. 5 rebs.); Metreveli (2 mins.), Sanadze (5 mins.), Burjanadze (4 mins. 2 pts.), Hickman (26 mins. 4 pts. 5 rebs.), Lezhava (5 mins. 2 pts.), Tskitishvili (11 mins. 4 pts.).

Head coach: Igor Kokoskov.

Referees: Milivoje Jovcic (Serbia), Jurgis Laurinavicius (Lithuania), Gentian Cici (Albania).

Team stats

Czech Republic - Georgia

Field goals: 35/64 – 30/68

2 pointers: 32/51 (62.7%) – 24/41 (58.5%)

3 pointers: 3/13 (23.1%) – 6/27 (22.2%)

Free throws: 22/31 (71.0%) – 13/19 (68.4%)

Rebounds: 41 (off 13) – 34 (def 13)

Assists: 20 – 13

Turnovers: 12 – 10

Steals: 6 – 3

Blocks: 1 – 2

Personal fouls: 18 – 24

Point after turnover: 8 – 16

Point from 3-minute zone: 60:44

“Second chance” point: 17 – 12

Point after offence: 16 – 4

Substitutes point: 30 – 8

Biggest leadership: 26 – 1

Biggest “run”: 8:0 (13:6) – 9:0 (80:67)

Change of leader: 4

Draw score: 1

Leadership time: 38:43 – 01:05

Dato Manjavidze, special correspondent of www.worldsport.ge from Celje