After an 81-90 Poland loss, the San Antonio Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan admitted that the Bahamas are a talented team that can equally compete with the European teams.
Poland experienced first-hand what it's like to take on the Bahamas.
Despite its efforts, the Polish national team suffered an 81-90 defeat and will play the crucial game on Thursday against Finland, which will decide which team advances to the semifinal.
For European basketball fans, the Bahamas were some sort of mystery. They won the Pre-Olympics tournament in Argentina, and that was that. Yet, in the FIBA Olympic Qualifiers, they already beat two European teams, showing why they must be considered a team to be reckoned with.
"I mean, they are a talented team. They have a bunch of NBA players, prospects from college," Jeremy Sochan told BasketNews. "It's a talented team which is very athletic, competitive like most European teams. They play well together."
"We knew they have a great team. They showed it last summer, they showed it yesterday against Finland," Aleksander Balcerowski chipped in a conversation with BasketNews. "We knew what players they have, what kind of basketball they play."
However, the Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens center admitted that he did not expect the opponents to make so many threes. The Bahamas finished the game making 13-of-29 threes (45%). In the first quarter alone, the Bahamas converted 6 3-pointers.
"In the first half, we were a little surprised about their field goal percentage from three. They made a lot of shots, and it broke our rhythm a lot in the first half," Balcerowski noted. "In the second half, we tried to come back, [but] we didn't do it. It was a close game. [We were down] by 6 points in the 4th quarter, but [we got] nothing [out of it]. Tomorrow, we have another game, which is win or go home."
Balcerowski finished the game with 22 points (8/11 FG, 2/5 3PT, 4/5 FT), 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 24 EFF in 29 minutes of play.
His direct opponent Deandre Ayton had 18 points (7/12 FG, 1/4 3PT, 3/4 FT), 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block, and 25 EFF.
"It was good," Balcerowski put it shortly when asked what was it like to test himself against the Portland Trail Blazers big.
Contrary to Balcerowski, Sochan didn't have a great start to the game. The San Antonio Spurs forward was pretty limited in the first half, finishing it with only 5 points.
Nevertheless, after the final buzzer, Sochan had 16 points (6/10 FG, 1/1 3PT, 3/4 FT), 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 6 turnovers, and 19 EFF in 27 minutes of play.
"It's not always gonna be perfect. I just finding my moments, finding different cuts, and stuff," Sochan responded about his much better performance in the second half.
Up next, Poland will face Finland in an elimination game scheduled for Thursday, July 4, at 20:30 CET.
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