As a basketball nation, Bulgaria is relatively anonymous. They are currently ranked 45th in the world and 29th (out of 32) in the FIBA:s Power Ranking before the qualifiers. At the same time, they made it to EuroBasket 2022, which Sweden did not. Bulgaria has an NBA player in Sacramento, Sasha Vezenkov, but he is more talked about for the minutes he doesn’t get rather than the minutes he does get. Regardless, the NBA does not take breaks for FIBA qualifiers, so Sasha will not be involved in this qualifying window.
Fix star: Cody Miller-McIntyre
Who is he? A talent who has played basketball in Andorra, France, Turkey, Russia, G-league and now Spain — just to name a few. Just over a year ago, he was offered to play with the Bulgarian national team. His numbers are spectacular, but there is nothing in his game that screams extravagance or flair. He hits the right pass, doesn’t throw balls away, has a compact and sure shot. Cody Miller-McIntyre takes what’s given, as the saying goes. Melwin Pantzar and David Höök’s ability to make it difficult for Miller-McIntyre could be completely match-deciding.
When all Swedish attention is directed towards the American import, there is a great risk that it is Pavlin Ivanov and Aleks Simeonov who capitalize on the openings that are created. They shoot both willingly and often, and in the preliminaries with terrible accuracy.
Sweden’s most important match in the qualifiers
Away games have been one of the Bulgarians’ Achilles heels. A loss against Norway, one against Portugal, and a slightly too narrow win over Cyprus (9 points), it is not direct results that strike fear into the opponents. At home, however, Bulgaria are undefeated in the qualifiers.
Thursday evening is Sweden’s opening match in the EC qualifiers, and probably also the most important. In classic group play according to FIBA style, everyone advances from the group except for the one that ends up last, and on paper it is either Sweden or Bulgaria that are tipped to end up there. Late Thursday night we have a much better picture of who will have the upper hand.
Vomit at 19:00 on Thursday 22 February in Partille Arena. If you can’t be there, you can watch the match on SVT.
Text: Johannes Grufstedt
2024-02-20 23:14:26
#premiere #qualifier #Swedish #Basketball #Association
