As against Belgium, Luka Doncic’s Slovenia will be the big favorite for this match, scheduled for 20:30 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 Mavericks superstar’s ankle. Unless the Slovenian prodigy still has a tantrum, of course, and in this case the match could very well be folded in the middle of the third quarter. See you at 8:30 pm!
The first thing you might think when you see this poster is surely that it is crazy to see Poland make it into the European Top 8, while institutions like Lithuania or Serbia have already taken the return tickets. A rather favorable ranking is not for nothing, the Ukrainians out of eighth are not the toughest opponent, but if we don’t really know where the Poles would be if they had to face another high caliber team 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 climb to the top of Europe begins to get steeper and barring an Italian-type miracle, the Poles have every chance to pack their bags after the clash with Lulu. In any case, one thing is certain, if it is their last match, we can be sure to have a good fight and that the Poles will send everything they can to try and survive against the 23-year-old monster. A win on their part would be a real feat and for the first time since… 1967 they would even reach the quarter-finals!
“We all know it will be a difficult match. […] But we will play hard, we will give everything without giving up. We will play with pride. And then it’s basketball, the best team doesn’t always win. We will see. – AJ Slaughter, go FIBA
Slovenians honestly shouldn’t worry too much. Even if we said the same thing for the round of 16 against the Belgians, and they remained on the pitch for three quarters of the time. There is a tendency to think that Poland is moving a step above our Belgian neighbors and therefore Goran Dragic and his friends will not have to play too much with fire and they offer a quality basketball if they want to avoid a very boring money time in the face of the whimsical and surprising Ponitka. It should be noted that Zoran, the little brother of the eternal Slovenian leader, is out for the remainder of the tournament due to a partial laceration of the quadriceps. A relatively deplorable absence, he who has spent just over 17 minutes on average on the ground since the start of the Euro, but not insurmountable and the coach Aleksander Sekulic should find solutions to replace him in rotation. However, with Luka Doncic at the wheel (if Luka is in great shape because he was seen yesterday morning with an ice pack on his ankle…), Slovenians shouldn’t worry too much. The Poles can, but we understand that being afraid of an opponent is not great fashion for Mateusz’s teammates.
ROSTER
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
- Pologna – Finland : 59-89
- Poland – Israel: 85-76
- Poland – Netherlands: 75-69
- Pologna – Serbia : 69-96
- Poland – Ukraine: 94-86
We cannot assure you that the game will be closed. On the other hand, we can assure you that this match is worth watching. If only because the winner will be the next opponent of the Blues, if the Italians are no longer possessed by a basketball demon. Well, let’s not look away and instead observe Luka’s exploits against the brave Poles, it takes place at 20:30 in Berlin!
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