As once morest Belgium, Luka Doncic’s Slovenia will be the big favorite for this meeting, scheduled for 8:30 p.m. in Berlin as a digestive for these quarter-finals. But beware, it will not be child’s play to get Mateusz Ponitka and his troops out of the race for the supreme title, especially when we know the fragile condition of the ankle of the Mavericks superstar. Unless the Slovenian prodigy is still acting up, of course, and in this case the match might well be folded in the middle of the third quarter. See you at 8:30 p.m.!
The first thing you might think when you see this poster is surely that it’s crazy to see Poland arrive in the European Top 8, while institutions like Lithuania or Serbia have already taken their return tickets . A rather favorable table is not for nothing, the Ukrainians out in eighth not being the toughest opponent, but if we do not really know where the Poles would be if they had to face one more team large caliber in the previous round, their presence in the quarter-finals is not to be discredited and it is not Mateusz Ponitka who will tell you otherwise. Unfortunately, the slope to the top of Europe is starting to get steeper and barring an Italian-type miracle, the Poles have every chance of packing their bags following their clash once morest Lulu. In any case, one thing is certain, if it’s their last game, we can be sure of having a good fight and that the Poles will send everything they can to try to survive once morest the 23-year-old monster. A victory on their part would be a real feat and they would also reach the last four for the first time since… 1967!
“We all know it’s going to be a tough game. […] But we will play hard, we will give everything without giving up. We will play with pride. Besides, it’s basketball, the best team doesn’t always win. We’ll see. – AJ Slaughter, via FIBA
Slovenians honestly shouldn’t worry too much. Although we said the same thing for their round of 16 once morest the Belgians, and the latter still remained in the match for three quarters of time. There is a tendency to think that Poland is moving a step above our Belgian neighbors and therefore Goran Dragic and his pals won’t have to play with fire too much and offer quality basketball if they want to avoid a very boring money time in the face of the temperamental and surprising Ponitka. Note that Zoran, the little brother of the eternal Slovenian leader, is out for the rest of the tournament following partially tearing his quadriceps. A relatively deplorable absence, he who has spent just over 17 minutes on average on the floor since the start of the Euro, but not insurmountable and coach Aleksander Sekulic should find solutions to replace him in the rotation. Anyway, with Luka Doncic as conductor (if Luka is in great shape because he was seen yesterday morning with an ice pack on his ankle…), the Slovenians should not worry too much . The Poles can, but we understand that being afraid of an opponent is not too much of a trend for Mateusz’s teammates.
ROSTERS
Poland : Aleksander Balcerowski, Aaron Cel, Aleksander Dziewa, Jakub Garbacz, Lukasz Kolenda, Michal Michalak, Dominik Olejniczak, Mateusz Ponitka, Jakub Schenk, AJ Slaughter, Michal Sokolowski, Jaroslaw Zyskowski
Slovenia: Jaka Blazic, Vlatko Cancar, Ziga Dimec, Luka Doncic, Goran Dragic, Zoran Dragic, Edo Muric, Aleksej Nikolic, Klemen Prepelic, Luka Rupnik, Ziga Samar, Mike Tobey
THE JOURNEY OF THE TWO TEAMS
- Slovenia – Lithuania: 92-85
- Slovenia – Hungary: 103-88
- Slovenia – bosnia : 93-97
- Slovenia – Germany: 88-80
- Slovenia – France : 88-82
- Slovenia – Belgium: 88-72
- Poland – Czech Republic: 99-84
- Pologne – Finland : 59-89
- Poland – Israel: 85-76
- Poland – Netherlands: 75-69
- Pologne – Serbia : 69-96
- Poland – Ukraine : 94-86
We cannot assure you that the match will be tight. On the other hand, we can assure you that this match is worth watching. If only because the winner will be the Blues’ next opponent, if the Italians don’t become possessed by a basketball demon once more. Well, let’s not look away and rather observe Luka’s exploits once morest the valiant Poles, it takes place at 8:30 p.m. in Berlin!